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RELIGION-SPAIN: Archbishop Deals Blow to ‘Priests of the Poor’

Tito Drago

MADRID, Apr 3 2007 (IPS) - “I wouldn’t be able to stand it if they close the parish. They have given me everything,” said Maite Molina, 48, referring to a decision by the archbishop of the Spanish capital to punish the priests in a parish that reaches out to the poor, immigrants, drug addicts and other marginalised sectors.

In line with the Vatican, the Catholic Church in Spain confirmed its sharp turn to the right by reining in Javier Baeza, Pepe Díaz and Enrique de Castro, known as “the priests of the poor”, in the parish of San Carlos Borromeo, which has been active for three decades in the working-class neighbourhood of Entrevías on the outskirts of Madrid.

The archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Antonio Rouco, told the priests on Monday that the church and other installations had been turned over to the Catholic charity Caritas for its humanitarian work. A spokesman for the Spanish bishops told IPS that the three priests would not be forced to leave the parish, but would now “only attend to their social work, without giving mass.”

The priests are opposed to the measure and said Tuesday that they would celebrate Easter Mass in the parish next Sunday. In response, the archbishop’s office said they would face serious sanctions if they went ahead with their plan.

Molina, who rushed to the church when she heard about the archbishop’s decision, told reporters there that at the age of 21 she became a drug addict and was in prison several times. But then she was put in contact with the priests at San Carlos Borromeo, who helped her overcome her drug habit. Today, she holds down a steady job, and is “even a grandmother.”

Among the reasons apparently underlying the archbishop’s decision were the fact that the priests said mass in street clothes, admitted Muslims and atheists, and handed out “rosquillas” (a kind of cookie) instead of consecrated wafers for holy communion.

The priests immediately received a wave of support. A neighbourhood assembly decided to send a letter to Rouco, asking him to come to the church in person to explain his decision, which they do not agree with.

Juan José Tamayo, a professor of theology at universities in Costa Rica, Peru and Nicaragua, told IPS that the stance taken by the archbishop is “very negative, because the parish serves marginalised groups.” Moreover, he said, the resolution was adopted “without listening to the council of clergy.”

De Castro explained that he and his fellow priests merely dressed like the people who come to the parish and that they had removed their habits because they had been asked to do so by parishioners.

“The clothing that is worn is a secondary issue, and is not what gives validity to the mass,” said Tamayo. “Mass could be said even in shorts, as long as the priests adhere to the doctrine of Christ.”

Baeza said they were pained “especially by the arrogant and haughty manner in which the archbishop’s office acts. It would seem as if God called the cardinal every morning to tell him what he should do.”

Tamayo sees the incident as part of a shift within the Catholic church as a whole, which he said has been accentuated since Pope Benedict assumed the papacy two years ago. To illustrate, he pointed to the Vatican’s admonishment of Jesuit priest Jon Sobrino, who was threatened with a ban on teaching or publication by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in March.

Sobrino, who was born in the Basque region of northern Spain, has lived for decades in El Salvador and is a leading proponent of liberation theology, which the three priests in the parish of San Carlos Borromeo also espouse.

Liberation theology, which emerged after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and enjoyed widespread influence in Latin America, is based on the “preferential option for the poor”, and emphasises the Christian mission to bring justice to the poor and oppressed.

In a statement, the neighbourhood assembly in Entrevías said “Jesus did not hold meetings in distinguished, specially prepared places where he was received with pomp and reverence. He improvised, meeting in any old place.”

“There were some important or wealthy people who came to him slyly, to spy on him and lay traps for him. Jesus was relentless in denouncing their pride and hypocrisy, their zeal to stand out and to dominate..The people (on the contrary) listened to him enchanted, and everyone talked about him.”

But today, they said, the bishops “consider themselves apart from and above the community, and thus autonomous”.

The neighbourhood assembly urged the church authorities to reconsider the decision, saying it hurt them that “we must suffer such unfair actions at the hands of our brethren in faith, whose mission is to promote and ensure unity in faith, love and hope.”

They also referred to the priests’ years of work and their “love, generosity and commitment.”

The archbishop’s decision triggered responses from various quarters. Pedro Zerolo, a town councillor of the governing Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) in that municipality, said the priests had their entire support. Inés Sabanés, spokeswoman for the United Left party in the municipality, expressed similar sentiments.

Non-governmental organisations that work with drug users in the neighbourhood also came out in support of the priests. Carmen Díaz, the president of Mothers Against Drugs, said the archbishop’s office accused the three priests of failing to live up to the Catholic church’s liturgical standards, “but this parish does not charge a thing for baptism certificates, while they charge churchgoers 40 euros (47 dollars) for the certificates.”

The parish’s social outreach work includes attending to the needy by providing them with shelter, meals and clothing, teaching them to read, and helping them find jobs.

Tomás Jiménez, who spent 20 years in prison for bank robberies, began to be contacted by the San Carlos Borromeo priests while he was still behind bars. After he was released, “Father Enrique de Castro made me take a new approach to life, and now I make a living working.”

José Sanz, 35, said de Castro was like “my adoptive father,” because when he came out of prison, the priest took him into his home until he was able to get on his own two feet. The ex-convict is now married and has a son.