Evangelization in Latin America: Methods and Impacts
Evangelical Tradition of the Church
The Church’s initial practice was to entrust evangelization to the Spanish, involving:
- Catechesis: Aimed at ensuring indigenous people understood and accepted the Christian faith. It was largely a process of persuasion.
- Baptism and Acceptance
The Crown, believing this approach was too slow, reversed the process:
- Methodology Developed by Spain
- Destruction of sacred sites
- Request for change
- Forced baptism
- Catechesis
This embrace of faith was often superficial, driven by survival, while indigenous cultures were maintained in secret.
This limited education by the Spanish resulted in religious secrecy, masked by a formal acceptance of the faith.
Causes
- Failure to evangelize could lead to the Pope revoking land grants.
- The Spanish rush to baptize, aiming to save souls, resulted in “forced mass baptisms.”
Operational Difficulties
- Language Barriers: The Church initially mandated preaching the Gospel in Latin (the evangelizing language). There were no Castilian translations of the Bible.
- The Church community was terribly rigid, complicating matters further. The first 10 years of evangelization were very slow.
The First 50 Years of Evangelization
- Destruction of native cultures
- Imposition of a culture that was not understood.
It began with the construction of small chapels where the Indians gathered. Later, this became more formalized, and missions were established. Groups of evangelists from monastic movements emerged with the mission of spreading the faith.
The three orders—Franciscans, Dominicans, and Our Lady of Mercy—went to the Indian cities, destroying everything in their path, building chapels, and commencing evangelization.
Religious missions in Mexico were notable for their temple-building efforts.
In Chile, the evangelization process was dependent on Peru. The arrival of the Franciscans was significant, but the Jesuits took on the task of evangelizing the Mapuche. This led to conflict, and many priests died in the attempt.
Evangelization Formats:
Doctrines: Indigenous peoples, evicted from their land, were placed in small villages with a chapel. Efforts were made to change their customs. This land was controlled by the Church. It involved slave labor, but offered a better chance of survival.
Encomiendas (Main Tasks): A native person was entrusted to a Spanish man, who was responsible for evangelizing them and using them as labor. This is classified as “disguised slavery,” and infanticide was often practiced.
Bartolomé de las Casas and Luis de Valdivia were prominent opponents of the encomienda system. They tried to protect the indigenous people by sending letters to the Crown. While new laws were declared, their implementation was never guaranteed.
One proposed solution was to introduce black slaves into indigenous communities to alleviate the workload of the Indians. Black slaves were treated as objects, not considered human beings, and were very expensive. This created a social demarcation, as only the wealthiest could afford them.
Reductions: A revolutionary approach introduced by the Jesuit order (representing an intellectual wave, leading studies, and always close to power, responsible for educating princes).
The Jesuit method involved Spaniards integrating into indigenous communities, learning their culture and language, and then beginning evangelization from within. These were large, self-sufficient communities where Indians came voluntarily and worked willingly. After a period of instruction, they would request baptism. This method focused on children.