Latin Apostasy

Most Americans take it for granted that Latin America is solidly Catholic. Not so, says a Latin American expert who is also a good Roman Catholic. Writing in the Holy Name Journal (circulation 25,000), official U.S. publication of the Holy Name Society, Writer-Lecturer Richard Pattee weighed the solid south of Latin American Catholicism, and found it wanting.

Basically, said Writer Pattee, Latin America has two types of Catholicism: 1) "the black dress and the mantilla"--the "sentimental brand practiced in large measure by pious older ladies" and on Sundays by "the younger women, dressed more to please the younger men than God"; 2) the intellectual--the brand practiced by a minority aware of "the full significance of Catholicism as an 'ideology.' " In almost every Latin American land but Mexico, he concluded, the masses have "committed [virtual] apostasy."

To win them back Catholic Pattee set down this five-point program:

1) "A clear break between the Church and the official conservative parties. . . ."

2) "A clear consciousness of the necessities of the racial elements now in the submerged category: Negroes and Indians."

3) Frank facing up to "the land question."

4) Emphasis on "the positive side" of the Papal Encyclicals ("as against the condemnation of socialism, for example").

5) "The only way, in the long run, to combat both Communism and Protestantism is to do the job better. . . ."

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