[ameribbean expat]

Bingo. The syncretism in Roman Catholicism, particularly in Latin America, is something Rome needs to address.

[DallasMike]

The syncretism in Roman Catholicism, particularly in Latin America, is something Rome needs to address.

Those who live outside the American Southwest don't know the problem that it is even here -- a large percentage of the people here are Latin American immigrants. What seems a harmless and wholesome practice in, say, Ohio is a horrible heresy here.

Never mind the facts though -- expect denials and attacks from the folks I pinged.

[DJtex]

Saint Death is like Voodoo, a pidgin religion based on a mix of the primative and Catholicism's incredible influence in Mexico. But it also points to a richness of their culture that we whitebread Americans sadly lack.

As Don Juan told his apprentice, Carlos Casteneda:

Your death is your truest advisor. It always rides just off to your right shoulder, and at times of great danger, you can glance rapidly to your right and ask it: 'Are you coming for me today?' And he will tell you. If he says No--you know that the crisis will pass.

I know of few Christians who so truly believe that this life is not the only life--or even the important one. Let's be careful about condemning another perspective on life, as viewed from the universal leveler--Death. It may have something to teach us, even as we see it's flaws and limitations.