Catholicism in Spain, Part 2

Sorry about the radio silence. I haven't been able to get on the internet in a week now, not from the library, anyway. Because of that, the only time I was able to get on (at a tea shop) I spent the entire few hours doing work. So no time to blog.

Finally though, I've got some spare minutes before I head over to a birthday celebration (with lechazo, so excited). I thought, heck, I should probably finish that religion post, part 2, that I promised (a month ago). 

Fair warning, it's a Catholic post, with Catholic themes, theology, morality, and the works. If you'd like anything further explained, if you'd like to argue, anything at all, message me on Facebook and we can discuss via email. Also, this is based just on my observation. I'd love to hear any opposing view points.

In a lot of ways, Spain has similar issues to the States when it comes to religion. There's a very low percentage of mass attendance, and those who do attend are usually older, at least in their sixties or seventies. The black hole of religious attendance is roughly 20-35. It's the stage after you become an adult (maybe in university, maybe still at home) but you don't have kids yet. It seems to be that children, just as in the US, are the ones who draw parents back to the church, at least for a little while. Though to be honest, I'm not sure that it's so much an understanding of the importance of the sacraments as it is more of 'this is what we do'. Which I think brings up another important point...

Spain was a Catholic country. Very, very Catholic. I've mentioned several times how incredible it is to walk into the thousand year old churches that are all throughout this country, from the smallest pueblo to the biggest city. It really is amazing. And Spaniards, in general, are proud of their ancient heritage (maybe not as a collective nation, but in their individual regions). The government pays to help up keep the old churches, they keep a number of feast days as holidays (even if the name has been changed), and as I mentioned, it seems that in general, children get the sacraments. But it seems that most people view these long standing traditions the same way they view the castle down the road, 'This is our heritage, this is part of our community, but at this point, it's a museum.' 

I think problems arise when your religion and national identity are completely intertwined. Stepping back a bit, it's easy to see that a good way to keep Spain unified (after really not wanting to be unified) was with their Catholic identity. As a number of countries fell to some sort of Protestantism, it would have united them to be Catholic, with the Reyes Catolicos, pilgrimages, shrines, religious orders, and saints. And at the time, when Spain was a world power, they never thought their would be a downside. 

Fast forward to Franco. 

My knowledge of Spanish history is not extensive, but in summary, Franco dominated by using what we in the US could call 'conservative values'. He used the church and, it pains me to say it, many clergy went right along with him. Catholic and national identity, instead of representing a world power, came to represent a repressive, totalitarian government. What often gets overlooked is that so many priests, religious, and lay people, were killed in the civil war for refusing to renounce their faith, which is a good thing, whatever side they were on (recently 55 were canonized from the Diocese of Burgos, my region, you can get more info here). These beatifications (1,500 or so at this point) were quite controversial because of the church's involvement in Franco's regime, despite the fact that those beatified were not fighters, but priests dragged from their convents or churches and killed. I think the controversy over the beatifications explains the entire attitude towards Catholicism in Spain- The church did bad things, so now nothing good can be said about it. Or, in maybe a less severe statement, until the church admits she did wrong in supporting Franco, nothing good should be given to those who supported the republican side.

Of course, the church did a lot of bad things in supporting Franco. He was crazy, murderous, and deserves to be denounced. It's a deep wound here in Spain (though I would note that the highest percentage of mass attendees are those who would have been adults during his rule). It causes a lot of people to really dislike the church in general, while still enjoying the cultural heritage. I won't repeat them, but if someone really wants to swear in Spain, they go for blasphemy. 

After what was an extreme union of church and state, they've gone, in a lot of ways, the opposite direction. Catholic morality has been completely discarded at the governmental level. Even a lot of people that I know who are Catholic have done away with Catholic morality. Abortion, gay marriage, sex before marriage, contraception; all these are clear Catholic moral teachings that seem to be rejected without question. 

There are definite parallels between here and the US. But here, it's on a massive scale, a country-wide scale. It breaks my heart a little, seeing the history and the present. The great saints of Spain left their mark, and now it seems like so little remains (I promise I'll end the post with something positive, bear with me). I think that what we as a church must take away from this experience is not to look at things on a national level, but instead on the level of right or wrong. Not that we shouldn't get involved in politics. I think that's key (and I hate politics). But labeling ourselves and conservative or progressive or liberal or whatever could never encompass the solid truths of the Catholic church. In order to see things clearly, we first of all must be Catholic. If we don't, it's only too easy to get carried away in being Franco's church. 

As promised, the positives. About half the priests I know here are under 40. They're fantastic, devoted young men. There's an entire community of religious women in a town right down the road. They make up the majority of the population, and they're young! I've seen them on numerous occasions, and most are in their thirties! In fact they are a lot of religious orders, all of varying sizes. I know very deeply religious people. Not just older, but my age and younger. I've been on retreats with them, prayed in adoration with them, gone to dinner with them. They are the new generation of Catholics in Spain. Untainted by the regime of the dictator that Hitler called crazy, they are revitalizing the church. Overall I'm left with hope, and the the assurance from Christ that the gates of Hell will not prevail, the victory has been won, and the church, despite the fact that it's made up of all of us sinners, will stand firm.