3.4 A reflection: function of religiousness in the hispanic community  (Page 2/4)

The vindicated fight goes in this directiom to demand justice and personal dignity in face of paternalistic abuse, to fight by all means until the end, and to maintain its cultural identity and integrity with its rich traditions and customs. All this comes at the risk of being absorbed and crushed by the dominant and powerful North American society.

In Europe, I have not found the same intensity in the fight between classes, or the idea common in western conflicts to want to eliminate or humiliate the enemy, or the desire to seize lands because they must be for workers or revolutionaries. I have found the desire for integration by living a worthy personal, familiar, and community life; the desire to improve work conditions; the desire for cultural identity and lifestyle to be respected; and the exigency of active participation in the society in which he or she wishes to integrate his or her self.

This insistence in maintaining cultural identity and traditions are not meant as isolation from social context, but rather to defend the races’ roots, because if they do not know where they come from they will not know where they are going. In addition, they want to be able to share their cultural wealth with other ethnic groups until they arrive to that cosmic, universal race, which Vasconcelos stated (Paris, 1925) would occur at the encounter of all biologies and cultures. Juan Paul II used to say, "When diverse peoples find themselves integrating, they give life to a coexistence of difference." I believe we walk toward this form of coexistence.

The influence of catholicism in the process of integration

The following are some of the aspects in which religiousness has influenced remarkable results:

1. Unity in the face of difficulty, integrating different groups and ideologies. Religious spaces became places where they met to engage in dialog, present their problems, look for solutions, and acquire the knowledge key to being able to develop in the new society.
2. Maintenance and expression of cultural traditions: celebrations, parties, weddings, quinceañeras, dinners, meetings, planning of trips to see new places, etc.…
3. Nourishment of motivating ideas and reference before problems and economic and ethical vindications (continuous are the references to God and the dignity of the people in conflict).
4. Promotion of nonviolence during difficult moments of provocation.
5. Creation of conscience in the North American community of the problems that Hispanics suffered.
6. Reconciliation between those who betrayed the cause with those who sustained their ideals in the conflicts. How much reconciliation in Christmas celebrations, New Years, religious celebrations, and weddings!
7. Creation of a bridge of knowledge and understanding between very different forms of culture, but that possess the same faith and are guided by the evangelical message of the Lord toward a Universal Brotherhood. The relationship of many was perceived, not from viewpoint of power and disproportionate dominance of the race, but of personal dignity and respect for different forms of life and coexistence.
8. Enrichment and rejuvenation of the Hispanic Catholic North American Church.
9. Understanding, acceptance, and defense of the Chicano; fruit of that "metamorphosis" resulting from integration into the dominant culture where they lose part of their cultural identity and partly gain that of the dominant majority society that receives them. How many times I have inwardly said: "it is them, but they are not the same."