De-mummification of Rigid Communion Ritual

by David Rohrer

Below are highlights from my reading of Laurel Marshall’s masters thesis regarding the practice of communion and baptism in Christian base communities in El Salvador:

• The role of liberation theology in informing communion and baptism.
• The emphasis on sharing and inclusiveness in practicing the communion. 
• Caring for one another as being a way that Christ become visible in the world.
• The freedom to be creative in the de-mummification of rigid communion ritual.
• The desire to baptize in rivers rather than in churches. 
• Questioning the practice of choosing white godparents who are not part of the Christian base communities. 
  The concept of la comunidad en camino (community in action).
• The need to free communion and baptism from the hegemony and cruelty of colonialism and economic/political/military oppression.

Laurel earned her masters in Latin American Theology in 2015 at the Universidad Centroamericana “José Simeón Cañas,” The title of her thesis is Un gesto vale más que mil palabras: Las comunidades eclesiales de base de El Salvador en la construcción de celebraciones eucarísticas y bautismales (An Action is Worth more than Words: Christian Base Communities of El Salvador in the Construction of Communion and Baptismal Practices).