Feliz Pascua
Monday, April 9th, 2007Happy Easter, Fellow Gringos! I spent the last few days in Cordoba, Argentina which has turned out to be quite a nice place. Good Friday was a difficult day because of a friend’s health problem, but I went on a tour, appropriately enough, of the local Jesuit properties from the 17th and 18th centuries. We visited three different estancias where the Jesuits farmed and ranched in order to pay for their evengelical missions. Apparently, they were quite successful and made enemies with the Spanish royal family who eventually shut them down. I learned about why one of the popes started the Jesuit Society (politically active to counteract the Lutheran movement), why they were shut down and then restarted. It was fairly interesting, but I can’t say it was the most exciting day of the trip. I was quite astounded (I’m not sure why hypocrisy astounds me any longer) to learn that they based their Latin American operations (Mexico, Brazil or Peru, Paraguay and Argentina) on slave laborers. The more I read about the history of Christianity, the more I struggle with why there are still members of the churches.
vagabondrick