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.

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 Modernized Church in Peru: Two Aspects

1964 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-318
Author(s):  
Fredrick B. Pike
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Active Role ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Throughout Latin America the Catholic Church has embarked upon a process of modernization. The key element in modernization has been the assumption of an active role in the quest for economic betterment of the conditions in which a majority of the population lives. Realizing that a modern nation is an integrated nation, the Church seems to have adopted as its motto: A Modem Church in a Modern Nation. Consequently, it has begun to help Latin American republics become nations through the integration of previously excluded groups into society.

The Catholic Church, “Politics,” and Violence: The Colombian Case

1977 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel H. Levine ◽  
Alexander W. Wilde
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
The Other ◽  
Public Controversy ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

The issue of politics and the Catholic Church in Latin America, relegated until recently to nineteenth-century historians, is very much alive today. On the one hand, the church as an institution is enmeshed in public controversy over human rights with repressive regimes from Paraguay to Panama, from Brazil to Chile. When it serves as a shelter for political and social dissent, it is accused by secular authorities of engaging in a “new clericalism.” On the other hand, it has been assailed by critics within for being wed to existing political powers. These radical clergy and lay people believe that the church's social presence is inevitably political, but want to change its alliances to benefit the poor and dispossessed. Furthermore, they believe that the existing order in given situations is aform of “institutionalized violence” against which the Christian response must be “counterviolence.” Such attacks from right and left occur, paradoxically, just at a time when the Latin American church has turned with unprecedented resolve to fundamental pastoral tasks. Politics has thus become a problem just as the hierarchy can claim, with considerable justification, to have eschewedthe practice of partisanship and the pursuit of power.

Catholic Church Advocacy in Latin America

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher W. Hale
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Resource Mobilization ◽  
Gay Marriage ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Historically, the Catholic Church in Latin America has supported conservative interests. It legitimized Spanish colonial rule and sided with traditionalist elites following Latin American independence. However, beginning in the mid-20th century, some within the Church engaged with social causes, and a new progressive theology inspired many priests and bishops to advocate politically on behalf of the poor. The resultant movement helped topple dictatorships, facilitated transitions to democracy, and developed as a result of three factors. First, liberation theology emboldened clergy to support the political causes of the poor and created an ideological frame encouraging Catholic laity to organize for social change. Furthermore, competition from new Protestant religions provided Catholic leadership with an incentive to support secular political movements and created an opportunity for political engagement through the Catholic Church. Finally, decentralization within the Church encouraged Catholic adherents to engage and develop organizational capacities at the grass-roots. Taken together, scholarly explanations emphasizing framing, opportunity, and resource mobilization create a compelling account of the development of progressive Catholic activism. Less sustained theoretical attention has been given to assessing the dynamics of conservative Latin American Catholic advocacy. The Church consistently opposes abortion, divorce, the use of contraceptives, and gay marriage. Moreover, although the Catholic Church has enabled many women’s political movements, it suppresses efforts at liberalizing reproductive rights. Future research on Catholic advocacy in Latin America should identify additional pathways through which framing, opportunity, and resource mobilization influence conservative Catholic advocacy in the region. Additionally, the Church’s relationship with environmental issues is understudied. Finally, Latin America offers untapped potential to examine the complicated relationship between ethnicity, religion, and collective action.

A critical note on Aparecida and the future of the Catholic Church of Latin America

2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Hegy
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Type Structure ◽  
Small Communities ◽  
Critical Note ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

The conclusions of the Fifth Conference of Bishops of Latin America meeting in Aparecida in 2007 are entitled ‘Disciples and Missionaries of Jesus Christ.’ When analyzed in the light of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the traditional doctrines of soteriology, the sacraments, ecclesiology, and authority in the Church are missing; they are also missing in the conclusions of the previous conferences of Latin American bishops and in the Second African Synod. The conference of Medellin of 1968 had inaugurated the see-judge-act methodology, but it is missing in Aparecida. Also missing is a strong emphasis on social justice and structural sin, which are central to liberation theology. However, missionary discipleship is not just an ideal in Latin America; it is practiced through the Holy Popular Mission of Brazil and small communities in Guatemala. Hence the Catholic Church of Latin America is heading in a new direction. In this way, it is an example of a Church-type structure with some features of the sect type.

Thinking about Current Vatican Policy in Central and East Europe and the Utility of the ‘Brazilian Paradigm’

1993 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Della Cava
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
East Europe ◽  
American Experience ◽  
History Of ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Church

This text is a preliminary assessment of the potential for comparative and ‘trans-systemic’ study of the current role of the Roman Catholic Church in Central and East Europe. For observers of Vatican policy in world affairs, there is every reason to believe that the Church, now engaged in rapidly rebuilding its own institutions in Central and East Europe, will play a decisive part in shaping the future societies of the region in the coming decade, just as it did in Brazil and the rest of Latin America in the immediate post-war era. In fact, the recent history of the Church in Latin America, but above all Brazil, provides a timely and useful paradigm for helping fathom the current course of Vatican policy in Central and East Europe. In turn, the results of comparative inquiry may even serve to stimulate an entirely fresh discussion of the Brazilian and Latin American experience.

“The Door of History”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Eisenbrandt
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Death Squad ◽  
The Poor ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Using trial testimony about Romero’s last Sunday homily in 1980, this chapter gives a history of the Catholic Church in El Salvador and Romero’s life culminating in his three years as archbishop. The Church underwent an overhaul during the 1960s, leading many priests and bishops in Latin America to follow Liberation Theology, the belief that rather than providing charity to the poor, they should focus on the systemic causes of inequality. Romero was viewed by many Salvadoran clergy as conservative when he became archbishop in 1977 but the death squad murder of his friend Rutilio Grande, a Jesuit follower of Liberation Theology, pushed Romero to more openly denounce those responsible for the inequality and repression. The day before his murder, Romero, in his Sunday homily, called on soldiers to “stop the repression” by disobeying the orders of their commanders.

Cuba: Religion and Revolutionary Institutionalization

1985 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret E. Crahan
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Social Experience ◽  
Cuban Revolution ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Both before and after the 1959 revolution, the Catholic Church in Cuba deviated from the norm in Latin America. This is in large measure due to the unique historical and social experience of Cuba, as well as to the fact that the church remained until the early 1960s largely a missionary outpost of Spain. When the revolution occurred, the Catholic Church was frozen in a pre-Vatican II mold which was reinforced by an exodus of clergy, religious and laity. The economic and diplomatic embargo of Cuba further isolated the church from progressive trends within the international church. Thus, the ferment unleashed by Vatican II (1962–5) and the Latin American Bishops Conference at Medellín, Colombia (1968) had less impact than changes resulting from the Cuban Revolution. As a consequence, the Catholic Church in Cuba entered the 1970s with limited theological and pastoral resources to meet the challenge of a consolidated Marxist/Leninist revolution. As an institution, the Catholic Church in Cuba is, as it was in 1959, the weakest in all of Latin America.

scholarly journals To Conscience First, and to the Pope (Long) Afterwards? British Catholics and Their Attitudes Towards Morality and Structural Issues Concerning the Catholic Church

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Clements ◽  
Stephen Bullivant
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Commitment ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Personal Morality ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Abstract Background The attitudes of Catholics in Britain have undergone significant liberalisation on social moral issues across recent decades, whilst the reputation of the Catholic Church has suffered due to public opposition to its traditional teachings on such issues. But there has been comparatively little recent investigation into British Catholics’ views on these debates using surveys aimed at this religious community. Purpose This article examines the sources of attitudinal heterogeneity amongst Catholics in Britain on core debates affecting the Catholic Church. The aims are to examine, firstly, which groups within the British Catholic Community are more likely to conform to or to dissent from the Church’s teachings and, secondly, whether the socio-demographic and religious correlates of attitudes vary across different types of issue. Methods This article uses a new, nationally representative survey of Catholic adults in Britain (n = 1823). The survey is used to examine the sources of variation in Catholics’ attitudes towards a range of issues relating to the Roman Catholic Church. These issues relate to the priesthood, personal morality, and sinful behaviours. OLS models are used to assesses the relative impact of socio-demographic, religious socialisation, and religious commitment variables. Results The findings show that women are consistently more liberal in their views than men. Greater religious commitment is always associated with support for the traditional teachings of the Church. Conclusions and Implications Exploring the sources of attitudinal heterogeneity among Catholics, we provide new insights into the internal dynamics of ‘Britain’s largest minority’. We conclude by discussing the potential effects of increasing ‘nonversion’ for interpreting religious statistics—a topic of relevance beyond the denominational and geographical confines of this study’s explicit focus.

V. Models of Dissent: The Chicano Movement in the Roman Catholic Church

Horizons ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-149
Author(s):  
Jason Steidl
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
The Other ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Chicano Movement ◽  
Catholic Priests ◽  
The Church ◽  
Successes And Failures ◽  
The Catholic Church

This contribution to the roundtable will compare two forms of protest in the church—one that is radical and challenges the church from the outside, and the other that is institutional and challenges the church from the inside. For case studies, I will compare Católicos Por La Raza (CPLR), a group of Chicano students that employed dramatic demonstrations in its protest of the Catholic Church, and PADRES, an organization of Catholic priests that utilized the tools at its disposal to challenge racism from within the hierarchy. I will outline the ecclesiologies of CPLR and PADRES, the ways in which these visions led to differing means of dissent, and the successes and failures of each group.

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