Elizondo, Virgilio P.

Matovina, Timothy

English

University of San Francisco

Journal of Hispanic / Latino TheologyVolume 10 | Number 2 Article 911-1-2002Mestizo Worship: A Pastoral Approach toLiturgical MinistryVirgilio P. ElizondoTimothy MatovinaFollow this and additional works at: http://repository.usfca.edu/jhltThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has beenaccepted for inclusion in Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology by an authorized editor of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library |Geschke Center. For more information, please contact repository@usfca.edu.Recommended CitationEdward C. Zaragoza, reviews of Mestizo Worship: A Pastoral Approach to Liturgical Ministry, by Virgilio P. Elizondo and Timothy M.Matovina (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1998); and Misa, Mesa y Musa: Liturgy in the U.S. Hispanic Church, 2nd ed. Kenneth G.Davis, O.F.M., ed. (Schiller Park, Ill.: World Library Publications, 1997), in Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology 10:2 (Nov. 2002)78-80.78 Book ReviewsMestizo Worship:A Pastoral Approach to Liturgical Ministry. By Virgilio P.Elizondo and Timothy M. Matovina. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press,1998. Pages, vi + 106. Paper, $9.95.Misa, Mesa y Musa: Liturgy in the US. Hispanic Church, 2nd ed. Compiledand edited by Kenneth G. Davis, O.F.M., CONV. Schiller Park, Ill.: WorldLibrary Publications, 1997. Pages, viii + 131. Paper, $6.50.Both of these slim volumes are written in a very readable style bypractioners of pastoral care and liturgy and are intended for a likeaudience. However, they are also accessible to students of liturgy andritual, as well as anyone interested in Hispanic / Latino culture gener-ally. In addition, both books share the View that the official liturgy ofthe Catholic Church and the popular rituals of Hispanics can enricheach other, and therefore, should be integrated. This View stresses theneed for openness on the part of the pastoral minister, who must ac-knowledge that worshiping and celebrating with the community oneloves and serves is where one can best put popular faith and practice indialogue with the church’s official liturgical tradition.A multivalent image, mestizo worship, characterizes both books.Liturgically, mestizo can mean worship that combines in a creative wayoften opposing elements. Historically, it can also mean the worship thatemerges out of the interaction between pre-Columbian peoples andIberian Catholicism. Pastorally, it can mean the enacted faith of a peoplewho endure against all odds.Mestizo Worship, by Elizondo and Matovina, is one result of theircollaboration on the San Fernando Cathedral Study conducted by theMexican American Cultural Center in San Antonio, Texas. Compiledfrom previously published work, Mestizo Worship serves as a superbintroduction to each author’s work, for example, Elizondo’s Galileanjourney, The Future is Mestizo, and Guadalupe, as well as Matovina’sTejanoReligion and Ethnicity: San Antonio, 1821—1860.Elizondo and Matovina develop three major themes of mestizoworship. In “Foundational Faith Expressions,” Elizondo describes theBook Reviews 79annual celebrations of the Mexican American community as a ”livingChristian creed” (5) because they live out, celebrate, and pass on thefaith. The advent ritual, Las Pasadas, both symbolizes and reenactsissues of resistance and survival, identity and belonging, for MexicanAmericans as they walk with Mary and Joseph in search of shelter. Inaccompanying Jesus to the Cross on Good Friday, Las Siete Palabras, andthe Pésame (Condolences) a la Virgen,Mexican Americans rehearse theirown struggle, suffering, and death. Resurrection and new creation areaffirmed in the Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12 as shegives birth to a new race, the mestizo. Through these celebrations andsymbolic reenactments, the people claim their belonging to a universalfellowship of Christians without loosing to the dominant culture theirdeepest identity and rootedness as Mexican Americans.Elizondo further develops the major theme of new creation in“Gaudalupe and the Two Conquests.” Born of the clash between Spainand the indigenous peoples of New Spain in the first conquest in 1519,Our Lady of Guadalupe, L11 Mestiza, empowers today’s MexicanAmericans in their ongoing struggle for liberation, resulting from thesecond conquest of the War between Texaco and Mexico (1836) andthe Mexican-American War (1846—1848). Matovina substantiatesElizondo’s insights as he explores the turbulent context of mid—nineteenth century celebrations for Our Lady of Guadalupe in thesettlement of San Antonio, and how these celebrations express theidentity of the people during perilous times of social upheaval andwar.In the final section, ”Celebrating the Sacred,” Elizondo writesabout the life of the Spirit in the heart that is central to mestizo worship.Matovina offers the reader two analyses of this Spirit, with practicalsuggestions, for integrating Mexican-American popular religion withtraditional Catholic rites. He advocates adapting the procession of LasPasadas as a possible opening rite for the Mass, as well as integratingsome updated Mexican-American family traditions into current wed-ding celebrations.Misa, Mesa y Musa continues the theme of mestizaje in liturgy andritual. Editor Kenneth G. Davis, O.F.M., conv., enlarges the scope ofmestizo worship through the wide range of liturgical issues consideredin these essays, as well as in the diverse selection of mostly Hispanicauthors. Also included are a very helpful bibliography and a glossaryof Spanish terms.Among the twelve discerning essays in Misa, Mesa y Musa is JaimeLara’s on ”The Liturgical Roots of Hispanic Popular Religiosity.” Hepersuasively argues that some of today’s Hispanic popular celebra-tions are rooted in the monastic liturgical practices first brought to the80 Book Reviewsnew world by the mendicants. Arturo J. Perez—Rodriguez echoesElizondo’s understanding of mestizo spirituality in ”Signs of the Times,Toward a Hispanic Rite, Quizas,” by pointing to the spirit at the heartof current Hispanic worship as evidence that there already exists anHispanic rite of worship.In ”Presiding in Spanish as a Second Language,” Kenneth G. Davis,O.F.M., conV., demonstrates how speech preparation by both presiderand native speaker, as well as by the gathered assembly, enhances wor-ship. As music and song are integral parts of Hispanic/ Latino worship,this essay, "Crosscultural Music-Making” by Mary Frances Reza, is awelcome addition to this volume. After providing a brief history of theuse of music in the church, she offers an illuminating case study of thechallenges presented by an African-/Mexican-American weddingliturgy. Following this essay is Lorenzo R. Florian’s ”Spanish Phoneticsfor Church Musicians” that details specific pronunciations.Like Matovina’s ideas about integrating popular ritual with officialliturgy, Raul Gomez argues for “Celebrating the Quinceaera as aSymbol of Faith and Culture.” He pays particular attention to the his-torical and cultural roots of the ceremony before addressing the liturgi-cal and theological implications of its use in the context of eucharist.Both Mestizo Worship and Misa, Mesa y Musa deserve a place onone’s bookshelf alongside Frontiers of Hispanic Theology in the UnitedStates, edited by Allan Figueroa Deck, 3]., The Faith of the People byOrlando Espin, Caminémos con Iesus: Toward a H ispanic/LatinoTheologyofAccompaniment by Robert S. Goizueta, and lAlabadle;Hispanic ChristianWorship, edited by Iusto L. Gonzalez.Edward C. Zaragoza

Mestizo Worship: A Pastoral Approach to Liturgical Ministry

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Mestizo Worship: A Pastoral Approach to Liturgical Ministry

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