It was their commitment to the pursuit of truth that had to be stopped. That commitment engaged them actively in one of the most tragic events of our time, the passion of Central America. Each of us in this church today has a choice to make concerning El Salvador. We have to choose either to commit ourselves somehow to the Salvadoran peoples' struggle for peace with justice or to take the stance of unconcern. There is no middle ground.
Unconcerned people shrug off El Salvador, the cries of the poor and oppressed.
Or they take refuge in the cop-out of despair. These are important questions to put to myself, questions of life and death, spiritual life, spiritual death. Let the final word on commitment come from one of the sixteenth century Jesuit martyrs whom we also remember today, Edmund Campion. It was circulated widely and precipitated a nation-wide manhunt for Campion which was to result in his capture and trial, at which he was accused of being a member of a secret league of Jesuits bent on overthrowing the Throne. Condemned to death for treason, he was hung, drawn and quartered.