CHAPTER 14 THE RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS OF MESOAMERICA 521The Social Organization of the Colonial Church
In a profound sense, Spain stacked its cards against achieving a massive, unified King-
dom of God in New Spain. In the first place, the Crown implemented in Mexico and
Central America the policy that it practiced elsewhere in America. Two “states,” based
on caste and color, were established in the New World: a creole state for Spaniards
and their mixed offspring, and an Indian state for Indians. Thus, from local organi-
zation to representation before Crown institutions, there were two juridically, spiri-
tually, and demographically separate entities within Spain’s New World empire.
Separate and unequal Crown laws, civil and ecclesiastical codes, and tax schedules ap-
plied to Spanish and Indian communities.
Indians were encouraged, even obliged by the laws of caste, to live in, pay trib-
ute from, and attend mass in their own communities through their own Indian pup-
pet authorities. In a system not unlike the system of home rule practiced by the
British in India, the local elites were encouraged by the Crown to remain in power
as long as they facilitated legal and tributary obligations of Indian subjects to Crown
authorities. In exchange for their services in keeping local villages docile and com-
pliant with Crown demands, local caciques (chiefs or bosses) received substantial
privileges and tax benefits, often even access to higher education (on this topic, see
also Chapter 5).
In terms of Christian religious organization, belief, and practice, this separate and
unequal arrangement also prevailed. With the paucity of clergy necessary to service
thousands of Indian parishes, Indian lay catechists, often drawn from the old elite
classes, were trained in doctrine by the missionaries. They typically received in-
struction in Spanish and were taught the basic elements of the catechism, with the
expectation that they would carry on day-to-day maintenance of the faith in the In-
dian communities when the Spanish clergy were not present. Known in Mesoamer-
ica as sacristanes(sacristans) and maestros de capilla(chapel choir masters), these
Indian representatives of the Church were often responsible for assisting with the
daily office, for translating prayers and canticles into Indian languages, and for serv-
ing as the link of the local communities with regional representatives of the Church
and with the Crown representatives of the Inquisition who were responsible for over-
seeing the purity of the faith. The sacristans and choir masters thus became, with
the local Indian political elite, individuals who had something to gain in terms of
privileges and exemptions from serving as proxy representatives of the Crown. They
also had a great deal to do with molding church doctrine and practices to the dic-
tates of local custom.
In another ironic twist of colonial history—ironic in that it contributed to the
maintenance of limited Indian authority even under Crown dictates—Spain insisted
that local Indian communities organize themselves according to highly prescribed
formulas of civil administration and religious cult sponsorship (see Chapter 5). Ex-
pressing a certain Renaissance compulsion for bureaucratic symmetry, this was the
colonial prototype (later reinterpreted and reinstituted for similar reasons under
secular governments in the nineteenth century) for the well-known civil-religious hi-
erarchies (also known as “cargo systems”) that survive today in hundreds of Indian
communities throughout Mexico and Central America.