Romero Days 2024: The Persecuted Church in Central America Then and Now
A discussion with:
Juan Sebastián Chamorro
Former Pre-Candidate for President of Nicaragua
Kellogg Institute Visiting Fellow
Todd Walatka
Teaching Professor, Department of Theology
Kellogg Institute Faculty Fellow
David Lantigua
Co-Director, Cushwa Center
Associate Professor of Moral Theology/Christian Ethics
Kellogg Institute Faculty Fellow
From anticlericalism to anticommunism, persecution has taken various forms in Central America on the political left and right, often dividing the life of the Church. This discussion of the Church and persecution explores the shifting social-political realities marking the conflicted presence of Catholicism there during the last five hundred years. With the martyrdom of St. Óscar Romero (†1980) providing the focal point of discussion, speakers engage the colonial Mesoamerican past and present-day Nicaragua in view of Romero’s legacy. Historical and contemporary witnesses to human dignity in Central America bear testimony to the enduring yet multifaceted struggle for justice and freedom against abuses of power. Join Todd Walatka and David Lantigua from Theology and Kellogg Institute Visiting Fellow Juan Sebastián Chamorro for Romero Days 2024 as they discuss The Persecuted Church in Central America, Then and Now.
This event is presented by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies with cosponsorship by the Department of Theology and the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism.
Juan Sebastián Chamorro
Juan Sebastián Chamorro is a Nicaraguan economist, businessman, and politician. He was a pre-candidate for president in the 2021 Nicaraguan general election until he was detained in a wave of arrests of opposition candidates and other civic leaders. He was released from prison and banished from Nicaragua in February 2023...
David M. Lantigua
David Lantigua is Associate Professor of Moral Theology and Christian Ethics. He specializes in late scholastic moral and political thought and its place within the broader Catholic social tradition...