Leo Guardado

Prof. Leo Guardado is from the mountains of Chalatenango, El Salvador. After fleeing the civil war in El Salvador, he grew up in Los Angeles, California where he attended Cathedral High School. He then attended Saint Mary’s College in the bay area of California. An interest in monastic life took him to live for a time in the Cistercian (Trappist) Abbey of Our Lady of New Clairvaux in Vina, CA before pursuing a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) in patristics at the University of Notre Dame. He later worked ecumenically in the Tucson, Arizona borderlands with churches, dioceses, and NGOs, collaborating across theological and political differences in defense of migrant communities. He has a PhD from the University of Notre Dame in both systematic theology and international peace studies, a joint program between the theology department and the Kroc Institute at the School of Global Affairs at Notre Dame.

St. Mary's College of California (undergrad, BA), Religious Studies
University of Notre Dame (MTS), History of Christianity
University of Notre Dame (PhD), Systematic Theology and Peace Studies

Forced Displacement & Refuge: Leo’s first book, Church as Sanctuary (Orbis, 2023) thinks theologically, and more particularly ecclesiologically, about the concept and practice of church sanctuary (church asylum) for persecuted persons. The book first analyzes the theological and philosophical foundations of the 1980s sanctuary ministry as envisioned by the communities in the Arizona borderlands, a ministry that quickly became a transnational movement. Around the same time in the 1980s, the Roman Catholic Church also removed any reference to church sanctuary/asylum from its Code of Canon Law, an action that, in light of growing forced displacement around the globe, invites us to rethink the theological, and more particularly, the sacramental nature of sanctuary/asylum and its place in the church.  

Healing: How do migrant communities in New York City address the multidimensional wounds of migration and of living under persecution in a country that seeks their deportation? This is one of the guiding questions that guides Leo’s ethnographic research with Latin American families who seek out traditional healers and their knowledge. Although Roman Catholic churches in the US typically do not recognize the healing practices and rituals of curanderismo as part of its pastoral and sacramental/liturgical experience, for many Latin American Catholics, their faith can only be expressed genuinely through the rituals and practices that have shaped them and that give them a true sense of health and home amid displacement. This research considers the ways that migration forces differently inculturated Catholicisms to coexist, and how this lived reality questions ecclesiology, sacramental theology, and liturgy. 

Nonviolence: Since at least the middle of the 20th century, the Latin American church, theologians, and key bishops in the region engaged in sustained reflection on gospel nonviolence and its connection with Gandhian approaches to the transformation of conflict. Leo’s research on nonviolence builds upon this history and upon previous works that are located at the juncture between Gandhian philosophy and Latin American liberation theology. This research is also focused on understanding how nonviolence is part of Pope Francis’ pastoral and theological vision for the church. Amid institutionalized violence, there is an invitation to continue to think creatively about nonviolence at the communal and ecclesial level, and to integrate this style of politics into the life of the Church.

The legacy of Gustavo Gutiérrez: Leo worked closely with Fr. Gustavo Gutiérrez, Peruvian theologian who passed away on October 22, 2024. He regularly teaches a doctoral seminar focused solely on the thought of Gutiérrez, inviting students to carefully and critically engage his writing and theology. Leo is finishing the editing of Gutiérrez’ final and unpublished book.

Books

• Church as Sanctuary: Reconstructing Refuge in an Age of Forced Displacement (Orbis Books, 2023).

Selected Articles, Book Chapters, & Public Media 

• “Accompaniment as a Foundation for Institutional Change: A Transdisciplinary Initiative Bridging Fordham University, New York City, and the US-Mexico Border,” in Best Practices in Jesuit Higher Education, vol. 5 (2025), co-authored with Gregory T. Donovan, Annika Marlen Hinze, Carey Kasten, Sarah P. Lockhart, James P. McCartin.

• “Occupying the Cathedral of the Poor: Óscar Romero, the Grammar of Occupations, and the protection of the Persecuted.” In Óscar Romeo and Catholic Social Teaching, 175-198. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2024.

• “Migración, Sanación, y el Contexto Pastoral de la Teología.” In Teología Practica: Puntos de vista para una práctica teológica en la academia, la pastoral y la sociedad, 181-196. Andalucía, España: Universidad Loyola/Editorial Sindéresis, 2024.

• “Caged and Liberated in the Historical Struggle for Freedom Across and Beyond Borders." Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America 77 (2023): 31-37.

• “Theologians in the Field: ‘Dices que eres un teólogo, ¿cuál es tu practica?’ In A Prophet to the Peoples: Paul Farmer’s Witness and Theological Ethics, 135-151. Journal of Moral Theology 4, CTWEC Book Series, No. 4, 2023.

• “50 years later, Gustavo Gutiérrez’s ‘A Theology of Liberation’ remains prophetic,” America, August 27, 2023.

• “A Brief Primer on Pope Francis’ Teaching on Migration,” Institute of Advanced Catholic Studies at USC, June 7, 2023.

• “After 50 years, ‘liberation theology’ is still reshaping Catholicism and politics—but what is it?”, The Conversation, December 13, 2022.

• “Oscar Romero: Patron Saint of Church Asylum,” Louvain Studies 45.2 (2022): 177–193. 

• “Haciendo teología para un futuro de liberación.” In Gustavo Gutiérrez y 50 Años de Teología de Liberación, 598-617. Lima, Perú: Centro de Estudios y Publicaciones, 2021.

• “Just peace, Just Sanctuary: Immigration and Ecclesial Nonviolence.” In A Just Peace Ethic Primer: Building Sustainable Peace and Breaking Cycles of Violence, 109-133. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2020.

• “Teología de la liberación: Nuevas presencias, nuevas búsquedas,” Paginas 264 (2021): 60–73.

• “Sanctuary for Asylum Seekers: Revisiting the Religious Principle and Practice of Refuge in the Church,” Theological Studies 82 (2021): 285-309.

• “Nonviolence: The Witness of a Church of Mercy,” Expositions 13.2 (2019): 54–75.

• “En Compañía de los Pobres, Desplazados y Perseguidos,” Paginas 254 (2019): 30-34.

• "From Liberation Theology to (Liberationist) Peace Studies: Practice, Reflection and the Generation of Scholarship." The International Journal of Conflict Engagement and Resolution 4, no. 1 (2016): 13-27.