About the Church
In order to further investigate the religious landscape of the Hill Country and its relation to Hispanic identity, a church in San Marcos, Texas was chosen as a case study for the project. The church, El Buen Pastor, is a primarily Hispanic, United Methodist Church. It is located in the Hispanic barrio in San Marcos, Texas and has a congregation of 40 to 45 people that is 70 to 80% Hispanic. Most of the services are given in Spanish by Pastor Esperanza. For more information, visit their website at: http://www.elbuenpastorsanmarcos.org/
In order to further investigate the religious landscape of the Hill Country and its relation to Hispanic identity, a church in San Marcos, Texas was chosen as a case study for the project. The church, El Buen Pastor, is a primarily Hispanic, United Methodist Church. It is located in the Hispanic barrio in San Marcos, Texas and has a congregation of 40 to 45 people that is 70 to 80% Hispanic. Most of the services are given in Spanish by Pastor Esperanza. For more information, visit their website at: http://www.elbuenpastorsanmarcos.org/
Situated within the Hispanic community between Martin Luther King Jr. and Guadalupe Streets, is El Buen Pastor United Methodist Church, see Figure VI. In fact, the reason we were able to get so much data is due to a large public fish fry fundraiser. We were welcomed in with open arms, and as we explained why we were in Hill Country, what we thought, what our intentions were and what we hoped to learn from stepping foot into El Buen.
Once we were welcomed in we were able to gauge the perceptual landscapes of identity, based upon the stories and perceptions of the congregation. First off we learned about the San Marcos religious landscape as a whole. A group of eight middle aged white parishioners from the sister church – First United Methodist- were the first to actively engage and converse with us about the religious landscape. In their viewpoints, Catholicism dominated and they also noted that Catholics tended to separate themselves from other denominations of Christianity in the area. They mentioned this because there is a famous Christian fellowship walk that involves many in the greater Christian community of San Marcos, with Catholics excluded.
In addition they mentioned the historical legacy of segregation within not only neighborhoods, but church communities. They added that their generation was trying to ease this and make change at the small scale. The two churches, El Buen Pastor and First United, for the first time in history would be integrating their annual Methodist conference in January 2015. Rather than the two separate Rio Grande and Southwest Conference, they would be combined and we wondered if this was a sign of changing times! Another indication was that they thought new subdivisions did not have the historical legacy of segregation, so were more likely to be ethnically mixed.
After chatting with the white members of First United Methodist Church, we were delighted with two more demographic groups- four college- aged women and the pastor of El Buen, Pastor Esperanza. The women were students at Texas States- San Marcos and we asked them about the religious landscape of the university. They said that many people were not religious, were weary of religious and if anything would consider themselves spiritual. They helped balance out the religious landscape, as it seemed that age had to do with illustrating religious geographies of San Marcos. After we talked with the students, the Pastor was able to chat with us for a little bit. A native of Mexico, she asked in Spanish if we spoke and that she was weary of her English. A woman from First United Church retorted that women ran the Mexican-American community here in San Marcos. I wondered if that truly was so, but Pastor Esperanza was definitely a shining example of a spiritual leader for her people. In Mexico she had been a teacher since the early age of thirteen and after being propositioned to help out with Latinos in the United States, she came here to be a pastor. For her it appeared that preaching was similar to teaching along with all of the social benefits.
Esperanza said that El Buen Pastor has a lot of social services for Hispanics in the community including food, clothing and other items at the ‘free stores’. Other services including Spanish classes are also offered at the church. When asked about the stereotype that all Hispanics, in specific Mexicans, were Catholic she responded in a way that confirms ‘geographies’ and social construction of spaces. She said that in Mexico, Catholic is a ‘waaay’ different thing. What is important down there, is not even mentioned up here, such as the Virgin of Guadalupe. She made it seem like Catholic identity seeps into everyday life much more down in Mexico, but up here that tradition didn’t carry over in the same way. Esperanza was chatting about pilgrimages and carrying saints through the streets when Miles appeared saying that they had been waiting for hours, and that it was about time we wrapped everything up.
Once we were welcomed in we were able to gauge the perceptual landscapes of identity, based upon the stories and perceptions of the congregation. First off we learned about the San Marcos religious landscape as a whole. A group of eight middle aged white parishioners from the sister church – First United Methodist- were the first to actively engage and converse with us about the religious landscape. In their viewpoints, Catholicism dominated and they also noted that Catholics tended to separate themselves from other denominations of Christianity in the area. They mentioned this because there is a famous Christian fellowship walk that involves many in the greater Christian community of San Marcos, with Catholics excluded.
In addition they mentioned the historical legacy of segregation within not only neighborhoods, but church communities. They added that their generation was trying to ease this and make change at the small scale. The two churches, El Buen Pastor and First United, for the first time in history would be integrating their annual Methodist conference in January 2015. Rather than the two separate Rio Grande and Southwest Conference, they would be combined and we wondered if this was a sign of changing times! Another indication was that they thought new subdivisions did not have the historical legacy of segregation, so were more likely to be ethnically mixed.
After chatting with the white members of First United Methodist Church, we were delighted with two more demographic groups- four college- aged women and the pastor of El Buen, Pastor Esperanza. The women were students at Texas States- San Marcos and we asked them about the religious landscape of the university. They said that many people were not religious, were weary of religious and if anything would consider themselves spiritual. They helped balance out the religious landscape, as it seemed that age had to do with illustrating religious geographies of San Marcos. After we talked with the students, the Pastor was able to chat with us for a little bit. A native of Mexico, she asked in Spanish if we spoke and that she was weary of her English. A woman from First United Church retorted that women ran the Mexican-American community here in San Marcos. I wondered if that truly was so, but Pastor Esperanza was definitely a shining example of a spiritual leader for her people. In Mexico she had been a teacher since the early age of thirteen and after being propositioned to help out with Latinos in the United States, she came here to be a pastor. For her it appeared that preaching was similar to teaching along with all of the social benefits.
Esperanza said that El Buen Pastor has a lot of social services for Hispanics in the community including food, clothing and other items at the ‘free stores’. Other services including Spanish classes are also offered at the church. When asked about the stereotype that all Hispanics, in specific Mexicans, were Catholic she responded in a way that confirms ‘geographies’ and social construction of spaces. She said that in Mexico, Catholic is a ‘waaay’ different thing. What is important down there, is not even mentioned up here, such as the Virgin of Guadalupe. She made it seem like Catholic identity seeps into everyday life much more down in Mexico, but up here that tradition didn’t carry over in the same way. Esperanza was chatting about pilgrimages and carrying saints through the streets when Miles appeared saying that they had been waiting for hours, and that it was about time we wrapped everything up.