Page 60 - tesis
P. 60

to the government of Arbenz. The Catholic bishops were profoundly anti-communist. The Guatemalan Archbishop Mario Rossell and Arellano considered the fight against communism as a crusade which he maintained until Arbenz was overthrown. The publication of the pastoral letter, \u2018On the advances of communism in Guatemala,\u2019 and their support of groups, which rose up to protect from communism, were key elements in this campaign (Benda\u00F1a 2001:9-10). Bruce Calder points out that this crusade was carried out with the support and leadership of the political elite (1970: 156, 179-180).\u000ATwo years later the Catholic Church was compensated for their fight against the communist threat. The Archbishop\u2019s office notes that \u201C...the constitution of 1956 recognized the Church as a legal entity with right to own property. Permission was given for the teaching of religion to be incorporated into the educational system and the Catholic University was created. The door was opened for the admittance of missionaries and religious congregations...\u201D(Informe Arzobispado 1998:13). At that time, the Catholic Church recovered a good part of their power and political and religious space.\u000A(2) What was happening to the Evangelicals during these governments?\u000ATwo attitudes can be found even though it is not possible to be totally clear. There appears to have been a certain amount of ambiguity with regard to the revolutionary process. Grenfell points out that the Evangelical churches suffered profound internal divisions with respect to how to answer Arbenz, and after 1951 many North American missionaries hardened their attitude towards the president who they were convinced was a communist at heart (1995: 18). In general terms the Evangelicals maintained a certain amount of silence in the public arena with regard to government business.\u000AIt is important to point out though that all the Evangelical denominations through their membership, actively participated in the key programmes of Ar\u00E9valo and Arbenz. Alonso, a Jesuit philosopher, affirms that the Protestant churches collaborated with the revolutionary authorities in two key areas, education and the democratizing process. He\u000A47\u000A


































































































   58   59   60   61   62