Church makes peace with mariachis

St. Augustine Cathedral offers Mariachi Mass during the Tucson International Mariachi Conference.

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I'm going to tell you a little bit about the Catholic Church's role in the mariachi tradition. You saw the icon at the beginning - the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. This is a photograph I took a few years ago in church near my hometown in Michoacán. I was the only one in the church but fortunately had my camera. These guys went in there to play music and sing to the Virgin, in this little town. Actually, my uncle is the priest of the diocese that includes this little church.
This is a working mariachi, and I talked to them after they were done. They played three songs to the Virgin. I asked," Can I talk to you guys for a while?" They said, "We're just about to go to the next town to work - to see if we can get some business at the plaza. See if someone will hire us, or maybe in a restaurant or a bar." Notice the way they dress, no mariachi attire but they have the right instruments and they play mariachi music. They just can't afford the clothes. Apparently, every time before they go to look for work, they first come to sing to the Virgin, to both give thanks and to ask her to watch over them so that they may get work.
The Spanish church introduced a lot of the instruments to the native people that were picked up into the mariachi tradition, including the string instruments - the violin, for example, as well as the harp and the guitar. The harp is one of the oldest instruments, dating back as far as human recorded history.
At one time, as illustrated by Fr. Cosme's letter that we saw earlier, there was disdain for mariachis in the Catholic Church. At other times, mariachis were welcomed by the Church. Here in Tucson, for example, Father Charles Rourke was instrumental in starting the mariachi Los Changuitos Feos.
How about mariachi mass? If any of you have ever heard a mariachi mass, it's one of the most beautiful masses one can attend. The concept originated with a French priest in 1966 in the town of Cuernavaca, Mexico, outside of Mexico City. He went there around the period of Vatican II. Men were leaving the church and he was saying, "How can we bring people back into the church? He worked with some musicians, some mariachis, and said, "Can't we arrange a mariachi mass? The Bishop approved it but not without the disdain of many people both within and outside the Church.
This Mass became so popular that they soon had to offer two masses every Sunday drawing almost 2000 people to each one. It continues today. The Bishop, Méndez Arceo, got all kinds of hell for allowing mariachis to play in the church. He got into trouble with the Catholic Church because here are these street musicians, musicians coming out of bars and fiestas into the church. Very interesting...
In any case, mariachi massas are beautiful.
Today mariachis are common in the Catholic Church and at all types of religious functions, including weddings, baptisms, quinceañeras, funerals , Sunday mass, etc. - all of these inside the church. It has become standard. If you go to St. Augustine's they have a mariachi mass every Sunday. Mariachi mass weddings are particularly popular now.