Yesterday, October 22, Father Gustavo Gutiérrez, a Peruvian priest and theologian, entered eternal life at the age of 96. When I first heard of heard of his theology and read his ground breaking book, A Theology of Liberation, I was serving as a lay missionary in Canada in 1992. His book, which grounded in his experiences of ministering to the poor in Latin America, helped guide as I served as a lay missionary in South America for three years with the Comboni missionaries. My work with the poor in the jungles of Ecuador had a profound affect on my vocation. Later, as a seminarian, I wrote my major paper for the MA in Theology on the liberation theology of Gutiérrez and James Cone, how that theology speaks to me in my ministry as a priest in Mississippi. The writings and the compassion of this remarkable human being spoke to me in a very real way. My dedication to prison ministry and reaching out to those in the margins as a Diocesan priest in Mississippi are following in the footsteps of my lay missionary work, strongly influenced by the theology of Father Gustavo Gutiérrez. Rest in peace. You have touched the lives of many.
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