An Auckland Catholic priest is leading a group wanting to take legal action against broadcaster CanWest for showing the "Bloody Mary" South Park episode of the Virgin Mary. Father Denzil Meuli and the Catholic Action Group have sought consent from the solicitor general to take legal action for blasphemous libel--under an old and rarely used section of the Crimes Act.

Made of cornstalks and glue, the statue of the Virgin Mary stands an unimposing 30 inches tall.

The 300-year-old replica--like the original Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos that's enshrined in a basilica in central Mexico--commands deep reverence for some Hispanic Catholics.

Thousands will kneel before it and touch rosaries to its protective glass case when it goes on display in San Antonio, starting today and continuing for the next eight days.

Many believe it possesses the key to miracles, from healing the sick to ending marital and financial strife.

While its appearance at five churches in San Antonio and Sabinal aims to galvanize the faithful and woo Hispanics, the statue reminds others why they left the Catholic faith.

Whether veneration of the statue of the Virgin is considered spiritually enriching or idolatry is an age-old schism. Nowadays, that split is being played out in new ways because of immigration. A growing number of Hispanics, flush with more religious choices in the United States, are leaving the Catholic Church and joining Protestant churches, especially evangelical congregations.

As Hispanics move north in droves each year, the U.S. Catholic Church is reaping big gains, and Hispanics remain its fastest-growing segment.

It's primarily second-and third-generation Hispanics that worry the church. A Pew Charitable Trusts study in 2003 found Hispanics leaving the church after several generations, and Protestant churches are gaining many of them.

"We take it for granted that a Hispanic is Catholic--but not anymore," said Father Ruben Garcia, pastor of St. Cecilia Catholic Church, host parish for the statue exhibit. "They're born Catholic but changing religions. You have a hundred different options (in the U.S.). In Mexico, there's only one choice."

Hispanic members of Protestant churches number 8.1 million in the U.S. vs. 25 million Catholics, the Pew study found.

Those converting to Protestant faiths are drawn by dynamic preaching and music, more one-on-one mentoring and the rejection of such rituals as praying to Mary.

"It is idolatry," said Beatrice Nesbitt, who parted with Hispanic relatives when she joined a local Pentecostal church two years ago. "Yes, the mother of Jesus exists and was a virgin. But she was not God. We're not taught that in the Catholic Church."

Mindful of the competition for Hispanics, the U.S. Catholic Church has steadily tried to bolster its appeal to a population estimated at 41 million and growing fast.

Three years ago, U.S. Catholic bishops approved a plan for Hispanic outreach that called for more Spanish-language Masses, music and literature and greater evangelistic efforts.

The Mexican American Cultural Center, a San Antonio Catholic ministry, responded a year later by creating a program that trains lay Catholics to go door to door in Hispanic neighborhoods to invite residents back to the faith of their heritage.

About a dozen Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of San Antonio have sent members for training and another dozen more parishes will do the same this year. The center will also do the training in dioceses in New Mexico and Minnesota this year.

On the city's West Side, Pascuala Gonzalez is among about 15 lay people from St. Agnes Catholic Church who went through this training and walks her parish's Hispanic neighborhoods weekly, inviting residents to Masses and special events. In recent weeks, she's invited them to see the San Juan statue.

Often, she notices Protestant groups walking the same streets, making the same type of invitations, she said.

The Protestant groups "are so persistent and push and push them to make commitments to their churches," she said. "I want (residents) to also know that the Catholic Church is there."

Her urgency stems from reports, such as one from the National Opinion Research Center, that one in seven Hispanic Catholics have left the Catholic Church in the past 25 years.

That survey, overseen by Catholic priest and sociologist Andrew Greeley, prompted him to estimate that half of all U.S. Hispanics would not be Catholic in the next 25 years. Currently, 70 percent of them are Catholic.

But other Catholic leaders believe Hispanic membership growth will supercede any losses in coming years, but they also lament losing any member, said Father Virgilio Elizondo, a San Antonio priest and Hispanic Catholic theologian.

"As a Catholic, you feel bad when you lose someone," he said. "But on the other hand, I'm just glad they're getting fed. Are we doing enough? I don't think we can ever do enough."

Gains and losses

St. Cecilia leaders, like other parishes in Hispanic neighborhoods, hope the San Juan statue translates into growth. Father Garcia buried 65 members last year, mostly Anglos who no longer are the majority in his church. With about 900 people attending weekend services, he said the parish needs younger Hispanics to replace the loss of Anglos and aging Hispanics.

Mae Guerra, 26, may signal a positive change. Baptized at St. Cecilia last year, she'll kneel before the statue and place her only photo of her father at its feet, she said.

An inmate in a state prison, he's been in and out of the infirmary and hasn't let family members visit him for 12 years, she said. The Virgin Mary, she said, could help her.

"I don't know if I'll ever see him again," she said, her eyes welling with tears.

While visiting Baptist and independent Christian churches several years ago, she was taught not to pray to saints. Now, the Virgin Mary and the style of private, sacred prayer in the Catholic Church give her a greater sense of peace.

"You keep your prayers to yourself. The world doesn't have to know about everything in your life," she said. Praying to Mary "takes the weight off your shoulders."

But what drew back Guerra turned away Nesbitt despite personally visiting the statue in San Juan, Mexico, when she was 15.

Bitten by a centipede as a baby, she nearly died. Nesbitt's mother, a devout Catholic, prayed to the Virgin of San Juan, promising to make a pilgrimage with her daughter in exchange for sparing her life.

"She took me to fulfill that promise," said Nesbitt, now 56. "But the only one who saved me was God."

Years ago, when she was a member of the Legion of Mary, a lay church group dedicated to praying to the Virgin Mary, she would have never said that. Or as a teacher of religious education for her church. But two years ago, she said she felt spiritually empty.

She read the Bible more intensely for herself, she said, and guided by a Protestant co-worker, she opened up to other churches. The Miracle Center, which draws about 1,500 people--mostly former Catholics--for worship services, stood out.

Void of statues of saints, the church meets in a large auditorium with a high-output sound system and a rock-style band set up on a large platform. Worship songs are easy to pick up. The preaching is energetic. And a team of about 50 lay ministers forms the leadership structure led by its pastor.

Most striking is how much the church stresses personal study and discussion of the Bible, Nesbitt said.

"It's so hard for Catholics because they depend on what they hear," she said. "They don't depend on God's word, which tells you everything you need to know."

The statue's story

While the statue will draw much fanfare, it isn't designed to replace worship of God, Father Garcia said.

A priest from San Juan will bring the statue by plane to San Antonio this afternoon. Mariachi bands will play at St. Cecilia as the San Antonio archbishop leads it into the sanctuary. Outside will be vendors from the church, selling rosaries and charms.

The scene will mirror on a small scale the type of following the statue has in San Juan. Young and old crawl on their hands and knees the entire length of the basilica to approach her. Gold beams from nearly every crevice of the altar that encases the original statue whose fame began in 1623 with a miracle.

As followers tell it, a couple who were trapeze artists visited San Juan and had a 6-year-old daughter who performed in their act. She was practicing stunts and fell down onto swords and daggers used as part of the family's act. The parents brought the child to the statue for prayer and she revived.

Like the Virgin of Guadalupe, the San Juan statue represents the elevated role of Mary in Mexican Catholic culture as a divine protector and motherly nurturer of all people. The practice of praying to her is not essential to the Catholic faith but is encouraged as a way to deepen one's faith in God.

Because the statue is visible and tangible, Garcia said, there is a temptation to assign it more value than the Bible and Catholic teachings do.

"We know that it isn't Mary, but that it reminds us of Mary," Garcia said. "It should confirm that God is with you. It's too much when people put Jesus aside and would rather say the rosary than go to Mass."

Despite such assertions, some Protestant leaders are skeptical this message is permeating rank-and-file Hispanic Catholics.

"I would not say that the word of God is not being read in the Catholic Church or that the priests aren't sharing the word of God," said Daniel Sanchez, a Baptist professor in Fort Worth, specializing in Hispanic church growth.

"But one wonders how much of that comes through when so much of the emphasis is on some of the rituals of the (Catholic) Church."

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