wfn.org | Catholics, Presbyterians Heal an Old Bitterness

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

99255 
6-August-1999 
 
    Catholics, Presbyterians Heal an Old Bitterness 
 
    by Paul Logan 
    The Albuquerque Journal 
    Reprinted with permission 
 
Dixon, N.M.-Ruby and Fred Martinez symbolize how Dixon has changed almost a 
half-century after a controversial religious court case jolted the 
community. 
 
    Ruby, a Catholic, and Fred, a Presbyterian, said they've shared a happy 
marriage for 33 years. 
 
    "It means we compromise and we don't necessarily have to understand 
everything, but you learn to accept things," Fred said.  "We're kind of 
living what these people are expressing through this reconciliation 
ceremony." 
 
    The small rural community in northern New Mexico played host on a 
recent Sunday afternoon to a historic reconciliation involving the state's 
Catholic and Presbyterian leaders, including Archbishop Michael Sheehan and 
the Rev. Jim Collie, regional presbyter for Santa Fe Presbytery. 
 
    Several hundred members of both churches attended. 
 
    The town was chosen because of the bitterness between the two churches 
that occurred there in 1951 after the "Dixon Decision." 
 
    Collie recalled how a group of Protestants, led by a Presbyterian, 
formed a school committee and brought suit in state court against the State 
Board of Education. 
 
    The group challenged the right of Catholic nuns, wearing habits, to 
teach religion as part of the curriculum in public schools in Dixon and 
other towns. 
 
    Nuns had been teaching in New Mexico Catholic schools since long before 
statehood.  As public schools opened earlier in the century in 
predominantly Hispanic and Catholic outlying areas, nuns, who were 
available and qualified, were hired as teachers, said the Rev. Ernest 
Falardeau of the archdiocese's ecumenical office. 
 
    Meanwhile, some schools run by the Presbyterian Church and other 
Protestant denominations closed and those students entered public schools. 
 
    "It's kind of `that's the way it was,'" he said.  "Priests and nuns 
were in place long before it became a state.  It was more of a continuation 
of what was." 
 
    After World War II, concern grew about Catholicism being taught in some 
of the state's public schools and the lawsuit was filed in 1947. 
 
    The court ruled in favor of the Protestants, based on the separation of 
church and state. 
 
    Falardeau said the decision was "quite wrenching" to Catholics. 
 
    It climaxed a century of disagreements between Catholics and 
Presbyterians as both sought to convert followers.  But, Collie said, "the 
history of friction does not need to control the future." 
 
    Dixon was also chosen for the ceremony because many members of both 
churches are examples to the rest of the state of how to live and work 
together, he said. 
 
    "In a sense," Collie said, "we're following them into the future and 
recognizing what they have done." 
 
    Ruby, 51, is a tinsmith, and Fred, 56, is a mechanical designer at Los 
Alamos National Laboratory.  They made commemorative plaques for the two 
churches. 
 
    The plaques show a tin dove, depicting the Holy Spirit, and a copper 
flame.  The reconciliation service, held on Pentecost Sunday, symbolized 
the Holy Spirit's power to bring Christians together in a unity that could 
not have been imagined two generations ago, according to the archdiocese. 
 
    The Martinezes said the school conflict was before their time.  But 
Fred said that as a child he heard people talk about "the hard feelings 
between the two religions." 
 
    If old wounds still exist in Dixon, a community of about 800 that is 
know for growing apples, the Martinezes said they didn't know of any. 
 
    They attend each other's services.  "To me it doesn't matter which 
church you go to because God is there," Ruby said. 
 
    The ceremony included the pastors of both Dixon parishes - the Rev. 
Andrew McComb of the Presbyterian Church and the Rev. Adam Ortega of St. 
Anthony Church - exchanging pulpits. 
 
    Collie said it was the first reconciliation meeting ever in the United 
States of regional leaders of the two faiths.  He said he hopes the 
gathering will help in "bridging the gap between life events" - such as 
baptisms and marriages - that both celebrate. 
 
    The ceremony focused on respect for each other's faith and on working 
together, said Sheehan.  "I'm very excited about it," he added.  "I think 
it's a good catalyst about respect and living with one another and focusing 
on things we have in common and not just the things that separate us." 

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