Miguel Concha, “sower of justice and peace”; poor and unprotected, “what he loved the most”

Fernando Camacho Servin

Newspaper La Jornada
Sunday February 19, 2023, p. 8

As a good man and a sower of justice and peacethe priest and human rights defender Miguel Concha Malo was remembered this Saturday by his friends, family and collaborators, who participated in a mourning tribute held at the Cultural University Center (CUC).

Those attending the ceremony highlighted the career of Concha –who passed away on January 9 at the age of 77– in its various facets: as a man of faith, academic and social fighter, always close to the needs of the poor and the most vulnerable groups in society.

During the act, those responsible for the Fray Francisco de Vitoria Human Rights Center, founded and directed by Concha, stressed that the Dominican religious always bet on the youth as a generational relay of their struggle and projected a video in which the life of the activist is reviewed.

It recalled that Concha Malo –a collaborator of La Jornada– was ordained a priest in 1970 by the then Bishop of Cuernavaca, Sergio Méndez Arceo, who along with other figures close to the Second Vatican Council influenced him to opt for the theology of liberation and social ministry.

Juan Concha, Miguel’s younger brother, recalled the years of childhood and youth of the honoree, the moment in which he decided to dedicate himself to the priestly life, his virtues as an orator and the sociology and theology studies he carried out in France and Italy.

Visibly moved, he reported that Miguel Concha he was very simple and never liked luxury or powerand he recalled how sometimes, when he went to buy milk and bread for dinner with his companions, he would arrive at the house they rented without bread, for distributing it to whoever needed it.

For his part, Fray Gonzalo Ituarte, current director of Fray Francisco de Vitoria, pointed out that Concha Malo trained as a priest in a time of effervescence, utopias and transformations of the Churchhence she was never a lonely soul, she never excluded herself or felt above others.

A sign of his character open to his faithful and to the times he lived through were his rock masses, with drums, trumpets and othersheld in what is now the CUC parking lot, as well as his commitment and dedication to his students at UNAM and the Universidad Iberoamericana.

Interviewed at the end of the ceremony, Bishop Emeritus Raúl Vera stressed that Miguel Concha had the characteristics of the wise people, to whom it has corresponded to illuminate the part of the history of the world that they have to star in. He was very responsible with the leadership he acquired and did not use it for himself or to gain fame..

In the same tone, he stressed that for his companion in the Dominican order the poor, the unprotected people, were what he loved and appreciated the most. He encouraged the formation of a working coalition for justice and dignity for the most abandoned in society. All his intelligence and generosity he put at the service of it.

During the event, activists and members of various civil, social and religious organizations participated, including the Shalom Baptist Church, the General Assembly of Los Pedregales de Coyoacán, Equipo Pueblo, Serapaz, Red TDT, the Front of Peoples in Defense of the Land from San Salvador Atenco, Damnificados Unidos from Mexico City and other groups, who remembered Concha’s legacy.

At the end of the activity, a plaque was unveiled in memory of the priest and a ceremony was held where attendees deposited a flower and a piece of paper with a message about the social, religious and humanistic work of Miguel Concha.