Las Hermanas

Las Hermanas The Roman Catholic Church is something my family and I are familiar with. In Los Angeles I went to a co-ed Catholic school called St. Eugene. When I first picked up the book I was excited to find out the back story of the organization of Las Hermanas. “In the forefront of liberation of the Mexican American community are beautiful and courageous women, women who know how to fight,” Canciόn de Las Hermanas. That quote summarizes the movement dealing with Latina women in the Catholic Church. Las Hermanas formed the first national religious-political organization of Chicana and Latina Roman Catholics in the United States. This was all about the Chicano movement, dealing with the changing traditions for religious women in the early 1970s. Las Hermanas dealt with expanding the ministerial role of the U.S. Roman Catholic Church, helped bridge civil rights and struggles, and helped things better receive their needs. Las Hermanas is a feminist organization that includes female agency, women’s empowerment, and social change. In the Catholic Church male domination was expected. They had to deal with the stereotypes of Latina Catholics. The group consisted of other Latinas mostly Cubans and Puerto Ricans. They wanted to fight discrimination of Chicanas and Latinas in the Catholic Church. This was their goal as an organization. The things that would be put on the back burner at tan institutional church, such as reproductive rights, sexuality, and domestic abuse is what Las Hermanas were focusing on. Las Hermanas paired up with PADRES, (Padres Asociados Para Drechos Religiosos, and Educativos y Sociales, which is an organization for Chicano priest. Together they worked on various projects and are the reason for a lot more Hispanic leaders in the church today. The Chicano movement helped bridge politics and religion. It seems that Las Hermanas wanted the church to adapt to the changes of the world. They also wanted to church to deal with and have solutions