On 25 April, Bishop Kevin Dowling, Co-President of Pax Christi International and Bishop of the Diocese of Rustenberg, South Africa, spoke at a meeting in Leeds on the theme: Nonviolence: The Witness of Oscar Romero and the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative. The event was organised by the Leeds Diocesan J&P Commission with Pax Christi and the Romero Trust. .
He began: It was March 2005. During a week-long commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, I visited the memorial wall in El Salvador with thousands of names of the murdered and disappeared during the long years of oppression and violence, and the civil war. I struggled to find the name of Archbishop Oscar Romero – but eventually I did. It was because his name is the same size as the name of everyone else on the wall – Oscar Arnulfo Romero – a moving testimony for me that every one of those people was equal and special. On another day I also sat quietly in a little church. Around me were some of the faithful people who come to pray every day at this special, peaceful place. In front of me were 3 simple sets of tiles in the floor: the graves of the little boy, the old man, and the close friend of Oscar Romero, Father Rutilio Grande, who had served the people in that parish….all three brutally shot to death by the Salvadoran military
