PADRES - First National Congress

First National Congress

The first national congress was held from February 2 – 6, 1970 in Tucson. There were more than 200 people in attendance, many of them uninvited. The largest group of crashers was a progressive group of priests, nuns, and laity from Northern California, most of whom were White American. Fr. Ruiz and the other hosts accommodated the other factions as best they could, but the radicals demanded an organization open to laity, which they wanted to call PUEBLOS.

To head off the usurpment of the organization, Ruiz and Fr. Edmundo Rodriguez spent the night following the first day of deliberations drafting a constitution that defined a priest's organization. The next morning, Fr. Ruiz addressed the people assembled. He told the people wishing to form an organization open to laity that they were welcome to do so, and to use the facilities, but that the organization of Chicano priests was meeting in the next room. As he proceeded to the next room, he was followed by the Mexican American priests. The result of the friction was the freezing out of the Anglo priests who wanted to help further the advancement of Mexican Americans.

The reasons for the exclusion were several: the laity were excluded because Ruiz and other founders knew that the opinions of priests carried much more weight with the hierarchy than those of the parishioners, and did not want their influence diluted. Sympathetic white priests were allowed to be dues-paying members, but were not permitted to vote in organizational proceedings. This was due to the paternalism the Catholic Church in the United States had shown toward the Mexican American population since the Mexican-American War, the result of which was the denial of positions of authority to Mexican Americans. PADRES feared having their leadership co-opted and so limited their membership for this reason as well.

The exclusion had several effects. For one, some Mexican American priests were alienated by the exclusion of the white priests, as were some of the white priests themselves. The Mexican American laity, religious brothers, and deacons, were also disappointed that they could not join the organization. The issue continued to fester, and motions were introduced yearly to expand membership. Slowly, more groups were included into PADRES, beginning with Mexican American deacons in 1972, Puerto Ricans in 1974, and finally all brothers, deacons, and priests in 1981.

On the other hand, restricting membership to Chicano priests allowed the group a greater sense of cohesion while simultaneously assuring that the leadership of the organization would remain in their hands. Many white priests understood this and joined as non-voting members.