The jesuits and the Church with an indigenous face

Abstract

In recent decades, a sector of the Latin American Catholic Church has promoted the idea of forming a Church with an indigenous face, in which indigenous people are incorporated into the ecclesiastical structure through certain positions such as catechist and/or deacons. Some have even proposed the ordination of indigenous priests, who according to the indigenous worldview must be married.

The purpose of this article is to review, from the perspective of the historicization of concepts proposed by Ellacuria, the theoretical and practical contribution made by the Society of Jesus, in particular three Ignatian religious —Xavier Albó, Manuel Marzal and Bartomeu Melià— to this process. As will be seen throughout the text, it has been a path full of advances and setbacks. At the theoretical level, the Jesuits have defended the idea that inculturation is the best way for the Church to achieve a true insertion in the reality of the indigenous communities. In the practical field, the experience of indigenous deacons is explored in two regions: in the Aymara zone in the Andes —especially in Bolivia—, and in the Mission of Bachajón, Chiapas. Both experiences have dissimilar results, but they enrich the journey of the Church with an indigenous face.