A trip to the old center of Michoacan

The local church...which the natives built (1530s) near Pátzcuaro
The local bishop (who at one time was the judge till the locals wanted a fair bishop so, at that time, the 82 year old man was ordained priest, then bishop...quick like Anselm! This bishop believed that there was an importance to preserving the culture of the people...and not "evangelizing"it away, as if the people's history was not important. After his death, the center of Michoacan...and the building of the Cathedral, happened in Morelia...some short distance away.

On the front of the doors, the natives carved small icons on the faith, then painted the icons...the paint is long gone, but he carvings still exist.

The inside of the church...beams cut from the forests (now all but extinct here...red cedar trees). The wood didn't have time to dry, so the posts began to twist. At the time, the locals didn't know how to build a large building with a stone roof, thus the red cedar ceiling.
An early confessional...Jackie in "the box"but no priest is present on the other side to hear her confession...however there was a priest taking the picture!Inside the monastery next to church. The rooms are built on the west side to make the most of the afternoon light so the monks could read or grade the students work...benches were built into the walls near the windows as seats for this purpose. The east side has the kitchen and classrooms for early morning light.

For a quick way to get people to attend Mass and because building churches took so long, the local priests built "open air" churches. The faithful would gather in the courtyards for Mass. Though you are not able to see in this photo, above the two center columns are a sun (on the left side) and a moon (on the right side). These were symbols of gods to the locals...this was an evangelization tool used for the locals as a way to say..."it's okay to worship and enter here...your past gods are present to adore the one God."