PENNY LERNOUX: JOURNALIST (1940-1989)
by Robert Ellsberg
"You can look at a slum or peasant village…but it is only by entering into that world –by living in it– that you begin to understand what it is like to be powerless, to be like Christ."
In the 1970s Christians around the world become aware of two extraordinary and related stories unfolding in Latin America. One was about the spread of terror and repression wrought by brutal military dictatorships throughout the continent. The other story concerned the transformation of the Latin American church. Traditionally a conservative institution allied with the rich and powerful, the church was being renewed as a prophetic force, a champion of human rights and the cause of the poor. These stories converged in the imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom of countless Christians, guilty only of professing the gospel message of justice and peace.
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