Paul Fitch

Paul Fitch is a native of Washington, DC, where he currently lives, and is a member of the ecumenical church, 8th Day Faith Community, which considers him their ambassador to Central America. His experience of working with, and coming to know, refugees fleeing wars in El Salvador and Guatemala in the early 1980s, within the context of Christian community, profoundly changed his life, as he entered into a movement at the intersection of faith, politics, and humanity. This led him to walk ever since with the peoples of Central America who seek a better, more just and more humane future. At times he has done this intensely, as when he lived in El Salvador and worked in rural and urban communities with the Lutheran Church there from 1988 to 1994, and at other times as more of an undercurrent in his life. 

Paul has been married to Videlbina, a Salvadoran, since 1989, who have two grown sons in a bicultural family, and considers himself blessed with two homelands – El Salvador and the United States. His life has been enriched with relationships of mutual solidarity with people who have so generously shared, with him and with so many others, their hopes and dreams for a better future. Beyond being personally engaged, he has sought to be a bridge of understanding and solidarity between people of different lands in respect of each people’s right to their own sovereignty and, collectively, in defense of our common home.

Paul’s work experience includes pastoral accompaniment, working with the Salvadoran Lutheran Church, with populations affected by, and rebuilding from, the war in El Salvador. There he is credited with being the founder of the “Church of the Rebirth of the Martyrs.” He has also: worked in direct support of homeless people in Washington DC, been a messenger and mailman, a preschool teacher, and a federal contractor working in litigation support in defense of environmental laws. In retirement, he has been engaged in matters of family, community, and peace activism, in volunteering in support of political and human rights in El Salvador, being an outdoor enthusiast, and solidarity with Honduras.