The life and ministry of Archbishop Oscar Romero was recalled at several local events last week, with a group of Los Angeles area parishioners then leaving for El Salvador on Easter weekend for a series of commemorative events in the slain archbishop's home country.

On March 24, parishioners of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights gathered at the parish for a blessing from San Gabriel Region Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala. Jesuit Father Mike Kennedy, Dolores Mission pastor, will lead the group's mission trip to El Salvador to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Romero.

Pilgrims from around the world are expected to convene in San Salvador for a week of theological reflection, processions and commemorations, concluding with an outdoor Mass outside the Cathedral of San Salvador April 2. Archbishop Romero, known as the "voice of the voiceless" was gunned down while celebrating Mass in 1980.

Also on March 24, a torture survivor from El Salvador shared her testimony during a commemoration sponsored by Clínica Msgr. Oscar A. Romero and held at St. Anne's Maternity Home in Los Angeles.

Maria Guardado, who once organized campesinos and teachers, said she was tortured for her political views during a time of right-wing repression in the tiny Central American country. Archbishop Romero pleaded for her release and the release of others during his public homilies.

"Because of Msgr. Romero, so many of the disappeared reappeared, and so many of the kidnapped were re-united with their families," said Guardado.

The archbishop remains an inspiration some 25 years after his assassination for "people who thirst for peace and for justice in our war-torn and broken world," said the head of the U.S. bishops' international policy committee.

"His memory and his message are as alive today as ever, not just in El Salvador but throughout much of the world," Bishop John H. Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla., said in a March 24 statement released in Washington.

Bishop Ricard noted that the formal process of canonization for Archbishop Romero is moving forward. He said that the slain archbishop already is known by many as "St. Romero of the Americas."

"We pray today especially for the Salvadoran people, whether in El Salvador or here in the United States, where so many of Archbishop Romero's faithful have come to build new lives in peace and freedom," the bishop said.

Catholic News Service contributed to this story. In next week's issue, Tidings staff writer Ellie Hidalgo will report from El Salvador on events surrounding the anniversary of Archbishop Romero's assassination.