Mexican Americans and the Catholic Church, 1900-1965

In the summer of 1992 a woman praying at the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in San Antonio's Mexican-American West Side noticed that a statue of the Blessed Mother was "weeping." Word spread quickly through the barrio, and soon hundreds began filing past the statue to witness the miracle and to pray. A week or two later, across town in a North Side Anglo-American church, a priest giving a homily on the central role of Christ in the salvation of humanity, a very appropriate theme for that day's feast of Corpus Christi, decried the "weak faith" of those streaming by the statue. For Mexican Americans in the barrio, however, the phenomenon was no less than an incarnational event, a manifestation of God's presence on earth. La Virgen was crying for her people and their community, which was enduring a rash of senseless gang slayings and drive-by shootings. Just a few days before the statue had begun "weeping," a young man had been killed in a public housing project only a few blocks from the church. To most middle-class North Siders, those deaths were merely headlines in the newspapers and the tearful statue a curiosity of Mexicans* of little "true" faith. To Mexicanos, the Blessed Mother's "weeping" was a sign that she shared their pain. Moreover, some of the faithful would claim, her tears were not shed in vain, for in the following weeks the violence slacked off. La Virgen helped them through this crisis, as she had assisted them in the past.

While most Mexican Americans in San Antonio did not flock to venerate the weeping statue, the incident and the North Side priest's reaction to it are poignant reflections of the contradictions in the Mexicano faith experience. The Catholic Church has always played an important role in the Mexican-American faith community. Some of the sacraments and traditional Catholic devotions have contributed significantly to the spiritual lives of many Mexicanos. Bishops, priests, and women religious have served generously, some heroically. But like the priest in the North Side parish, the Church has not always understood the Mexican-American community. Because at times the Church has been overly concerned with doctrine, regulations, institutional goals, it has not responded adequately or equitably to the spiritual and temporal needs of Mexican Americans. Indeed, at times the goals of Church authorities have been in conflict with those of the Mexican-American community.

The incident of the weeping statue also reflects the strength of popular religiosity and the Church's ambivalent attitude. The pastor at the Guadalupe church did not promote the devotion; neither did he discourage it or close down the church. On other occasions, the official Church has nurtured popular beliefs and found a place for them within traditional doctrine and rituals. For their part, Mexican Americans have for ·centuries integrated the supernatural with the joys and tribulations of their worldly society through their belief system. Their faith has been closely linked to institutional religion and is nourished by it, but Mexicano religiosity has also been independent of official structures.

However ambivalent, the relationship between the Church and Mexicanos and their religiosity has given rise to a faith community. Members of this community sometimes formulate a set of beliefs and devise rituals that do not follow the standard Church traditions. El pueblo, the people, also propose their own norms, virtues and sins. Most importantly, they support one another in the faith, irrespective of the Church's sometimes helpful, sometimes hindering role. The mutual support among the people sustains the community through change and adversity.

(excerpted from the Prologue)