524 - A Mexican Hymnal And The Struggle For Justice

A Mexican Hymnal And The Struggle For Justice

By William H. Katra

"Faith is living a relationship between self and divinity, between individual and community. It is the actualization of a human dynamic, that of bringing the word of God to true relevance in one's own life. Prayer and hymn, therefore, reflect the reality of the faithful as they are, and not merely as they ought to be. "

IT is a truism to assert that "hymns are theology." ¹If this is so, then given the existence of a liberation theology that has resulted from, or is reflected in, the now historical deliberations of Vatican II(1962-1965) and convocations of bishops held in Medellin, Colombia (1968) and Puebla, Mexico (1982), as well as in many books and articles, what would one expect to find in a liberation hymnal? How would the recent theological emphasis on people's historical liberation in Roman Catholic devotion throughout Latin America and elsewhere be incarnated in the body of hymns taught to and sung by the active participants of the new church?

The Diocese of Cuernavaca, Mexico, under the leadership of, now retired, Bishop Sergio Mendez Arceo, has taken a leadership role in this sphere of church activity, in addition to several other areas, by collecting nearly three hundred new musical and lyrical compositions in its Cantemos en communida: hacia la justicia por el Evangelio (Cuernavaca: Diocesis de Cuernavaca, 1982). Published in inexpensive, paperback form, copies are readily available for the private use of any interested participant. They are also available whenever the faithful convene for group activity and celebration, such as Catholic youth groups, base Christian or ecclesial communities, adult awareness and education sessions, and of course, for weekly masses. An inspection of this new hymnbook reveals that approximately two-thirds of its contents conforms, at least in regard to subject content, with the traditional emphasis on consolation, adoration, praise, and the celebration of inner spiritual experience. However, the other third of the songs are represen-

William H. Katra was formerly Professor of Spanish in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Washington State University in Pullman, and now teaches at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Drawing on his own personal experience in Mexico and in Latin America, Dr. Katra also wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Father S. Westbrook of the Sacred Heart Church in Pullman, Wash.

¹ST Kimbrough, Jr., "Hymns Are Theology," Theology Today, 42 (1985) 1, pp. 59-67.

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tative of the new spirit reigning in religious circles in and around Cuernavaca and in many other areas of Latin America. The detailed study of this songbook, with particular attention given to this new element, will shed light upon the actual or intended practice of a church and a community in the process of transformation.

I

An initial observation with regard to the contents of this new Cuernavaca hymnal reveals that over 95% of all songs are Spanish language originals and their music is likewise Hispanic in origin. Of these, nearly a third originated in Spain (the names of E. Vicente, M. Manzano, R. Cantalapiedra, Joaquin Madurga, Emilio Mateu, and especially Carmelo Gabarain stand out-the latter with at least 25 separate songs). More than 42 songs, or perhaps an eighth of the total, are from the pen of Peruvian Jesuit J. A. Espinosa. Dozens were written by Mexicans, and the rest, perhaps 150 songs, carry no identification as to where they originated. Of the few translated texts represented, perhaps a dozen originated in Brazil, four are from the protest movement of the 1960s in the United States, and three are Christmas classics. In addition, the last 35 pages of the hymnal reproduce the entire texts of several popular Latin American masses of recent composition: Carlos Mejia Godoy's acclaimed "Nicaraguan Campesino Mass" and similar liturgies from Cuernavaca and El Salvador.

The primacy given to original Spanish-language texts and, consequently, the exclusion of lyrical translations into Spanish of Roman Catholicism's great European masters, could have either negative or positive implications. On the one hand, this implicit linguistic and cultural nationalism may signal the emergence within the local church of a defensive hostility toward other cultures and traditions. Rather than highlight what is universal in the church's historical experience, this new emphasis could grow into a dogmatic affirmation of archaic, soon-to-be forgotten cultural forms, an emphasis that seems to contradict the growing social, political, and economic "internationalization" of Mexican culture and the steady increase in inter-national and inter-cultural dialogue. ²

On the other hand, this emphasis on Spanish-language originals optimistically indicates the coming of age of a continent and a cultural experience that has for centuries internalized a degrading and humiliating image of self which has been disseminated by imperialist or paternalistic institutions of Europe, the church among them. By breaking out of the traditional mode of translation and fidelity to Latin form at the expense of substance, this collection attests to the resurgence of musical and devotional creativity that signals an end to what one learned

² Kenneth Cragg, Christianity in World Perspective (New York: Oxford University Press, 1968), pp. 198-200; and Arend Th. van Leeuwen, Christianity in World History: The Meeting of the Faiths of East and West, (New York: Scribner's, 1964), pp. 423-24.

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observer has called the centuries-old "decline and decay" of Roman Catholic hymnody. ³

But, it is troubling to note that the great majority of the songs represented, in spite of their origins in Spanish-speaking lands, would nevertheless be regarded as "foreign" to the musical experience of the religious faithful in Mexico, and more specifically, in the Diocese of Cuernavaca. The relatively few songs of national origin probably indicates that Mexico lags behind other Spanish-speaking countries in carrying out the post-Vatican II project of incorporating vernacular hymns into the liturgy. ⁴The- preponderant representation of Spanish and Peruvian hymns is obviously intended as an enticement for the local population to overcome the denigrating identity of "consumers of spiritualities that are doubtless valued but that nonetheless reflect other experiences and other goals," in the words of Gustavo Gutierrez, ⁵and to become protagonists in the celebration and even creation of a regional and local presentation of Christ. Meanwhile, if this hymnal is used as the principal resource for community and parish hymn practice, the hierarchical structures which predominated in the past would tend to be reinforced: a designated leader would continue to indoctrinate a passive church membership in assimilating a largely foreign cultural norm. A notion of Pan-Americanism or Pan-Hispanicism might be gained, but at the sacrifice of grass-roots spiritual and creative development.

II

Accompanying, but unfortunately not outweighing this glaring deficiency, the Cuernavaca hymnal has unquestionable strengths. Among these are the musical notations noted with every song in order to facilitate guitar accompaniment. It should be mentioned that a set of cassette recordings is also available in order to teach the melodies. The guitar, one hardly need mention, is the folk instrument par excellence with appeal and accessibility throughout Latin America. Liturgical music with guitar accompaniment contrasts dramatically with piano, organ, or orchestra instrumental background which usually predominates in the music of middle-class Mexican, European, and American worship. Thus the new popular hymnbook contrasts with those of

³ Matthew Britt, The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal (Benziger Brothers, 1955), p. xxii, characterizes in these words the hymnody of the present period, which began in about the fourteenth century. It has been a period of "decay" on account of the undue emphasis placed on external form at the expense of substance and the progressive abandonment of the early principle that hymns "would appeal to the great body of the faithful, not merely to the cultured classes" (p. xxix).

⁴ During the month of May, 1985, the author was present at several masses, base ecclesial community and youth group meetings in at least three different settings in and around the city of Cuernavaca. The guitar-based musical participation of all attending the mass in one urban setting was inspiring. However, in gatherings where small-town or rural participants predominated, it was obvious that an active musical participation was not customary.

⁵ Gustavo Gutierrez, We Drink From Our own Wells: The Spiritual Journal of a People (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1984), p. 28.

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previous, generations. I have personally observed the participation of community members, and especially youth, in the presentation of folklore musical background for several masses in the Cuernavaca area, a practice which is also gaining acceptance in many churches of the United States and Canada.

A related characteristic is the presence in this new hymnal of several, perhaps twenty or more in number, musical compositions issuing from 'popular or folklore origins, in which biblical or religious themes are not explicitly treated. Their composers cannot be identified, but their "legitimacy" is due to the fact that people sing and celebrate them without undue care about the issue of pedigree. The church leadership, consequently, pays homage to the folk, or the anonymous common people, by representing their cultural possessions here. ⁶They have realized the tremendous enrichment which the local folklore offers to the traditional liturgy: its concreteness over against a grey and disconnected internationalism; its fertile realism over against a dreamy spiritual devotion; its sense of community against the implicit individualism and isolation of the traditional inner journey of humility or repentance; its consciousness of life in opposition to intellectual abstractions; and the linguistic fullness of the spoken language as opposed to the artificiality of intellectualized mediations. ⁷

At least twenty songs in the hymnal depict the life and struggle of poor and socially-marginal people. ⁸ This new phenomenon of doctrinal "proletarianization" is to be distinguished from the former emphasis on the poor or the powerless in the context of a biblical "pilgrimage," "exodus," or persecution. While these latter themes are still evident in other songs of explicit religious intent, the new emphasis is the treatment of such old themes in the context of contemporary secular society. In this vein, the new songs call by name and treat aspects of the lives and struggles of the urban factory worker, the campesino, the miner, and the working class.

It is interesting to note that the new working class protagonists in this song collection are only selectively represented with regard to poetic imagery. That is to say, the mystique of the campesino predominates. It is the plow and not the hammer, the wheat sprig or young corn plant and not the attractions of the urban setting, which have fired the imagination of these song writers, or at least the compilers of this hymnal. ⁹In this, the songs of this collection hardly differ from other prevalent social discourses with regard to Latin America's and perhaps the West's continued fascination-at least on the imaginative level-for the beatus

⁶ Several of these obviously "folk" songs are indicated to be Mexican in origin, numbers 103, 118, 120, and 139 treat the Virgin of Guadalupe, but the geographical origin of the others is not specified.

⁷ Joaquin Antonio Penalosa, Vocabulario y refranero religioso de Mexico (Mexico: Editorial Jus, 1965), pp. 12-13.

⁸ See songs numbered 48, 86, 93, 95, 97, 131, 141, 154, 173, 187, 219, 220, among others.

⁹ See songs 199, 122, 217, 227.

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ille (literally, how beautiful is nature or the countryside), in spite of the very pronounced demographic shift (an indication of people voting with their feet) from rural to urban settings.

III

Another aspect of this hymn collection which one would not have observed in pre-Vatican II hymnals is the presence of several songs that hail from secular, pop-cultural origins. As one would expect, the songs included here excel in that idiom, with their high inspirational tone and uplifting messages. Still, it might seem incongruous to many that the names of contemporary and sometimes mass-media performers are represented here, while the legacy of the West's musical geniuses and great religious lyricists is excluded. Thus, one finds a composition by Argentine pop singer Palito Ortega (No. 250), two by Chilean folklorist Violeta Parra (Nos. 66, 99), one by Chilean protest singer Victor Jara, and several of wide dissemination by folklore artists across Latin America (Nos. 49, 52, 102).

Added to the songs of folklore or popular origins are those with overt social messages. By including such songs, the Cuernavaca church merely reinforces through hymnal practice the new social concern that is already accepted as a legitimate topic for homilies during the mass. Mejía Godoy's "I Cannot Remain Silent" (No. 153), a song which I observed to be frequently sung by groups in the area of Tepoztlán, denounces a multitude of abuses ranging from the U.S. intervention in Vietnam to hunger in Rio de Janeiro. Two songs (Nos. 39 and 117) denounce substandard living conditions of the urban poor. Another (No. 119) attacks foreign imperialism and the miserable conditions suffered by workers in an urban factory. A Spanish translation of "We Shall Not be Moved" (No. 151) communicates, in the Spanish translation, the need for labor unity in the construction of socialism. Two songs of Unidad Popular origin in Chile's 1960s and 1970s (Nos. 78, 234) lend to the hymnal an even greater, although still implicit, identification with specific social and political doctrines.

Is this new folklore, popular, social, and quasi-political focus to the Cuernavaca hymnal an evidence of the "vast permissiveness" or the spreading vulgocracia which is beginning to undermine traditional church teachings, as some critics would have us believe? ¹⁰ There is no simple answer to this polemical issue. At this point, one can only observe that whereas liturgical songbooks of the past attempted to document a centuries-old religious heritage, the new inclusions in this one attest to the compilers' objective of focusing the attention of the participant upon the lived experience of contemporary society. The church has been willingly "indigenized" by local circumstances. The songs in this hymnal are evidence that local church authorities can embrace a new

¹⁰ Donald McGavran, The Clash Between Christianity and Cultures (Washington, D.C.: Canon Press, 1974), p. 2.

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faith practice which has been formed and transformed by the lived history of its participants. Indeed, this reflects the general agreement in post-Vatican thought that the period of the "missionary" church has come to an end with its objective of spreading Western civilization to all corners of the globe. The new mission is to institute the church as a central agent in the fertile process of cultural exchange. Hymns previously were written primarily with a didactic function. They were a means by which the church hierarchy provided "lyrical theological commentaries on Scripture, liturgy, faith, action, and hosts of other subjects." ¹¹ Now, however, the people also instruct the leadership of the church. Acceptance of their music is one means of fulfilling the Vatican II exhortation for the "full, conscious, active participation" of people in the liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 1963). Furthermore, this active and creative role for the faithful within the new church ritual is now seen as not only the realization of their "spiritual" commitment, but also as the wellspring of the church's social action. ¹²

The close reading of not only the hundred or so songs which have been identified as constituting the new component of this Cuernavaca hymnal, but also scores of apparently traditional religious compositions, reveals subtle but significant differences in the church's liturgical vocabulary, and thus its new theological message. This is understandable, given liberation theology's emphasis on faith sharing, that is, incarnation in practice according to the often repeated scriptural passage: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). Following the inspiration of these words, the circumstances of economic marginality and social or political oppression that weigh heavily upon the religious faithful in many, if not most, congregations in Latin America are now reflected in the content of shared scriptural prayers and hymns.

Faith is no longer seen as the process of assimilating oneself to doctrinal norms or internalizing an approved intellectual construct. Faith is living a relationship between self and divinity, between individual and community. It is the actualization of a human dynamic, that of bringing the word of God to true relevance in one's own life. Prayer and hymn, therefore, reflect the reality of the faithful as they are, and not merely as they ought to be. Each participant contributes his or her own faith-one's personal relationship and bonds of loyalty-to the group meditation. Shared prayer, like a community's preferred collection of hymns, highlights the kaleidoscopic diversity of the group. Differences in liturgical concerns will necessarily exist on account of the variations in lived situation and concerns of different religious communities.

¹¹ Kimbrough, "Hymns Are Theology," P. 59

¹² Pierre Bigo, The Church and Third World Revolution (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1977), pp. 39-70, 103-16, provides an intelligent and penetrating interpretation of the concept of "liberation" for the Third World. See also: van Leeuwen, Christianity, pp. 423-24.

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IV

One word that undergoes a significant variation in meaning and focus as a result of differing situations with regard to region or social class is "commitment." The close inspection of two randomly selected hymnals (1979, 1981) which are widely used today in the Catholic worship of North American dioceses whose congregations have seemingly not been won over to the urgent demands of the "liberation" church, reflect, as one would expect, the faith orientation of a predominantly northern hemisphere, middle-class congregation. Concretely, these two missals contain several songs expressing or instructing "commitment"-as evidenced by their topical indexes. But that commitment is hardly of the type which leads worshipers to consider individuals or social groups more needy than themselves. Instead, in the context of these more traditional missals, commitment could be said to signify "activity in celebration of the Lord." ¹³ In contrast to this, the Cuernavaca Diocese's Cantemos en communidad suggests an entirely different understanding of "commitment." Perhaps forty songs here (this is the total listed in the index under the rubrics of "Brotherhood" and "Popular Struggles") communicate the message that the individual worshiper's commitment cannot be considered in isolation from urgent social problems and the suffering of others. A great number of the songs teach that one's commitment begins with this realization and is only fulfilled through social and interpersonal activity that has the goal of strengthening one's solidarity with the group.

The other term which has achieved a dramatically altered meaning in the theological context of post-Vatican II Latin America is "spirituality." Traditionally, the "sacred dimension" of worship has been considered to exist, both spatially and temporally, outside or removed from the world: the afterlife, the eternal, Heaven or the Heavenly Father, the consecrated temple, the soul. Traditionally considered, the purpose of the hymn is therefore to "transport" the consciousness of worshipers from the here and the now, and into the sacred dimension of the Holy. As such, hymns were considered by Ambrose, perhaps the church's most outstanding early Latin hymnist, as "magic spells," ¹⁴ or as a type of " mental stimulus before due appreciation comes to life in their souls." ¹⁵ But post-Vatican II thought has dramatically altered both the conception of what is "spiritual" and also the doctrinal practices related to

¹³In my possession are two different editions of the widely used Today's Missal Music Issue (I 979 and 1981) which were published in Portland, Oregon, by the Catholic Truth Society of Oregon. The "Topical Index" of the first lists seven out of about 120 songs as expressing "commitment," and the second lists nine of about 130 songs. in my judgment, most of these sixteen hymns deal with little more than the cultivation of one's inner spirituality. The most action-oriented of the sixteen songs speak not to reaching out to others, but rather to the celebration or adoration of the Holy.

¹⁴ A.S. Walpole, Early Latin Hymns (Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966), p. 17.

¹⁵ Joseph Connelly, Hymns of the Roman Liturgy (Westminster, Md.: Newman Press, 1954), pp. xiii-xiv.

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that understanding.¹⁶Salvation in the afterlife is no longer the central preoccupation of the practicing Christian, but rather "liberation" in one's lived situation.

The focus of worship has shifted from the praise of the eternal to the celebration of humanity alive in the world. The supreme inspiration of the Heavenly Father has shifted to the righteous example of the Incarnate Son. The temple as a place of sacred worship has been transformed into a meeting place for action-oriented Christian groups.¹⁷ Similarly, the soul of the individual as residence of earth bound divinity has shifted its locus to the liturgical assembly. "The presence of God is now not actualized by the consecration of a physical space, but simply by the consecration of the community." ¹⁸

This is the dramatic shift in orientation which perhaps a third of the hymns in this Mexican liturgical song book exemplify. Fittingly, the title of the entire collection is, in English translation, "We Sing in Community." The importance formerly bestowed upon individual spirituality and praise for the divine has now taken second place to the treatment of a struggling humanity attempting to realize the evangelical promise in the here and the now. As the editors state in the introduction, the new collection of hymns still sings of the mystery and uniqueness of Christ; but now the focus is the spirit of Christ as it is captured and lived within the human community.

As stated earlier, the observations expressed in this essay are relevant to only a third of the total number of songs which are distributed throughout the Cuernavaca hymnal. That is to say, the new "liberation" component, as presented, is integrally linked to the more traditional content. This balance between the two is instructive for religious practitioners in all areas of endeavor. It communicates the important message that a community-oriented spirituality and social-action commitment enrich, but do not supplant, the more traditional orientations that speak to the individual's relationship to the divine. Many communities directly under the yoke of material misery and oppression have rapidly embraced the message of the liberation church. Other communities experiencing less urgency or situated at a greater distance from the

¹⁶Jim Watson, who gratiously proofread and criticized a draft of this essay, made the interesting observation that much of what is identified here as belonging to a post-Vatican II sensitivity might be more correctly understood as characteristic of pre-Christian theology. For example, the idea of liberation in one's lived situation is reminiscent of the Hebrew notion of "Spirit" or "Shalom" wherein "Body" is not considered to be separate from "Soul." Similarly, the present-day usage of the word "church" derives from the secular term in Greek for "town meeting" or "ecclesia."

¹⁷Gabriela Videla, Sergio Mandez Arceo: un Senor Obispo (Mexico: Nuevomar, 1984), pp. 145-46, describes the renovations made to the Cuernavaca Cathedral which resulted from this new focus to worship. In addition, I have personally observed the significant alterations that are presently underway in the Cathedral of Tepoztlán: the removal of images for religious worship and the simplification of church architecture with the objective of lessening the distinction between clergy and laity.

¹⁸Brian Wicker, Toward a Contemporary Christianity (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1967), p. 217.

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sufferings of the poor have stubbornly held to old orientations while resisting the imperatives of the new. In both situations, clergy and ecclesial leaders must be keenly aware of the need to build upon the strengths of established traditions and structures while attempting to incarnate in devotional practice such teachings as we associate with Vatican II. A difficult, but necessary, task is the conversion of the church's traditional followers, and not their abandonment or alienation on account of the hasty or exclusive embrace of newer doctrines and orientations. In order to confront the struggles that lie ahead, the religious community must be united in solidarity. What better way to strengthen the ties that bind than to join hands and march together in communal song?