Marxist Inroads

During the period of colonial rule in Latin America, the Catholic Church occupied a privileged position. Its influence in education, in politics, and in economic matters was very great. But independence changed much of that. Many Spanish bishops and priests who continued loyal to the Crown returned to the homeland, and they were not quickly replaced. Relations between those who remained and the new governments were often difficult. Deprived of many of its prerogatives, the Church turned inward. It entered what some have called its “ghetto” stage, during which it showed little interest in nonreligious matters and had little influence over them.

In the early 1920s, while I was serving as consul at Puerto Castilla, I had as my house guest the Bishop of Honduras. During a long conversation I asked him why the Church seemed always to be on the side of the government although the latter did not always appear to be on the side of virtue. The bishop replied that he tried to avoid antagonizing the government because, unless it was friendly to the Church, it tended to be an enemy of the Church and its purposes. That attitude was probably characteristic at the time; but the Church was already changing.

WB

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Willard L. Beaulac

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During the period of colonial rule in Latin America, the Catholic Church occupied a privileged position. Its influence in education, in politics, and in economic matters was very great. But independence changed much of that. Many Spanish bishops and priests who continued loyal to the Crown returned to the homeland, and they were not quickly replaced. Relations between those who remained and the new governments were often difficult. Deprived of many of its prerogatives, the Church turned inward. It entered what some have called its “ghetto” stage, during which it showed little interest in nonreligious matters and had little influence over them.

In the early 1920s, while I was serving as consul at Puerto Castilla, I had as my house guest the Bishop of Honduras. During a long conversation I asked him why the Church seemed always to be on the side of the government although the latter did not always appear to be on the side of virtue. The bishop replied that he tried to avoid antagonizing the government because, unless it was friendly to the Church, it tended to be an enemy of the Church and its purposes. That attitude was probably characteristic at the time; but the Church was already changing.