Blancarte: Catholicism on the Dust Heap of History

Famed analyst of religion in Mexico, Roberto Blancarte, has declared that Catholicism is destined for abandonment in Mexico ("el catolicismo esta destinado a ser abandonado"). His pessimism comes from the latest numbers from INEGI that shows the number of Catholics in Mexico dropping after yet another census, now claiming about 84% of the population - a drop of roughly 4 to 5% in the last decade. Says Blancarte, "as long as the church continues with its boring liturgy, as long as its representatives fail to respond to the needs of the people and maintain their criticism of contraceptives or the condom, or as long as sex education is bad, the people are going to grow farther and farther away." (mientras la Iglesia continúe con sus liturgias aburridas, mientras sus representantes no respondan a las necesidades de la gente, y mantengan sus críticas hacia el uso de anticonceptivos o del condón, o que la educación sexual es mala, la gente se va a alejar más y más).

I respectfully disagree with two aspects of his analysis. First, he claims that the Catholic church needs liberating influences to retain the flock... but where are Catholics going? The three largest non-Catholic groups in Mexico are the Luz del Mundo, the Jehova's Witnesses, and the Latter-day Saints (Mormons): all three of which are far more conservative than Catholicism (and, frankly, their services aren't exactly rock concerts of entertainment is a factor). They are also religions that maintain a fair amount of rigid and predictable ceremony in their worship. I would suggest that the madre iglesia is losing members that find the social doctrine of Catholicism too liberal - let alone the few remnants of liberation theology still bouncing around out there. In terms of sex, however, he may be spot on regarding contraception and new concepts of marital conjugal relations as beneficial instead of cause for shame.

Second, I think his failure to mention the politics and scandals of the Catholic church is an important oversight. If people feel their contributions will be misused or their sense of sexual identity assaulted, they will vote with their feet. As Max Weber points out, patriarchy is only functional when the patriarch wields power from a position of higher moral ground... as soon as that erodes the followers either do away with the patriarch or they go find a new one.

I would also point out that research from Bolivia, Chile, Brazil, Guatemala, and Haiti has all shown that while you can see mass conversion, retention of that conversion is only around 40%. Most of the rest will drift back to Catholicism. However, one thing I liked about Blancarte's analysis is that it does rightly show that 5% of Mexicans profess no religion - but that does not necessarily mean atheism. As the Catholics have feared for years, many leave the church, try out another religion (or several), and eventually drift out of organized religion completely.

Mormons Take a Stand on Immigration ...

... and it is sort of a non-stand. Sort of. Here it is:

The complex issues surrounding immigration are a matter of increasing concern and debate for all in this country.

Elected individuals have the primary responsibility to find solutions in the best interests of all whose lives will be impacted by their actions.

We repeat our appeal for careful reflection and civil discourse when addressing immigration issues. Finding a successful resolution will require the best thinking and goodwill of all across the political spectrum, the highest levels of statesmanship, and the strongest desire to do what is best for all of God’s children.

According to KSL, the Mormon owned media group in Salt Lake, the statement was greeted with thumbs up from both Proyecto Latino de Utah and the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration. In the context of the illegal and just mean spirited release of so-called illegals in Utah earlier this summer, perhaps a weak statement just to stay classy becomes a more powerful statement. At any rate, according to my cousins in Idaho the statement was greeted with incredible anger by conservative Mormons in SE Idaho (Holly, you really should have stayed in Montana).

Utah's Latino population - like the US South - has seen an explosion of mostly Latino immigration from outside the US. As Utah's families have become more affluent, teens and adults have abandoned service and agricultural work which are two of the driving forces in the state. And, yes, most of those immigrants remain Catholic or at least non-Mormon (sorry, Lou Dobbs). At any rate, Utah's governor has convened a round table that has generated little results (that I could find) at this point, but two big thumbs up to Luz Robles and Mark Shurtleff for these two comments:

"Reactive legislation, enforcing outside our state purview is not good public policy," said Sen. Luz Robles, D-Salt Lake City.

"In 1869, this country was joined together in this state, and the two groups that came together to drive that spike were the Chinese and Irish workers," said Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. "Immigrants who were not legal at the time."

Why should we care? Considering the wealth and power that the LDS community wields in Arizona, California, Nevada, and the rest of the Mountain West, proponents of a a civil discourse need support from US Mormons in the West.

Looking for Human Rights in ... Iowa?

St. Pius X Catholic Church in Urbandale, Iowa, seems like a fairly typical prairie church in the middle of Iowa. And as part of the reality of the twenty-first century, the church held an information fair on Catholic Social Justice and immigration in the United States. While Urbandale may be 1.6% Latino (not sure how far you would need to adjust that for undercount), it is snuggled up against Des Moines, Iowa, which has a Latino population of over 10% - almost twice what it had at the census of 2000. Better yet, in a world of double-digit unemployment, Iowa has only 6.8% unemployment. And to add to the complexity, Catholic Charities in Des Moines also takes in refugees from Latin America - the coordinator of the event is an Argentine.

Well, and Iowa has corn - elotes, anyone? Chile and lime on corn has to be better than using it for ethanol, no?

Seriously, though, St. Pius is attempting to accomplish something important: Help Catholics make decisions based on sound facts and faith and not talking heads:

Confusion over the need for immigration reform has polarized the voting public in such a way as to make it impossible for legislators to satisfy their constituents. There are many sound bites out there that attempt to tell us what to think based on a 90 second TV infomercial. St. Pius X is hosting a symposium designed to explain the issues and answer questions about immigration reform. More on the parish.

Sounds like a good goal. By the way, the United States Catholic Conference on Bishops supports immigration reform to promote human rights. These steps include: At least minimum wage for immigrants, family reunification, restoration of the legal process suspended by the 1996 immigration law, and general access to humane treatment and conditions.

Recently the Methodist Women's Group in Ft. Worth started sponsoring events that center on the humane treatment of immigrants to the United States - illegal or no. That this is not just a Catholic Social justice question should be highlighted by the detention of a Mormon missionary in the United States illegaly and scooped up by DHS and detained as he was returning to Utah from a mission for the LDS church in Ohio.

Latin America long ago addressed the question of rights and religion in the way that the United States used to. Perhaps these anectodtal incidents point to a new trend of a return to thoughtful religious practice in the United States regarding human rights.

Colonia Industrial Mexicana Nueva Jerusalen

In 1901 a dying Margarito Bautista received some gringo Mormon missionaries in his home in Atlautla, Mexico. After what Bautista described as a miraculous laying on of hands, he was cured of his illness and soon became a Mormon (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

What followed his conversion is a rollicking ride of religion and politics. Bautista was pushed of his land in Atlautla by a local cacique, spent time in the Mormon colonies in Chihuahua (this is WAY before the LeBaron people had their colony), fled the Revolution and moved to Arizona, and then settled in Utah. There he helped found a Spanish language congregation before heading back to Mexico. In Mexico, however, Bautista was the convert. He quickly became enamoured of Obregon and Calles - mostly for their anti-clerical positions, and upon his return to Utah, Bautista became a hard core partisan of the Revolution, or at least the Callista approach.

When Bautista wrote a book about native Mexicans being the chosen children of God and gringos being in deep condemnation with same said deity he had a falling out with the LDS church and headed off to Mexico. There, he joined a schism of Mexican Mormons, tried to found a New Tenochtitlan, got excommunicated from the schism he had caused, and retreated to Ozumba, Mexico (at the base of Popo), to found a utopian community: The Colonia Industrial Mexicana Nueva Jerusalen. Like most utopian experiments, it was a train wreck. His resurrection of plural marriage and laws of shared property caused infinite amounts of strife, including disgruntled members that burned down the communal food warehouse and a young wife that simultaneously blackmailed him and cuckolded him.

Nevertheless, Ozumba still plays host to the colonia of just over 1,000 people on the north edge of town who still live plural marriage and trie to share community resources. If you visit Ozumba you will know when you have strayed into Colonia Industrial: the streets are wide, the sidwalks are in great shape, the houses have white picket fences with green grass and fruit orchards around them, there is a milk cow in sheds by the house, and there is a big white temple in the middle of town. Not sure if I have described Colonia Industrial or Colonia Juarez, but both are interesting paths taken by Mormonism in Mexico - one estilo gringo, el otro estilo indigena.

For more, see:

Thomas Murphy, “From Racist Stereotype to Ethnic Identity: Instrumental Uses of Mormon Racial Doctrine,” Ethnohistory ( Summer, 1999)

Thomas Murphy, “’Stronger than Ever’ Remnants of the Third Convention” in The Journal of Latter-day Saint History, Volume 10, 1998

Jason Dormady, Primitive Revolution: Restorationist Religion and the Idea of the Mexican Revolution, 1940-1968, (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2011).

F. Lamond Tullis, The Mormons in Mexico: The Dynamics of Faith and Culture (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1987)

Fernando Gómez, From Darkness in to Light (Mexico City: MHMM, 2005)

Margarito Bautista, La Evolución de México, Sus Verdaderos Progenitores y su Origen: El Destino de América y Europa, 1935

Stuart Parker, Mexico’s Millennial Kingdom of the Lamanites: Margarito Bautista’s Mormon Raza Cósmica (2009 Presentation at the Rocky Mountain Conference on Latin American Studies)

Pictures, Top to bottom: 1) A view of Popo blowing its top in 2004, 2) The Colonia in the late 40s, 3) Bautista and his wife (the teenager), his mother in law (the older woman), and his borther and sister in law (the little kids).

Funeral Vessels and Big Love

Ok, so a few months ago our local TV channel did a HUGE no no. They came to a meeting of a local tribe and our anthropologists to discuss some of our holdings of funerary items. Despite being warned and asked not to, one of the channels there broadcast the pictures of the funeral vessels. What a stink it caused - and I think for good reason. If somebody's grave has been ripped up for education and profit, the relatives should expect at least a certain amount of respect for sacred things. Geesh.

This week, I hear that there is a big stink because the HBO series Big Love is going to broadcast their version of Mormon temple ceremonies. Another big geesh here. After my experience at the conference I went to where scholars treated religion like a Burns and Allen routine, the experience with the local TV stations and the funerary vessels, and now what I'm hearing about this Big Love stink I have to shake my head. The constant desire to "shed light" on items that are sacred to others in a way that evidences no obvious respect is simply too much. As Latin Americanists, we will be crawling all over ruins, caves, or churches physically (as well as in our research and writing) that have deep and sacred meaning to people who still use those sites and engage with those ideas, and I simply have to say, have some respect. I could care less about this Big Love show - I certainly don't have the cash (or the interest) for cable as a new professor. They can do what they like, but I think at times there need to be some limits. Burning a tallit and tzitzit in public has been considered a hate crime, so why is violating sacred Mormon experiences any different. Again, like the panel I attended, I guess we have "acceptable" religiuos whipping boys.

I once had a colleague ask a highly inappropriate (and I do mean HIGHLY) question about my own life and beliefs, to which I responded with an extemely graphic question about his wife and their sexual interaction. He was floored. What did I mean by asking such a question, he gasped. "I'm just pointing a light at a little studied topic," I replied. Boundaries, people, boundaries.

*** And just to be clear, this is a web site about Latin America. Unless you have something to say about Mormons in Latin America, I don't want anybody bringing your Big Love spitting contest on to this blog. I will continue to delete those comments.