Latino Catholicism: Something About Mary

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Latino Catholicism is a growing phenomenon that both Young Life and the Catholic Church cannot ignore.  But what are the unique features of Latino Catholicism that are critical for us to know if we are to reach this burgeoning demographic with the gospel? Moreover, how do we navigate these cultural and religious waters with sensitivity while keeping the focus on Christ?

Professor Hosffman Ospino of Boston College, a nationally recognized expert in Latino Catholicism, asserts that nothing impacts the daily lives of Hispanic Catholics more than what is called “popular Catholicism” – those diverse cultural expressions of faith, born of specific regions and communities that uniquely inform what it means for these people to be human in relationship to God.[1] These expressions of faith come alive in family gatherings, public processions, personal devotions, Marian celebrations and the veneration of particular saints.[2]

Now wait a minute.

Haven’t I just pinpointed the very problem that most non-Catholics have with Latino Catholicism? Don’t all these things – Mary, the saints, processions, rituals – divert our attention away from Jesus, away from the very centerpiece of our shared faith, away from the only One who can save us all – Protestants, Catholics and the like?

In my research of Latino Catholicism, there arose a number of distinctive features that are likely to trigger my Protestant brothers and sisters who are concerned that they take something away from the unmitigated sovereignty and unique centrality of Jesus Christ in the economy of salvation. Understandable. Evangelical Christianity has often undersold the sacramental, devotional, popular and Marian dimensions of the faith. Yet these features don’t have to take anything away from God. Matter of fact, they are ways to magnify the Lord even more and we all need to restrain our quick judgment.[3] Though excesses and deviations exists, we must not automatically conclude that Latino Catholics are somehow lacking in authentic Christian faith, a faith which is predicated on God’s saving work in Christ alone.

Nothing brings this unease to the surface more than the subject of Mary. What if, in our ministry to Latino Catholics, we do sense an overemphasis of Mary to the neglect of Jesus? What are we to do when Mary and Jesus are unnaturally placed in competition with one another? It’s important for us to remember several things:

1)     In the Catholic hierarchy of truths, official Catholic teaching has never placed Marian doctrine on par with the doctrine of God. Mary is not God, nor “goddess,” and no specific belief in Mary is essential for salvation.[4]

2)    In an ancillary way, the basic gospel can be proclaimed without focusing on Mary. The fundamental axis of Christian faith is the Paschal Mystery celebrated at every Mass – the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the kerygma, the essential message of the gospel.

3)    However, we should never consider that honor given to Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, as somehow inimical to faith. After all, the Council of Ephesus in 431 (one of the first seven councils which organizations like Young Life uses to broadly frame Christian orthodoxy) solemnly declared Mary as Theotokos, “Mother of God” or “God-bearer.” This doesn’t mean that Mary gave birth to God as in the beginning of time. It doesn’t mean that Mary is the source of Jesus’ divinity. It honors the true humanity of Jesus as he was born of a truly human mother.

4)    Finally, and most importantly, we need to agree to “major in the majors” without getting caught in the intractable debates about the minors. Nobody said it better than Fr. Francis Martin, “Anyone who confuses the roles of Mary and Jesus does not have a problem with their ‘Mariology’; their problem is that they have never really met Jesus Christ.”[5] Continue to preach Christ crucified, introducing kids to the Lord in personal and incarnational ways.

And that’s precisely what Marian feasts, devotions and celebrations are supposed to be about. Mary is not in competition with Jesus. Jesus is the “source of all truth,” the “fullness of revelation,” the “Savior of the world,” and the “one mediator between God and man.”[6] When Latinos honor Mary, they are expressing their appreciation for her example of simplicity, humility and receptivity that forms the basis of Hispanic culture. They are honoring her as an example of discipleship, how our “yes” to the Holy Spirit gives birth to Christ in the world, both then and now.[7]

As we minister to those with special love for Mary, let us all imagine ourselves at the foot of the Cross with the “beloved disciple” to whom Jesus said, “Behold your mother”(Jn 19:27). If Jesus thought that his disciples could find a special place in their hearts for a relationship with his mother, if Christ himself gave Mary to all of us as mother, perhaps we too could find room for her tender and maternal care?

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[1] See Hosffman Ospino (ed.), “Hispanic Ministry, Evangelization, and Faith Formation,” Hispanic Ministry in the 21^st Century: Present and Future (Miami, FL: Convivium Press, 2010), 74. Ospino serves as Assistant Professor of Hispanic Ministry and Religious Education and Director of Graduate Programs in Hispanic Ministry at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry in Boston, Massachusettes.

[2] Las Posadas are nine-day celebrations popular in Mexico and the Southwestern United States, that re-enact Joseph and Mary’s search for lodging in Bethlehem prior to Jesus’ birth. Quinceaneras are coming of age rituals for 15-year-old girls celebrated throughout Latin America. Altarcitos are small shrines that almost universally adorn the homes of Latino Catholics, used as designated areas for prayer.

[3] Ospino notes, “Excesses or deviations must not become an excuse to ignore the potential of these practices to mediate pedagogies of faith.” Hosffman Ospino (ed.), “Hispanic Ministry, Evangelization, and Faith Formation,” Hispanic Ministry in the 21^st Century: Present and Future (Miami, FL: Convivium Press, 2010), 74.

[4] See Lumen Gentium, 67: “This Synod earnestly exhorts theologians and preachers of the divine word that in treating the unique dignity of the Mother of God, they carefully and equally avoid the falsity of exaggeration on the one hand, and the excess of narrow-mindedness on the other. . . Pursuing the study of the sacred Scripture, the holy Fathers, the doctors and liturgies of the church, and under the guidance of the church’s teaching authority, let them rightly explain the offices and privileges of the Blessed Virgin which are always related to Christ, the source of all truth, sanctity, and piety.

[5] Alan Schreck, Catholic and Christian: An Explanation of Commonly Misunderstood Catholic Beliefs (Cincinnati, OH: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2004), 202.

[6] Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), 67; Dei Verbum (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation), 2;

[7] In the eighth and final section of the Credo developed in the Third Encuentro process, Latino Catholics profess, “We believe in Mary, our Mother, who has taken our Hispanic culture under her protection, and who has accompanied us and will accompany us always in our journey as she works to carry the message of Jesus to the whole world. See Prophetic Voices: Document on the Process of the III Encuentro Nacional Hispano de Pastoral, USCC, Washington, D.C., 1986.