Analysis Ruiz prepares diocese of leadership change
By GARY MacEOIN
Samuel Ruiz García will submit his resignation as bishop of
San Cristóbal de las Casas when he reaches the age of 75 Nov. 3. What
will happen next is a matter for grave concern not only for the diocese, but
for the state of Chiapas and for all Mexico.
Will his policy to treat the indigenous people, who are the vast
majority of the people in the diocese, as human beings and full citizens
continue? Or will the church revert to its centuries-long alliance with the
cattle ranchers and businessmen who also control state politics?
Ruiz has taken great pains to ensure a smooth transition to
Raúl Vera López, who was named coadjutor with right of succession
in August 1995. For several months the two bishops have been going together to
major indigenous communities, including Palenque, famous for its Mayan ruins,
and Acteal, where two years ago 45 unarmed persons -- all but nine women and
children -- were slaughtered as they sheltered in a church.
The local leaders welcome the bishops by dressing them in the
traditional costume of the Tatic, the honorary father of the community. In
Acteal the survivors of the massacre, members of a pacifist group known as Las
Abejas (the bees) led the ritual that symbolized the transfer of
responsibility for spiritual leadership from Ruiz to Vera. Scripture readings,
hymns, homilies given by each bishop and the eucharistic liturgy followed, and
several dozen young adults were admitted to full membership of the community in
the sacrament of confirmation.
The entire ceremony was conducted in Tzotzil, except for
Veras homily. He has acquired enough Tzotzil and Tzeltal, the two most
important indigenous languages, to conduct the liturgy in them. Unlike Ruiz,
however, his fluency is still limited, so he preaches in Spanish that is
translated by an interpreter. He praised the people for continuing to believe
in the possibility of justice and peace. What the paramilitaries and the
Mexican government had planned as an act of terror, he said, the value of
the gospel has converted into a mysterious force that maintains hope.
Protests against this program of symbolic transfer of diocesan
leadership have appeared in the communications media controlled by the
government and local power brokers. Vera, they say, is only coadjutor, and Ruiz
is trying to anticipate the popes decision by presenting him as already
the diocesan bishop. The diocesan authorities have taken the criticism so
seriously that they issued an official document quoting the pertinent canon law
and insisting that they understand perfectly well that Ruiz is the diocesan
bishop and that Vera will be simply a titular bishop until Ruizs
resignation is accepted.
What is clear from all this maneuvering is that major opposition
continues to the policies that have marked Ruizs 40 years as bishop. This
opposition represents powerful interests in both state and church. Its leaders
are the oligarchs of Chiapas who stand to lose privilege and status if the
indigenous majority is granted full rights of citizenship. Mexicos
national government also fears the radical change that would result from
acceptance of the claims of the indigenous people not only of Chiapas, but of
many other Southern states. Finally, there are elements both in the local
church and in Rome that reject Ruizs interpretation of liberation
theology and the preferential option for the poor.
The irony of the situation is that today, as he nears retirement,
Ruiz is in a stronger position than at any previous time. In 1993, Papal Nuncio
Girolamo Prigione stated publicly that the pope wanted Ruiz to resign. The
following year, the people of reason (as the elite of San
Cristóbal describe themselves) demonstrated outside a church where Ruiz
was coming to celebrate the Eucharist. Several hundred well-dressed men and
women screamed insults and waved signs reading Ruiz Antichrist,
Bishop of the Devil and Go to Cuba.
When in August 1995 Prigione announced that the pope had named
Raúl Vega as coadjutor and that Samuel Ruiz is no longer
responsible for the clergy of the diocese, it looked as if Ruiz had lost.
Then a strange thing happened, something for which the only satisfactory
explanation so far proposed is that the Holy Spirit intervened. Ruiz and his
team promised full cooperation with the new appointee. Vega not only politely
rejected all invitations from Ruizs enemies to join their camp, but
gradually identified himself as in full agreement with Ruizs pastoral
program. Prigione has disappeared from the scene, and both Ruiz and Vega enjoy
excellent relations with his successor, Justo Mullor.
While it is understood that Ruiz will move away from Chiapas once
his resignation is accepted (probably in January after a delegation of
ecumenical religious leaders from many countries greets him as he marks 40
years as a bishop), he will continue to promote the cause of the poor in Mexico
and elsewhere. He is already scheduled to speak at the annual Call to Action
conference in Milwaukee Nov. 5-7.
Gary MacEoin (gmaceoin@cs.com) is author of
The Peoples Church: Bishop Samuel Ruiz of Mexico and Why He Matters.
National Catholic Reporter, October 15,
1999
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