Almost two months
ago, I was asked by Argentina, who coordinates the Santa Rosa prison
ministry, to do a presentation on conflict for a regional prison ministry
meeting which would include people from the north coast and our diocese.
I have been doing a few workshops on the topic, partly based
on the workshops I’ve received from Caritas Honduras using the materials
developed in Colombia and other
places in conjunction with John Paul Lederach. I also try to incorporate what I’ve learned from the
Alternative to Violence Program here as well as from nonviolence training I
received in the US years ago.
The theme of the meeting was dealing with conflict. Their
theme was “Prison ministries constructing justice and peace, avoiding
conflicts.”
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| Santa Rosa bishop, Monseñor Darwin Andino, sharing closing remarks |
I, however, noted that the challenge is not to avoid
conflicts – since conflicts are inevitable; nor is it to resolve conflicts –
because resolved conflicts at times leave the underlying conflicts unresolved
and new conflicts arise, rooted in the underlying problems. The real challenge
is to transform conflicts, seeking to craft a new situation in the face of conflicts.
The workshop went well, better than I had hoped. But it was
a humbling experience.
I was going to work with about 60 people who work in the
prisons here, some of them former prisoners. Among them was San Pedro Sula
auxiliary bishop Romulo Emiliani. At the end of March this year he was the
major force to resolve a major conflict that started violently at the San Pedro
Sula jail.
At the end of the meeting, Monseñor Emiliani spoke a bit
about his role in that conflict. What most impressed me is his courage, his
willingness to risk his own life, for others. Three times, he said, he moved
into a situation where he could have been killed. But his faith and his
dedication to prisoners gave him the courage to proceed forward.
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| Monseñor Romulo Emiliani |
Would there were more people like Monseñor Emiliani.
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