The Ambivalence of Catholic Politics in Latin America

2015 ◽  
pp. 255-272
Author(s):  
Amy Edmonds
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Institutional Relations ◽  
The Church ◽  
Causal Variables

The Catholic Church in Latin America has played far-reaching and diverse roles in the political sphere. In the 1970s and 1980s, Catholic leaders used the Church’s prestige and its considerable resources to defend human rights and promote democratic transitions in several countries; in the modern democratic context the Church has facilitated action on social justice issues such as land reform, inequality, and the rights of the indigenous. Yet it has also defended authoritarian regimes and thwarted laws lessening restrictions on abortion and gay rights. This chapter surveys divergent Catholic responses to the challenges of authoritarianism and modernization and synthesizes the explanations for these distinctive political paths into three categories of causal variables: ideology, organizational interests, and institutional arrangements. Interests and ideology strongly influence political agendas, but their content and meaning depend on the specific institutional relations among the Church, state, and society.

Cultural Opportunities and Tactical Choice in the Argentine and Chilean Reproductive Rights Movements

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Borland
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Reproductive Rights ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Reproductive rights movements throughout Latin America contend with the strong influence of the Catholic Church. In Argentina and Chile, two predominately Catholic countries where abortion is illegal yet common, reproductive rights activists see the church as their focal opponent. Analyzing data on the reproductive rights movement in each case, I argue that cultural opportunity is important for understanding the ways that activists address religion and the church in strategizing collective action frames. In Argentina, weak social support of the church foments more confrontational activism, despite the institutional power that the church still wields. In Chile, strong links between church and society obstruct reproductive rights challengers, leading to more cautious critiques of the church. Considering political and cultural opportunities is necessary when studying movements that make claims on both state and society, especially movements that challenge powerful cultural actors like the Catholic Church

scholarly journals PRAISE OF THE CONVERT: BELIEVE AND BELONG FROM THE CATHOLICITY OF LATIN AMERICA

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-339
Author(s):  
Felipe Gaytán Alcalá
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church

Latin America was considered for many years the main bastion of Catholicism in the world by the number of parishioners and the influence of the church in the social and political life of the región, but in recent times there has been a decrease in the catholicity index. This paper explores three variables that have modified the identity of Catholicism in Latin American countries. The first one refers to the conversion processes that have expanded the presence of Christian denominations, by analyzing the reasons that revolve around the sense of belonging that these communities offer and that prop up their expansion and growth. The second variable accounts for those Catholics who still belong to the Catholic Church but who in their practices and beliefs have incorporated other magical or esoteric scheme in the form of religious syncretisms, modifying their sense of being Catholics in the world. The third factor has a political reference and has to do with the concept of laicism, a concept that sets its objective, not only in the separation of the State from the Church, but for historical reasons in catholicity restraint in the public space which has led to the confinement of the Catholic to the private, leaving other religious groups to occupy that space.

The Catholic Church at Puebla

Worldview ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 22 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 13-15
Author(s):  
Renato Poblete
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Human Life ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Profound Impact ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

The Third General Assembly of the Latin American Episcopate took place last February in the Mexican city of Puebla. Without doubt it will make a profound impact upon the evangelizing action of the Church in Latin America. The documents produced at Puebla, like those produced in Medellin ten years earlier, will give rise to reflections that will find their way into the diverse pastoral plans of each nation.Neither Medellin nor Puebla can be considered isolated phenomenon. On the contrary, each should be seen as fruits of a maturing process in which Christian people, together with their pastors, express both the depths of their anguish and their high hopes and visions. That vision encompasses raising people from subhuman situations to a fuller experience of human life. Such experience should be expected to bring people together in brotherly love and lead naturally to a greater openness to God.

The Church as a Dynamic Field of Priestly, Prophetic and Diaconal Tension

Ecclesiology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-186
Author(s):  
Jakob Egeris Thorsen
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
High Priest ◽  
Dynamic Field ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Church

On the background of sociological and theological analyses of the transformations of the religious field and of the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America, this article sketches a proposal for a practical ecclesiology. This ecclesiology understands the church as a dynamic field of tension between priestly, prophetic and diaconal expressions. These fundamental expressions of the church parallel Christ’s threefold role as King, high priest and prophet. Combining P. Bourdieu’s theory of the religious field with N. M. Healy’s call for a practical-prophetical ecclesiology, the article argues that the changes in the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America can be understood as a re-articulation of the church’s prophetic and diaconal dimensions. The apparent disorder and tension hereby created can in fact be the starting point for a constructive, practical ecclesiology, which is able to make sense of the often disharmonious character of ecclesial life.

The Making of Colonial Christianity in Hispanic America

2020 ◽  
pp. 7-22
Author(s):  
John F. Schwaller
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Institutional Structure ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Colonial Latin America ◽  
Religious Orders ◽  
Administrative Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

The Catholic Church was one of the most important institutions of colonial Latin America; yet, it is poorly understood by many scholars. This chapter outlines the important features of the Catholic Church both from the point of view of institutional structure and the impact of these on the society at large. While generally considered a monolithic institution, the Church consisted of many disparate and often competing units. The clergy itself was divided between those who were members of religious orders and communities and those who were directly under the administrative control of bishops and archbishops. The Church also touched the life of nearly every resident of the colonies, from baptism until death. The Church also had an important impact on the finances of the colonies. In short, this study looks at the broad scope of the actions and activities of the Catholic Church in colonial Latin America.

Prophetic Martyrdom in Modern Latin America

2020 ◽  
pp. 236-255
Author(s):  
Edward T. Brett
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Religious Sisters ◽  
Church Workers ◽  
Modern Latin America ◽  
The Church

Following the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), over a thousand priests and religious sisters and brothers were exiled, imprisoned, tortured, or murdered in Latin America by authoritarian governments. A much larger number of lay Church workers were also incarcerated, brutalized, or killed. Most suffered or died because, following the ideals of Vatican II and the Second Latin American Bishops Conference at Medellín, Colombia (1968), they committed themselves to the amelioration of the marginalized in their countries, even though they were fully aware that to do so placed their lives in great peril. This chapter treats a select number—mostly priests and nuns—who were killed because of their prophetic devotion to the poor. It is limited to the nations of Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Central America. It also touches on the bitter divisions that resulted in the Church as a consequence of this new religious activism. Finally, it demonstrates why the deaths of so many religious-based social justice activists forced the institutional Catholic Church to reexamine its outdated criteria for martyrdom.

scholarly journals Defending Human Rights Through Social Action: The Role of the Catholic Church in Latin America in the 1960s–1980s

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madelyn Evans
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Social Mission ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Since the earliest days of colonization, religion – in particular, the Roman Catholic Church – has been a driving force in the Latin American politics, economics, and society. As the region underwent frequent political instability and high levels of violence, the Church remained a steady, powerful force in society. This paper will explore the relationship between the Catholic Church and the struggle to defend human rights during the particularly oppressive era of bureaucratic-authoritarianism in Latin America throughout the 1960s–1980s. This paper seeks to demonstrate that the Church undertook the struggle to protect human rights because its modernized social mission sought to support the oppressed suffering from the political, economic, and social status quo. In challenging the legitimacy of the ruling national security ideology and illuminating the moral dimensions of violence, the Catholic Church became a crucial constructive agent in spurring social change, mitigating the effects of violence, and setting a democratic framework for the future.

Virtual Legality

2001 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 555-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANTHONY W. PEREIRA
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
Military Justice ◽  
Transitions To Democracy ◽  
Legal Justification ◽  
The Military ◽  
Relevant Factors

Authoritarian regimes in Latin America frequently expanded military court jurisdiction to prosecute political opponents and protect members of the armed forces and police engaged in repression. What happened to the military courts after the recent transitions to democracy in the region? Why did some democratic transitions produce broad reform of military justice while most did not? This article first reviews contending theoretical explanations that offer answers to these questions, comparing those answers with actual outcomes in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. It then argues that the “mode of transition” perspective, which attributes variation in the extent of military justice reform to the autonomy and strength of the military in the democratic transition, best explains the outcomes in these cases. However, the military's autonomy and strength should be specified. In the area of military justice, the relevant factors are the military's propagation of an accepted legal justification for past uses of military courts and the creation of congressional support for the maintenance of existing military court jurisdiction. Both of these factors are present in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, where little or no reform of military justice took place under democratization, and absent in Argentina, where broad reform did occur.

Obstacles to Change in the Church: Lessons from Four Brazilian Dioceses

1973 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-414
Author(s):  
Thomas C. Bruneau
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Third World ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The One ◽  
The Third World ◽  
The Church

A review of the popular and even scholarly literature dealing with the Catholic Church in Latin America during the last decade will leave the reader confused. The books, articles, and media coverage in comparison with each other are ambiguous and at times contradictory. If on the one hand the Church is described as the fastest-changing institution on the continent, there is on the other hand ample proof put forth that the institution is stagnant and in many cases apparently bankrupt. While some students point to the emergence of militant clergy groups such as the Golconda movement in Colombia or Priests of the Third World in Argentina, others as easily argue that these movements are beyond the institution and without significance in the larger society. And for every time the Church is shown siding with the poor and oppressed, two instances are held up in which words are not followed by action.

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