Chairs for everybody: on inclusivity

Only a few weeks after giving what was going to be his last public homily, FatherRutilio Grande was assassinated by paramilitary troops in his native land, ElSalvador. I am beginning this reflection on liberation theology and sexuality bypaying homage to him and to the many Christian martyrs from Latin America in thetwentieth century, as a way to ground my reflections on Liberation Theology in thetwenty-first century. This is a debt of love and gratitude that we have for thosepioneers who liberated the Gospel in that continent during the difficult politicalclimate of the 1970s.

It is tempting to think that two different projects, theological as well aspolitical, were symbolically confronted in Father Grande’s assassination.One was the project of liberation theology, the project of the alternative Kingdomand integral salvation from private and structural sins such as hunger andpolitical persecution. The other was the hegemonic project from the dictatorialregimes which flourished during the Cold War, which curiously mixed the nationalsecurity doctrine with their own theological discourses.