"In the name of God, in the name of these suffering people whose laments rise to heaven, each day more tumultuous, I beg of you, I ask you, I order you, in the name of God, stop the repression!"

Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero

 

 

In his final sermon on March 23, 1980, Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez publicly appealed to soldiers to disobey orders to kill peasants and pleaded with the El Salvadoran government to let the peasants' voices be heard.  The next day, as he was celebrating Mass, an assassin's bullet pierced Archbishop Romero's heart.

The Human Rights Committee at the University of Dayton established the Archbishop Oscar Romero Award for Leadership in Service to Human Rights in 1998.  The award commemorates the ministry and martyrdom of the slain Salvadoran Archbishop and honors an individual or organization whose work has contributed significantly to the promotion of the inherent dignity of all persons and the alleviation of the suffering of the human family, consistent with the spirit of Christian humanism that animates the University of Dayton. 

The recipient of the 2007 Monsignor Oscar Romero Award, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, has received many honors as the co-founder and former president of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Doctors without Borders.  Dr. Kouchner has played an important role in international humanitarian efforts for more than twenty years and continues to promote universal access to medical care, and takes part in international efforts in the fight against AIDS.  More about Dr. Kouchner, who has recently been appointment the French Foreign Minister, can be found at: http://www.greatertalent.com/speakers/speakers.php?speakerid=209.

Previous recipients of the Oscar Romero Award are Juan Mendez, UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide; Casa Alianza, the Central American division of Covenant House, an organization that helps children and young people in several parts of the world; Radhika Coomaraswamy, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women; and Judge Juan Guzmán Tapia, in recognition of judicial integrity, his compassion for the victims of the Pinochet regime, and for his moral courage.

 

The award itself, a bronze statue of Monsignor Romero, is an original piece sculpted by Emily Trick ('00) and Brother Gary Marcinowski, S.M., of the University of Dayton’s Visual Arts Department.