Religious and Moral Catholic Turbulence

My mother’s Catholic practices and ideologies illustrate how cultural religion revolves around her lifestyle and community. The Mexican ethnicity that she carries with her highlights the historical struggle that her people underwent when becoming the newest wave of immigrants to arrive in America. Without a doubt, most American’s perceive the majority of Hispanic individuals to be some how related or connected to Catholicism whether it be due to their parents, close relatives, or friends. This may in fact be due to Hispanic Catholics demonstrating a population with “substantial numbers that were already in the U.S. part of the continent even as the nation began” to be built (1). The most recent huge surge of Hispanic Catholic immigration took place for a variety of reasons, with the derived common factor being consistent clashes between the government and its citizens over socioeconomic conditions that people were living in during that time. The bloody Mexican revolution and “subsequent events such as World War II” are some of the main factors that forced so many Mexicans’ to flee their native country in order to avoid being killed in the crossfire or to seek a better economically stable life for themselves and their family (1). My mom’s primary logic for fleeing her country was due to one of the main aforementioned reasons while simultaneously taking into consideration the future life of her offspring. She found herself receiving very comfortable hospitality from the church that she had been affiliated with her entire life. They also helped her obtain one of her most notable religious aspects as a mother and a person; her never-ending praise and belief in the Holy Virgin of Guadalupe. The graceful attitude that she took towards raising her kids and disciplining them as she saw fit demonstrated the importance my mother placed on maintaining family integrity amongst us. Moralism played a huge role in my mother’s life so it is only obvious that she was more than likely to be inclined to teach her kids the same type of moral and social guidelines and restrictions that she was taught as a child. She especially emphasized on what I now know to be “moral coherence”, which is defined as a “unified and integrated religious, personal, and political approach to life”; something that my mom attempts to live by on a daily basis and pass on to her children (2). One of the many moral aspects of life that my mom tried teaching me was to always maintain a positive attitude towards life and its endless struggles. Whether the struggles are economic, social, academic, or family related, I had to always maintain my composure and not give in to the hardships that I was dealing with at a certain point in my life. Even though the Catholic ways that my mother tried exposing me to had a minute effect on who I would become to be in the near future, I am grateful that her Catholic influence helped her morph into the strict and respectable woman that she continues to be. 

1-                    Pineda, Ana M. "Latino Catholicism: Transformation in America's Largest Church." Rev. of Theological Studies. 2012: 949-51. UCSB Library. Web. 5 Sept. 2013.

2-                    Formicola, Jo R. "Catholic Moral Demands in American Politics: A New Paradigm." (2009): 4-23. Journal of Church and State. Web. 6 Sept. 2013.