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Are You An Emissary Of Jesus Christ?: Justice, The Catholic Church And The Chicano Movement, Alberto L. Pulido

Explorations in Ethnic Studies

In 1969, Católicos Por La Raza (CPLR) emerged as an ethnic "protest group" against the "injustices" of the American Catholic Church in San Diego and Los Angeles, California. CPLR was critical of the Catholic hierarchy's inconsistencies in relation to the Chicano community. As one of the wealthiest institutions, the Catholic Church was doing very little for a community that made up the largest part of the Church's membership. For CPLR, the Christian message of "justice" was not practiced by the leaders of the Church. In Los Angeles, Chicanos were asking why the Archdiocese chose to close a high school in …