Background: Catholic Bishop Helps Evangelicals in Mexico

Following up on the now closed thread ("Catholic church STILL PERSECUTES Christians") I'd like to highlight a few quotes from the article I posted there that gives a little history and tells the other side of the story. (The article is six pages long so I can understand if you did not read it.)

Chemnitz and tinytim pointed out that knee-jerk anti-Catholicism is not always warranted and this article made the same point. From the article:

Evangelicals and Catholics in Chiapas: conflict and reconciliation - southern Mexico (Christian Century, Feb 19, 1997 by Paul Jeffrey)

"In 1992 the diocese (the Roman Catholic diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas in the southernmost Mexican state of Chiapas) began a unique outreach ministry to evangelicals who had been expelled from their homes and fields in San Juan Chamula."

"While some would characterize the conflict as a religious battle between a Catholic majority and an evangelical minority, the roots are more economic and political."

"Concerned about the repeated expulsions of evangelicals (by the political bosses) ... Catholic Bishop Samuel Ruiz in 1992 asked Josefina de la Torre, a sister of the Community of Mary, to organize a ministry to the expelled."

"Ruiz's crossing of religious borders has been criticized by Mexico's entrenched political elite."

"the traditional Catholics of San Juan Chamula maintain a tenuous link with the official church. They broke off relations with the San Cristobal de las Casas diocese because they feared Ruiz would force them to abandon their unusual rites."

"One of the main fears of PRI leaders is that the evangelicals will link up with the Zapatistas...'

"It's unusual to find evangelicals who thank the Lord for armed revolutionaries, but in the organized evangelical neighborhoods surrounding San Cristobal de las Casas, people morally support the Zapatistas and deliver their votes to the leftist PRD. The ruling PRI fears them just as it fears the Zapatistas... "

"The expelled evangelicals I spoke with don't have any problem with Bishop Ruiz, and many affectionately refer to him as Tatic, the Tzotzil word for 'Great Father.' They see him, as well as Josefina de la Torre and (other staff), as people truly interested in their welfare, people who aren't going to patronize or proselytize them. 'Our problem isn't with the bishop,... but with those Catholics who refuse to hear the word of God.'"

(Granted that this article is 10 years old, but neither the original article in the now-locked post, or this article give any indication that the actions of a few renegade Catholics are approved of by the Catholic Church.)

CA

 

It does get tiresome, but I do think that the moderators do a pretty good job of quelling the strident members.

CA

 

Please clarify.

Are you saying that the Evangelicals being persecuted by the "traditional Catholics" are actually Catholics pretending to be Evangelicals?

CA

 

Well... how about that!

I don't see anything wrong with highlighting and discussing differences (or failures) as long as those diffferences/failures are based on facts and not conspiracy theories, overgeneralizations, 3rd-hand accounts, or deliberate misinformation.

CA