The Balboa Union Church celebrates an anniversary

by Eric Jackson

The Balboa Union Church recently celebrated the 75th anniversary of the dedication of its building with a dinner at the Caesar Park to raise money for its charitable programs, and a few days later I climbed the steps to the landmark structure for an interview in the office of its pastor, Mildred Reitz. The Balboa Union Church, as a congregation, was formed in 1914 out of the merger of several of the construction-era Protestant ICC churches. Shortly after its opening, the English-speaking Methodist congregation from Panama City's Seawall Church joined. Balboa's was one of seven Union Churches in the former Canal Zone, but now only it and the Gamboa Union Church, whose pastor, Bill Wilbur, runs prison and radio ministries, now remain, although several of the old Union Church buildings remain houses of worship for other Christian denominations.

The present building's cornerstone was laid in 1917, and, thanks to a $10,000 donation from John D. Rockefeller and a fundraising drive that raised more than $100,000 from other benefactors, the building was finished in 1926. In a community that includes the Canal administration building, the Bridge of the Americas, the Scottish Rite Temple (recently sold to a dance academy, but still housing a number of Masonic organizations' offices), the Prado and Goethals Memorial, the YMCA and several other beautiful churches, the Balboa Union Church is still by most accounts the area's most impressive architectural landmark.

Reitz tells of a 10-year-old who described the church as a "castle," a description she thought funny if inaccurate, adding that "I hope it doesn't become a museum."

Though the days when the Balboa Union Church was one of the great pillars of the Zonian way of life went away with the Canal Zone, it remains one of the principal English-speaking institutions on the isthmus, serving a regular congregation of a few dozen that will swell to hundreds for Christmas and Easter services, or for certain weddings or funerals. Though some old Zonians remain in the congregation, most of today's members do not trace their roots to the former Canal Zone and many of them aren't Americans. Nowadays the people who show up on Sundays include diplomats, businesspeople and retirees from around the English-speaking world, and a number of people who use English as a second language. A lot of families who call the Balboa Union Church their house of worship send their children to the International School of Panama or to the Balboa Academy. On any given Sunday, the regulars are likely to be joined by tourists or yachties.

Despite its active congregation, the Balboa Union Church, like the other remaining congregations, lodges and civic groups that had buildings in the old Canal Zone, is somewhat uncertain about its tenure in its present premises. In the negotiating process that led to the 1977 Carter-Torrijos Treaties, Reitz explained, "there was a gentlemen's agreement that the churches would get the land for a nominal fee." From the time the treaties were signed until the Panama Canal definitively changed hands at the end of 1999, the churches went about their business normally, but none of them got deeds to their property from the Interoceanic Regional Authority (ARI), the institution set up to handle properties in the fomer Canal Zone. At about the time that the canal changed hands the Moscoso administration's appointees took over at ARI, and by outward appearances it seems that, much like the pharoah who knew not Joseph, the new administration knows not those who were given reassurances by Carter and Torrijos. The situation is complicated by nearly a quarter-century of changes in many of the affected institutions - some churches that were English-speaking and Zonian back then now conduct services exclusively in Spanish for all-Panamanian congregations, most of the Abou Saad Shrine's members hail from the Grand Lodge of Panama, some of the old civic groups have passed into history, new denominations have set up shop in the former Canal Zone in the meantime, and so on.

Thus there was a meeting at the Mormon church in Corozal, where several dozen churches, including the Balboa Union Church, decided to jointly press their cause with ARI. With some amusement, Reitz noted that "What God had never been able to do, ARI did - they got all of us together."

Apart from that, just in case some developer might get ideas about a hilltop shopping mall or upscale apartment tower, there are moves afoot to have the Balboa Union Church declared a national landmark. Reitz argues that cause not as tactical ploy, but on merits that are there for anyone who cares to look at them. "We're the Golden Altar church of Protestantism," she noted, adding that there are couples from other Christian denominations who choose to be married at the Balboa Union Church because it's such a beautiful place for a wedding.

The pastor allows that the church's title to its real estate might be a little bit more politically secure were it now a Spanish-speaking institution, noting that its reputation as an exclusively Zonian congregation is "a very difficult image to live down." However, the matter was debated several years back and it was decided that, as one of only a few churches left serving Panama's English-speaking community, "it gives people a legitimate choice." Some of the other remaining choices include the Crossroads Church, a conservative Protestant congregation in Corozal, English-language masses at St. Mary's Catholic church, which is not far from the Balboa Union Church, and services at St. Luke's Cathedral, the Anglican church across town. "Theologically," Reitz noted, "we're a little bit on the liberal side."

Mrs. Reitz came to the isthmus in 1953 with her husband to do missionary work for the United Methodist Church, and in her time she has seen plenty of decency and charity, and also lots of indecency and venality. She didn't particularly like to be asked whether we find ourselves in a "moral crisis."

She began by noting the hard times through which Panama is living, and pointing out that it's not just a local phenomenon. "It seems to me like crime is on an upsurge," she said. "The economic crisis is worldwide, and a lot of the crime and the protests against the government - here and elsewhere - are reflections of that." In that respect, she allows, "there is a decline in morals everywhere."

On the other hand, Reitz said that when she was growing up there were other burning moral issues, that some of the changes in public perceptions and behavior that she has observed in her lifetime have been positive, and that she wouldn't care to turn back all human progress. "Civilization is advancing in many ways, but along with that come things that are not so positive," she explained. "What one generation calls 'morals,' another generation calls something different."

One of the generational changes that Mildred Reitz has observed is a decline in church attendance. Panama, she notes, presents a special challenge. "This church is in a paradise in many ways - so people tend to go to the beach on weekends." Nevertheless, the faithful still show up at the Balboa Union Church on Sunday mornings, and the interdenominational Protestant congregation continues the Lord's work.