Rutilio Grande: A Table for All

People of God

by Rhina Guidos

In Rutilio 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. 

136 pages, Paperback

Published March 16, 2018

Reviews

[Laura Kisthardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for Spring 2019 semester at Yale Divinity School. Border Crossing Immersion Experience to El Salvador. I think this was a great short introduction to Fr. Rutilio Grande. The chapters are easy to read and it moves quickly through his life and impact after martyrdom. This book made me want to read more of his sermons and actual writings, especially because it relies primarily on quotes from those who knew Fr. Rutilio, not his own words.

[Nadia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was well written and easy to read. I know their aren't many photographs but the few that exist would have been nice to included.

I recommend this book as an introductory to the faith in El Salvador