The following editorial appeared in the April 29 edition of
Honduras This Week.
Thousands of C.A. Christians commemorate crucifixion of Christ on
the beach
By ERLING DUUS CHRISTENSEN
One may as well tilt against the laws of gravity as try to change the way in which Hondurans and other Central Americans celebrate Holy Week. Nevertheless, it is worth pointing out that there is something profoundly incongruous and perhaps inappropriate about the tradition.
Here we have countries with pervasive and one might suppose serious Catholic traditions. Yet, during the week most sacred to the Christian faith, many thousands of those who can afford it and thousands more of those who cannot, go off to the beach, or on some other adventure that cannot with any stretch of the imagination be imagined as encouraging a focus on the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I have asked various Honduran friends who profess a reasonably devout Catholicism how they justify spending Good Friday cavorting on the beach. They smile an only mildly cynical smile and say that being on the beach does not prevent them from thinking about the crucifixion of Jesus. Yeah! Oh sure.
These remarks are not meant to imply that there are not many Hondurans, Catholics and protestants alike, who are sincere and passionate in their faith. However, most of them come from the lower classes. Middle and upper class people often practice what can politely be called "cultural Christianity," a practice that began long ago with the conversion of Constantine.
This involves availing oneself of some of the benefits and comforts of religious faith, without being seriously inconvenienced thereby, and without being required by that faith to distance oneself from any of the values and practices dominant in the society. Those aspects of the Christian Gospel incompatible with the larger society are co-opted or ignored.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German martyr and theologian coined the expression "cheap grace," in describing this kind of religious practice, as with, for example, the Hitler Christians, but even he would have had some difficulty in understanding a Christian society where Good Friday is commonly spent on the beach.
If church prelates have had no success in confronting the national conscience on this matter, there is little point in here suggesting that Hondurans would be better off with a week of spring vacation, perhaps held in March, and allowing Holy Week to be organized in a manner more appropriate to a society which for better or for worse is dominated by the Christian religion.
Meanwhile, throughout Central America over 300 people died during the week long fiesta, and over 2,000 were seriously injured. This is a yearly toll in tragedy and suffering which discourages only a few and is regarded as an acceptable price to be paid for a week of fun in the sun.