The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 12

y'til'i'v'i'Tit i Oct. 16,1976 A-12 THI SUH-TtllCKAM Mexican basilica dedication revives cult of Virgin Mary h.wr eh New Yort Timet Newt Service ine difficulty suppressing superstitious and Hour of Power reaches millions with message priests to hold mass for those in the square. "I see it as a Christian assembly hall." Ramirez Vazquez said. "Some people complain that it looks like a stadium or even a tent. Well, I say it is a stadium in Virgin from the old to the new basilica.

Thousands of people attended. Although there were dozens -of bishops and special envoys from all over the world, there was no official representative of. the Mexican government. Although relations between church and state are currently good, the administration of president Luis Echeverrla Alvarez, himself an admitted atheist did recognize the event officially. After wielding enormous- hich to pray, it is a tent to cover those who are praying" The estimated 124 million cost has been reduced by about $10 million by discounts and donations made by companies and communities.

"About 50 per cent of vthe money came in small donations from the ordinary Mexicans," said the abbott of the basilica, Msgr. Guillermo Schulemberg. But the cost of the project, in a country where many people are living at near-subsistence levels, has nevertheless provoked criticism, even from some progressive sectors inside the Mexican church. The central point of the inauguration ceremony Tuesday was the procession carrying the image of the power during the colonial, period, the Catholic Church in Mexico was formally disestablished in the mid 19th century by the liberal leader. Beinto Juarez.

Nevertheless, more than 90 per cent of Mexico's 62 million inhabitants still consider themselves Catho-; lie. "In Mexico, there is an unspoken pact between MEXICO CITY In a country where the govern- ment is formally atheist and the church has frequently been persecuted, the inauguration of a new 1 Basilica of Guadalupe last Tuesday is evidence of the continued strength of Catholicism and, in particular of the cult of the Virgin Mary. The ultra-modern new basilica, built in Just 18 months at a cost over $20 million, replaced a 300-year-old colonial church that is in danger of collapsing. But for millions of Mexicans, construction of the new basilica merely offered them a new opportunity to demonstrate their deep faith in the "Indian" Virgin of Guadalupe by contributing toward the cost of a new shrine. Even as some 3,000 workers rushed to complete the building before its blessing Tuesday by Cardinal Miguel Dario Miranda Gomez, groups of Indians, peasants' and workers continued to arrive here with small donations.

"I just gave 30 pesos Candido Martinez, a 47-year-old construction worker, said as he left a booth selling symbolic basilica "bonds." "But I've given before. All my family has contributed a day's pay toward the new basilica. It's not much but at least we can feel the basilica is partly ours now." With some six million Mexicans visiting the shrine of Guadalupe each year, the importance of the cult is difficult to exaggerate, reflecting as it does the most complex facets of Mexican history, race and religion. According to official accounts, the virgin appeared in the image of an Indian woman to a poor semipagan trappings, spread to every community in the Land. Today, the conversation of ordinary Mexicans is sprinkled with reference to "the little Virgin" or to "the dark lady of Tepeyac." Little statues of Guadalupe hang in many cars and buses, both men and wom-en are baptized "Guadalupe," even altars to the Virgin exist in public markets, building sites and many private homes.

Throughout the year although particularly on Dec. 12, the day of the Virgin hundreds of pilgrim groups visit the shrine, sometimes walking for days from distant villages, frequently going the final half-mile on their knees. And when they reach Tepeyac, often dressed in colorful Indian costumes, the pilgrims dedicate ancient dances to the Virgin. The old basilica, which was begun in 1685 to replace a succession of smaller shrines, remains as important to Mexican Catholics as the home of the "miraculous" image of the Virgin. But because of the soft subsoil of Mexico City, it has been sinking irregularly and is now badly cracked in several places.

Eventually, it will be restored and converted into a museum. The real reason for building a new basilica is because the old one is frankly dangerous," said Pedro Ramirez Vazques, the cht architect. "But it was also a matter of demand. The basilica receives 1,500 pilgrimages and six million visitors per year. (St.

Peter's in the Vatican had six million visitors in 1975). The new basilica can accommodate as many as 10,000 people at one time. But, because pilgrimages are sometimes even larger, a further .30,00 people congregated outside can see the image of the Virgin and an exterior terrace enables the worship of pagan gods by the Indians. Significantly, the virgin appeared on Tepeyac Hill in the northrn part of the Mexico City of today at the site of a sanctuary to Tonantzin. the Aztec god of fertility who was also known to the Indians as "our mother." As a result, the Catholic Church could demonstrate that the Indians were also children of God and that the Virgin Mary herself was dark-skinned, while the Indians continued their pilgrimage to Tepeyac, merely blending their worship of Tonantzin with that of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

The projection of the Virgin Mary rather than Jesus Christ was particularly important to an Indian society where women and female gods played such a key role. "The virgin is the consolation of the poor, the shield of the weak, the help of the oppressed," the Mexican essayist, Octavio Paz, wrote in his book "The Labyrinth of Solitude." "In sum, she is the mother of orphans. All men are born disinherited and their true condition is orphanhood, but this is particularly true among the Indians and poor of Mexico." Historians have frequently accused the Spanish bishops of the early 16th century of inventing the entire episode to win over the Indians, but the church to this day points to numerous miracles attributed to the virgin's power. The first such miracle allegedly occurred when she transformed a bun of roses carried by the poor Indian, Juan Diego, into a painted image of herself, the original of which is still preserved in the basilica. The Virgin of Guadalupe therefore became the virgin of the Indians and, as Spanish and Indian blood blended to the point that today 90 per cent of Mexicans are so-called "mestizos," the cult to Guadalupe, with all its church and state not to.

interfere in each other's affairs," Msgr. Schulemberg said. I'1 A All -If 7 Garden grove, caw. (AP) When the Rev. Robert Schuller steps to the pulpit each Sunday, many of his parishioners are still sitting outside the church In their cars.

That's Just the way the positive-thinking minister wants ft. Next to his glass-walled Garden Grove Community Church is a special lJOfk-ar drive-In area, where worshipers can watch Schuller preach while the listen to his upbeat sermon orv'tlwir car radios. Camera crews film the proceedings as a choir w4rms up the audience before the Rev. Mr. Schuller stftrts preaching.

The services ere televised as a weekly program, "The Hour of Power," viewed on mOre; than 100 stations. Spectators fill the pews inside, and an overflow crowd often sits on folding chairs just outside. But most of the crowd attracted each week to the suburban Los. Angeles church wait in their cars as two big glass wall sections roll aside to give. 'them a clear view of performance.

They hear it all on a special AM radio channel. Unlike some ministers who use the airwaves to preach, the Rev. Mr. Schull-ef, shuns the fire-and- brimstone approach for a low-key philosophy he calls "possibility thinking." He never calls people sinners, for example, and insists that Jesus Christ didn't either. persons becomes who he believes he is," the Rev.

Mr, Schuller said in an interview. you call someone a sinner, if only reinforces a negative self-image. Jesus told people they were the salt of the earth and the might of the world." 'Michael Mason, administrative executive for the church, predicts church members will contribute $1.5 million this year and television viewers Psychologist attacks Unification Church AP WtTOpnote Garden drive-in takes offerings at Community Church "deprogrammed," writes about the group in the Christian Herald magazine. He says that potential converts are trained in isolation from the outside world, not permitted to ask questions and that intensive indoctrination schedules, combined with insufficient sleep and food, creates dependence on cult leaders. Usher Grove section CHAPPAQUA, N.Y.

(AP) A psychologist says the Unification Church of Korean preacher Sun Myung Moon denies reli-gious freedom and exercises "mind control" through questionable indoctrination methods. Dr. George Swope, profes-sor of psychology at Westchester Community College, whose own daughter was in the cult until abducted from it and complex has its own church and a 14-story headquarters, called the Tower of Power, topped by a 90-foot neon cross. In the works is a larger, $15 million church shaped like a star with 10,000 glass windows. The Rev.

Mr. Schuller, Indian man on Dec. 12, will donate an additional $6 million. "When you're in an operation in the magnitude of the Hour of Power you reach a tremendous number of people," he said. "We make no appeals for money on the television program.

We have a good reputation with television stations for our level of spirituality and fulfilling needs. The minister started his Community Church in 1955 at a vacant drive-in theater. Now his Garden Grove who earns JOTROO a vear. 1531, lust 10 years after said he is aware that some Hernando Cortes completed have criticized his brand of his conquest of the Aztecs Christianity as sanitized and at a time when Catho-and saccharine. uc missionaries were hav- "PeoDle who sav that I would say they re too FOURSQUARE GOSPEL theologically," he shallow said.

FIRST CHURCH of the NAZARENE Way at loth St. G. A. Runhford, Poof or 9:30 a.m. Church School 10:50 A.M.

MO RIVING WORSHIP 6:00 P.M. EVENING WORSHIP UNIVERSAL CHURCH Of THE MASTER 601 smarwALisr ovist Attn 2t8 N. ARROWHEAD, S.I. 13-0793 Haallag Warship Sarvkts SUNDAYS AT I P.M. Paster Rav.

J. Mlchall FIRST ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH 1354 North GST. SUNDAY SCHOOL fcOO AJR. woBsiirsnncnuouL CompMtM eoby SHtin Provided Corner Ritllo ht. nd Si Sunday School 130 Ml.

Worship .10 45 im 1 1 p.m. Wed. Prayer Service 7 p.m, lev. Jaf Sterrett, Pnter First SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH 1094 1. SASHIMI THI SALVATION ARMY 746 W.

5th St. Sunday Services Sunday School. 9:45 ABUNDANT LIFE CHURCH OfJtSUSCHKISTM 2340 lint AvtSJ. Seedey WenMe fli SHrtt imttott MO Ma. eeHaf Servke Wed MO Rev.

0. Bacon, Pastor S87-45I9 Worship 11:00 ML VMM rju0rmpmTl i CHURCH 1 1406 E. PACIFIC 8M-4918 I Evening 6:00 Rev. S. C.

Fogla, Patter 885-1287 883-3500 9:30 Sunday School 8:13 and 11 KM A.M. Christian Center 25000 5th St. 884-8515 MNItOOM PASTOR SAN If HAININ0 6767 DEI ROSA 663.1260 6SS-nS6IIAifrRAYIR 10 A.M. ADULT tlM.1 CLASS 11 KM A M. SUNDAY SEtVICE CbIIcVm's mdmi Schawl "SECRETS OF THE INNER POWER" 7 P.M.

Vospor Sorvico Ms tar Wlllla La le-a "THE GREAT TREASURE HUNT" 6 P.M. "THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CROSS" Pastor Arroues Speaking both CHURCH OF CHRIST Rosa Ave. at Date St. SERVICES FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH (Olfclplsi of ChrUt) 1001 Arrowhead Avt. Chirth't ScbMl9s30A.M.

DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED PROGRAM 10:30 WORSHIP 8i20, 1(H40 YOUTH CROUPS 7:00 J. I 1 WESTERN DAY A ROUND UP Of IOVE AT FIRST CHURCH OF COD SUNDAY OCT. 17th Com dfmd In yew wtmm doHwi to worship at 10:30 o.m. AcfivitiM at noon wHI indudt boTqut (donation) pony rid. CHURCH OF CHRIST 1354 Mt.

View Avenue "Hold fort the form of wund wordi (2 Tim. 1:13) "But tpeot mou me "fite1 become wood doctrine" (Trtut 2:1) KHCDUll Of UIVKIS SUNDAY Bible Clouei for All Agei 9.4S o.m. Worehip (lord't Supper, Singing, Praying, Gospel Preochmg, Giving) Morning 10 4 a m. Evening. 6 p.m.

26303 'Preaching and Communion Bible Study Evening Service Tues. Service THE BIBLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 'BLESSED ARE THE MEEK' 9 30 A 10 45 AM 5 00 PM 7 00 P.M 9s45 A.M. Prophecy KathyBoon 1045 6 P.M. Marvla Ftrd Tslimny "I WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD" ALSO Pastor Boone Marvin Ford praying for the sick. 862-3239 2282 1.

Pwmolo (Between Sterling Arden 1 Block North of Highland) III Jolly, Preaching MiNisrm RUTH ANN MOHAN MIL JOLLY Wurfcry Cot rovldd i ReV I WT" WIONISDAYt Bible Studies, Singing and Prayer IValtlllSTi IM Arthur Atkinson Jr. Evangelist Ihr lkur.li Kill) 4 mi Oprii Muni 7:30 pr SUNDAY SERVICES 9:43, 1 1 KM A.M. A 7 P.M. DR. JOHN I.

JAN6AZ, PASTOR Rev, Mrs. John Tucker, missionaries to the unreached back areas of Mexico, presenting by colored pictures their work for the last seven years. For furthor Information call 8623239. ALIWELCOMEI SAN CHURCH OF CHRIST (uptown) 3630 NORTH STREET, S. BDN0.

BIBLE CLASS 9:30 A.M. WORSHIP I0i30 A.M. 6 P.M. WED. BIBLE 7:00 P.M.

SS3-5022 lnd Iradbary, Mlalitar 882-2262 "HHALt Of TBBTB" CRAMNEl SMBAT 1(h30 KM. BERNARDINO'S FIRST ASSEMBLY power of poMtiv Ihinfcmfl Iferoug rtligiou wc Rat. la 1 N. Thawpif, MloUtar TOPIC: "THE POWER OF IMAGINATIVE TKIXXIXC" G9tt Dr. Wayno Kitntr SERVICES 11A.M.

MEDITATION OF GOD The Droblems of our "THE SONG FELLOW" EVANGELIST William T. Holcomb SUNDAY 10:50 A.M. 6:00 P.M. TUES. FRI.

7:30 P.M. Prayer for The Sick Marva L. Green, Pastor ASSEMBLY OF GOD NORTH LOMA LINDA 9791 Richordson St. 796-0952 CHARISMATIC INTERFAITH MEETING with Rev. John Wayne, EVANGELIST Uniquely gifted to hit calling 1 1 KM a.m.

6:00 p.m. SUNDAY, 17th First Foursquare Church 1112 Rialto San Bdno. Paster Jam M. Starratt First Presbyterian Church 1900 N. SAN BERNARDINO 882-3308 wnncwiP a CHURCH ...10 A.M.

complex society are varied and many, however there is no need tor discouragement New fre-Sdwol end Kindergarten open enrollment now PH. (13-7171 DM-A-ThotttM t-3O04 SAI IES1AMIS0 VALIIT CKSICH 2404 M. OoMon Avame Gilbert Allen, Pastor a me C. Huffstutler Assoc. because there is a relationship with God, where we can walk in the Evangelist William T.

Holcomb Child are frmiriiH spirit, fcach bunday at A.M. in service our Prayer Councelors share your $rt (jam) 30JON. SIrroWay, SonBernardino-882-3013 W0KSHIP SERVICES and A.M. SUNDAT SCHOOL 945 A.M. Nursery Core Provided particular need.

Why don you take your problem to the Lord leave it there at the 10:50 A.M. Celebration Lof Praise. Pastor Clauder will speak on "The Keys to FOR THE FINEST OF BIBLE TEACHING GRACE BIBLE CHURCH 249 I laadall, Blalta Phage 875-4891 (1 mil No. of Freeway off Riverside Ave.) 9:45 A.M. Sunday School for all ages 11:00 A.M.

Morning Sermon "THE CHRISTIAN'S BEST FRIEND" Evening Veeper Service 8:30 P.M. "SEVEN BIBLE FOOLS" Wednesday Prayer and Bible Study 7 iOO P.M. Poster: lav. Letter WoomII OpilllUdl LUC 6:00 P.M. Pastor Ed Davis, Speaking St.

Paul's United Methodist Church 8th and Arrowhead Church School 8(30-1 1 a.m. Worship 10 a.m. "The Christian's Concern for Economic Justice" REV. HAROLD MAIDEN Join in this service and experience an openness to God that will lift the load of You Are Cordially Invited to Attend INLAND CHRISTIAN CENTER CHURCH MACY KERN SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. 32ND ANNUAL ANNIVERSARY CONVENTION OCTOBER 17th thru 21st Special speakers are MEL DAVIS Vancouver B.C.

Canada -GEORGE EVANS San Diego, Calif EMANUELE CANNISTRACI Sunnyvale, Calif. Sun. Morn. 10:45 a.m. Mel Davis Sun.

Nite 6:00 p.m. Emanuele Cannistraci Mon. Morn. 10:00 a.m. Mel Davis Mon.

Nite 7:00 p.m. George Evans Tues. Morn. 10:00 a.m. Emanuele Cannistraci Tues.

Nite 7:00 p.m. -Mel Davis Wed. Morn. 10 00 a.m. Mel Davis Wed.

Nite 7:00 p.m. Emanuele Cannistraci Thurs. Morn. 10:00 a.m. Emanuele Cannistraci Thurs.

Nite 7:00 p.m. Mel Davis Pastor Mrs. Leonard who are the founders and pastors of Inland Christian Center Church for 32 years invite you to be with us for these special Charismatic Meetings. Special Ministry in Music and the operation of Spiritual Gifts in every meeting. San Bernardino Valley Spiritualist Church 1140 WaetMIH Street Lyceum Sunday 1:00 P.M.

(Child Cire Available) Healing and Devotional Service Spirit Greetings Sunday 3:00 P.M. Healing and Spirit Communications Wed. 7:30 P.M. Rev. Anna Franz, Pastor NSAC CimiSTIAU SCIENCE life in the days ahead.

COMING NEXT SUNDAY OCT. 24th Dr. D. Leroy Sanders, Jnoderator for the Monday Night Charismatic Prayer Meetings on Channel 40 T.V. 6:00 P.M.

DON'T MISS TKIS SAN BERNARDINO'S CIIUDCH SERVICES The Subject of the Lestan-Sermon for This Sunday Is "DOCTRIUE OF ATONEMENT" San Bernardino FIRST ASSEMBLY HEALINC WATERS ASSEMBLY 820 LARCH A IVY 8T8n COLTON Phona 825-2258 Sunday School A.M. Worship 11:00 A.M. Evangelistic 7:00 P.M. RIALTO FIRST CHURCH 290 N. Riverside leeeeySdwel 15A.W.

S.lervlce .11.04 A.M. Weeeetdev Meeting M0 FIRST CHURCH 736 Street Seedee Servlcei 10 A.M. Seeday Sclwel 1040 A.M. WedaetdsT Mettles. JtM Child Care Provided 1 teadine Seem 439 4th Street Man.

thro Prl. 10 A.M. 4 P.M. Sat. 10 A.M.

1 P.M. IXCIPT OF GOD ,:863 MT.VIEVV FRIDAY "HOLY CH0ST JUBILEE" 7x30 P.M. 884-6489 or 883-1426 Reading team ISIS. Rlvertlde Ave. Pally 1 1 A.M.

to P.M. Ixcapt Sunday and Ksliday ALLEN CLAUDER. Pastor s.tM.woui Pastor Wolfe Ministering TUESDAY "YOUNG PEOPLE'S A.C SERVICE" 7M tJk. Youth Minister Dan Manrlquez Ministering lUten K681 99.1 Dolly Monday thrv Friday 9i4S AJL SUN. AND HOilDAYS JGLENN ADAMS, Musid Be ED DAVIS, Youth 1 i1-T i SiSr -i -i -S -S r1- x.

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