PERCEPTION, PROPAGANDA, AND POSITION: THE STRUCTURE OF THE COMMUNITY WITHIN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OF QUEPOS Michelle Luke College of William and Mary

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1 PERCEPTION, PROPAGANDA, AND POSITION: THE STRUCTURE OF THE COMMUNITY WITHIN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OF QUEPOS Michelle Luke College of William and Mary INTRODUCTION The new priest, Father Johnny, entered the church and took a seat in one of the white chairs making up the circle in which we sat. Everyone introduced themselves and then the priest proceeded to tell the small group of Carismáticos gathered there for their weekly meeting that he was here to find out what they were all about: he had never had contact with Carismáticos before. The people in the circle introduced themselves, and as they did, their places in the scheme of things made themselves apparent to me, the observer. The coordinator was introduced first, and even though the rest of the introductions went in order around the circle, when the more important people and/or those that had been in the group the longest were introduced, they were introduced with laughter, a title such as the famous so-and-so, and a general atmosphere of amistad (friendship) and respect. I found out after coming to my own conclusions that these people were the ones who were servidores: the people who had completed their course of initiation into the charismatic movement. From there, the discussion was mainly a plea from the members to the priest for support of their group. They had seen many priests come and go, none of whom were charismatic, and they had not received the necessary support from the priests to become a fully working charismatic group. They felt that other groups such as the Catecumenos (catechumens or those studying the church teachings) received more support because they were larger, older, and more organized. In one member s words, whenever the

2 Catecumenos have a meeting, the father is right there. It seemed that when the Carismáticos have meetings, the priest is hardly ever there, coming up with one excuse or another. All they wanted from Father Johnny was his support, that he come to their meetings, that he give them permission to go to San José to receive materials from the large group there in order to grow and learn, that he extend an open invitation to all the parishioners to attend the meetings, and that even just once a month, he give a special charismatic mass, like the other Carismáticos in other churches get. The meeting ended with the priest saying he would do what he could, and that he wanted very much to come to their meetings and give them his support. The members accepted this for now, but they were very determined to receive the same blessings and support from the priests that the other groups got. This meeting is a true eye-opener to an outsider about the politics of the church. This church, like all other organizations, has a structure of power. From the bishop all the way to the parishioner, there are influential and powerful people who play different roles in this structure just like there is a hierarchy in the Carismáticos. The research I did in Quepos outlines this structure in the local Catholic church and also shows what influence the church has in the general community of Quepos. HISTORY AND BACKGROUND The church in Quepos is called La Inmaculada Concepción and it is the only Catholic church in town. Painted a dark and pale blue, it stands across the street from a large soccer field at the top of town-the side farthest from the Quepos beach, near the road that goes to Manuel Antonio. This church is an appropriate site for a study of this nature because within this community of Catholics, there are several smaller groups of

3 people who each have their own way of celebrating the Word of Christ, growing closer to God, and lending their services to the church. There are ten different groups in this parish plus two priests and the bishop of the diocese. These elements make up a hierarchical structure of power and politics. Each group has its own influential people, and each group has a different amount of influence, presence, and power within the church community. The Catholic Church in Costa Rica When Columbus landed in Costa Rica in 1502, he brought with him all the intentions of Spanish Catholicism to convert the natives. They succeeded in one sense; by the end of the 16 th century, many tribes were practicing a mixture of Catholicism and their own older rites. (Biesanz, 1999:229) In the early 1800s, the first constitution declared Catholicism as the state religion, but until the 1940s, Costa Rica was a country in which Catholicism was not involved in the government or school systems. With President Calderón Guardia and the archbishop Victor Sanábria, Catholicism was placed in the school curriculum and a close link was established between government and religion. Today, as the Biesanz put it, Costa Rica s Catholic Church is, in the absence of an army, the strongest traditional organized institution after the state. (Biesanz 1999:232) It is conspicuously present in daily life, included in sayings, actions, objects in homes, buildings, government, and schooling, among other things. In short, today the Catholic Church is deeply intertwined with the daily life of Ticos (Biesanz 1999:232-34). In the 1960s, Protestant denominations began to grow in number in Costa Rica, and they offered more charismatic and personalized services than the Catholic parishes did. Until Vatican II in the 1970s, masses were still said in Latin. The Protestant church s more tailored approach attracted many members of the Catholic church, and the church

4 started losing people who had converted to Protestantism for its more personal feel. Many converts report a far greater sense of community in their tiny new congregations than in their former Catholic parishes. (Biesanz 1999:246) Since the 1970s, the Catholic Church has been implementing some of the same things that the Protestant church had, such as Bible study groups, and various other smaller groups within the church. Another reason for the growth of small groups is because in Vatican II, the Holy Spirit was stressed. In the Bible, it says that the Holy Spirit has many charismas, so the groups sprouted from this idea. Also, the priest s role has been expanded, and he has become closer to the town and to the church community. Whereas before Vatican II his only duties were to give the sacraments, now he does things in other areas, such as becoming involved in the groups that arose since Vatican II. (Father Juan Carlos 2000, personal communication) METHODOLOGY In order to conduct my research on the structure of the community within the Catholic church, I conducted interviews with as many heads of the groups as possible, the priest, and some members of the groups. To get my sampling, I used non-probability sampling methods. I used my host mother as a key informant-she gave me access to the people in the community who were involved in groups. I also used snowball sampling because I would ask the people I interviewed who their coordinator was and if there was anyone else I should talk to. In addition to interviewing, I also practiced participant observation, going to all three times mass was held, attending a procession for the Virgin Mary, and witnessing some group meetings. During those times, I took notes, in my head

5 and/or with pen and paper. I observed who was there and what they did, and whether or not there was an apparent power structure within the group. In doing my research, there were many drawbacks, the main one being the time constraint. If I had had more time in which to complete this project, there are many ways in which I would have improved it. I would have talked to many more people, and I would have talked to them numerous times. I would have been able to ask more focused questions; since field research is an iterative process, it takes time to be able to whittle your topic into a fine point from which you can do a comprehensive study. Another main thing I would have been able to do given more time is find out what role the influential people within the church play in the community. I would have liked to have seen if there were parallels between the power structure of the church and that of the general community. Overall, I believe that this study serves as a good basis for further study, which hopefully will be done in the future. THE POWER STRUCTURE Overview The Catholic Church in Quepos, La Inmaculada Concepción, is part of a whole. This church is part of the Parroquía (parish) of Quepos, which in all has 27 communities, many of which are in the rural areas surrounding Quepos. The Parroquía of Quepos is also part of a greater whole; it is part of the Cantón de Aguirre, which contains 13 Parroquías including Quepos. The Cantón de Aguirre is one of the cantónes within the one year old Diocese of Puntarenas. I believe that there are three types of power in the church. First, there is that which is perceived by the people. This kind lies in the groups that the community sees as

6 larger and more independent of the church. This perceived power is based on the feelings expressed to me by informants. The next kind of power is in which groups propagate the doctrine of the church and the beliefs of the priest most strongly to the community. The third kind has few levels, but it is the power that comes according to closeness of position to the pope. I will refer to the first kind of power as perceived, the second kind as propaganda, and the third as positional. El Obispo The bishop of Puntarenas, Hugo Barrantes, plays a role in the Quepos church in that he is the overseer of all the activities that go on within all the churches in the diocese, including the one in Quepos. He visits every once in a while; for instance, he came here on May 31 for a grand procession in celebration of the month of the Virgin Mary. While he was here, he blessed the new Eucharistic Ministers, sending them out to give communion to the church community. The bishop has power in the Quepos church through his position and through propaganda. First of all, he is the closest person to the Pope, the ultimate human power in the Catholic Church. Second of all, he can approve or disapprove any of the happenings in the church. Thirdly, he has the power to assign priests to whichever parish he thinks is best. Lastly, he serves as a guide for the priest, who in turn, serves as a guide of the church. As Father Juan Carlos said, he acts in the name of the bishop.

7 Los Sacerdotes The church in Quepos has two priests. While I was here, the bishop called one of the priests to serve in a church in Puntarenas, and another priest was assigned to this parish. The priest that was called away by the bishop was Father Juan Delios, and the new priest was Father Johnny from San Ramón. The priest that I was able to speak with at length was Father Juan Carlos. The priests have many different responsibilities. Not only do they serve as heads of this church, but because of the shortage of priests in Costa Rica, they also have to serve as priests in the surrounding churches. There are 26 communities they are required to visit, and Father Juan Carlos makes the trip every 15 days. In addition to all his general duties as a priest in the Inmaculada Concepción church, he also serves as la existencia spiritual for the groups. He serves as a guide and pastor in the process and he believes the most important [role] is to be the unifying agent of all the groups in the church. He believes that all the groups are equal although they each worship Jesus using their own carismas. The priest has varying involvement in the different groups, but as the unifying agent he says that he is of all the groups. The coordinator of the first level of Catequistas told me that the two priests split up the job, giving some groups to one and the other groups to the other to guide and supervise. In the past, there have been many priests of different orders-for example, the priests who founded the church were Franciscan. However, the priests here now are of no specific type. Therefore, their preference technically lies with no one group. However, contrary to this, in my research I found that there were groups who received some favoritism, which was manifested in the amount of involvement by the priest. The involvement and support of the priest is crucial to the power and survival of the groups.

8 As was seen in the meeting of the Carismáticos, they were eager for the support of the priests even though it was said that they could do things on their own. It shows that the priest s opinion pulls a lot of weight with the community. I believe that the interests of the priest affect his involvement in the groups. Since the priest has propaganda power in addition to his positional power, those groups with which he is most involved are being influenced by what he wants to teach the community of the church. Therefore, the priest is influencing the congregation through these groups more than through the others. These groups have propaganda power. Los Grupos At the time of this study, there were ten different groups within the church in Quepos. The number of groups is subject to change, however, because the interest of the community, the priests, the bishop, or the Catholic Church, changes over time. For instance, there used to be a group called the Misiones, which no longer exists because not enough people were available to keep that group running. They are listed and discussed here in no particular order. Los Ministros Extraordinarios de la Eucaristía This group is in the closest level with the priest because of the way that they are formed and because of their duties. As one male minister said, the priest says we are like his right hand. The ministers are called the Ministros Extraordinarios because the priest is the Ministro Ordinario. Like the priest, the ministers are blessed directly by the bishop. This takes place during a ceremony that occurs once a year. In this ceremony, the new ministers are sent out by the bishop to give communion to the community, and the old ministers have their blessing renewed. I happened to be here when this took place this

9 year. The ministers were called by name, and then they passed in front of the bishop as he blessed them. Also like the priest, it used to be a church mandate that only men could be ministers. However, now women can be ministers, and though the majority is still men, there are women involved in this position. The responsibilities of this group are to help the priest with everything from clothing him to preparing the altar for mass to ringing the bells. However, as two other ministers emphasized, their principal duty is to bring communion every 8 days to the sick and elderly of the town. In Quepos, these are the main duties of a minister. However, in the surrounding communities of the Parroquía where there is no priest present all the time, the ministers also act as delegados de la Palabra. This means that they celebrate a liturgy of the Word when the priest is not there to give a true mass. The ministers place in the church is to be an assistant and an extension of the priest in his duties to the community. This group is also called the laity of the church and they hold an important place within the church because their job revolves around the Eucharist-the most important part of the Catholic mass. Their main power in Quepos is positional because they are on just about the same level as the priest-the authority over them is held by the bishop, and their duties are almost the same as the priest s. They do not have propaganda power since they have little contact with the community in a teaching position. Therefore, they are not able to spread the church doctrine or the priests influence other than by example in their daily lives. Los Catequistas The Catequistas are the teachers of the church. Their main job is to prepare people to receive the sacraments. There are two main groups of them-those that teach the

10 children and those that teach adults. The group of children is a very large group-there are about 500 children involved and 30 Catequistas. The group of children is divided into 7 levels, starting with catekinder and going to confirmation. Each level has its own coordinator who guides them and who is in touch with the priest, the general coordinator. In addition to the Catequistas, there are five formadores, who have gone through a formación 1 by the priest. They give the Catequistas their formación and serve as guides for the teachers and the children. The priest picks the formadores out of the Catequistas. They are picked according to how much experience and time they have had in the Catequistas. The formadores do not change usually, but new ones are added over the years. The Catequista for adults (there is only one right now) meets with the priest periodically so he can approve what she is teaching. She said that she only works with the guidance of the priest. The Catequistas meet once a week to prepare the lessons, on Saturdays to give the lessons, once a month to receive their formación, and on Sundays the kids get their Eucharist in a special children s mass. The priest has a fairly active role in this group because other than being their guide and general coordinator, he is present when the formadores give the Catequistas their formación, attends their meetings, is usually present on Saturdays when they teach the children, and gives a mass on Sunday mornings that is specifically for children. In this mass, he asks the children questions about the sermon and what they have learned. This group has the most propaganda power in the church, and also has some perceived power. They are the teachers, but the priest approves what they teach. Also, the priest gives a special mass for the children where he asks them what they have learned, able to 1 A formación is when the teachers learn what the church wants them to teach the children. They get the study material for this from the National Commission of Catequistas.

11 emphasize any theme he chooses to. The priest handpicks the leaders of the group, the formadores, so he has influence in that sense. He is also present at almost everything they do, able to influence the event itself by his presence. This group holds the future faith of the church in their hands because they teach the children, so whatever the children are learning is what the future of the church will be. The Catequistas are also the guides of the Catecumenos, a group who has a lot of power in the church, as we will see next. Therefore, this group is one of the most powerful in the church propaganda-wise. Los Catecumenos The Catecumenos are one of the largest, if not the largest group in the church. It is composed of four communities, each of which have about 20 people in them who regularly attend meetings, but each community has more members who are Catecumenos by name only. Many of my informants from this group attribute the loss of members to the difficult course that they must follow; this group is also known as the Camino Neocatecumenal, and is an Apostolic Group-one that tries to be like an apostle of Jesus. In order to enter a community, one must receive catequesis (a course, or charla) twice a week for two months. After this, they have a convivencia (a retreat) for 3 days. At this point, one can choose to continue with the Camino or not. The Camino is a long and hard journey-along the way one must complete steps, or pasos. The pasos that one must complete are the first and second escrutinios, chemá, and an oración. An escrutinio is an examining of the conscience that is done by the Catequistas. Chemá is a phrase that means love God with all your heart and love others. The goal is to become the ideal Christian, as similar to Jesus as possible. The difference between the communities is based on the experience and time of each one. The first community has been around for

12 the longest, has the most experience and knowledge, and has completed the most pasos. The communities must meet once a week to study, every 15 days to receive a special Eucharist given by the priest, and once a month for a convivencia. One informant, a member of the first community, told me that the priest is always there to give the Eucharist and when there is a paso. The Catequistas serve as guides for this group in addition to the guidance of the priest. They not only do the escrutinios, but they also teach lessons at the convivencias of the Catecumenos. This group has a great amount of perceived power, and some propaganda power because of the example they set for the community. Almost all of the people I interviewed felt that the Catecumenos were a very organized, knowledgeable, independent, and mature group. They thought this because this group has been around for 14 years, has a large number of people involved, and avidly studies the Word of God. However, as it can be seen, the Catequistas and the priest are the power and guidance behind this group. The information and approval the Catecumenos receive to continue in their Camino all comes from the Catequistas and the priest. Therefore, I believe that though the community perceives this group to be one of the most influential and powerful groups, the real power and influence lies in their guides: the Catequistas and the priest. Las Jornadas The Jornadas are an evangelization group whose main goal is to deliver the primer anuncio (first announcement) to the community and, as one of the coordinators put it, to be manos de Cristo (hands of God) Their principal desire is to help people in the community with problems such as drugs, alcohol, prostitution, etc. One of the coordinators emphasized that they want to help break the chain of problems in families

13 and in the community. People who join the Jornadas all come with problems, and use this group as a starting point. From this group, hopefully the people will choose to get involved in one of the other groups in the church. However, they do have the choice of leaving all together. The Jornadas, who have been part of the church for 4 years, is one of the largest groups in the church with about 70 members. However, the members change since this group is not intended to be a permanent place for many people. This number is actually spread between three satellite groups-quepos, Matapalo, and Portalón. There are about 40 people in the Quepos group, and 20 in the other two. Although this group acts primarily in the communities in and surrounding Quepos, my informant told me that they are within the church-that she is Catholic first, and Jornalista second. They meet once a week to talk about a theme that two people have prepared, and they have a convivencia once a month for 7 hours in one day. The Jornadas do not have one particular coordinator, but instead they have el grupo timon (steering committee), a board of six people (three men and three women) who make decisions for the group. In other places, the Jornadas are divided into three groups-men, women, and youth-but in Quepos there are only the groups of men and women. The coordinator I interviewed attributed this to the atmosphere of Quepos-the bad example set by the tourists makes it difficult to get and keep youth in the church. The priest assists them in getting the word out to the community by announcing the group at masses here and in the other communities. The priest also gives them Eucharist during their convivencias, but there is no special mass for them like there is for the Catecumenos. He is not able to come to all their meetings, but he does meet with el grupo timón to give them ideas and see how they are doing. In this way, the priest has

14 influence over what the community hears because he has influence over what messages they are evangelizing. Therefore, by our definition, the Jornadas have propaganda power. They also have perceived power because of the people I interviewed, almost everyone mentioned the Jornadas as one of the two main groups that have influence in the church. This was mainly because of the number of members, but also because many saw this group as very independent of the church since their work is mostly in the communities. Promoción Juvenil and Pastoral Juvenil The Promoción Juvenil is one of the two youth groups for youth in their teens. This group was just started in January of this year for youth years old. The other group, the Pastoral Juvenil is for youth from years old. The Pastoral Juvenil is the group between the Catequistas and the Promoción Juvenil. The Promoción group serves as a guide for the other youth group. In their meetings, they study the Bible, pray, and sing. These meetings are on Sundays after the 6 p.m. mass. This group also helps prepare for mass and the retreats they have. Sometimes the church has a mass where the youth do the readings and bring up the offerings, and when they do this, they all sit in the front of the church. Otherwise, they sit with everyone else in the congregation. A young lady in the Promoción Juvenil told me that she thought the youth groups were the most important ones because the youth are the future of the church, and so they must grow up with a strong faith and be involved in the church. The priest is like the teacher in these groups; he helps them and gives them advice, and he attends all the meetings that he can. Many people that I talked to said that Father Juan Carlos was very interested in the youth since they were the future of the church. Because of this heavy interest, as their teacher he is very influential in what they

15 learn and in how their faith develops. Therefore, this group has an indirect amount of propaganda power-they do not directly teach the doctrine, but they are inundated with it and in the future, they will teach what they have learned to the next generation. El Pastoral Familiar This group, also known as the Familiar Cristiano, is involved in counseling couples before and after marriage. The group is formed of 6 married couples, one pair of which are the coordinators. They give pre-marriage courses 4 times a year, courses for married couples on things like communication and family planning, and retreats for the couples. They also give a special mass for couples the second Friday of every month where the sermon has a marriage theme. The priest is the spiritual guide of the group. In addition to that, he also approves or disapproves the programs they are going to give. In this way, the Pastoral Familiar has propaganda power with the families and couples they counsel. El Coro There are three choirs in the church. There is a different one for each of the masses, plus one sings on Thursdays for the hora santa that is held for everyone. There are only 12 people in these choirs right now. The priest does not really have a role in the choir because since they have been around for so long and have done the singing for mass so many times, they know what they are doing. This group has little power of any kind. María Auxiliadora The group María Auxiliadora is a prayer group that meets once a week and also has a special celebration for María Auxiliadora once a month. During their meetings,

16 they either pray the whole time, or they study the Bible. They cannot do both in one meeting because both activities take up too much time. Once they have finished going through a book in the Bible, their meetings go back to oraciónes for a while. The special celebration is on the 24 th of every month-the day of María Auxiliadora. On this day, the statue of María Auxiliadora is brought to one of the member s houses. There, they pray and celebrate the birthdays of whatever member has had their birthday in that month. They do this because they are so happy that those women are in their group that they want to celebrate their birthdays on such a happy day as the celebration of María Auxiliadora. This is a group that is somewhat different from the others because the church here in Quepos did not initiate it. One of the women in the church started it 16 years ago, and now it consists of 14 women. This group also is not funded by the church-they provide their own funds. With the other groups, the priest usually announces it to the congregation, inviting the public to attend meetings. However, with this group, the meetings are not open to the general public. One member told me that she felt that the community felt their group was closed off to everyone else because they did not really want any new members. With this group, all the members came to it because they had problems they wanted to pray for. Now, the members stay in it mainly to help others. The way they do this is they take prayers from other people in the community and pray for them. The priest has contact with the coordinator of this group-he asks the group to help out with cleaning the church or preparing for certain activities, but he usually only comes to their celebration on the 24 th, and not to their meetings. He has a limited role, but he

17 does have some say in the group because he and the bishop asked the founder of the group to step down for a period of time to see if the group would continue to grow without her. They have continued very strongly. This group therefore has little power of the three kinds defined earlier. Los Carismáticos This group, also known as the Renovación en el Espíritu Santo, meets once a week in a meeting that is open to the public, and once a week to take a course. The courses are pasos that the members need to complete to become servidores. After each paso is completed, which takes about two and a half months, they have a convivencia. In the meeting that is open to the public, they pray, reflect on the Word, and sing. Right now there are about 12 people in this group, however, about 18 years ago, they were very strong, had many people, and had their own charismatic masses. This time was when they were under Franciscan priests who supported them. Now, though the priests are of no affiliation, they are not getting the same amount of support. The priest plays a small role in this group, especially now with a priest who is not charismatic. This group has little power right now since they are so small because the priest does not announce their meetings, and because they priest has little contact with them. If the priest gave charismatic masses, this group would have more propaganda power because they would influence the congregation by example during the mass. TOURISM VERSUS THE CHURCH The community of Quepos is one that is nominally 80% Catholic. It is also a community whose economy revolves around tourism. These two worlds inevitably collide and influence each other, but the question is, which one has more influence? The

18 community would like to think that the church has the most. Everyone I asked told me that there was no doubt everyone in town knows who the priests are. In a study done on the Diocese of Puntarenas by the Catholic University of Costa Rica, the number one institution named by the community that would be able to solve the problems of the community was the Catholic Church. (UCCR 2000, 61) However, in my research I have found ample evidence to the contrary. Instead of the church preparing its residents for moral fortitude against the tourist industry, I found that the groups of the church take a reactive role; they deal with the consequences of tourism on the youth, families, and individuals in the community. In reality, the church cannot have much influence on the residents of Quepos because out of a population of in the Zone of Quepos (Quepos and the surrounding 26 communities), only about 2500 attend mass every weekend. Moreover, out of that low percentage, the majority of the congregation is not in groups. Therefore, the fingers of the church do not stretch very far into the community. Even the people expressed this somewhat in that same study done of the Diocese. the negative responses [about the work of the Catholic church in Quepos] were the following: better influence in the community (UCCR 2000, 62) On the other hand, when I asked my informants what influence tourism had on the church, almost every one named some effect on the people the groups must deal with. For example, many thought that the atmosphere of tourism made it difficult for the youth to stay close to the church and out of trouble. The Jornadas do not even have a youth group because it is so terribly hard to get the youth involved in the atmosphere of Quepos. Another example is the Pastoral Familiar who give courses that deal with broken

19 families or marriages due to infidelity propagated by tourism. Every group in the church deals with drug addicts, alcoholics, or prostitutes in one way or another. These can all be found in other cities, but one has to admit that the ever-present party atmosphere greatly encourages these vices. This is partly because when a person travels to another place, becoming a tourist, they experience certain things, two of which are the liminal state and a pursuit of hedonism. (Cohen 1988) People feel that when they are on vacation, they are there to have a good time, whether that be in drugs, dancing, sex, or otherwise. They also feel that they are not bound to abide by the rules they would normally be required to follow. Therefore, their behavior is much wilder than it would normally be because they do not expect any consequences. However, the consequences of this behavior are readily apparent in the lives of the residents of Quepos, and the groups in the church are left to deal with it. CONCLUSION In conclusion, I found that there are three types of power in the church and that the groups with the most power have more than one kind and have a great amount of it. The Catequistas, the Catecumenos, and the Jornadas are the three most powerful groups in the church according to this definition. These groups are perceived by the community to be powerful, and they have actual influence over the community. The influence of the groups in Quepos however, does not reach as far as it does within the church. The tourism industry effects the church more than vice versa because of the reactive role the church takes. If the church would take a more active role in its community instead of a reactive one, perhaps each group in the church would be full at each of its meetings and the present power structure would change. As it is now, the tourist influences what the

20 groups have to deal with, and consequently, what they teach. Whether the people in power in the church are able to have some influence over tourism in Quepos is yet to be found out because I was not able to ascertain the status of church members in the general community. Hopefully in a future study we will be able to discover the complete sphere of influence of the Catholic church in Quepos. REFERENCES CITED Biesanz, Mavis H., Biesanz, Richard, and Biesanz, Karen Z The Ticos: Culture and Social Change in Costa Rica. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers. Cohen, Erik Traditions in the Qualitative Sociology of Tourism. In: Annals of Tourism Research, v. 15(1):29-46 Father Juan Carlos Personal Communication. Quepos, Costa Rica, June 15, Universidad Católica de Costa Rica Diagnóstico de Realidad Diócesis de Puntarenas: Plan Diocesano de Pastoral Social I Etapa. San José, Costa Rica: Instituto de Estudios Éticos para el Desarollo. 2 Marzo 2000.