Who are your heroes?

Those who are heroes to us, those people we deeply admire shape our souls. Our admiration helps grow us in the dirction of those we have lifted up. Admiration nudges us toward emulation.

A couple of years ago, I visited Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Besides shops and restraurants, the Colonial Zone includes the first cathedral built in the western hemisphere and the house that Columbus' brother built in about 1510.

To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the landing of Columbus on the island,the Dominican governmet built a large museum called the Faro de Colon, tehhe Light of Columbus. The Faro de Colon looks tired and weather worn now.

But I went to the Colonial Zone in Santo Domingo to honor someone who is a hero for me,Bartholome de las Casas. Las Casas came to the island around 1502 seaching for fortune in the new world like other young Spaniards. He became a merchant and landowner. Natives worked his land as slaves. Las Casas could look forward to a life of wealth and luxury based on the power of the conquest to take the land and enslave the native peoples.

Then the gospel of Jesus Christ intervened. Las Casas began prepartion to be a priest and shortly afterward the Dominican order arrived in Santo Domingo.

Now, of course, it is often the case that the church and its priests and preachers are expected to simply bless the empire, to bless one nation's conquest,use and exploitaiton of another nation. But something different happened to Las Casas. He went to worship at the Monastery of Sinners and heard the sermon of Antonio Montesino in 1511. Montesino denounced the torture, maiming and murder of the native people. He told those leaders of the worshipping community that oppression of the natives meant being condemned to hell.

The spirit struck Las Casas. He freed his own natives. He became a Dominican and spent his long life in defense of the native people. Tragically, he briefly condoned the Aftrican slave trade as a way to continue to exploit the land without brutalizing the native people. But he soon repented of that evil as well. He journeyed back and forth to Europe many times until he finally succeeded in obtaining a declaration from the pope that the natives were human beings,not animals. He wrote the History of the Indies and is truly one of our great spiritual heroes.

In Santo Domingo, a statue of Bartholome de las Casas stands proudly and peacefully in a small park. Hies head and eyes are raised slightly, looking both to heaven and out over the new land. One hand covers his strong and compassionate heart. The other hand is clenched in a fist of courage and strength. But the park now is padlocked. Oh, you can see Las Casas and he can see you, but you cannot get into the park. Or maybe those intent on exploiting others are trying to keep his spirit and message locked away.

Columbus or Las Casas? Who is the real hero? But if in school or church people never hear about Las Casas, how will they be able to make a thougthful or faithful choice?