"From them come the preachers and priests of tomorrow." Mexico's indigenous peoples are the focus of the ministry of many of the Jesuits there.
IN 1577, FIVE YEARS after the first Jesuits arrived in Mexico, they met to evaluate the work they had begun and to determine its future direction. Out of that meeting came a conviction: "It is very fitting that we concentrate our efforts in education and evangelization on the indigenous people," they said in elegant Latin, "because it is necessary that from them come the preachers and priests of tomorrow."
That same conviction inspires their Jesuit colleagues in Mexico today, more than 400 years later.
Work on behalf of indigenous peoples is present in practically all Jesuit works in Mexico, including their universities, which have programs serving the indigenous people, and urban parishes, which "twin" with parishes in areas of different language and culture.
This same concern for indigenous peoples animates the efforts of many Jesuits themselves, who have spent years in places where they have had to learn pre-Hispanic languages, some giving their whole lives to preaching the Gospel among indigenous people. They are driven by that impulse of the first Jesuits to arrive in Mexico, which in recent decades has been called inculturation. It is not enough to teach the way in which we have faith in God and in Christ. It is not helpful to impose the culture of our Christianity. Preachers and people together must find culturally appropriate expressions of faith so that, through the power of the Spirit, new preachers come forth from the people themselves.
Says Fr. José María Castillo, SJ, missionary to Native peoples in Chiapas and Chihuahua, "In the moral sense, indigenous people are the same as we. There are some with refined sensitivity and others rough around the edges. The main differences between us are cultural. At first, indigenous people seem to come from an impenetrable world that has nothing to say to you and to which you can contribute nothing. But after a time, when you eat and walk and work with them, you discover their marvelous world. With that discovery comes a new appreciation of Jesus' message."
The Society's current works in different parts of Mexico among the indigenous peoples are examples of this tradition of inculturation and evangelization.
Jesuits arrived in this Tzeltal area of Chiapas about 40 years ago and currently collaborate in pastoral activity among the indigenous Chols in Palenque and among the Zoques, a group that had to emigrate 15 years ago when the Chichonal volcano erupted, sweeping away their lands.
They live in extreme poverty and oppression, battling alcoholism, the despoliation of land by the whites, and repression by the authorities, accomplices of the plunderers. The Jesuits work to help them achieve more- humane living conditions by teaching them to read and write, guiding them in the legal processes of claiming land, helping them in community organizing, and developing health- care campaigns against tuberculosis and parasitosis.
A very important year for the indigenous peoples of Chiapas was 1974, the year of the San Cristóbal de las Casas Indigenous Congress. Bp. Samuel Ruiz, who convened the congress, invited the participation of Jesuits. He knew that the needs of the various ethnic groups were similar but that no sense of unity existed that would move them to combine forces. "We are not alone" was the discovery of the indigenous people. "They have taken land from people in other villages as well as from us," said a participant. "The doors to decent health care are closed to others as well as to us. We are not the only ones without schools nor the only ones who have to sell corn and coffee at ridiculous prices."
Those in power reacted to this new consciousness with increased repression that included criminal acts, such as an attack by the army in 1980 on a small village that left thirteen indigenous people dead and twenty others wounded.
That began an intense decade for Jesuits, who redoubled efforts in social action, accompanying people to the government offices that handled the indigenous people's claims to ancestral lands. It meant hours of travel on muddy roads, more hours sitting in official waiting rooms, and still more hours driving back with the bitter taste of unkept promises, humiliation, scorn, and a sense of impotence in the face of corruption formalized into shameful laws that leave indigenous people without identity or land or much hope.
Jesuits also redoubled their efforts in pastoral ministry, in particular the training of lay pastoral workers. This enormous endeavor of religious preparation and education grew in response to a need that one Tzeltal expressed very well: "If you go away, everything you are teaching us is going to end, because you are not leaving us the Holy Spirit. Give us the Holy Spirit, and your work will not be in vain."
Those words put succinctly the need of indigenous people to participate in the life of the Church not only as recipients of evangelization but also as evangelizers if a local Church is to be created. Jesuits have dedicated hours to translating the Bible so that the people have access to the Word of God without first having to learn Spanish, and to training catechists and married deacons, and, someday, priests, all to complete the foundation of the Church in a region so in need of the good news.
In the state of Veracruz, among mountains overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, Jesuits are at work in projects that grew out of the broadcasts of Radio Huaya. The station, more than 30 years old, was born out of the desire of the local bishop to promote the welfare of the indigenous people of that mountainous, isolated region, living in small, scattered communities without schools or health services.
The bishop asked Jesuits to provide literacy and basic education to the area's residents via radio waves. The challenge was enormous, in part because the Nahuas, the Tepehuas, and the Otomís there have different cultures and languages.
But it was also a great opportunity to offer both an evangelical and a profoundly human service to people living in terrible poverty. Radio Huaya began broadcasting health education programs and others on family education, history, and geography. Residents who learned to read and write thanks to the radio courses served as informal teachers in small villages.
In 1975, conditions in the region began changing. Roads were built, and schools came even to the smallest villages. The educational facet of the broadcasts was no longer necessary; it was more important that Radio Huaya evolve into a participatory and cultural radio station to battle the poverty, the cacique system (autocratic control by tribal leaders), and the disdain for indigenous cultural values prevalent in the area.
The station's programming fostered in peasants and indigenous people a greater awareness of their rights. Radio Huaya's broadcasts in three indigenous languages were reaching more than 50 villages of around 1,000 residents each, reflecting their values and culture.
The station has forged a definite link with its audience. When listeners to such broadcasts as "News of the Countryside," "Tips on Health," and "Music of the Highlands" visit the station or send in tapes and letters, they in a sense take possession of the microphones; they request to hear the huapangos, sones, and corridos of their culture, freely express their problems, and publicly denounce the injustices and abuses they suffer at the hands of the caciques and corrupt officials.
It's freedom of expression, and it draws an increasing number of listeners who find that the programs talk about their everyday life and propose solutions that take into account their rights.
But that freedom is a thorn in the side of those who take advantage of a system that mistreats indigenous people and considers them cheap labor. Last March, the Commission of Communication and Transportation conducted an inspection of the station and reported some defects in the antenna, which, according to the commission, represented a serious danger. The station's permit to broadcast was withdrawn.
After some small adjustments and three months of intense struggle in government offices, Radio Huaya went back on the air, not only recovering its original audience but even gaining more of a following.
"The station's antenna never represented a technical danger," says Fr. Alfredo Zepeda, SJ. "Instead, it represented a social danger for some people because it broadcasts the truth about discrimination, despoliation, and injustice toward the indigenous people. In that sense, we Jesuits want to have an even more dangerous antenna, in order to help create social conditions that respect all ethnic groups and cultures and the rights to the natural resources of the region."
"The indigenous people bring you into their world. They open the door with such sincerity that you cannot stay outside. They offer you such a frank welcome that you cannot refuse it," says Fr. Carlos Bravo, SJ, who spent years among indigenous peoples in Tarahumara in the state of Chihuahua and now works at the Center for Theological Reflection in Mexico City, actively promoting the development and dissemination of indigenous theology.
An indispensable part of all missionary work in the world today is the defense of human rights. It is impossible to spread Jesus' message if we do not insist in a courageous and committed voice that human rights be respected. In this context, the current provincial, Fr. Mario López Barrio, affirms:
"Today, work among the indigenous people is of enormous importance. If we Jesuits have some possibility of talking about human rights, if our words are not empty, it is thanks to the generous tradition of this province of being near our indigenous brothers and sisters and thanks to the good number of Jesuits who are continuing to be near these children of God whose rights are being so trampled upon."
Fr. Miguel Romero, SJ, secretary to the provincial in Mexico City, also serves as an editor for his province's publication, Jesuitas de México.