Agathe Hug. The question that took the prize: what do avocado, pear, chili, coyote, ocelot, chocolate, cacao, and tomato have in common with Nicaragua? All these words have their root in a same language in Náhuatl, an Uto language – Aztec. Nicaragua nican + “aqui”, Aráhuac = “people”.
In the year 2007, there was a population of approximately 5.7 million people there. In the year 1552, the monk Bartolomé de las Casas wrote: “Today 4,000 to 5,000 inhabitants live in all of Nicaragua, before it was one of the most populated provinces of the world”. One may ask what happened.
The colonization of Nicaragua by Spain that began in approximately 1520 was mostly very bloody. Any kind of resistance against submission was considered as a rebellion by the conquerors was mainly answered with war and slavery. The people from Mangues, Pipil, Nicarao, and Choroteguas were economically and culturally very developed; they were deported and enslaved, thus Nicaragua was left uninhabited. An important part of the population was deported to Peru and Bolivia in 1538, where they had to work in inhumane conditions in the mines, quarries, and the majority died.
A history marked by war and violence
The entire history of Nicaragua has been marked until recently by civil wars, rebellions against the governing group, and struggles for freedom by the indigenous people and later by the mestizos. A trace of blood runs throughout of all the centuries until now.
Marxism, liberation theology/Ernest Cardena, civil war, agricultural reform, communism, dictatorship, corruption, death by death squads, and many other horrible things are key words that come to mind in relation to Nicaragua. Because of all of this, it is not hard to understand that Nicaragua is the second poorest country of Latin America after Haiti.
Approximately 90% of the population lives in the Pacific region and in the area of Managua. The entire population is comprised of approximately 70% mestizos, that is, of people of mixed heritage, European and indigenous. About 17% are Spanish; approximately 9% are of African origin. 3.2% are indigenous, the majority of them Miskito, and also other small ethnic groups such as Sumu (Mayangna) and Rama, who have settled in the interior areas and on the Atlantic coast. Additionally, there are 30,000 Arabs (mainly from Syria and Lebanon). In Managua there is a community of close to 8,000 Chinese immigrants.
The Church in Nicaragua
Approximately in 1530, Spanish missionaries followed the conquerors. With some exceptions, the indigenous population was forced to convert to the Catholic religion, which naturally caused uprising and this led to forced deportations described above.
However today, 80% of the Nicaraguans are Catholics – and we hope it is by choice. At the same time, the free Protestant churches are gaining influence. The Brotherhood of Moravia arrived in the 19th century from Germany to begin their mission on the English speaking coast of Miskito. The majority of the Miskito and Ram Indians belong to this evangelical community.
Another church in the country is the New Apostolic Church, which according to them, has 2,000 members. Besides them there are other communities of active faith such as the Mormons or the Jehovah Witnesses (20,000).
A total of 367 Catholic priests work in the country (274 Nicaraguans and 93 foreigners). One priest is in charge of 11,800 inhabitants and helps in a region of 326 kilometers.
The Catholic Church has had a special importance in the last years of Nicaraguan history. In the seventies, Cardinal Miguel Obando and Bravo (Archdiocese of Managua) was against the Somocista dictatorship. The Church supported the strong democratic opposition. During the government of the Sandinistas in the decades of the 80’s, there was a great reprisal against all the priests and politically active believers. At the same time, the government of Daniel Ortega tried to justify his own political and Christian propaganda with the installation of the so called “Popular Church”. The most outstanding representative was Ernesto Cardenal.
What about Schoenstatt in Nicaragua?
Yes, Schoenstatt exists in Nicaragua – and like in many of the “small” countries of covenant geography, the first agile allies that arrived to Nicaragua were: the Pilgrim MTA and schoenstatt.org.
The Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign arrived in the year 2002 through Colomba N., who works in Washington in the Organization of America States (OAS), where she learned about the Pilgrim MTA, and then she took her to her country, Nicaragua. Perhaps it was her, or maybe it was through Father Esteban Uriburu, who spread the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign through many roads in Central America during the eighties, and in this way, Schoenstatt emerged in places where no Schoenstatter had been until now.
“All the doors are open to her to welcome her. All hearts open, be they rich or poor, wise or ignorant,” John Pozzobon said. And She always finds new missionaries who take Her to the place where She wants to go.
Managua, Juigalpa, Granada
Those, who through the missionary strength of the Covenant, work as editors, translators and programmers for schoenstatt.org are also third millennium missionaries, and in this way, they help the Covenant of Love cross borders. Since May 2011, thirty-five people from Nicaragua have visited the international website, www.schoenstatt.org – thirty-two people from Manangua, two from Jigalpa, and one from Granada. Only the Blessed Mother knows what they have read and assimilated about Schoenstatt and what has touched their hearts.
And thanks to the concentration of countries in the Original Shrine, Saturday by Saturday in the Masses “toward 2014” – initiative of Team 2014 -, the Schoenstatt Movement knows about them, and they will join us on Saturday, October 1st, through the Holy Mass in the Original Shrine – transmitted live and direct through Schoenstatt – TV, with all the people in Nicaragua, who now or in the future will experience the Covenant of Love and who will form the current of graces that travel through the world much stronger and richer with their contributions to the capital of grace.
