Open Letter of Religious of Nicaragua to Cardinal Brenes
Managua, December 13, 2022
Dear Cardinal Brenes;
As religious women, priests, and religious men of Nicaragua, clandestinely due to the harassment and vulnerability which we feel along with the Holy People of God.
We want these words to resound and invite you to a profound reflection, because we believe it is an opportune moment to consider the following:
“Let us not forget our brothers and sisters who suffer unjustly for crimes that they have not committed. We cannot have a merry Christmas while they [political prisoners] are suffering this terrible injustice, this crime which cries out to heaven” (Mons. Silvio Báez, homily on December 11, 2022).
Forgive us for having to communicate with you in this way. The situation which we are experiencing in our country in these days makes another form of communication difficult.
We simply want to communicate to you some impressions that we in the resistance to the dictatorship have understood from your way of responding to the current situation.
Unfortunately, we see in you a lack of solidarity not just with your brother bishops and priests imprisoned and in exile, but with the entire Nicaraguan community suffering the oppression of this dictatorship. As long as Bishops Silvio Báez and Rolando Álvarez are paying a high price for their prophetic posture in the face of the dictatorship, your silence cries out conformity and indifference.
As long as thousands of Nicaraguans are suffering the drama of poverty, unemployment, forced migration, unjust imprisonment or painful exile, or the loss of beloved members of their families, you do everything possible to avoid conflict with the bloody dictatorship.
The words of the Latin American Bishops in Medellín and Puebla, Vatican II itself, Mons. Romero and Isaiah have been words of inspiration for many of us in the resistance; that is why we want to share with you some of these words that speak of solidarity, prophetic mission and the courage of fighting and entering in conflict in defense of the victims of oppression:
“..the lack of solidarity leads to committing real sins whose crystallization appears evident in unjust structures (Medellín, J, 2)
“The bishop…let him always have before his eyes the example of the Good Shepherd, who came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life for his sheep” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 27).
“The fast that I want is this: to open unjust prisons…let the oppressed go free….and to not disregardyour brother” (Isaiah 58: 5-7).
“…in you, people of God, and in me, your pastor, and in the priests, collaborators of the people of God, all those who are bishops, priests, religious, institutions, faithful, Christian families, we form the people of God and Christ, prophet, has made us participants in his prophetic mission” (Mons. Romero-Cavada, Miguel [ed.], Homilies of Mons. Oscar A Romero, Volume III, p. 234).
“… an ever more tumultuous and impressive cry is rising up to the heavens. It is the cry of a people who suffer and demand justice, freedom, respect for the fundamental rights…of people…” (Puebla, 87-89 or 2658-2660).
“[There are] sectors…of our society that…either close up into themselves, or improperly grab on to rigid structures, or did not know how to properly place their apostolate within the context of a liberating historical context” (Medellín, 10:2,9,4).
It is urgent that you make your own your words of “my good sons” and quit being a propagandist who acts like a politician who “dances to the song that is played for him”, and not like a shepherd facing one of the worst human rights crises which the Nicaraguan people are experiencing. How long will you stay silent? What is preventing you from being a prophet as you promised on being ordained a priest and assuming your role as a pastor?
In the current situation and in the face of “this crime which cries out to heaven”, we cannot stay silent…in the name of God…in the name of our poor efforts to follow Jesus.
We assure you that you have all our respect, but echoing our mission to announce and denounce, we exhort you to reflect and change your pastoral way of governing the archdiocese of Managua.
Mary of Nicaragua…Nicaragua of Mary!
May Nicaragua live free!
We want an archbishop on the side of the people!
Religious sisters, priests and religious men, anonymously