PADRES - Activities

Activities

In April 1970, PADRES was incorporated in Washington, D.C. In 1971, the group was organized into seven regional chapters, each with its own director who was under the national executive director. At the 1971 national conference in Los Angeles, Fr. Alberto Carrillo delivered an address that articulated a social theory of discrimination within the Church. It analyzed the Church within the framework of majority-minority relations, and concluded that:

  1. The majority assumes the minority incapable of policymaking and excludes members of that minority from the policymaking process. As a result, the majority makes policy affecting the minority.
  2. The majority "blames the victim" for the problems of the minority
  3. The majority acts as if there is no problem until it affects the majority itself, and finally,
  4. The solution to the problem resides in the hands of the majority.

This analysis provided PADRES with an intellectual basis for their challenge against the Church, and held the Church to the same standards as secular organizations in regards to issues of social and political inclusion.

At the conference, PADRES members identified three goals: The eradication of lack of education, an increase in the religious consciousness, and improvement of the social conditions of Mexican Americans.

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