| Author | Roberto R. Treviño |
|---|---|
| Publisher | University of North Carolina Press |
Publication date | 2006 |
The Church in the Barrio: Mexican American Ethno-Catholicism in Houston is a 2006 book by Roberto R. Treviño, published by the University of North Carolina Press. The work covers the years 1911-1972[1] and discusses the relationship between the Mexican-American community and the Catholic church, and the "ethno-Catholicism" among Houston's Mexicans.[2] This ethno-Catholism consisted of the cultural interaction between Irish American priests, religious practices of the indigenous Mexicans, and Mexican customs.[3]
Mary E. Odem of Emory University wrote that "According to Trevino, ethno-Catholicism was more than a set of religious beliefs and practices; it was a way of life that sustained generations of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in Houston".[4] José F. Aranda Jr. of Rice University wrote that "From beginning to end, Treviño demonstrates why Houston should no longer remain virtually neglected by Chicano/a researchers."[5] Michael P. Carroll of the University of Western Ontario argued that the book's title did not adequately cover the entire scope of the subject; Carroll characterized this as a "mild complaint".[1]
- ^ a b Carroll, p. 214.
- ^ Odem, p. 243-244. "Trevino examines the development of Mexican "ethno-Catholicism" and its practitioners' fraught relationship with the Catholic Church in Houston in the twentieth century."
- ^ Aranda, p. 224-225. "Because the Mexican American community had to overcome the racist and Eurocentric ideologies of the church itself, the process of laying claim and espousing a hybrid brand of Catholicism (a mixture of Mexican mores, indigenous spiritual practices, and Irish Catholic clergy) had an uplifting politicizing effect, argues Treviño."
- ^ Odem, p. 244.
- ^ Aranda, p. 225.