Lara Rusch ~ 31
coming out.” Roldan felt rejected as part of a family unit because her sense of her public
role included her kids.
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The openness of religious institutions to people of all walks of life, and all sectors
of society, makes them some of the most accessible organizations for developing civic
skills and networks (Burns, Schlozman, and Verba 2001; Verba, Schlozman, and Brady
1995). That inclusiveness is particularly central to developing social capital among
people who experience marginalization by residential and occupational segregation and
discrimination. Roldan explained how she sees the Catholic Church’s centrality in her
community for engaging people politically.
The people, they look up at the church. They respect it. If the church does not
empower the people to take care of themselves and encourage them to working
for their rights and all that, who else?
Without the church a lot of people probably wouldn't be involved, because we
wait for the priest to tell us, you know, it's okay, do this. Permission. Even though
if you really shouldn't be waiting for permission because it's our life, right? But
I've noticed that even myself, I know, no, I don't wait. I know that it's wrong and I
fight for it. But then I’m a citizen. You're a citizen; you've got your rights. For a
person that doesn't have no rights in here how do they feel, you know? So they
look up at the church to say hey, well, they said it's okay, let's go; they're
supporting us, they're backing us up.
For recent immigrants, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church provides some assurance that
someone important is “backing us up” in the public sphere. In her reasoning, immigrants
look to the Church for guidance in political matters because of uncertainty about their
security in the U.S. political system.
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The significance of family participation also came up in an interview with a community organizer. Juan
Escareño explained that when he started working with the Detroit Latino churches he had to learn to plan
meetings with the expectation that a lot of children would be there. In addition to the centrality of family in
immigrant communities, Escareño explained that many people who work long hours and have little leisure
time will not attend meetings if they cannot bring family, and they probably see church-related meetings as
a family affair.
Convention