Catholic Liberation in Mexico City
Twenty-four RCers gathered in Mexico City in October 2017 for the first Catholic Liberation Workshop in Mexico.
Co-Counselors with a wide range of experiences shared their connections to a culture, people, and history that date back five hundred years. Some had never attended church, Catholic school, or anything related to the religion. There were communists raised in a nation dominated by Catholic culture alongside those raised in the left wing, center, or right wing of the church.
Since the history of Mexico has tied Catholicism to colonization and genocide, the first demonstrations on Friday were with Indigenous people—to create the conditions for them to be visible, vocal, and central. An Indigenous Catholic female cried about the (attempted) genocide of her people and then about a Catholic bishop (targeted as a communist and “traitor”) who had stood with the Indigenous people.
There was also a demonstration with a man who feared the devil because he (the man) was “bad,” disobedient, and didn’t do what he was “supposed to do” to fit in. Fear of the devil (and hell) is widespread among Mexican people of Catholic heritage, and the entire group laughed with the client as he called forth the devil and “did battle” against the fear.
Saturday morning’s class was about the divisions that turn people against each other instead of against the class oppression that has dominated Mexico since colonization. During one demonstration, distress recordings of moral superiority were made visible and the entire workshop laughed as two clients openly insisted that each was more morally pure than the other: “No, I’m the good one; you’re the bad one,” and so on. People seemed to feel more at ease with each other after that.
On Saturday afternoon we had a class on fighting for oneself as a Catholic-heritage Mexican person. Being generous and caring is a place where Mexican culture and the essence of Catholic culture fit together in a human fashion. But these qualities can easily be exploited, and the human impulse to care (in the absence of discharging on losses and death) can be distorted into people wanting to save others without being able to fight for themselves.
On Saturday evening we did a class on sexism and male domination with both women and men together. I talked about how men’s oppression combines with confusions and lack of information about closeness and sex, and the harsh Catholic condemnation of sexual distresses. The goodness of men can be assured, but female Catholics need space to show the effects of sexism and male domination that are linked to sex.
I asked the women, “Have you ever experienced unwanted attention as a female?” In one demonstration a female told the story of her first sexual encounters and the increasing sexual exploitation, including marital rape and enforced pregnancy, that followed. She discharged while repeating, “No.” Other women cried during the demonstration and in the mini-sessions that followed in which they said, “No.”
An ancient secondary status has left Catholic females secondary in their relationships with males. The model is of female deference and rigid obedience to males (God, savior, spouse). Women start life deferring and not being asked what they want. Asking a Catholic female what she wants can help her move toward owning her own mind and body, her own self as a full human being.
The Sunday morning class was on care of the environment as central to Catholic liberation. Given people’s genocide recordings, I talked about appreciating life as we care for the environment. We had mini-sessions on simply being alive. I also mentioned how Pope Francis is calling on everyone to challenge climate change.
A leader who had previously distanced herself from the Catholic identity cried while saying, “When it comes to leading, I am a Catholic female down to the marrow of my bones. I do not know how to lead without sacrificing myself and going it [doing things] alone.” Everyone came in close while she fought against the distress recording and tried to take in the possibility of having people with her in that important battle for human liberation.
Stamford, Connecticut, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of Catholics
(Present Time 192, July 2018)