Letter to the archbishop from a Honduran

I am somewhat reluctant to post this letter to Cardinal Rodríguez from a Honduran who, I think, is a school teacher in Santa Barbara. I disagree with some of the author’s statements but I think the letter expresses some of the concerns of those opposed to the coup and is respectful, but strong. But this morning some people from local Caritas projects attending a meeting to interchange experiences were talking with Padre Fausto Milla. The conversation turned to the position of the Cardinal and Padre Fausto recommended this letter. I had translated it for my own use. But I think it is worth sharing.

Letter to the archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras
by Alex Rivera

Don Oscar Andrés Rodríguez, despite what you have been saying, it still pleases me to greet you.

Look. Many of those I know affirm that I am an atheist, without taking the time to analyze the term – of course –since we would enter into an other debate which belongs to theologians like you. I am stating this because this is the perception that people have of a person who, like me, doesn’t belong to any church, who does not pray as you teach, who doesn’t make the sign of the cross, who doesn’t contribute to any congregation, nor do I do what I do in the name of God. Despite this I grew up visiting a Protestant church until I was twelve years old, when for the first time I observed that the rich of my town (Santa Barbara) were sitting in the first pew and our family, headed by an intercity bus “chauffer,” who was my father, settled into the last pew. I learned from that, because one time, very much ill at ease, I took a liking to be near the little girl who was singing with an angelic voice and with whom, being 12, I was in love. The pastor scolded me, “Sit down there in the back because the brother P will soon be coming.” At that age I understood that the Jesus whom they spoke of in Sunday school was different from what had become clear in the actions of Christians, of the “brothers” whom we were meeting every three times [a week?] in that building, in which I never encountered a true brother.

Inconsistency was the one word which was not in my vocabulary at that time, but I was understanding it in practice; since then I continue admiring Jesus but for all that I was seeking him in the church I never encountered him there. I sought in the street, in the place where I encountered friends who were much more in solidarity, more transparent, honest and human than those I knew in that church building, and with them we began to be Christians without mentioning Jesus, without any dogma other than being [oneself] and being with the other, the others to live outside ourselves; later I read a Mayan phrase which made me understand more closely what Jesus taught me as a child; I am you and you are me. In the street we shared, we enjoyed, we were able to offer our lives for our friends in our group. My God, in theory is the same are yours, Don Oscar, although I don’t believe what you say about him, because you have not been able to do what Jesus preached, as he is the prophet according to the little black book you read.

Jesus identified with the poor, he was born in a manger, he road a donkey, he was the son of a carpenter, he questioned Caesar and the Pharisees (white-washed temples), and he forgave “sinners,” “prostitutes,” and he made himself their companion, those transformed good-for-nothings.

Jesus preached sharing, the multiplication of the loaves, he defended justice and made it known that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdoms.” What he questioned has the same characteristics as a crude capitalism which you now defend.

It grieves us to see how religious leaders such as you, Evelio Reyes, Misael Argeñal and many others, take up political positions which move away from the pursuit of the common good and of justice. We have not seen you declare yourself opposed to the homicidal invasion of Iraq by the gringos for many years. But you have declared yourself time and time again against Hugo Chávez, an indigenous person like me and like you, who now, through the recovery of petroleum in his country and beginning to walk a more human path, has raised his voice in the name of those “shit eaters” who never had been able to challenge all the injustice of the country [coming] from the north against our peoples.

Now, in your statements, your words do not signify a posture that is conciliatory or just, since if they had these characteristics you would have spoken about not justifying the perpetrators of the coup, about permitting Zelaya to complete his term of office, who would consult the people in order to bring about a fourth ballot box in which we who are poor will manifest our discontent with the political and economic oligarchy which have governed us, and you would have taken a stand with the poor and not with the rich “who betray [the poor] for a pair of sandals.”

Another thing. I want to comment that, regarding President Mel, I try to be objective. It has been a government with many blunders, poor management of funds of the ERP [Program for the Eradication of Poverty] or which were not invested in the structural causes of poverty (which you never openly denounced). One speaks about corruption, publicity shows, at times, for some a worn-out populism, etc., etc., but many of us Honduran men and women consider that if we compare him with Callejas, Azcona, Reina, Flores, and Maduro, governments you supported, there is a significant difference because he began to come close to a proposal which – up to this time theoretical – is directed to greater participation of those of us who do not earn our living with a tie or a cassock, but with our hard work which is modest but dignified.

Because of this, the poor follow Mel, because they have found in him what you lack, identification with the sectors of society which have been historically marginalized.

At this time, I do not defend only Mel but that historical possibility – which is beginning to be constructed – that we, the poor, have a voice in the search for dignity, a process which grieves the rich and those who act according to their interests.

We cannot have “shepherds” [literally, “pastors] like you who forget the poor and appear in the society pages with a plastic smile accompanying Baby Showers, Graduations, Birthdays, Parties of “Filth,” since while all of you pose for the camera and enjoy the delicatessen dishes , many of your countrymen and women go to bed without even a tortilla in the “belly.”

Why speak of dialogue and reconciliation now that the oligarchy has managed to polarize our society? Why don’t you speak against the closed circle of the mass media and the monopoly of the means of communication? Why don’t you advocate for the campesino, teacher, union member and your lay people who are beaten by a servile army of this “little country” which you believe belongs to you [which you believe you own]?

Why don’t you speak up for the refusal there is to consult the people? Why, if it is coherent with your discourse on respecting the Constitution of the Republic, do you now permit and tolerate this little group, the violent, one more time?

Who is your Jesus? Remember that that name is like Judas’, who handed over the Messiah for a few silver coins? Will it be the case that Herod is reborn in all of you, or does it call you softly in your ears? Tell me, I want to hear it (to read it). Let us speak together – or better – I am the one who never met Jesus, but if it is the same Jesus as you preach, from this time forward I will stop searching for him, since [that Jesus] doesn’t interest me.


Greetings from [martyred Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar] Romero, [martyred Argentinian bishop Enrique] Angelelli, [Father Guadalupe] Carney, [martyred Salvadoran Jesuit] Rutilio Grande, [martyred Jesuit rector of the UCA, the Jesuit university in El Salvador, Ignacio] Ellacuría, Silvia, [martyred Guatemalan bishop Juan] Gerardi and many lay men and women whom I meet in the mountains, speaking to the poor of a certain Jesus, the Galilean, and some of whom, by their deaths, have endowed us with an example of dignity and commitment of the true Jesus.

A hug and a kiss, not like Judas’, but like those of a person who lives here in Santa Barbara, who has always worked shaking hands with my own, the poor. I would like us to hear each others’ voices and hopefully one day look each other in the eyes.

I hope that you don’t consider my sincerity a lack of respect. I cannot bow my head, nor silence my voice before a person who, for me, is just one more citizen of my country.

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The original in Spanish can be found at the blog Hibueras.