The modernist ape-of-the-church continues to decline in Latin America. OSV had a headline that read Catholicism down in Latin America, but belief in God remains high. Chris Jackson stated that this headline reads as an “obituary.”
Why an obituary? Because, as Jackson stated, “this is the true fruit of the post Vatican II missionary strategy. A region formed by Catholic identity is being de Catholicized. The ‘nones’ rise. Protestantism holds steady or grows modestly in places. Belief in God persists. So the hunger remains, the institutional Church shrinks, and the spiritual vacuum gets filled by whatever is loudest and simplest.”
In other words, even if satan can’t convince Latinos to stop believing in God, they will still feel the need to avoid liberation-theology and syncretistic worship services. And I don’t blame them.
Even Sr. Briege McKenna, a charismatic nun, admitted Latinos flocked to Protestant communities from Catholic parishes in the 1980s. She said this was not due to American evangelicals funding them. Rather, Sr. Briege (a non-traditionalist Irish religious sister) admitted the bigger reason was because we priests stopped preaching the Gospel.
Sr. Briege then told the heartbreaking story of a priest in Central America who built soup-kitchens, food pantries and clothing banks in the 1980s. Yet, all his people flocked to the local evangelical tent-revival after only a few months presence in his small town. Heartbroken, the Catholic priest asked one of his best former-parishioners why she left. Sadly, she told him, “Father, you gave us everything we wanted—food, clothing, shelter. But that pastor gave us Jesus. And we need Jesus.”
That story from Sr. Briege McKenna came from a book I read as a charismatic 25 years ago (that was written about 40 years ago.) I can’t remember the name of the book, but I remember that story like I read it yesterday. Unfortunately, things are not better since the 1980s. As you can see from Pew Research above, nearly every Latin American country has lost Catholics even from 2014 to 2024.
Consider my favorite country in Latin America: Brazil. I have been on mission to Brazil three times. Before Vatican II, the country was over 95% Catholic. Then it dropped to 80% Catholics in the country. Now, Brazil just dropped to finally less than half of the country considering themselves to even be “Catholic,” even if in name-only.
This is not because of the “sexual revolution.” This is not because Protestants have “more money flowing” in from the United States. This is not because dioceses haven’t discovered a new expensive North American model of “making missionary disciples” or whatever gimmick is being pushed by your local chancery.
Rather, Latinos are leaving the faith because they don’t recognize it anymore. Yes, all over the world Catholics are leaving their parishes because they want the real thing that is not being offered to them—traditional dogma and traditional sacraments.
Recently, a gentleman who writes for InfoVaticana contacted me about what it is like to be a traditionalist in Panama. I want to share a couple paragraphs of what he wrote publicly on Rorate Cæli about their struggle for tradition in Central America and why he now attends SSPX:
Someone from a “trad ghetto” could say: “Try to find an alternative… don’t go that way [of SSPX]… write again to the bishop… negotiate… or just give up and be obedient.” No, no, and no. We have done everything canon law has asked us to do, and for bread we are given stones, for fish, serpents; for eggs, scorpions. It is thanks to the SSPX that we are able to worship as our forefathers did, kneeling at the shrine of Catholic truth and tradition. There is nowhere to go for an “alternative.” The hoax of the “reverent Novus Ordo” does not exist in Panama (it, too, is officially banned, if you wanted to know).
We have witnessed the sad results of giving up in the fight or insisting on phony obedience: individuals stop defending the truths of the faith, become silent, stop caring if we have solid doctrine and Mass. Once you stop preaching the truth, the spirit of conformity and sloth can set in, which extinguishes the Counter-Revolutionary resolve. If you came to Panama for a month, you could be a witness of all that I say.
That is the situation in Panama, my friends. Please pray for us and for the expansion of the Catholic Church in its full splendor and in continuity with its centuries-spanning tradition. If you happen to be living in comfortable surroundings (as far as access to traditional Catholicism is concerned), do not stay within them; take up some apostolate, push outward the boundaries of Christendom, pray the rosary or the breviary for the suffering brethren in places like mine.
The Catholic Faith thrives on bravery. Its purpose is to set the world ablaze with the fire of the Holy Spirit, to place on its weary shoulders the sweet yoke of Christ. Rejoice, for everywhere Our Lord is raising up souls with a truly Catholic sense, a burning love for the Church, and a filial devotion to Our Lady. This is the spirit of the Counter-Revolution, which seeks to “restore all things in Christ.”