mauricio lopez was here

Blessed is she who see the day breaking clear through the rain.
Blessed is he who cares for a flower although it has withered.
Blessed is the one who sheds tears for another's sorrow.
(liturgy of the Methodist Church of La Boca)

Lesson of the week. Thursday evening, The Mauricio Lopez classroom, ISEDET

Mauricio Lopez was an Argentine theologian and minister, who worked for the Latin American and World Council of Churches. In 1976 he accepted the position of Dean of Studies at ISEDET. But he never took up the post. As 1977 dawned, Lopez was kidnapped by military personal in the town of Mendoza.

The portrait that hangs on the wall of Aula 1 is not this one. It is a small modest picture of an unassuming professor standing next to a bookshelf, teaching or talking. Night after night for over a year, I have looked at that picture. I imagined Prof. Lopez to be an esteemed, long-serving member of the faculty, honored at his retirement by the dedication of this classroom, when the walls were freshly painted and the wooden chairs comfortable.

But this week in our theology and society class we looked at the role of the churches during the dictatorship. Acknowledging grievous failings, self serving silence and denial, we remembered also courage and its costs.