Catholic Education for Mexican Americans in Los Angeles: A Brief Historical Overview

Abstract

This article explores the historical development of Catholic schools for Mexican Americans in Los Angeles, California. It provides a brief overview of events spanning the 1700s to the 1970s, with particular attention placed on examining the administration of Cardinal James Francis Aloysius McIntyre from 1948-1969. While his predecessor, Archbishop John Joseph Cantwell, was responsible for laying the foundation of Catholic education in Los Angeles and introducing several in- novations, it was under the direction of Cardinal McIntyre that Catholic schooling experienced its most significant growth and evolution. A critical examination of this history reveals a complex and contradictory relationship of the Catholic Church with Mexican American communities. At times the Church built welcoming and affirming educational institutions; at other moments, however, it built schools that served to deculturalize and assimilate the Mexican American community in ways that worked to reproduce the political and economic interests of the dominant society.