Many North American theologians, particularly those teaching introductory courses in theology, Catholic social teaching, and liberation theology, know the name of Fr. Rutilio Grande, SJ. But, at least in the case of this reviewer, Grande is known primarily in his supporting role as the friend of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the friend who is martyred less than thirty minutes into the movie Romero (1989). Thomas Kelly has done a great service in presenting Grande's thought on the role of the church in the Salvadoran context, and in analyzing the significance of that thought for the church in North America.
Kelly's book is divided into four parts. The first discusses the history of conquest and colonialism in Latin America (especially in El Salvador), and its theological underpinnings. The second summarizes the renewed understanding of church and world articulated at Vatican II and at the Medellín meeting of the Latin American Episcopal Conference in 1968. These two parts of the book provide a broad context for understanding the role of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. The third part, which is the real heart of the book, focuses on the life and thought of Rutilio Grande. Kelly draws on Grande's own writings as well as his biographers' accounts, and in five chapters presents a full picture of Grande's formation, his innovative pastoral initiatives, and the ecclesial and political stances that precipitated his assassination in 1977. The final constructive part asks what Grande's vision and example can contribute to understanding the church in contemporary North America.
A word must be said about the title of the work. The image of the “Gospel growing feet” is Grande's, but the subtitle, “An Ecclesiology in Context,” requires some explanation. The reader looking for a systematic ecclesiology, or even a contextual ecclesiology primarily focused on church structures, will be disappointed. Rather than being an exercise in deductive ecclesiology, Kelly's work is inductive, beginning with his thorough summary of Grande's life, contexts, and ministry, from which he draws some ecclesiological conclusions. First, Grande's ecclesial praxis and writings, as introduced by Kelly, lead to reflections on the role of the Christian Church in relation to public life and systems of structural injustice. Kelly points to ways in which Grande's example ought to lead to keeping ecclesiology within North America rooted in social analysis of the church's role in local contexts. Second, Kelly addresses questions of parish ministry, including cooperation between lay and ordained ministry, in relation to Grande's initiatives in Aguilares in the 1970s. While the systematic ecclesiologist might hope for a bit more structured elaboration of the conclusions Kelly presents, the book's interdisciplinary exploration of topics in ecclesiology, ethics, history, biography, and liberation theology succeeds in presenting a coherent summary of one theologian and pastor's response to a particularly challenging ecclesial context.
Kelly is a very clear writer, with a teacher's sense of the value of a clear, short explanation of a term or concept. This book would be an ideal companion text for undergraduate and masters students studying liberation theology, El Salvador, or the life of Oscar Romero. The chapters in the first two parts of the book, on the history and theology of colonization in Latin America, and on Vatican II and Medellín, would also make excellent stand-alone readings for use in similar courses, or more broadly in undergraduate courses in systematic theology, moral theology, and Catholic social teaching. Finally, in an appendix, Kelly provides a translation of an article Grande published in 1975 entitled “Aguilares: An Experience of Rural Parish Evangelization.” This article, as well as the Spanish-language biographies Kelly draws on, have done a service for Anglophone scholars in allowing us to begin appreciating Rutilio Grande as more than a “supporting actor” in the history of the church in El Salvador.
