Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic: The Society and Its Environment
belonged to religious orders. These figures yield a ratio of
nominal Roman Catholics to priests of almost 11,000 to one.
Among Latin American countries, only Cuba, Honduras, and
El Salvador have higher ratios.
Roman Catholicism is the official religion of the Dominican
Republic, established by a concordat with the Vatican. For most
of the populace, however, religious practice is limited and formalistic.
Few actually attend mass regularly. Moreover, popular
beliefs and practices are often at odds with orthodox dogma.
Nevertheless, the saints play an important role in traditional
popular religious practice; people approach God through the
intermediation of priests, local curanderos (curers), and the
saints.
Foreigners, mainly from Spain, predominate among the
clergy. The clergy themselves are divided between the traditional,
conservative hierarchy and more liberal parish priests.
At the parish level, some priests engage in community development
projects and efforts to form comunidades de base (grassroots
Christian communities) designed to help people
organize and work together more effectively.
Trujillo sought and gained the support of the Roman Catholic
Church, at least of the conservative hierarchy, during most
of his regime. In exchange for this support, indicated by
Church officials' regular presence and involvement in all official
state ceremonies, he provided generous subsidies and gave
the Church a free hand in religious and educational matters.
This close relationship changed, however, when a pastoral letter
protested the mass arrests of government opponents in
1960. This action so incensed Trujillo that he ordered a campaign
of harassment against the Church. Only the dictator's
assassination prevented his planned imprisonment of the country's
bishops.
The Church has gradually become more socially involved.
During the 1965 civil war, for example, the papal nuncio
attempted to administer humanitarian aid. The bishops also
issued various statements throughout the 1970s and 1980s calling
for respect for human rights and an improved standard of
living for the majority. In the 1970s, Bishop Juan Antonio
Flores of La Vega campaigned for indemnification for peasants
displaced by the expansion of the Pueblo Viejo mine. Later,
Bishops Juan F. Pepen and Hugo Polanco Brito, who had
helped found and served as the first rector of the Pontifical
Catholic University Mother and Teacher in the 1960s, sup-
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