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Our Lady, the American Empress |
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As much as the Catholic Church has always tried to fight it, over and over again people have allowed nationalism to trump religion. This can even be seen in the case of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who would perhaps be more easily recognized as "Queen of Mexico" rather than her even more fitting title, "Empress of the Americas". Although the use of this title by the Holy Father was intended to express the pan-American reach and reign of Our Lady, the Virgin of Guadalupe nevertheless continues to be viewed as a particularly Mexican, or at least Hispanic devotion, with in-roads into the North American community coming about only to a slight degree lately, I would say, as a result of her invocation in the struggle for the right to life. Certainly, growing up in a Protestant home in a very predominately Mexican-dominated part of Texas, I had always viewed the image as nothing more than the Mary 'worshipped' by Mexicans. |
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However, I think the North American Catholic community is missing out on a great tool of heavenly aid by not better recognizing the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe as the American Empress from Alaska to Argentina. We should be able to seperate the Holy Mother from our own ethnic divisions, which seem absurd to begin with considering that she appeared as an Aztec Indian at a time before the "Mexican" people as we know them today even existed. Our Lady of San Juan was imported from Spain, but Our Lady of Guadalupe was a purely Aztec vision, appearing to an Aztec for the conversion of the Aztecs, yet accepted by the Spanish as well. By encouraging the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, with emphasis on her role as American Empress, I think we can serve two essential causes, or (perhaps this is the wrong words) help Our Lady while she is helping us as well. |
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First of all, U.S. Americans are in dire need of a call back to the traditional roots of Christendom, the Catholic, monarchist 'Realm of Christ' which existed in one form or another from 800 until 1918. The idea of religion being a private matter rather than a public one, with little or no role in society or government is a very American attitude, but is one not in keeping with what a Catholic is supposed to believe. Only Our Lady of Guadalupe can help us with this as, let's face it, the United States has been an extremely Protestant place from the very start. Reminding U.S. Catholics that they do have an Empress (and an immaculate one at that) would, I think, help in combating this liberal, anti-royal, anti-Church culture we have. To soften the blow, we might also point out that the word republic has monarchist origins, coming from the Imperial Roman phrase 'res publica' or public affairs, meaning really little more than the rule of law, an idea dear to the English-speaking world as much as it was to the Romans. |
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The second point, however, is where I may very well get into alot of trouble. Another reason I think North Americans should be more enthusiastic in devotion to the Empress of the Americas is to rescue her from the clutches of superstition and idolatry. Of course, the Holy Mother does not need our help as she is perfect and ever shall be, but her name and image can be misused or at least misrepresented by people here on earth. It is a well-known fact, at least in any border area I would assume, that not all Mexicans are Catholics, but almost all of them profess some devotion for the Virgin of Guadalupe. This is not a good thing. If Our Lady of Guadalupe is being adored as a national icon or goddess rather than as part of the larger Church and Christian religion, this is simply idolatry.
I have heard many Catholic optimists point out that the large numbers of immigrants coming in from Mexico and the rest of Latin America (both legal and illegal) is a great thing for the Church in the US. However, nice as it sounds, I must take a different view. The Church is not gaining new souls through this, it is simply soul-redistribution and I think is actually more harmful than helpful. The Protestants have been sending "missionaries" into Latin America for |
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some time to 'lure' people away from the Church of Rome, in fact some of my own family have done this. However, Latin America is, by far, still a predominately Catholic place (at least as far as people who are religious at all). It seems to me that Catholics moving from these nations into the US are putting their souls in greater danger by leaving a place that is still somewhat strongly Catholic to enter a country where Protestantism is the mainstream Christian presence.
Furthermore (I'm digging myself in even deeper now), based on my own experience, Hispanic Catholics seem to have more of an attachment to a familiar ritual than a real, or even basic, understanding of their faith and are being won over in increasing numbers to smaller 'independent' churches; or as I like to call them, "one church wonders". I know that proper training is an across the board problem for all modern Catholics, but I have not seen the mostly Anglo Baptist, Methodist or Episcopal parishes being effected at all by the increasing number of small churches popping up in my area. Every one that I have seen is almost or entirely Hispanic, made up of former Catholics who had someone knock on their door and, for lack of a better phrase, offer them a sweeter deal for changing churches. |
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I also see it as a sign of trouble that there are so many millions of Hispanic Catholics in this country and yet so very few Hispanic priests. Would this be part of the same problem, after all, if you can't keep them in the Church, you're probably not going to get many going on to become priests, right? Our Lady of Guadalupe can be the answer to these problems I believe. She can give North Americans a restoration of their (Latin) Catholic roots and this, in turn, could lead more people to a better understanding of Catholicism, to tear down the national divides and encourage all Catholics to help each other in understanding and staying firm in the true faith. Ave Maria, Imperatrice |
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