2003 Romero Lecture

The 2003 Romero lecturer will be Don Samuel Ruiz Garcia, Bishop Emeritus of San Cristobal de Las Casas, in the Mexican state of Chiapas. He is president of the Oscar Romero International Solidarity Secretariat, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center, and the Center of Service and Advice for Peace in Mexico.

Throughout the five decades of his ministry, Bishop Ruiz has championed the rights, welfare, and human dignity of Mexico’s indigenous communities. In 1974, he invited representatives of all indigenous peoples to participate in a National Indigenous Congress, and he forged their recommendations into a comprehensive social-action program. When the Chiapas-based Zapatista National Liberation Army declared war against the Mexican Army in 1994, Bishop Ruiz single-handedly negotiated a ceasefire that prevented what would otherwise have been an appallingly bloody civil war.

Bishop Ruiz will speak in the auditorium of Notre Dame’s Hesburgh Center for International Studies on March 18, 2003 at 7 pm. Admission is free and open to the public.