José David Rodríguez Rivera, commonly known as "Padre David," is a Salvadoran priest who in the early 1970s embraced liberation theology and began to train lay Christian leaders and create Christian base communities for the purpose of helping the poor of the country to demand their economic and political rights.
These actions raised the ire of the country's oligarchy which controlled the Salvadoran government and thus Rodríguez, along with other liberationist priests and nuns, became a target of the state.
The five existing politico-military organizations at the time then formed the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, or FMLN.
Padre Rodríguez, as an FPL member, also became active in the FMLN, performing a number of roles during the twelve-year civil war.
Though not a combatant, his involvement in the FPL and FMLN included organizing Christians who supported the revolutionary movement, working with the so-called Local Popular Powers (the governing organizations in the guerrilla-controlled zones), and helping to finance the civial war and displaced communities in the country.