Catholicism and Christianity

The church my mom belongs to now is called the Iglesia Bautista Shalom which translates as the Baptist Church Shalom. It is a denomination of the Baptist religion, which is a denomination of Christianity. My mom’s church is based in my hometown of Highland Park in LA. Los Angeles, CA is one of the most diverse cities in the state. It is diverse culturally and religiously. Being so, I wondered what made my mom choose a Christian church to give her faith and loyalty to than to stick with her original Catholic roots.  By dividing up the Christian religion, denominationalism helped my mom find her religious identity in this specific Latino denomination.

I was baptized when I was a baby. My mom had her doubts about her Catholic identity, but her traditional beliefs still said that I would go to hell if I died without being baptized. As a baby, you do not have any real thoughts nor beliefs. I did not believe in God when I was 8 months old. In fact, there would be many years to come before I actually believed in a God. Why was my mom baptizing me into a religion she didn’t believe in herself? In Catholicism, anyone can receive a baptism (1). It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from or how old you are. In United States history, we can see that Catholicism has always been a leading force. The religion has evolved over the centuries to accommodate more people by making it easier to understand. During the 20th century, many Latino peoples immigrated to the United States and joined the Catholic communities. Today, the Latino peoples make up 30% of Catholics in America. The main reason that Latino people joined the Catholic church after they immigrated here was because it was “the church of their ancestors.” (2) However, it was also “an institution whose leadership failed to address their needs adequately.” Perhaps it was because the Catholic church was not as involved in their follower’s lives. The Vatican Council II made some reforms to the religion during the years 1962-1965. One of the major changes it made was the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, which allowed people to worship in the vernacular. (3) This change in the Catholic religion helped Latinos feel more at home and less discriminated against by their Anglo & European American predecessors. However, there were still a number of Latinos converting to Christianity.

Christian denominations such as the Pentecostals and the Baptists started their mission work in the Spanish-speaking world in the beginning of the 20th century. (4) Their theology was different of the Catholic’s in that they had a believer’s church viewpoint, which basically meant that their community was completely voluntary. Unlike the Catholic church, these denominations have a concept of “priesthood of all believers” which means that church members have a roles in their church. (5) In these denominations, people have an “opportunity to find a space to serve, contribute, develop skills, and take leadership responsibilities. (6) Most Latino Protestant churches are small with less than one hundred regular members. (7) These smaller Christian denominations were much more intimate with their followers than the Catholic church, which is one of the reasons my mom was so compelled to join her current church. Latino congregations hold several bible studies and prayer meetings during the week, which lets the pastors get to know their followers on a personal level. (8) Before the 1960s in states like Texas, there was a strong sense of anti-Catholicism. (9) This anti-Catholicism stemmed from Martin Luther, and other Protestant leaders, who spread “histories of the Catholic church that portrayed the papal office as a seedbed of corruption, blasphemy, and violence.” (10) The Christian Church did not like that they were influencing people with the pope. Some Protestants would walk around with their Bible ready to pull out a verse to Catholics. The tension between the two churches waned during and after the sixties in part due to the Vatican Council II. The Christian church liked that the Council increased the importance of the Bible in the Catholic Church. (11) Protestant churches also adopted some Catholic worship practices such as the sacramental and symbolic nature of worship. (12) The Civil Rights movement and farmworker strikes also brought Latino Protestants and Latino Catholics together. They faced the same discrimination similar to the Jewish people having a common suffering. After the 1960s, events like quinceñeras, which were seen as Catholic rituals, became a part of the Mexican-American Protestantism. (13)

My mom can be seen at bible studies and Sunday service every week. She said her pastor knows when she is not there, unlike Catholic priests who probably don’t know your name. A reason that this Christian denomination could have compelled her is that her old Catholic views had similarities with the early Christian way of doing things. (14) The main reason my mom joined this new church is that is has a stronger sense of community. Denominationalism helped her find her religious identity.

1. "Catechism of the Catholic Church" Catechism of the Catholic Church. Line 1246. Web. 23 Aug. 2013.
2. Barton, Paul. "The Relationship Between Los Protestants and Catholicism." Hispanic Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists in Texas. Austin: University of Texas, 2006. 115-36. Print.
3. Barton, 128-130
4. Martínez, Juan F. "Church: A Latino/a Protestant Prospective." Handbook of Latina/o Theologies. Ed. Edwin D. Aponte. St. Louis, MO: Chalice, 2006. 50-57. Print.
5. Martínez, 54
6. Martínez, 53
7. Martínez, 53
8. Martínez, 54
9. Barton, 119
10. Barton, 119
11. Barton, 126
12. Barton, 126
13. Barton, 126
14. Rodríguez, Jeanette. "Church: A Roman Catholic Prospective." Handbook of Latina/o Theologies. Ed. Edwin D. Aponte. St. Louis, MO: Chalice, 2006. 40-49. Print.

My Mom's Religious Journey

Religion has always been a very important thing in my family. I never really understood why myself. My parents enrolled my little brothers and I in Saturday school at St. Ignatius Catholic Church. We were supposed to be completing our First Communion. Although Saturday school was just another way to goof around in class with friends, it did raise certain questions. A significant moment in my childhood was asking my mom if she believed in heaven. Her answer was too real for a ten year old; she didn’t believe in heaven. She said that when a person dies, that’s it. Your existence is gone forever after death. Of course I overreacted at the thought that I would not get to see my mom again in heaven. In school, we were taught that if we believed in heaven, we would go there after we died. However, if you didn’t believe in heaven, you wouldn’t. I started to cry. My mom did not even try to make me feel better or sugarcoat it with anything. She just kept looking at her Sunday coupons. So, why did she enroll my brothers and I into Catechism classes? For this blog, I interviewed my mom about her beliefs and views on religion. 

My mom, Cecilia, was born and raised in a small town in Chalatenango, El Salvador. She is the third eldest of eight children. My mom and her family went through tough times during the civil war. My mom’s youngest brother died of a stomach illness, and my grandfather was killed shortly after by guerillas. Everyone was distraught over these events but still went on with life normally. My mom, along with the rest of her family, was raised Catholic. Some of the Catholic cultuses that believers practiced were going to church every Sunday and not forgetting to say prayers before going to bed. Some of the prayers my mom did every night were the same ones I use to recite night after night in the sixth grade. They included Our Father, Apostle’s Creed, and Hail Mary. I never learned them in English, and I don’t think my mom did either. Codes set by prior Catholics were pretty typical: always listen to your parents/elders, no sex outside of marriage, and no swearing. I asked my mom why she practiced this religion, and she said her parents told her to be Catholic. My mom was obedient and always did what she was told, so she would not get in trouble. She didn’t question them either. I also asked my mom if she ever had a connection with her religion. She did not. She never felt a thing when praying to God and said she only did it because it was part of the routine before going to bed. These Catholic creeds, codes, and cultuses forced her into a community that she didn’t really care about.

When my mom arrived in the United States at the age of twenty years old, she was still a practicing Catholic. She still went to church on Sundays with her siblings, because she thought it was her duty as a Catholic to go to church and thank God for her life and health. Although she did not feel a connection with her religion, she has always believed in God. She believes that God created the universe & Earth and because of this she owes it to him to believe. My mom stopped going to church when she became too busy taking care of me and brothers on top of working. A lot of misfortunate events have happened to us over the years. My mom began to question the existence of God at some point. She started going out on walks to different churches in the area, because she had not found her religious identity yet. My mom used to think that a person could only seriously pray inside a church because of the creeds and cultuses of her past.
My mom has since found her religious identity in Christianity. Although there are similarities between the two religions, Christianity and Catholicism have different creeds, codes and cultuses. She says, with the help of her new creeds, she is barely finding her peace and tranquility in life and that she owes it to her religion and community. Before she joined this Christian church, my mom did not really have any sort of friends. In her current church, members of this community gather on several occasions during the week to pray, talk about God, and discuss life events. This type of pattern is a characteristic of restorative religion. People in this community help each other bounce back whether it be with prayer or a plate of food. My mom’s experiences with religion show the manyness and oneness of it. That is that she acknowledges that there are other beliefs/faiths in the world but still finds a sense of religious unity in her group. I support whatever my mom does as long as she’s happy.