Pope Excommunicates MexicansBy Gabriel Buelna
While Americans focused on misconduct by police during May Day events last week, the abortion debate erupted in Mexico, causing a roar throughout Latin America and the Vatican. Threatened by the legalization of first trimester abortions by the Mexico City assembly, Pope Benedict XVI sent a message that legalizing abortion of any kind will not be tolerated. Mexican bishops, led by the comments of the pope, threatened to excommunicate sympathizers. Not since the days of the Mexican revolution has a religious issue so seriously threatened the delicate balance between the Catholic Church and the Mexican government.
Mexico has long been a bastion of Catholicism complete with the traditional conservatism and obedience. The breaking of ranks in the form of Mexico City's pro-abortion legislation was not taken well by the Vatican. While the announcement was shocking to some, it should not have come as a surprise. The relationship between the Mexican State and the Catholic Church has been tenuous since the creation of the Mexican Constitution in 1917. For over 70 years, the clergy were stripped of real-estate, the right to vote and an array of laws intended to eliminate any role of the Church within Mexican society. Catholics even rebelled against the government in the bloody Cristero War of 1926 that lasted for three years and left 90,000 dead.
It was only in 1992 that Mexico restored its official relationship with the Church, granting legal status to all religious groups, providing limited property rights, and eliminating restrictions on the number of priests in the country. The Church experienced revitalization as the political power of Mexico's elite Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) began to wane. In hindsight, it's not surprising the Church decided to lash out at this point in history. Mexican President Felipe Calderon is the first modern president to publicly worship and show any type of public spirituality; thus, providing some political cover to the Church.
While the Mexican Catholic Church has regained some of its role in the country's public life, it should move forward with caution. The Mexico oftoday is not the Mexico of the 19th century, where the entire population lived in poverty, was illiterate, and no political pluralism existed. Mexico today has legalized civil unions in several states and voting rights are somewhat respected. As the confidence and awareness of individual rights develops in Mexico, the Church is mistaken to believe it can dictate it's will as it did in the past.
In a public letter to citizens, Mexican bishops have said doctors and nurses who perform abortions and politicians who supported the legalization would be excommunicated. With an estimated 200,000 illegal abortions and 100 deaths per year, the Church's strategy is destined to backfire. Elected officials, media and citizens throughout Mexico have begun to question the heavy hand of the Vatican as interfering in internal politics.
Abortion critics have stated legalizing abortion would lead to a moral decline throughout Mexico. The problem with this argument is that Mexico has seen tremendous moral decline in the last two decades not from changes in social laws, but from its economic deterioration that has led millions of families to dissolve and emigrate to the United States. Case in point, last week the Mexican government reported that since 2000, they have lost more Mexican citizens to emigration (577,000 a year), than to deaths (495,000 a year). To comment on moral decay in the face of these numbers shows a complete disconnection with reality.
While 88% of Mexico remains Catholic, membership worldwide continues to decline by one percent each year. Despite the fact that Latin America is home to half the world's Catholics, the outlook is not positive. In Brazil alone, the percentage of Catholics fell from 83% in 1991 to 67% in 2007. The debate over abortion in Mexico and eventually throughout Latin America can be a healthy discussion for the Church. Nobody expects the Catholic Church to accept abortion. Who would want to be part of a church that is so whimsical about its teachings? What Latin America demands is a Catholic Church willing to accept that its membership has different relationships with governments and that public health concerns are important.
This past weekend, my older daughter received her First Holy Communion. I am proud she is part of an institution that is doing good things throughout the world with its educational system, charities and ministries. What nobody likes is to be threatened with excommunication for disagreeing with the Church. If the goal is to reduce or eliminate abortions, the Church will need to create the social networks to reach the women who need help when they are faced with an unwanted pregnancy, whatever their choice might be in terms of abortion. The 200,000 Mexican women a year that receive illegal and dangerous abortions need to know that their Church can provide guidance and support without repercussions.
What do you think?
Mexico has long been a bastion of Catholicism complete with the traditional conservatism and obedience. The breaking of ranks in the form of Mexico City's pro-abortion legislation was not taken well by the Vatican. While the announcement was shocking to some, it should not have come as a surprise. The relationship between the Mexican State and the Catholic Church has been tenuous since the creation of the Mexican Constitution in 1917. For over 70 years, the clergy were stripped of real-estate, the right to vote and an array of laws intended to eliminate any role of the Church within Mexican society. Catholics even rebelled against the government in the bloody Cristero War of 1926 that lasted for three years and left 90,000 dead.
It was only in 1992 that Mexico restored its official relationship with the Church, granting legal status to all religious groups, providing limited property rights, and eliminating restrictions on the number of priests in the country. The Church experienced revitalization as the political power of Mexico's elite Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) began to wane. In hindsight, it's not surprising the Church decided to lash out at this point in history. Mexican President Felipe Calderon is the first modern president to publicly worship and show any type of public spirituality; thus, providing some political cover to the Church.
While the Mexican Catholic Church has regained some of its role in the country's public life, it should move forward with caution. The Mexico oftoday is not the Mexico of the 19th century, where the entire population lived in poverty, was illiterate, and no political pluralism existed. Mexico today has legalized civil unions in several states and voting rights are somewhat respected. As the confidence and awareness of individual rights develops in Mexico, the Church is mistaken to believe it can dictate it's will as it did in the past.
In a public letter to citizens, Mexican bishops have said doctors and nurses who perform abortions and politicians who supported the legalization would be excommunicated. With an estimated 200,000 illegal abortions and 100 deaths per year, the Church's strategy is destined to backfire. Elected officials, media and citizens throughout Mexico have begun to question the heavy hand of the Vatican as interfering in internal politics.
Abortion critics have stated legalizing abortion would lead to a moral decline throughout Mexico. The problem with this argument is that Mexico has seen tremendous moral decline in the last two decades not from changes in social laws, but from its economic deterioration that has led millions of families to dissolve and emigrate to the United States. Case in point, last week the Mexican government reported that since 2000, they have lost more Mexican citizens to emigration (577,000 a year), than to deaths (495,000 a year). To comment on moral decay in the face of these numbers shows a complete disconnection with reality.
While 88% of Mexico remains Catholic, membership worldwide continues to decline by one percent each year. Despite the fact that Latin America is home to half the world's Catholics, the outlook is not positive. In Brazil alone, the percentage of Catholics fell from 83% in 1991 to 67% in 2007. The debate over abortion in Mexico and eventually throughout Latin America can be a healthy discussion for the Church. Nobody expects the Catholic Church to accept abortion. Who would want to be part of a church that is so whimsical about its teachings? What Latin America demands is a Catholic Church willing to accept that its membership has different relationships with governments and that public health concerns are important.
This past weekend, my older daughter received her First Holy Communion. I am proud she is part of an institution that is doing good things throughout the world with its educational system, charities and ministries. What nobody likes is to be threatened with excommunication for disagreeing with the Church. If the goal is to reduce or eliminate abortions, the Church will need to create the social networks to reach the women who need help when they are faced with an unwanted pregnancy, whatever their choice might be in terms of abortion. The 200,000 Mexican women a year that receive illegal and dangerous abortions need to know that their Church can provide guidance and support without repercussions.
What do you think?
Gabriel Buelna, PhD, MSW is Executive Director of Plaza Community Center in East Los Angeles and a faculty member in the Chicana/o Studies Department at Cal State Northridge. You can visit his blog at http://gabrielbuelna.blogspot.com/
NOTE: If you are a member of the media and would like to re-print this article, please e-mail gbuelna@sbcglobal.net
6 comments:
I am Catholic and adhere to the teachings of the Church, but I also believe in the separation of Church and State. It is unwise for the Church to threaten the Mexican people with massive excommunications. Instead, it should work with the government and health authorities to address the public health, social and educational needs of women and children.
i fully support the decision of the mexican government. i too believe in the importance of separation of church and state, and abortion and gay rights issues are two items that should be left alone, and stand as legal human rights issues and not moral standards.
The church is adhering to what Jesus taught. Thou shalt not kill.
Not even small people who surprise us with their presence.
The Vatican isn't reaching it's long arm against the mexicans. It in fact embraces them, even the tiniest of mexicans. It only warns those who act in violence against those small mexicans that they cannot be part of a church if they behave in such sinful violent acts.
The church welcomes your daughter - and wishes and to welcome all - even the littlest to recieve Jesus.
"Let the children come to me" He said.
It's not a matter of church and state. It's a matter of life and death.
This is not an issue of church vs. state. Nor is it a geopolitical power struggle. This is about right and wrong. The Church is consistent on this issue. Abortion is murder. The Holy Father is simply stating a clear position against what is a travesty—a modern day holocaust. If millions of born humans were slaughtered with such abandon we would expect the Church to use strong language in their defense. We would expect the Church to distance itself from anyone who willingly partakes in such evil. Yet because the people in question are unborn, we somehow expect the Church to diplomatically quibble, to make tepid requests, and to use benign, non-threatening language in defense of said human beings…Unlike so many in North America and Europe, the Church does not euphemize murder with terms like “women’s reproductive rights” and “reproductive freedom”. The Pope rightly calls it by its name: murder. Those who choose to participate in this evil are committing egregious sin. This is a not a matter of control but rather a plea for respect for the gift of life.
Could we respect our beloved Church if it were not led by a strong defender of its most basic tenants? As a Catholic, you either believe in the right to life or you do not. In this case, Church and state cannot be mutually exclusive when the state is aiding and abetting a tremendous evil.
I think you are Full of Shit, and therefore you Need to be Flushed!!! Taking GOD out of every aspect of our public lives is a logical fallacy. So called "Christians" like you who adhere to this never even put Two & Two together. Meaning you don't even take into consideration of "Who" are the Authors, the Manipulators and or the Beneficiaries of this Logical Fallacy, which brings about nothing but the Decadence of the Faith!!! Legalized abortion is not a Right, it is a License. No-One has the "Right" to Kill anyone!!! And those so-called "Fetuses" are Living Souls that have yet to be born. Yet still they have a Right to Life like You and I. I am sorry that these poor women feel so desperate and afraid that they go to these clandestine locations to abort their babies, where even some of them die. But now how many Innocent Unborn Babies will be Slaughtered to save these women's lives. Is there a scale to measure the two, and if so what are the numbers to Justify the Killing of the Innocent? ... When it comes to such Evil, I hope you can understand that not only is it the Church's "Right" to threat Catholic Christrians with Excommunication, it in facrt is its Obligation!!! What government of the world does not enforce its laws upon its citizens? Can you imagine the Anarchy if none did? ... I don't know you, but from the looks of things your "Phd" aint worth a Piss. For it is obvious that you've been Indoctrinated, and thus, don't do much thinking on your own. I Give You No-Respect!!!
Sincerely,
Cristero: West L.A
I think it's interesting that the Church is using excommunication as a direct threat to Mexican women (who contemplate abortion) at this time, when it doesn't do that so boldly in the U.S. It certainly has a right to use such threats as abortion is illegal under its Canons, but its timing and move for control on the issue couldn't be more perfect.
It's also intersting that so much of the history of the Cristero War remains veiled in secrecy with respect to the sins of the Church and how they controlled the land, the schools, the wealth and influence. When I hear stories from those who fought in that war talk about what atrocities the Church committed in those days, I shudder, yet nowhere in writings are these things even aluded to. Considering the totality of the historical events leading up to the Cristero War, I think Mexico wanted to rid itself of outsiders, i.e., colonialism and external influences, i.e. Spain and its religion forced on the indigenous Americans. Yet, because the Catholic Church is revered, only one side of history is told. Many died to launch the civil rights of the poor and that is one main underlying reason why the Cristero War broke out in the first place. The innocent people, the faithful Catholics only knew what they were told by the Church: to fight for Christ. Institutions are never perfect and the Church has its share of sins. It's also done much for Mexico, i.e. blessed deeds of charity, miraculous healings and so many answered prayers.
In summary, I can't blame Mexico for wanting to formulate its own policies, laws, i.e. abortion, without external threats. Perhaps separation of church and state is the safest way to avoid another religious war.
Post a Comment