Saint Oscar Romero spoke truth to power in the midst of enormous violence against the poor while he was reviled and defamed about by the institutions of Salvadoran society, including the press, government, and fellow clergy. A shy, careful man, his transformation can inspire us. Yet he is not the only witness to truth in a time of “fake news” serving powerful interests. If we look around, we can find many others who inspire us to go on, to not give up, never mind living a life so loving it can be a force for changing it all.
These are persons, not necessarily recognized officially as saints—or as professing Christians—who inspire us to “live justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God.” Many of them laid down their lives for their friends, what Jesus himself said was the greatest form of love. Others put aside their own interests and use all their talents and creativity to make life better for others. All of them shared a common belief that the true meaning of their lives was found in something greater than themselves. They inspire us.
Like Romero, most of their lives they did or do not garner big headlines by and large, are unknown to history as written by the powerful, and are as flawed as any of us. We can relate to them and take hope that we too can be witnesses that can, yes, inspire others.
“… we need to acknowledge our colonial past as a starting point for a deeper engagement with PNG today … “
Sean Dorney is an Australian journalist who has been a campaigner for human rights in the Pacific for fifty years. As a foreign correspondent, and writer with an extensive career covering the Pacific with a particular focus on Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Fiji, he has served the cause of truth faithfully and effectively. His love of Papua New Guinea and its people is evident in his award-winning work. He is the author of Papua New Guinea: People, Politics and History since 1975 (1990); The Embarrassed Colonialist (2016), and notably The Sandline Affair: Politics and Mercenaries and the Bougainville Crisis (1998), which examined a PNG scandal that brought down the government. His activist journalism has gotten him deported from both PNG and Fiji, while also making him a recipient pf Pacific Media Freedom Award. Now 70 and enduring motor neuron disease (ALS in the Americas), Sean continues to look beyond himself: “A cure might be too late for me, but if somebody afflicted with this horrible disease can be cured in the future, then that’s a goal worth aiming for.”
For more on Sean’s life and work:
