Haitian parishioners in a Chilean parish: The role of Haitian Catholicism and ethnic cultural features

Abstract

The following research seeks to understand the religious life of a Haitian community in a Chilean parish. The main objectives try to identify (a) the reproduction of Haitian Catholicism in a Chilean parish and (b) the interrelationship with the Chilean community and society through participation in the parish life by Haitian parishioners. The research uses a qualitative framework with participant observations of the Sunday Masses and religious and social activities developed in the parish. The sample is composed of Haitian parishioners that are regular participants of the Masses and activities. The main findings show that the Haitian community is not alone or isolated from Chilean parishioners and society. The participation in ‘integration’ Masses and cultural activities are examples of activities for both Haitians and Chileans. Finally, the language is a tool for remembering the Haitian Mass but not a mechanism for isolating the Haitian community.

Introduction

In recent years, Chile has experienced immigration flows from neighboring countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. For a region that was the receiver of immigrants during the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century, sending immigrants within and outside the limits of Latin America has been a change. Even though immigration from home countries in the same region and the Caribbean (Bidegain and Bidegain, 2016) has been steady in Latin America, in recent years, the Haitian population has been growing at a higher rate than any other group that has migrated toward Chile. For example, in the Chilean Census of 2002, Haitians were only 50 persons; however, this number had grown enormously between 2013 and 2016 when 41,000 Haitians arrived, which increased 731%. As an illustration of this increment, it can be shown that only in 2016, more than 10,000 Haitians came to Quilicura, in the northern zone of Santiago (Sánchez et al., 2018) – a city with 5,250,565 inhabitants (according to (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas, 2020; Chilean Census 2017). In addition to this number, the Haitians have been clearly differentiated from other groups because of two key features: their language and skin color. In fact, Haitians are Black-skinned and speak mainly Creole, a very different language from the one spoken in several countries throughout Latin America. Those elements can be used in discrimination against them. In effect, race and ethnic cultural features – the biological patterns transmitted or the cultural patterns learned, respectively – could make the interaction and integration with the host society harder. Therefore, the integration of immigrants can be tougher to obtain ‘where immigrants are racially different from the main population’ (Tsang, 2015: 1189).

Furthermore, Haitians can be identified for another critical aspect: their vitality and participation in religious issues. It can be seen, for example, in their active involvement in Pentecostal and Catholic churches. Every Sunday, both Pentecostal and Catholic Haitians dress in formal clothes and participate during the morning in the service or Mass, respectively. Researchers in North America and France have identified this feature by pointing out that Haitians participate in religious activities despite their short free and leisure time (Mooney, 2009, 2013, 2014; Rey and Stepick, 2013). Moreover, it has been argued that ‘Haitians have long been among the most devout Roman Catholics in the world’ (Rey and Stepick, 2013: 85). Also, it is crucial to identify that Catholics, Haitians, and migrant newcomers have a key role in the diversification of mono-cultural religious denominations because they ‘adopt different ways of being church, expressing faith, worshipping, praying, and relating to one another . . . migrant newcomers create capacity for new and shared expressions of their Christian faith’ (Snyder, 2016: 7–8).

Moreover, the present research is focused in a Chilean parish with a Haitian community, the Santa Cruz parish, placed in Estacion Central, and among their objectives are twofold: (a) identifying the cultural features of Haitian Catholicism who are being reproduced in a Chilean parish; and (b) to comprehend if the ethnic church that the Haitian community composes is a mechanism for integration with the Chilean community or, otherwise, if through participation in the Haitian community, the interaction with the Chilean community becomes more difficult.

About Haitian Pentecostalism in the diaspora, Brodwin (2003) has argued that the Pentecostal community is a refuge against discrimination. About Catholicism, Mooney (2009, 2014) has identified that ‘many Haitians rely on their faith quite literally to stay alive’ (2009: 8). Their strong belief in God and Christ is a mechanism through which religious Haitians are overcoming difficulties. For example, the idea that people are ‘children of God’ and identifying the Christians’ dignity are resources for viewing all people as equal (Mooney, 2014). At the same time, through participation in the religious community, Haitians feel a sense of belonging to ‘somewhere’ (Mooney, 2014). In the viewpoint by Mooney (2009), these solid religious feelings of Haitians migrants abroad can be understood such as ‘cultural mediation’. It means that ‘people rely on their religious belief to guide them through struggles in this world, with their eyes all the while fixed on eventually entering another world’ (Mooney, 2009: 9).

Similarly, Haitians are an ethnic group since they share cultural aspects such as national history, language, and religious origins. In other words, Haitians’ religious roots are composed threefold by Catholicism, Protestantism, and Vodou (Rey and Stepick, 2013). In like manner, there is something like a common thread across religious differences between Haitian religion in the homeland and the diaspora. This religious basis or religious collusion can be understood as a ‘collective habitus . . . [or] relative uniformity of habitus of all members of a given delineated collectivity or social status group, be it family, class, race, or ethnicity’ (Rey and Stepick, 2013: 8). It is composed of a ‘practical sense’ by which religious Haitians comprehend that the world is inhabited, not only by humans but also by spiritual beings present through illness, problems, achievements, and goals. These cultural and religious origins cause Haitians’ religious life abroad to become very particular to other immigrant groups.

In contrast to other migrant groups from Spanish-speaking countries of Latin and North America, Haitians can originate ethnic churches through their religious practices and language. Religious institutions are composed of an ethnic group that shares cultural patterns such as language, gastronomy, cultural identity, and so on. In this sense, it is essential to realize that Latin American Catholicism has a common origin in religious syncretism with native indigenous religions (Martín, 2017). However, the Haitian religious context is composed of a religious antagonist to Catholicism – Vodou – (Rey, 1999). Therefore, Haitian religious worldview and thus ethnic churches can differ from other national churches of Latin American immigrants.

Theory on ethnic churches

The study of religion and ethnicity (Edwards et al., 2013; Emerson et al., 2015; Kim, 2011) is an area worthy of research in the current interconnected world. This can be demonstrated in ‘the prevalence of ethnicization and racialization in contexts of globalization, transnationalism, neoliberalism, and multiculturalism . . . [this] provide a significant impetus for the sociology of religion’ (Wood, 2006: 245). In fact, from the sociology of religion standpoint, a key aspect in ethnicity is the study of the composition of religious organizations, with particular attention at the level of congregations, since local religious churches are places with a strong presence in the lives of religious immigrants and communities (Matthews et al., 2016). According to the groundbreaking book Religion and the new immigrants: Continuities and adaptations in immigrant congregations, the ‘reproducing ethnicity’ is the leading feature of churches composed of ethnic groups (Ebaugh and Chafetz, 2000b). This means that churches reproduce ethnicity in the following ways: (a) reproducing aspects of home country religious institutions; (b) incorporation of ethnic practices and holidays in religious ceremonies; (c) the participation in domestic religious practices; and (d) through social activities in which the congregations take part (Ebaugh and Chafetz, 2000b). In this sense, immigrant congregations recognize, reinforce, and support ethnic identity and cultural continuity. These congregations help immigrants feel at ‘home’ and respond with a strong sense of commitment toward the institutions (Ebaugh and Chafetz, 2000b).

In the same way, minority ethnic groups have different cultural needs from the dominant host culture, which ethnic churches can fulfill. Among these cultural needs are ethnic identity, social status, social service, spiritual, and religious developments (Choi and Berhó, 2016). Furthermore, ‘interpersonal relationships, entertainment, transference of information, and communal ties are also some of the relational goals that are fulfilled in the ethnic church’ (Choi and Berhó, 2016: 94). Research on religion and ethnicity has highlighted the common elements that share and reproduce a religious community in ethnic churches (Kim, 2011; Kivisto, 2007). These churches play a vital role in establishing a religious enclave or a community with strong ties. It encourages the involvement of people of the same national or cultural background.

Nevertheless, participation in ethnic churches can produce another effect: isolation from the host society. There is evidence among immigrants who participate in ethnic churches that experience a twofold effect: on one hand, they can establish strong social relations and networks with other connatural immigrants of the church; on the other hand, if participation and social networks are mainly present among people of the same national or cultural background, it can produce distance and isolation from host society (Brazal and Guzman, 2016; Ryan, 2016; Serrao and Cavendish, 2018; Tsang, 2015). In this sense, participation and time spent in social or religious activities in the church diminish the time and opportunities available for making contacts and interacting with native people. Indeed, Serrao and Cavendish (2018) have demonstrated that social isolation from host society can be found among immigrants with scarce knowledge of the language of the host country, with very long workday – for example, with people who work in low-paid jobs such as cleaning – and who are very active participants in the church and spend all their leisure time in its activities. The above features of immigrants who might suffer from social isolation provide new evidence about life in ethnic churches. In this case, immigrants who have insufficient knowledge of the host language, free time, and long workdays have fewer opportunities to meet and interact with native people and improve their language and social skills. Indeed, ‘as people feel more at home in their ethnic enclave, they feel less need to get out and connect with those outside of their migrant church’ (Brazal and Guzman, 2016: 129).

It is essential to realize that the above findings could be reproduced in the case of Haitians who have recently arrived in Chile and that participate in churches with other Haitians (where the religious service is in Creole) instead of getting involved with a Chilean or a multinational flock. Simultaneously, the Haitians in Santiago have access to low-paid jobs (due to their low educational level and basic knowledge of Spanish) and live in precarious conditions in inadequate housing with other Haitians (Sánchez et al., 2018). Therefore, their opportunities to interact with Chilean people might be scant. The conditions that Haitians experienced can motivate a religious life and involvement in religious communities since ‘in the . . . experience of immigrant dispossession, conditions exist for an estrangement from worldly habits and desires and an efflorescence of religious practice’ (Ley and Tse, 2013: 163). Indeed, under the precarious conditions suffered by immigrants, turning to religious communities and being involved in the religious and social services these communities provide is a real option.

Besides, it has been researched that ethnic churches can delay immigrant integration in the host society (Tsang, 2015). This can be perceived in how the ethnic community that the church reproduces makes stronger the self-segregation of the community, instead of encouraging the integration with a broader society. Simultaneously, the ethnic churches have limited influence in the host society (Tsang, 2015). Even though the role of the ethnic church is to preserve the home country’s culture and traditions, as Tsang (2015) found, ethnic minority parishioners may seek a same-ethnic pastor to reproduce the home country’s vernacular language, cultural values, and traditions. Indeed, Tsang (2015) identifies that ‘in the absence of a co-ethnic . . . pastor, cultural values are not expressed during sermons and lessons, and there is a lack of concerns about the country of origin in prayers and missions’ (2015: 1188). It is essential to recognize that the Santa Cruz parish, in the present research, is composed of both Chilean and Haitian communities, which later participate in the Mass and social activities carried out by a Chilean Jesuit priest. However, it is worth noticing that the priest preaches in Haitian Creole even when he has no Haitian origins. Therefore, the impact of a foreign priest on the community will be researched and analyzed further.

The use of Haitian Creole in the Mass is a fruitful way of keeping the Haitian community engaged in the parish because people expect that their native language can be used during Mass (Ryan, 2016). Through this language, the parishioners also feel more comfortable with the service and religious ritual, and consequently, participants are more committed to the parish or congregation (Ebaugh and Chafetz, 2000a). In this way, Haitian parish overcomes the language barrier through the interaction with the Chilean community by participating in social and religious activities (Warner, 1997), reviewed further. Simultaneously in the Santa Cruz parish, the Haitian community participates in the Mass in Haitian Creole while the Chilean community does it in Spanish. There are no clear boundaries or restrictions toward the participation of the parish members in either the Haitian or Chilean Mass. However, some Haitian parishioners’ insufficient knowledge of Spanish could make their participation difficult in the Chilean Mass. This is an essential fact since ‘at a parish level there was some disagreement about whether or not migrants actually should be separated from the rest of parishioners’ (Ryan, 2016: 308). This will be analyzed further in the ‘Results’ section.

Haitian Catholicism

Concerning Haitian immigrants abroad, the ethnic church is a place where they can reproduce religious practices from their homeland. For example, in Miami – the area with more Haitian immigrants at a worldwide level (Rey and Stepick, 2013) – it is possible to find, through the actions and services provided by the Notre Dame d’Haiti Catholic Church, an important Haitian religious Catholic devotion: the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which is reproduced abroad (Mooney, 2009; Rey, 2004; Rey and Stepick, 2013). This religious festivity is felt like an attempt to recreate the Haitian identity and the experience of being in Haiti. Therefore, this might be understood as a ‘translocative’ and ‘transtemporal’ religious festivity since it transports the Haitian flock toward an idealized homeland (Rey, 2004). However, a key aspect is that Haitian Catholicism in Miami presents a lack of the Vodou features with which Catholicism is dealing in Haiti, ‘there is certainly much less indication of Vodouisant ritual and practice among Haitians at feast-day celebrations in the United States than in Haiti’ (Rey, 2004: 359).

Haitian Catholicism shares two elements with Latin American Catholicism: the crucial role of the Virgin Mary and the importance of pilgrimage (Rey, 1999, 2004) Also, the cult of saints has an essential place in Catholicism in Haiti and the diaspora. This cult and the pilgrimages have not been diminished for religious trends such as Liberation Theology or Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Trends that in other places in Latin America aimed the religious life of Catholics toward politics and street protests and that have a direct relationship with God, without mediations, respectively (Rey and Stepick, 2013). Hence, these religious trends have impacted the diminishing role of the cult of saints in Latin America. However, this is not the case in Haitian Catholicism and its cult of saints, since it is possible to evidence that in the holy days in honor to a saint, many Haitians participate in pilgrimages toward Catholic churches in places such as New York, Miami, and Montreal (Rey and Stepick, 2013). At the same time, the figure of the Virgin Mary has a strong presence in the religious worldview of many Haitian, like a key mediator between them, Jesus, and God. It is noteworthy ‘her role as an “attorney”’ (Rey, 1999: 155). The leading Marian cults in Haitian Catholicism – which are religious figures that motivate pilgrimages in Haiti and the diaspora – are the Immaculate Conception (December 12), the Mount Carmel (July 16), the Assumption (August 15), and the Perpetual Help (June 27) (Rey and Stepick, 2013).

The importance of the role of the Virgin Mary began to be established from the apparitions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the countryside regions of Haiti. Moreover, these apparitions were near the shrine of Nuestra Señora de Altagracia (the national Virgin of Dominican Republic) and some natural places – such as the waterfalls near the village of Saut-d’Eau – with mystical importance for practitioners of other religions (Vodouisants). Indeed, Saut-d’Eau became a key twofold place for Haitian pilgrimages: Catholics and Vodouisants. In this place, Catholics could pray and be heard by the Virgin, and Vodouisants could make ceremonies near the falls. In the Haitian religious worldview, the Virgin of Notre Dame of Perpetual Help is a key figure, which can be shown by the fact that Haitians across different social strata are devotees of her. In this sense, this virgin ‘is considered accessible for miraculous intervention in the people’s daily lives and plays a leading role in the nation’s guardianship’ (Rey, 1999: 162). This religious status was made through the divine intervention of the Virgin in a pox plague in the nineteenth century that killed more than 100,000 people. The hierarchy of the Haitian Catholic Church blamed the Vodou and its practitioners for the plague’s origin and spread. They encouraged prayer and penitence to overcome this problematic national situation. During the second half of the nineteenth century, a lady who came from Paris brought an image of the Virgin (du Perpétuel Secours) unknown in Haiti. This image was placed in the Cathedral of Port au Prince and tested its miraculous powers against the plague. The archbishop prayed to this new Virgin and encouraged to do the same to the Catholic flock. The following days, heavy rain fell under the city and seemed to have an enormous healthy power against the plague since the number of dead decreased sharply. In summary, the complex social conditions, the plague, and the widespread belief of the Virgin intervention in the disappearance of the plague were key elements at the beginning of the Perpetual Help’s devotion (Rey, 1999). This Virgin is the patron saint of Haiti.

Research methods

In the present research, the data were collected through semi-structured interviews and participant observation; the latter was thought of as a technique, which can provide a picture of the religious services of the Santa Cruz parish. A detailed description of the religious activities of the parish complemented the information given through interviews. In other words, observations provided a picture of the themes and practices. With this information, an assessment was given to see if the activities reproduce themes and figures of Haitian Catholicism or participation in the Haitian community. Haiti’s language and cultural features were highlighted or, otherwise, as if there were an interrelationship with Chilean persons, cultural and social features.

Observations were carried out every Sunday from August to December 2018 in the Santa Cruz parish placed in Estacion Central, Santiago. This parish is controlled by the Jesuit order and was founded in 1962. The parish has had an active social role from the Chilean dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s with the help to the needy, until today with the integration of immigrant communities. The interviews and observations were carried out in this parish because of the availability and willingness of both the priest of the Chilean and Haitian communities for fieldwork to be carried out in this parish.

The researcher carried out interviews, while the members of the Haitian community were encouraged to respond in conversation (N = 15). The interviews were performed in the parish before or after the Sunday Mass. Pseudonyms identified the interviewees of the sample. The interviewees were adults (men and women) who work in jobs like construction, cleaning on the informal market. Each interview lasted approximately 30 minutes, and with the permission of the interviewee, the researcher audiotaped and transcribed the interviews. The assistance of a translator was necessary (the gatekeeper) for the interviews because the researcher himself does not speak any Creole, and some Haitian parishioners have an elementary level of Spanish.

It is important to specify that the access to the Haitian community and the availability of some of them for being interviewed was possible because of the gatekeeper Erick Lundy ¹ , the founder of the Haitian community in the Santa Cruz parish. Moreover, Erick was the facilitator who put the researcher in contact with the community. Therefore, it was possible to interview members who do not speak Spanish or have a basic knowledge of this language through his assistance. In these cases, the interview was guided by me and through the translation that Erick provided: both for the researcher’s questions and the interviewee’s answers. The translator explained to me in Spanish, the main ideas of the interviewee. Even though this method could help understand the main ideas of the answer, many details and rich information were lost through translation and summarizing the interviewee’s responses.

Even though the translator’s assistance was crucial, the linguistic differences in the Santa Cruz parish produced more defiant interviews. In this sense, interviews with a foreign sample (with no knowledge of the language by the researcher) or a translator’s assistance have some important challenges. First, it is more difficult to establish ‘rapport’ with people in a foreign sample who speak another language. Second, translations can lose rich information because the answers from interviewees are explained and translated by another person who is not the interviewee himself.

On the other hand, a very important limitation was the difference between the languages spoken by the researcher (Spanish) and the Haitian sample (Creole). The first limitation was that I could not access the whole response from the interviewees, only the translator’s version. The second limitation was that I performed without any understanding of the language of the Haitian sample, so reaching a broader sample was harder since I depended on the translator and his contacts for the interviews. Hence, I could not establish any different contacts by myself since it was through the assistance of the gatekeeper.

After completing the transcription process, the first stage of the analysis was to identify codes and categories in the interviewee’s declarations (Gibbs, 2013). The analysis process consisted of the interviews being read and the key themes established as common to all interviewees. The interview process was conducted until saturation was reached and the opinions of the Haitian members became similar. Simultaneously, the analysis looked at revealing and key aspects of Haitian Catholicism and its relation to Chilean society. The ‘central focus [was] on inductively generating novel . . . ideas or hypotheses from the data as opposed to testing theories specified beforehand’ (Gibbs, 2013: 49).

Results

For the specific purposes of this research, the observation was thought of as a technique that can provide a picture of the religious services of the parish. Indeed, it is possible to know if the service is composed of Haitian cultural references (such as episodes in the contemporary history of Haiti or issues and controversies of the current Haitian economy, politics, education, etc.) or of features of Haitian Catholicism (such as devotion to figures of Haitian Mariology or Mass and messages from the priest aimed toward the Haitian community, and so on) or of both. In other words, observations will provide a picture of the themes and practices, since through it ‘the investigator embeds herself near (or within) the phenomenon to detect how and why agents on the scene act, think and feel the way they do’ (Wacquant, 2003: 5).

The Santa Cruz parish is a building with space for religious services and a church hall where social meetings and activities are performed for both the Haitian and the Chilean communities. Inside the building of the parish, there are several pictures of biblical passages, which were painted in bright colors, mainly portraying episodes of the Old Testament such as the slavery of the Hebrew people in Egypt, the split of the Red Sea by Moses and his leadership over the Hebrew people, the Flood and the Noah’s Ark. The building has space for around 250 people; however, the regular Haitian community who participate in the Masses every Sunday and who are registered in the files of the parish are near 130. ² Nevertheless, it is important to specify that during the fieldwork in this parish (August to December 2018), the Haitian community reached its peak of assistance with almost 90 people. Outside the building, there is a big courtyard surrounded by pastoral offices and large rooms. These places are used to make lunches or practice the songs that the choir will sing every weekend. Also, in the courtyard, activities such as theater and clothes markets are placed.

The Mass for the Haitian community is preached both in Haitian Creole and French. The Haitian Choir sings during the Mass in Creole. The Mass is carried out by a Chilean Jesuit priest who knows both languages, French and Haitian Creole. The Mass is structured in the traditional Catholic way. With biblical readings, the priest’s message, the Eucharist, the greeting of peace among the parishioners, and so on.

Consequently, it is possible to follow the Mass in the weekly liturgical publication delivered at the church building entrance at the beginning of the Mass. Even though the biblical readings and the sermon by the priest are said in Haitian Creole, it is possible to understand the order and sense of the Mass in the liturgical publication. Moreover, the priest, after finishing his sermon, translates it into Spanish. In this way, an outsider to the Haitian community (like the researcher himself) can understand the different parts of the Mass and the message from the sermon.

The Haitian Mass is composed almost exclusively by Haitians, but sometimes by Chilean groups or other people present, mainly because there is no regular Chilean flock in the Haitian Mass. Also, there were several baptisms celebrated in the Haitian community, where the parents make explicit their wish that their children will become members of the Christian community. During the fieldwork carried out in the Santa Cruz parish, there were at least five baptisms celebrated in the Sunday Mass. On all these occasions, and every Sunday during the Mass, the Haitian community dresses very formally; men wear jackets and ties and women, formal dress.

Interestingly, even though the parish has conformed to a Mass and a regular flock around the Haitian community, nothing evokes a Haitian parish (religious symbols or virgins of Haitian Catholicism) or Haiti. There is neither any icon of the Virgin of Perpetual Help or Marian figure nor Haitian flag; any picture that resembles the life in Haiti or Haitian Catholicism is absent, as well. The religious pictures placed in the church building’s left superior walls are episodes of the Old Testament, as was commented above. There is a Haitian choir that plays with electric musical instruments. However, these are the common instruments (electric guitar, bass, drums). Still, none resembles Haitian music (e.g. no folk drum resembles the religious music in Haiti, where these drums are played in the religious chorus). ³ It can be shown that the decoration of the parish is as usual as Catholic parishes elsewhere: the altar, the Cross, the pictures of biblical episodes, and so on. No decoration makes the difference between this parish, composed by a Haitian community, with other Chilean Catholic parishes. Besides, the worship and the message from the priest are standards in Catholicism. There is sometimes a special message on Haitian issues ⁴ , but, at the same time, the priest in his sermon stresses the importance of Catholic issues such as the pastoral service, the help for the needy, the diversity in the community, and so on, instead of orienting his sermon toward issues directly related to the Haitian community. In other words, the sermon and the message are aimed toward a standard Catholic audience instead of being aimed exclusively toward Haitian issues or issues related to the life of the Haitian community in Chile.

The interviewees have been raised in Catholicism. In Haiti, they were active parishioners, and the participation in the Santa Cruz parish is a continuum in their religious life. Furthermore, some of them had religious roles in their parishes in the home country. For instance, Charles was an acolyte, and Berline was a novice in Haiti. At the same time, most of them have very intense participation in the religious and social activities of the Santa Cruz parish. In like manner, through those activities, Haitian interviewees have contact with the Chilean community. In this way, they are participating in both communities. For example, Pierre is involved in the peregrine group with the Chilean community and choir, and they are continuously preparing the songs for the ‘integration’ Masses (reviewed further).

Through this group, Pierre participates in social activities and trips. In his view, participation in the parish is essential because, through involvement in the church, it is possible to distance from bad habits such as alcoholism. He claims that ‘inside the church, there are no dangers, but outside there are dangerous situations’. The regular participation of the Haitian parishioners has allowed them to meet each other and establish contact with the Chilean community. Under those circumstances, ‘becoming active in one’s parish is likely to increase the number of one’s fellow parishioners whom one knows well – especially if the activity involves regular and frequent contact with the same group of people’ (Wittberg, 2011: 100).

Concerning Haitian Catholicism, Jean stresses that ‘in Haiti, there are more people who participate in the Mass every Sunday. There are so many religious groups who are doing activities in the church and choruses that are singing’. Charles identifies that the Mass in Haiti is longer than Chilean Masses, and, at the Mass, more songs are sung. In his opinion, through his participation in the Santa Cruz parish, and since the Mass is conducted in Haitian Creole, ‘I feel like in Haiti through this Mass’. Similarly, Charles highlights that the Haitian Creole is used in the Mass due to ‘is better to live our faith in our culture [language]’. Indeed, Charles lives in Puente Alto, and he should travel across Santiago to participate in the Santa Cruz parish. In his view, the language of the Mass is a crucial theme. He claims, for example, that ‘some of my cousins changed their religious participation from the Catholic church to the Evangelical church, because in the Evangelical church the service was in Creole, while in the Catholic in Spanish’.

Jean says that in Haiti, the sermon is about themselves, and folk music is played during Mass. Besides, he highlights that the parish analyzed here has an active role in helping Haitian migrants. Moreover, Charles stresses that ‘in Haiti, every Sunday the Mass is a party, it can be shown in the dress of the parishioners, the organization and preparation for local devotions (with several months in advance)’ – the local devotion of his town that is celebrated in November is organized since June. In this way, the church is decorated, the novena is prayed, and there is so much respect toward the church; for example, ‘if a thief is driving outside the church, he reduces the velocity of the car, or he moves his hat from the head when is in front of the church building’.

In Jean Pierre’s viewpoint in Haiti, the church has more participation of the youth. In his opinion, 80% of Haitians are religious, and within this number, 60% are composed of Catholics. He states that the Christian message is universal. However, in the former country, the younger generations are so much involved in the parish life, for instance, through the choir and diverse religious communities.

On one hand, concerning Haitian Catholicism, Erick Lundy – founder of the Haitian community in the Santa Cruz parish – claims that ‘religion walks together with culture’, so there must be differences between Catholicism in Haiti and Chile. For example, in Haiti, the religious celebrations to local devotions or saints are very important. Indeed, every church has a day of commemoration to its saint. The Mass is very expressive, active with so much music. Besides, among the parishioners are needy or persons who are in isolation and loneliness. In the Mass, the parishioners meet, talk, and dance with each other, and the end of the Mass does not mean the finish of the meetings in the parish. Parishioners stay with others in conversations, lunching, and so on, spending a long time after the end of the Mass. It is an important difference with Chilean Catholicism in his view because ‘after the Chilean Mass all the parishioners leave the church and there is no time for meeting’.

On the other hand, Berline, founder of the Haitian community as Erick Lundy, argues that ‘Haitian Catholicism is very much conservative than Chilean Catholicism’. In Haiti, there are more religious songs in the Mass, and it is more expressive. The Chilean Mass is, in her view, ‘colder’. However, in the viewpoint of Berline, Haitian Catholicism is so conservative and rigid, so they – Erick and herself – do not want to replicate some religious practices from their home country. For example, Berline tells the researcher that all the parishioners have a card used as a register of assistance in her Haitian parish. In this way, someone who does not possess this card will have trouble accessing the church’s religious and social services (e.g. it will be more difficult to baptize their children). In this sense, Erick and herself do not want to imitate this punishment attitude against the parishioners. Therefore, there is no punishment of any type over the parishioners who do not assist the Mass every Sunday in the Santa Cruz parish.

In like manner, in Haiti, the message from the priest is very conservative, and there is a strict code of dress over the parishioners (women cannot dress in short dress). However, in Chile, the dress of Chilean parishioners is different from Haiti, in Jacques’ viewpoint. Berline adds that the beginning of the Mass is with the rosary, the duration of the standard Mass is two hours or more, and it is full of people. For this latter reason, you should arrive very early to the church to get a chair for the Mass. Furthermore, the assistants are controlling the behavior of the parishioners. For example, they regulate the body positions when they should be sitting or should be singing. The assistants help the priest with the order of the parish and the correct behavior of the parishioners.

Also, Berline identifies that the ‘Haitian Mass stresses so much the negative aspects of life as well as in praying for the multiple problems in Haitian society, politics, economics, and so on’. However, in her view, this is a limited viewpoint of religion and society because there are not only problems, even under difficulties, there is something positive as well.

Equally important is that some Haitian Catholic devotions – such as the party in honor of the Virgin of Perpetual Help – are not celebrated in the Santa Cruz parish like in Haiti. For example, the party of Mary Mother of God is celebrated with the whole Haitian immigrant community in different churches across Santiago. Moreover, Erick Lundy – the gatekeeper of this research – pinpointed that there is some difficulty in celebrating the Haitian Catholic devotions in Santiago due to labor and social conditions because the Haitian parishioners meet and celebrate Mass on weekends and sometimes the party of Perpetual Help (June 27) is on weekdays. Therefore, on those occasions, during Sunday Mass, there is a special moment for remembering the Virgin ‘it is something symbolic’, in his own words. Until now, it has not been possible to celebrate the manner of the home country. In effect, Berline claims that there is no celebration of Haitian Catholicism in the parish under research. Only some moments for remembering in the Mass the date or day near a religious festivity. Besides, an important viewpoint is provided by Jacques, who affirms that ‘in Santiago it is sometimes difficult to celebrate religious processions to the Haitians devotions, because parishioners of the Santa Cruz parish come from different regions of Haiti’ – everyone with his saint and devotion. Therefore, it is complex to celebrate this diversity of saints.

On one hand, about the presence of a Chilean priest, who preaches in Haitian Creole in the Sunday Mass for the Haitian community, Jacques identifies that ‘his presence is important because it allows more relationship with the Chilean parishioners’. In this sense, Erick argues that the Haitian community is highly valued that a foreign priest – Chilean – learns Haitian Creole and preaches in this language. In the viewpoint by Berline, it is highly positive the figure of the Chilean priest because he helps the community in various ways. For example, in issues such as housing, the priest has acted as a ‘mediator’ between the Haitian and Chilean landlords – who sometimes try to fool Haitians with the rent.

On the other hand, in an informal conversation with the gatekeeper on the role of Vodou in Haitian culture and society, he argued that Vodou practitioners are discriminated against in the home country and the diaspora. In Chile, for example, a Vodou practitioner attempted to establish a Vodou temple in Quilicura. Still, he suffered a beating for Haitian evangelicals because the latter do not want the arrival of Vodou to Chile. Erick recognizes that Vodou is part of Haitian culture, but the immigrants, especially the religious Haitians, emphasize the evangelicals and Pentecostals have tried to forbid its practice due to the bad images associated with this religion. Erick recommends that it would be better to omit any reference to this religion in conversations with religious Haitians.

Also, the interviewees claimed that through participation in the Santa Cruz parish, they are interacting with the Chilean parishioners and community. There are some key instances of participation, such as (a) Spanish courses (carried out by professionals and students at Universidad Alberto Hurtado) which are aimed toward the teaching of Spanish language and Chilean culture; (b) courses on digital skills; (c) activities for making money for the needy (such as lottery); and (d) integration Masses in which the Haitian and Chilean parishioners meet and pray in the same Mass at the same time. In this sense, Berline argues that the Spanish courses are ‘intercultural’ activities because Chilean professionals teach both the language and Chilean cultural and social features. Haitian students learn and share social and cultural aspects from Haiti. Erick shares a similar opinion; in his view, the Spanish courses are key activities for familiarizing with Chilean society.

Finally, it is essential to realize that Haitians and Chilean communities participate in ‘integration’ Masses, where it is possible to identify the whole community that composes the Santa Cruz parish. Those Masses are on key dates in the liturgical year – such as on Christmas or in September on the anniversary of the Chilean national independence – and its objectives are to integrate the parish community. The researcher himself participates in the Mass on the Synod the first Sunday of December. The community of the parish identifies this Mass as the Synod. On this occasion, the parish was decorated with pink fabrics around the altar, big candles, and four chairs at the front for the four priests. There were some chairs for children who would receive the communion at the right side and the front of the altar, and at the left side was placed the chorus (composed by both the Haitian and Chilean choirs). It is interesting to identify that on this Mass, the parish was utterly Chilean (the majority) and Haitian parishioners. They were sitting together across the parish, and there are no clear boundaries between Haitians or Chileans sitting parishioners throughout the building. The principal priest organizes the worship and preaches his sermon in Spanish, and the priest of the Haitian community gives a message to the whole community in Haitian Creole. The choruses sang Christian religious songs by turn, either the Haitian or Chilean choirs. However, with very popular songs, both communities sang at the same time. As the Haitian choir was singing in Creole, the Chilean choir and parishioners sang in Spanish simultaneously. The parish was singing in these overlapping languages. It was a very active moment because it showed the unity of the community despite the language barriers. The Christian songs overcome the different languages, and it is possible to unify the parishioners in the singing of religious songs.

Other activities are developed with this sense of integration. For instance, some members of the Haitian community played vital roles in a theater play written by the Chilean priest of this community. The play was above the figure of ‘Makandal’, a key leader in the Haitian revolution. It was performed by Haitian parishioners and Chilean actors in front of an audience composed of both Haitians and Chileans in the courtyard, and the part was also performed in schools and cultural centers. In this sense, it is essential to highlight that the theater play was thought of as an activity to either the parishioners or the secular individuals interested in Haitian history. It is limited to neither the Christian community of the Santa Cruz parish nor the physical space of the parish.

Discussion and conclusions

On one hand, about Haitian Catholicism, it was shown that its essential devotions and celebrations in their honor are not replicated in the same way in the Santa Cruz parish. There are moments for remembering the Haitian devotions in the Sunday Mass in this parish, but there are no processions or pilgrimages like Haiti. The short time available for Haitian parishioners is considered an element that makes it harder to organize and celebrate a big religious party. Besides, Haitian Catholicism is more conservative, rigid, and normative than Chilean Catholicism, which can be seen in the fact that the former makes a register of parishioners that participate in the Sunday Mass, regulates the behavior of the parishioners, and makes it difficult to get some religious and social services for parishioners that are not participating regularly in the parish life. Those elements are not present in Chilean Catholicism.

On the other hand, in this case, the participation in the Haitian parish does not produce an ethnic enclave isolated from the host community or society. Indeed, the Haitian community is integrated with the Chilean community. There are different activities (reviewed above) in which both Haitians and Chileans participate. Furthermore, there is the conviction among the Haitian parishioners that the parish community is only one (composed of Haitians and Chileans), which can be evidenced in activities such as the ‘integration’ Masses throughout the liturgical year. In this sense, it can be shown that Haitians (an ethnic group) that celebrate the Mass in their language (Creole) do not produce an ethnic church with strong inner ties and bonds (Wittberg, 2011) but are isolated from host communities and society. In the case researched here, there are not present Haitians cultural features in the parish. There are not devotions or flags that resemble Haitian Catholicism. Instead, the Haitian parishioners participate in activities with the Chilean parishioners and even with the Chilean society beyond the parish (the theater play demonstrated it). Therefore, the language is not part of a close ethnic community that does not produce links with Chilean parishioners. Instead, Haitian parishioners can remember their homeland using their home language. Still, at the same time, some activities and groups encourage their participation with Chileans. In this sense, the Haitian community of the Santa Cruz parish is not a close ethnic church. On the contrary, they feel like members of the same community as Chilean parishioners.