After attending 5:15 Mass this past Saturday, I was handed the church bulletin which included the item displayed above, encouraging parishioners to consider seeing For Greater Glory. I haven't seen the film yet. I just read the Wikipedia article about The Cristero War--which our bulletin describes as 'a war by the people of Mexico against the atheistic and anti-Catholic Mexican government.'
The bulletin's description oversimplifies Mexican history quite significantly. During the 19th Century, the Catholic Church owned over half of the property in Mexico. When the Catholic Church has had great power in any country, it has tended to abuse that power. In Mexico for example, the Church controlled the education system, effectively preventing citizens from gaining access to unbiased information about the Catholic Church--and about the many historical falsehoods that institution seeks to perpetuate.
A Constitution was eventually established in Mexico aimed at drastically reining in the Catholic Church, so as to reduce its overarching political power. Some of the restrictions put in place then, to break the Church's stranglehold over Mexican society, were draconian and excessive.
People who wanted to restore the Catholic Church to its former position fought the Cristero War against the government of Mexico. The US government provided arms and air support to the Mexican state, assisting its atheist president in putting down the revolt. The Mexican Catholic bishops at no point voiced official support for the rebellion.
After Mexico's atheist president Plutarco Elias Calles' term ended, he was replaced by his more Church-accommodating predecessor Álvaro Obregón--who was promptly assassinated by a Catholic fanatic, just after his 1928 election. Mexico then found a new president, and with US diplomatic assistance, peace was negotiated between the Catholic Church and the Mexican state. Some rebels felt sold-out, as they weren't represented during the war-ending negotiations--and vowed to continue fighting. The Church threatened them with excommunication, and hostilities soon came to an end.
As a side note, I think considerable social change cannot help but take place within the St. Patrick's community during your tenure. One suggestion I advocate: Allowing parishioners to comment on bulletin articles, online--and to submit articles of their own authorship to the publication. Parishioners at St. Patrick's are too often unaware of the great diversity of interpretations and beliefs embodied within the community; the relentlessly top-down approach is extremely stultifying.
Warmest regards,
Gavin Sullivan
Eden Prairie
