Chávez on faith: Leader's quotes inspire in more ways than one

Book Review

By Daniel Olivas

Historian and El Paso native Mario T. García (pictured below) has edited the absorbing and essential The Gospel of César Chávez: My Faith in Action (Sheed & Ward, $12.95 paperback).

The book collects quotations from the late labor leader to help elucidate the undeniable connection between Chávez's religious beliefs and his political activism.

Chávez realized that pacifism was a difficult form of protest. He once said: "To be nonviolent in a monastery is one thing, but being nonviolent in a struggle for justice is another."

But Chávez's faith kept him from wavering, García said, citing his favorite quotation: "Today, I don't think I could base my will to struggle on cold economics or on some political doctrine. I don't think there would be enough to sustain me. For me, the base must be faith."

García told me that he was "surprised and amazed" by Chávez's "deep and thoughtful reflections on such a large range of spiritual topics," including social justice, the power of faith, pilgrimage, fasting, truth, love and death.

In the book, García's introduction offers an enlightening narrative of Chávez's spiritual, intellectual and political development. He then divides the quotations into 17 chapters, each with a mini-introduction on a particular theme -- among them, "Abuelita or Grandmother Theology," "On Gandhi," "On Love" and "On Our Lady of Guadalupe."

García heavily annotates each chapter and ends the book with a bibliography.

The book also includes a foreword by Virgil Elizondo, a professor of pastoral and Hispanic theology at the University of Notre Dame.

The book dispels any misconception that Chávez's beliefs were simple or unsophisticated. "You would think that these are the thoughts of a professional theologian," García said, "and yet they are the thoughts of a farmworker with no more than an eighth-grade education."

Response to the book has been positive and diverse: "Some recognize the historical and academic value of bringing attention to César's spirituality," García said. "Still others, including many of my Catholic friends (and) clergy, recognize that the book can also be seen as a spiritual book of meditations."

García was born and raised in El Paso, the son of a Mexican immigrant and an El Paso native. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from the University of Texas at El Paso, and then a doctorate from the University of California at San Diego. He is a professor of history and Chicano studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he has taught since 1975. He is the author of several books, including two on El Paso history.

García expects to visit and speak about his book at UTEP during the 2008-09 academic year. For those who wish to learn more about the spiritual rigor of Chávez, this is an opportunity that should not be missed.

[This review first appeared in the El Paso Times.]

◙ All done! And sorry for the short post but I spent so much wonderful time at the BookExpo and the Latinos in Lotusland reception at the Correia Gallery, I had no time left. But I will do a report on both those events (once I get some photos from some kind people). We had ten contributors to the anthology attend along with members of Bilingual Press, family, friends, professors (many from Cal State L.A.), a lawyer or two (related to my day job), and lovers of literature. I must note this great news: the paperback edition of Latinos in Lotusland is the number 5 bestselling paperback fiction title in Denver according to the Denver Post. Here’s the list. We have Rudy and Manuel of La Bloga to thank for this since the bestseller list comes on the heels of their wildly successful Tattered Cover appearance. ¡Bravo! So, until next Monday, enjoy the intervening posts from my compadres y comadres. ¡Lea un libro!