Rutilio Grande, SJ, was the first Jesuit to be assassinated in El Salvador. He was killed on March 12, 1977, for having done the works that Jesus commands with regard to one's neighbor as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. This volume of his writings and homilies illustrates how he applied the social and ecclesial teachings of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) in his ministry with the poor and marginalized of El Salvador. His use of the social sciences to understand the problems in his context, his prophetic denunciation of power and wealth, and his ministry to empower laypeople to lead their faith communities all speak to the Holy Spirit working through the courage of a true servant leader.

Biography of Rutilio Grande

On February 14, 2015, Pope Francis announced the beatification of Salvadoran martyr Archbishop Óscar Romero who was murdered while presiding at Mass in 1980. Three years before his murder, Rutilio Grande, Jesuit priest and friend of the Archbishop, was also murdered for the same offense--speaking up for the poor and vulnerable.Until this book, the stories about these men have grown elusive and vague. Now, Salvadoran native Ana María Pineda once again catapults these martyrs into our collective consciences through a story that is both significantly personal and painstakingly researched during multiple trips to her homeland where she discovered surprising facts very "close to home."

The Salvadoran priest Rutilio Grande, SJ, was killed in a hall of bullets on March 12, 1977, along with two passengers in the car he drove. The impact of this killing transformed his friend and archbishop, Oscar Romero, as well as the church in Latin America and throughout the world. How could powerful forces within the overwhelmingly Catholic country of El Salvador execute a Roman Catholic priest and two innocent people in broad daylight in front of witnesses? Why would this same government go to the extreme of murdering thousands of lay Catholic ministers, dozens of priests, and even the nation's archbishop? Why would the government, and the oligarchy that supported it, believe it necessary to repress the church in such a brutal manner? Thomas Kelly finds answers to these questions by exploring the church's identity and mission during the colonial period (1500 - 1820) and the transformative impact of Vatican II (1962 - 65) on the Latin American bishops. He considers Grande's life, formation, ministry, and death and his impact on Archbishop Romero. Finally, Kelly explains what Grande and the church of El Salvador can teach North American Catholics today.

In Rutilio Grande: A Table for All, veteran journalist Rhina Guidos explores the inspiring life and ministry of the Salvadoran priest whose killing changed the church in El Salvador and the life of his close friend, the country’s most prominent church member, Archbishop Oscar Romero. Born in a rural and poor hamlet surrounded by sugarcane fields in El Salvador, Grande went on to study in Europe and Latin America as a member of the Society of Jesus. Though he found himself in the comfort of academia, he gave it up to return to the periphery of the rural world and its people. Inspired by teachings of the Second Vatican Council and a major bishops’ meeting in Medellin, Colombia, he and a team set out to teach the poor to read, to stand up for their rights, and to call out injustices perpetrated by the government. Grande’s brutal 1977 assassination in a shower of gunfire marked the first notorious killing of a Catholic Church member during El Salvador’s civil conflict, but made him one in a long line of El Salvador’s Catholic martyrs.

Veteran journalist Rhina Guidos explores the inspiring life and ministry of the Salvadorean priest whose killing changed the church in El Salvador and the life of his close friend, the country's most prominent church member, Archbishop Oscar Romero.

This Lent, we invite you to make a pilgrimage to the cross with seven extraordinary women and men of God. Come and journey with Blessed Sára Salkhaházi through Nazi-occupied Hungary, with Venerable Augustus Tolton through late-nineteenth-century Illinois, with Servant of God Dorothy Day through Depression-era New York, with St. Martín de Porres through seventeenth-century Peru, with St. Óscar Romero through twentieth-century El Salvador on the verge of civil war, with Servant of God Thea Bowman through Civil Rights-era Mississippi, and finally, with Servant of God Julia Greeley through turn-of-the-century Colorado. Each week of Lent is dedicated to one of these exemplars of faith and action, prayer and perseverance. Each day Monday through Saturday follows the same format: a reflection on the life or writings of the saint or Servant of God, a Scripture selection from the day’s mass readings, and two meditative prayer suggestions, one based on the saint or Servant of God’s life, and one based on the Scripture. Each week also highlights an aspect of Catholic Social Teaching that the saint or Servant of God exemplified in their life. On Sundays, we rest in Scripture and sacrament. It’s our prayer this lent that we may be reminded that we are all called to holiness and that there are no unlikely saints.