Karen House Catholic Worker
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Karen House Catholic Worker |
The RoundTable Patiently Preparing the Victory: Nicaragua Winter 1987
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Why This Issue: As Christians we are people of the Incarnation. We believe that each person, each culture, every moment, every way of life is an expression of God, precious and infinite. It is a moment of grace each time we truly meet another. That has been the experience of thousands of North Americans in Nicaragua. Information about Nicaragua fills our papers, our air waves, our mail. Most of the news is frightening --mines exploding and limbs lost, U.S. troops on the Nicaraguan border, illegal arms shipments and drug traffic, and elaborate U.S. invasion plans. It is very rare, however, that even in the alternative press, Nicaraguans are given space to speak for themselves. That is what we try to achieve in this issue of the RT.
The voices about Nicaragua that pervade our lives form a frightening caricature of a people and a place I came to love deeply. The voices of Nicaraguans when they speak for themselves are something much calmer, infinitely more gentle --very often humble, direct, warm, open, humorous. alive. Such voices heal so many of the wounds we tend to carry as U.S. citizens --busyness, urgency, guilt, materialism. So we offer some voices from Nicaragua, a selection a bit arbitrary, determined in good part by what is available from a country where pencil and paper, much less newsprint and printer's ink, are precious imported commodities. One cannot, of course, consider life in Nicaragua today without talking about "the revolution." the ongoing struggle of the people of Nicaragua to take control of their society and determine how they shall live together. Tomas Borge is a controversial leader of that process. In a few pages here he presents the goals of the revolution in terms rarely heard in this country which help us to see why this revolution has captured the heart and imagination of so many Nicaraguans.
In the U.S. one rarely hears about about the revolution without hearing about religion. The role of the Catholic Church in the revolution has been very controversial within Nicaragua as well. The selection from The Gospel In Solentiname permits us to visit the base community movement at its very heart --reflecting on scripture, applying it to the daily lives of its members with the terrible concreteness that a campesino is capable of. For many their Christian faith and their commitment to the Sandinista revolution are deeply linked. This dialogue on the Magnificat helps us experience that link. We also explore daily life in Nicaragua through poetry, parable, and first person accounts.
The facts of U.S. aggression in Nicaragua are very hard to hear. But Nicaragua also bears for us a message of great hope. Many Nicaraguans have learned that though the cost is high, they are not powerless and their lives are not meaningless. The victory is worth the cost. Over and over I have heard them encourage us to have the same faith and pay the cost of liberation. They beckon us to create a society whose priority is its most humble members, and to discover the fullness of life it yields.
- Virginia Druhe |
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