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Brief History of the Cristero War and Mexico's Struggle for Religious Freedom the Role of the U.S. Knights of Columbus in Resp

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Brief History of the Cristero War and Mexico's Struggle for Religious Freedom the Role of the U.S. Knights of Columbus in Resp Brief History of the Cristero War and Mexico’s Struggle for Religious Freedom When President Plutarco Calles took over as president of Mexico in 1924, he did not want the Catholic Church to be a part of any moral teachings to its citizens. He did not want God to be a part of anyone’s life. He wanted to bring Mexico’s population to belong to a Socialist state, and wanted to ensure that all citizens were going to be educated under the government’s dictatorship and secular mindset. He also wanted to ensure that only the government would have the freedom to form the minds of its citizens and insisted that the Church was poisoning the minds of the people. He implemented the “Law for Reforming the Penal Code” or “Calles’ Law”, which severely restricted the free practice of religion in Mexico. Priests or religious wearing clerical garb in public, and clerics who spoke out against the government could be jailed for five years. The Mexican bishops suspended public religious services in response to the law, and supported an economic boycott against the government. Violence soon erupted, as bands of Catholic peasants battled federal forces. Priests were shot and hung, Church property seized, and many religious institutions closed. The Cristeros’ battle cry was “Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Christ the King!”). During the three-year war (1926-1929), approximately 90,000 people were killed. There are a total of 35 Martyrs who have been canonized. The Role of the U.S. Knights of Columbus in Response to the Cristero War In August of 1926, days after the Calles Law took effect, the U.S. Knights of Columbus passed a resolution to support the Church in Mexico. They established a fund that raised over a million dollars to offer relief services for those exiled from Mexico, to provide for exiled seminarians to continue their priestly formation, and to educate the American public about the true situation. The Order printed and distributed five million pamphlets about the Cristiada and two million copies of the Pastoral Letter of the Catholic Episcopate of the United States on the Religious Situation in Mexico. The U.S. Knights also sponsored over 700 free lectures and reached millions by radio. Excerpts taken from The Catholic World Report and interview with Ruben Quezada about the Cristiada and the bloody Cristero War (1926-1929). Mr. Quezada is a recognized expert on the persecution of the Catholic Church in Mexico in the 1920’s and travels internationally giving lectures on this subject. Ruben Quezada is a 4th Degree Knight of Columbus, and will be giving lectures on this subject and the importance of “Defending Life, Faith and Freedom” in Las Cruces, New Mexico on Thursday, February 25, 2016 in Spanish, and Friday, February 26, 2016 in English. Both presentations will begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be held at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 1240 S. Espina Street. For tickets, call 575/640-9076 or 575/635- 9333. Tickets are also available through the Office of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary .
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  • I. Background Information the Cristero War Or Cristero
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