Martin's Old Blog

 This is just my opinion, but it really irks me when we in the church try to use political labels to classify one group or the other (conservative, liberal).  I have found that some Catholics pay more attention to Rush Limbaugh and Michael Moore then they do Christ, the Pop e and our Bishops. Now that people recognize Hispanics as a possible political force they want to try to figure out where we stand -what label can they give us. Generally speaking, Hispanics are "conservative" on moral issues, and "liberal" on social issues.  We are also realists who take many things with a grain of salt.  One of the main issues for hispanics is poverty. When we at MACC talk about poverty issues and Catholic social teaching (ie God's preferential love for the poor) we are right away labled as liberals who spread liberation theology (or at least their own understanding of it).  When we talk about popular religiousity as a saving grace for us, right away we are labled as too conservative and pietistic.  The "liberals" would have us ignore, or place less emphasis, on our  devotions and the "conservatives" would have us ignore the social issues - except of course, abortion.  It seems that many good people who want to live a life of holiness and obedience are caught in the middle.  We are marginalized by both sides - as was Jesus.  G.K. Chesterton once said: "The whole world is dividing itself into progressives and conservatives. The job of the progressives is to go on making mistakes. The job of the conservatives is to prevent those mistakes from being corrected."

Click on the picture to read the bishops' statements.

please read this article by Fr. Ron Rolhieser OMI

 It has been a very busy year for me here at MACC.  Besides coordinating the [url=http://www.maccsa.org/mp.html...] Mini Pastoral[/url], I have been asked to help in other workshops. One of those deals with home visitations.  We had 25 participants from 9 different local parishes here in San Antonio TX, it was beautiful to see these groups so animated to reach out especially to those who are away from the life of the parish.  Our bishops remind us that one of the gifts that Hispanics have to offer the Church in the US is a strong sense of the sacred found especially in our expressions of faith, or popular religiosity.  The Church has recognized the importance of these expressions and warns us not to ignore or mitigate their importance in the spiritual lives of people.  We can no longer hold them, as Pope Paul VI reminded us, as something "secondary" to the faith, but as a treasure of the people of God. These expressions of faith are opportunities to exercise the New Evangelization that we have been called to by our Holy Father.  As we get to know our communities more and more, may we be open to allowing them to evangelize us and to respect the richness that they have to offer us.  Peace. Please take time to read church documents that speak about Popular religiosity.