August 11th, 2026

Dear Friends, Blessings of Christ’s peace!

     “Each one of you has to be God’s microphone,” Archbishop Oscar Romero told his people as El Salvador broke into civil war and the U.S.-backed death squads started killing people. “Each one of you has to be a messenger, a prophet… Let us truly live the beauty and responsibility of being a prophetic people.” For Romero, the prophetic duty meant proclaiming God’s reign of universal love, compassion, and peace here and now, and that meant denouncing war, hatred, and systemic injustice as Jesus did.

     On March 23, 1980, Archbishop Romero issued one of the most prophetic calls in Christian history when he demanded an end to the war in his Sunday sermon which was broadcast throughout Central America. Here’s what he said:

“I’d like to make an appeal in a special way to the men in the army. Brothers, each one of you is one of us. We are the same people. The farmers and peasants that you kill are your own brothers and sisters. When you hear the words of a man telling you to kill, think instead of the words of God, “Thou shalt not kill.’ No soldier is obliged to follow an order contrary to the law of God. In his name, and in the name of our tormented people who have suffered so much, and who’s laments cry out to heaven. I implore you, I beg you, I order you: Stop the repression!” He was assassinated the next day while saying Mass.

     These days, we need grace and courage to speak out boldly and publicly like St. Romero and call for an end to war, greed, corruption, racism, fascism, nuclear weapons, and environmental destruction. To help us learn from Romero, I’ve invited Prof. Todd Walatka of Notre Dame to talk about his new book, Words of Life: The Preaching of St. Óscar Romero, on Saturday August 22nd. Join us, and together, let’s be emboldened to speak out for God’s reign of justice, nonviolence, and peace—and an end to our global insanity of violence.

To register, visit www.beatitudescenter.org.

The programs will begin 11am Pacific/ 12pm Mountain/ 1pm Central/ 2pm Eastern time. You will receive the zoom link a few days beforehand, and a recording link afterwards. If you have questions, email Kassandra at 
beatitudescentermb@gmail.com. Scholarships are available.

God bless you!–Fr. John

To get my new book, Universal Love: Surrendering to the God of Peace, at a 30% discount, call Orbis at 1-800-258-5838 or go to orbisbooks.com, and give the code “JDT.”