Disclaimers
I was recently with a friend, and I gave him grief for prefacing what he said with disclaimers. “Just say it,” I encouraged him. “You’re not going to offend me.” So my words come back to haunt me a bit as I begin this rather challenging series of blog entries. On the one hand, I do not want to be accused of theological arrogance, a prejudice affecting those of faith who are so convinced that what they believe about pretty much everything is exactly right, and everyone else is wrong. On the other hand, I do not want to compromise Biblical truth. “God help me,” would be an adequate prayer. So I pray it.
I also do not want to be unnecessarily divisive. I remember
well the three years I supported a group of students at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM)
Ixtapalapa, in Mexico City. Ten to thirty of us would gather together once a
week, with a guitar or two and a desire for fellowship, and sit in a circle on
the grass in the middle of the university. On Sunday, our church fellowships
ran the theological gamut, from main-line to radically Pentecostal to Baptist,
from house to mega-church. Yet there, in the middle of a secular campus, nobody
talked about those differences. Why? Our energies were focused on more
important pursuits, like being a witness for Jesus in a dark place. I would
like to think that if an interested Catholic student would have liked to join
our group, he would have been welcomed. I also am convinced that we would have
very quickly perceived his faith commitment to Christ, or lack thereof. It just
comes with the territory. Can Catholics
have a genuine, saving relationship with Jesus? Yes. They have the Bible, and
can read it. They believe that Jesus is divine. That is a very good start.
But…but…here in Mexico there are huge barriers to saving faith, barriers I hope
to address.
“Not every Mexican is a
Catholic, but every Mexican is a Guadalupan”
I have now lived in Mexico for nearly half my life, over
twenty years, and have visited the Basilica of Guadalupe, the most important
shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Queen of Heaven, the Benefactor to the
Americas, the Mother of God more times than I can remember. I’ve lived among
both committed and nominal Catholics for a long time, and have witnessed their
compassion and fervor, as well as their disillusionment and cynicism. Alas, any
majority religion suffers under the weight of its own inertia. Just ask
evangelical Christians in the U.S.
During this time I have become increasingly aware of the
differences between Mexico’s unique form of Roman Catholicism. The saying “not
every Mexican is a Catholic, but every Mexican is a Guadalupan” is a well-known one, although I am
unable to find to whom if anyone the quote is attributed. It belies a dichotomy
between the formal dogmas of the Catholic Church and the popular, syncretistic
form that the large majority of the people have embraced in Mexico. In late 2011, the Mexico City government and
the federal government donated a huge and very expensive expanse of land to the
Catholic Church. The property is located adjacent to the Basilica of Guadalupe,
now the site of the Marian Plaza. The former president of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, declared himself as both
Catholic and Guadalupan during the inaugural address at the ceremony
celebrating the donation of the property. The massive convention center and
corresponding market space was later constructed by Carlos Slim, the world’s
richest man. Marcelo Ebrad, mayor of Mexico City, and the Roman Catholic Cardinal of Mexico
City Nolberto Rivera were also present.
Much could
be said about what sort of economic and political interests could unite Mexico’s
president with the country’s richest
man and highest religious leader. Marcelo Ebrad, mayor of Mexico City and
champion of the political left, was also present at the inauguration, a man who
has supported legalized abortions and has openly supported homosexual rights.
López Obrador, who is by far the
most powerful man on the left side of the political spectrum and former Mexico
City mayor, initially began the legal paperwork during his tenure in office that
eventually culminated in the mega-donation ten years later. Representatives of
the political and religious extremes of right and left, rich and poor,
presented united, monolithic support for Mexican Roman Catholicism. Wow.
Why would the former president identify
himself as Catholic and Guadalupan? Why the double nomenclature? The president was declaring himself
Catholic, but more importantly, he was identifying himself with the Virgin of
Guadalupe. And alas, those two religious systems are quite different.
(This series of blog posts will continue for quite a while, with frequent interruptions I'm sure)
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