Why do Americans call Old Spanish/Mex Churches of California Missions??

Question

I have a question? Why do Americans call those old churches of California missions?? During our colonial past during the 1500's, 1600's and 1700's, our ancestors founded churches and they are usually named after Saints. But in the records of baptisms our ancestors called our churches "Parroquias." When one is baptized, it would say in records "Baptizado en La Parroquia de (Name of Church). Never "Missions." In latin america, churches are at the center and are still in use. What I love in our villages are the public markets with everyone shopping. Mexican Indians, Mestizos, Spanish looking Mexicans, Mennonites shopping. With the church bells ringing in the background.

Church bells are so nice to hear. Because the whole town can hear it and they usually ring them to alert our people for certain things such as mass, town meetings, the hour and so on.

Those are common in our countries.

Answer 1

Although they are actually churches, they were started by people who were trying to get other people to be christian of the catholic faith. These people were called mission-aries. So that is why those churches in the great States of New Mexico, California and Texas are called Missions. I used to live in the southwest, and this is what I was told. As an aside, here in the States, we generally identifiy Mestizos as Mexican (because they're Spanish and Indian from Mexico), and Spanish people never want to be identified as Mexican because Spanish people descended from Europe and not Mexico or Latin America.

Answer 2

Mission is the name the Spanish used. The "mission" was not just the church. The mission was the whole religious and secular structure. In the case of the American Southwest the word mission could be better translated as settlement. Because generally the church is all that remains of these settlemants, the word mission has come to be used for the churches.

Answer 3

Because the people who built them were called Spanish missionaries, so they call the churches missions because they were trying to spread christianity into the AMericas

Answer 4

The original intent of these was to bring Christianity to the locals. The English word for an effort of this sort is "mission", as in "missionary" -- a person who does this.

Answer 5

cause they are the oldest churches, they were built when they converted the Indians to Christians, I know they are called Mission in Texas I assume COlorado New Mexico Arizona and Utah and Nevada also

Answer 6

Because a lot of the ones in America are in California and that's also where the biggest population is so they get more publicity that way.

Answer 7

In our country , we call these old Spanish churches "Missions".

Answer 8

They're called missions because they were started by Christian missionaries.

Answer 9

yeah...I wake up to Church bells. There's one up the street. It's a very pleasant thing.

Answer 10

because they were founded by missionaries who came to the area to convert the indigenous people