Religion's Decline Post-Mexican Independence

Week 11 Matrix

Chapters 4 & 5

Change/Continuity

An instance of continuity was the continued decline of the church in the period following the independence of Mexico. For instance, during the year after 1830 Mexico had little to no curas in ordinance (pg. 71). Then by 1833, the church had lost all financial backing provided by the government (pg. 75). In addition, in the frontier following the late 1830s the church no longer had the means to take part in decision making (pg. 82).

At the beginning of Spanish colonization instilling the Catholic religion to the natives was a key factor in settling in America; however in the time after a shift in the role of religion occurred. For instance, in 1834, Coahuila and Texas guaranteed freedom of religion

Antonio Barreiro recounted that most churches had fallen to ruins and were almost gone all together (pg. 78). For instance, some churches did not have priests come on a regular base, but only a couple of times during the year. The number of priests available was so small that often times when people lay on their deathbed they were unable to receive the final confession before dying (pg. 78). Priests themselves were also becoming quite negligent to their daily activities. Bishop Zubiria called this actions out in a letter that he wrote in 1833, in which he condemned the actions that several priests were taking part in (pg. 79). In this letter he said that they would refuse to baptize children and were giving mass in a very unprofessional level.

Causality

Although the church was gaining a big role in Mexico during the early nineteenth century, it did face some hardships. For instance, after Mexico declared independence the amount of priests greatly declined. The lack of priests and was caused by the continued doing away with Spanish clergy (pg. 71). Another cause for the lack of religious workers was due to the rise in other careers during this period of time and the extremely low number of bishops, which meant that they could not ordain new priests (pg. 72).

However after much back and forth, new bishops were appointed (pg. 70). This demonstrates that the church was going through a complex time period for there was many arguments as to its role and appointments to its positions. Another instance of complexity is the establishment of episcopal guidance in california during 1841; while at the same time, the role of bishops was almost obsolete in Texas and Arizona. For example, it is stated that no bishop had even stepped foot in these territories (pg. 71).

Priests located on the frontier brought forth different opinions from foreigners. For instance, many foreigners regarded priests as hypocrites, drunks, and fathers to illegitimate children (pg. 77). However at the same time, priests like Jose Sanchez of San Gabriel, gained the continued respect from his peers. This shows the complex attitude for the men in this