“(WHOSE CHURCH IS IT?” IS A QUES-
V tion increasingly raised, particularly by lib-
eration theologians and members of Latin America’s
Christian Base Communities. That their voices have
gained a hearing at all is a tribute to the reform set in
motion two decades ago.
The Second Vatican Council, concluded 20 years
ago, fundamentally altered the lives of the more than
700 million Roman Catholics worldwide. Breaking
with the past, the Council affirmed the individual’s
right to interpret Church teachings. Decision-making
power was decentralized and believers were encour-
aged to pursue human rights and social justice. Pope
John XXIII, the convenor of the Council, envisioned
the Church setting off on a journey into the 20th cen-
tury and beyond, with no known destination.
Now, some of the Council’s decisions are to be re-
considered. Last January, Pope John Paul II made the
dramatic announcement that a special council, or
synod, would be convened to “deepen the understand-
ing of [Vatican II’s] teachings in the light of new
needs.” The pope called the synod at a time of
generalized frustration within the Catholic community.
Backed by most of the Vatican bureaucracy, Pope John
Paul has made his rallying cry “obedience,” not “ex-
ploration.”
Presidents from the world’s 97 national bishops con-
ferences will meet in Rome from November 24 to De-
cember 8. At issue are political, not theological, con-
cepts: the distribution of power within the Church.
Catholic and non-Catholic observers view the con-
servative agenda as attempting to alter the pro-
cess of decision-making formalized at the Council,
and to quiet some of the most bothersome chal-
lengers. But liberal bishops approached the meet-
ing with the belief that the chances of a conserva-
tive victory are minimal, and stress that a synod is the
ideal place to explore how “we have failed the Coun-
cil” on issues of communication and understanding,
rather than how the Council has failed the Church.
HE STAKES
ARE HIGH;
THE CONFLICT,
acute. It will not be resolved at the November
synod. All sides agree that if the conservatives are able
to advance their agenda, the key role the Church has
played in developing grassroots power structures in
Latin America will be reversed. This would signify a
political victory for regional forces bolstered by the
Reagan Administration, and weaken movements pro-
moting social change in Latin America.
This issue of Report on the Americas is part of our
ongoing work on religion and politics in Latin Ameri-
ca. Deborah Huntington examines two intersecting di-
mensions of political conflict within the Catholic
Church. First, the clash over competing interpretations
of who constitutes the members in good standing with-
in the Roman Catholic community and the definition of
the mandate they seek to fulfill. Second, the unfolding
debate among different Church communities as they in-
teract with ruling elites. In the first two articles, she
examines the history of overt and tacit political al-
liances between representatives of the traditional
Church and those in power; the emergence of a Latin
American theology which challenges the exercise of
faith; and the shuffle at the apex of power, both in
Rome and in Latin American hierarchies, in response
to the new currents of faith.
The third article considers how conservative religi-
ous and political objectives coincide in Central Ameri-
ca, specifically in El Salvador. By the late 1970s, the
Salvadorean Christian Base Communities, nurtured by
Archbishop Oscar Romero and his predecessor, Luis
ChAvez y Gonzalez , were the region’s largest. Con-
trary to charges, most of the leaders of El Salvador’s
base community movement were Salvadorean priests
and nuns, not foreigners. Today the Salvadorean
Church is under attack not only from the country’s
bishops, but also from its government. As such, it rep-
resents the struggle of most Latin American Christians.
These articles look at maneuvers in a holy war.
Which forces will be strengthened at the synod; how
will power be realligned? Just how the conflict gets
played out will make a statement to the world as well as
the Church.
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