‘Massacre in El Salvador’

MORRISTOWN  Too numb to grieve yet, Raimundo Rivera could not cry. Instead, the high school student stayed focused on a grim task at hand — helping to lower bodies of seven members of his family into a mass grave. Shortly before, rebel extremists gunned down his family, including his mother and father, at their home in northern El Salvador on March 26, 1981. They were victims of the Central American nation’s long and bloody civil war raging at that time.

With soiled hands and clothes, a National Guard officer dug the deep grave of the murdered relatives of the teen, now Father Raimundo Rivera, a priest of the Paterson Diocese. Buried in that grave were his mother, Isabelle; father, Raimundo; his brothers, Arnulfo, Gonzalo and Ricardo; his sister, Mirtala; and his brother-in-law, Marcelino.

“In the grave, I held the members of my family and dedicated some words to them. I told my father, ‘I like my studies and I thank you for that.’ I thanked my mother for giving me the Catholic faith and preparing me to serve the Church. I also thanked my siblings. I told them all that I did not want to disappoint them,” said Father Rivera, now the administrator of Our Lady of Victories (OLV) and Our Lady of Lourdes (OLL) parishes, both in Paterson, during his emotional talk on the evening of Feb. 22 about the pain of losing most of his family. “I felt terrible, but I did not cry,” — largely because he was still in shock — he said during his talk held in Rauscher Hall at Assumption Church here.

Then he fast-forwarded to a day in July 2016, when the unimaginable happened: Father Rivera bumped into the man who gunned down his family during one of the priest’s trips back to El Salvador — more than 35 years after the murders. Again, he did not cry or let hatred punch a dark hole into his heart. While at a bus stop near his home town, Los Naranjos, he happened upon a man who told him, “I killed your family” and then asked him for some food. Instead — filled with Christ’s love — the priest forgave the killer and then gave him food. On Feb. 22, the audience sat spellbound by Father Rivera’s story, titled, “Massacre in El Salvador: A Priest Remembers and Forgives” — the last presentation in the retreat series of “70 x 7: Faith, Family and Forgiveness” by Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, South Orange, and Relevant Radio.

“It was really difficult to forgive but I did. They [the murders] had passed. I needed to forgive him. When I met the killer face-to-face, I did not feel anything in my heart. I felt peaceful,” said Father Rivera, who visits El Salvador twice yearly to see his surviving sister, Blanco, and celebrate Mass at his family’s tomb. “The Church makes it clear: that we must forgive — always — no matter who or what,” he said.

Before Father Rivera’s talk, Dianne Traflet, associate dean for graduate studies and administration and assistant professor of pastoral theology at Immaculate Conception, commented on the added power of his presentation. It took place more than a week after a young gunman killed 17 people on Feb. 14 in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

“If someone killed your child, could you forgive that person?” said Traflet, one of Father Rivera’s former professors at Immaculate Conception. “Tonight, we have someone here who can help us understand God’s great grace in this process [of forgiveness]. Father Raimundo went through this terrible experience in El Salvador but through it all, learned to forgive,” she said.

The civil war between government and rebel forces in El Salvador was the product of decades of policies that led growing inequality in the impoverished country. It also led to the murders of more than 75,000 people from 1977 to 1990. Over the years, the war claimed the lives of many Catholics, including Blessed Oscar Romero; four women who served as Catholic missionaries; and six Jesuit priests. Military forces especially targeted Catholics, because “the Church hates injustice,” said Father Rivera, who was ordained a diocesan priest by Bishop Serratelli in 2011.

It was in Los Naranjos where Father Rivera’s mother nurtured his faith and priestly vocation. She taught him to pray the rosary and made a habit of pointing out the priests they saw and telling him, “You will be a priest.” Several times, he met Blessed Romero, whom he considered a role model for the priesthood.

Years after the murder of his family, Father Rivera remained inspired by their faith as he studied at college while working. In 1992, he took a leap of faith in pursuit of a better life, as he waded through a river and entered Guatemala — the beginning of a long journey that led him to travel to Mexico and cross into the U.S. on his way to family in California. Later, he moved to Long Branch to live near other family. After working a few jobs and earning his Green Card, Father Rivera studied for the priesthood with the Vocationist Fathers and the Trenton Diocese, before moving to the Paterson Diocese. He became a U.S. citizen in 2006. The priest told the audience that he also learned about forgiveness at the Mass for the beatification of Blessed Romero on May 23, 2015, in San Salvador, the nation’s capital. The Church invited the family of the National Guard officer who planned the martyr’s murder and had since died.

“That taught me a lot. This is our Church, which forgave him,” said Father Rivera, who has served parishes in the Diocese and as director of diocesan Migrant Ministry.

Struck by Father Rivera’s witness, Angelina Gonzalo, a parishioner of Our Lady of Victories, said that she had heard his story before but in much more detail on that Feb. 22 night.

“Father Raimundo’s testimony shows the power of forgiveness. He had the ability to forgive for such a terrible thing. If he can forgive someone for something like that, then I can forgive,” Gonzolo said.