..The other major economic function of the Church was a provider of education, health care and poor relief to the general popula
tion. A great part of its income and manpower was employed in these activities. Religious orders such as the Jesuits and the Dominicans would use profits from their haciendas to finance their schools, seminaries and colleges. A large number of orders, male and female, worked on this basis, running educational and training establishments which were fee-paying for the wealthy but free for the poor. Others operated hospitals, hospices for the mentally ill and the dying, poor houses, orphanages, shelters for homeless girls, and suchlike. The Church therefore played an important economic role as a circulator of capital, as a profit-making concern, and as a supplier of social services ... Source: Edwin Williamson, The Penguin History of Latin America, Penguin Books
5. According to Edwin Williamson, what were two ways the Church provided services to the people of Latin America?
1. Members of the different religious orders - both men and women - financed schools and colleges with profits from their haciendas and worked as teachers or running training institutions.
2. Others served in hospitals, hospices for the mentally ill and the dying, in houses for the poor, orphanages , etc.
Because of the social and cultural aspects of Latin America, it was common the Church financed schools to teach the locals, but especially to catechize them. Also, the Church promotes social care building orphanages, shelters, and hospices, all of them toward saving their souls.
