Grass roots church communities

Grassroots Church Gommunities (GRCGsf: Perestroika in Latin America?

WESTERN HEMISPHERE CULTURAL SocTnTy NEW YORK

Originally publishedas "Gâ‚Źnese, organizagdo,doutrina e ag6odasCEBs," part II of As CEBs... Das quaismuito sefala, Pouco se conhece - A TFP as descrevecomo sdo (56o Paulo: Editora Vera Cruz, 1982).

WesternHemisphereCultural Society,Inc. P.O. Box 146,Carmel,N.Y. 10512 o l99l by WesternHemisphereCultural Society,Inc. All rights reserved.Published1991 Printed in the United Statesof America Library of CongressCatalog Card Number: 9l-68068

Contents

Cnrprnn I: Tnn PnystocuouyoFTHEGnessRoorsCnuncs Comvruxrrrrs l. The GrassrootsChurch CommunitiesAre Like tlFOs-Everyone Talks about Them, but No One Knows What They Are 2. "Grossroots Communities:A Term Inspired

by Marxist Terminology and Equivalent to Soviet" 3. A ReligiousKGB? - The Dictatorship of the GrassrootsChurch Communities 4. How to Transform the GRCC Member into an Insurgent. Conscientization:A Processof "Unperceived Ideological Transshipment" Cnerrnn II: Lrnnnerrox Trrnor,ocy: Tnr DocTRrNEoF THEGnessnoots Cnuncu CoruuuNrrrns. Irs Golr,: CouuuNrsu. ITS PHrlosopHy: Menxsu. Irs STRATEcy:CLAss Stnuccr,n l. The GRCCs: Liberation Theology Put into Practice 2. Archbishop Jos6Maria Pires,a GRCC Movement Leader, Proclaims Prostitution a Real Serviceof God!

2. Pastoral Land Commission: "We Are the Church in the Rural Milieu Organized into GrassrootsCommunities" 3. Alagamar: Theory and Practice of Social Tension 4. "How about RevolutionInsteadof Reform?"

5. Blood in the Regionof the Brazilian Communist Guerrilla Wars . . . and the Watersof the Araguaia River Remain Tinged with Red 6. "The ConcreteShapeThat Faith Takesin the GRCCs" : Operation "Grab-the-Farmer" 7. MakeDemands. . . CreateTension. . . Conscientize. . . to Lead GRCC Members to Marxism in Practice 8. "We Have OrganizedLand Invasions" 9. The Movement Against Need, One of the "Political Arms" of the GRCCs 10. Wherethe Communist Party Failed, the Grassroots Communities Triumphed. A New Political Union of ReligiousInspiration, Animated by Liberation Theology ll. Behind the Strikes:The GrassrootsChurch Communities

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Crraprnn III: Trm GRCCs rx Acuox_IN THE CouNTnysnT, IN THE SUBURBS,IN TIIE FAcl. Manipulating Words and Conceptsin Order to Justify Plunder and Violence

46 50

52 56

62 65 69

70 73

Cnlprnn IV: Trrs Gnessnoors Cnuncn CouMUNITIES AND POLITICS

TORIES

43

1. A Religious Conception of Politics and the Politics of Religion 2. Religious Pressurefor Electoral Goals. The Political Machine of the GRCCs

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79

81 84

Aeronyms Three heavily industrialized cities outside Sdo Paulo: Santo Andr6, Sdo Bernardo, Sio Caetano ABC CELAM (Latin American Episcopal Conference)Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano (Center of ReligiousStatisticsand Social Research)Centro de EstatfsticaReligiosae Investigagio Social CERIS (National Conferenceof Brazilian Bishops) Conferâ‚ŹnciaNacional dos Bispos do Brasil CNBB GRCCs GrassrootsChurch Communities (National Institute for Colonization and Land Reform) Instituto Nacional de ColonizaQdoe Reforma Agrdria INCRA GETAT @xecutiveGroup of Lands of Araguaia-Tocantins)Grupo Executivo de Terras do Araguaia-Tocantins (Brazilian Democratic Movement) Movimento Democr6tico Brasileiro MDB PLC Pastoral Land Commission SEDOC (Documentation Service)Servigode Documentagdo,Petr6polis, Brazil TFP Tradition, Family and Property

CH,A'pTER I

The Physiognomy

of the GrassrootsChurch Communities

I The GrassroofsCharch Commanities Are Like UFOs-Everyone Talks about Them, but No One Knows What They Are

\Z EARS ago, Fr. Jacques Loew, superior of the I- French worker-priestsof Osasco,in the state of 56o Paulo, Brazil, cleverlycomparedthe GrassrootsChurch Communities(GRCCS)to UFOs: everyonetalks about them, but no one knows just what they are.

As a matter of fact, even today the GRCCs are still "unidentified objects" for most people. This is normal enoughsinceone of the major exponentsof the GRCCs, Fr. Jos6Marins, saysthat the nature of the GRCCs is hidden if not completelysecretand that they can easily assumeany narne or even no narne.

It seemsopportune, then to draw them out of anonymity and identify them by exposingtheir true character.

GrassrootsChurch Communitiesdo not sprout overnight in the ground like mushroomsafter a rain. Neither are they born from spontaneousgeneration.They are, on the contrary, the result of the long, systematicand persistent efforts of nearly 100,000 pastoral agents (bishops,priests,nuns, lay activists)who work throughout the country but concentratetheir efforts especially in certain areas, such as the outskirts of major urban centersand the countryside.l

The motivation behind the formation of GRCCsis alwaysreligious:peoplejoin them principally for religious and not for educational,professionalor political reasons.

Even the nonreligiousmotives (the promotion of social servicesor associations,for example)that can underline the establishmentof someGRCCs are effectiveonly beeausethey are initiated by personsor institutions linked with the Church.

The inspiration to createGRCCs almost always comes from the clergy and other pastoral agents,who usually try to take advantageof the existing religious activities and structures:Rosary hours, novenas,confraternities, chapeland traditional associationsand movements.These activities are restructuredfrom a "liberating" perpective.

GrassrootsChurch Communitiesare also widespread becausein somedioceses,especiallythosein lessimportant communities, the individual must belong to some GRCC in order to participate in the local religious life, evento receivethe sacraments.This forcesmany people to participate in thesecommunal activities.

As mentioned above, establishedassociationsand movements(the Marian Congregations,the Apostolate of Prayer, the Vincentians,the Legion of Mary or, farther left in some cases,the Cursillos, the TLC and the Christian Family Movement) are reorganized by the

l. The expressionand the figure ofthe ,,pastoralagent," are a recent creation.The expressiondoesnot havethe precisionof the traditional ecclesiastical terminology, on the contrary it is vague and ambiggous,usedwhen it is convenient.In a broad sense,it includes all thosewho dedicatethemselvesto pastoral activities, whetherbishops, priests,brothers, nuns, seminariansor simplelaymen. In a restricted sense,it designates the "committed laymen," of both sexes,especially trained in pastoral institutes or analogous institutions for the task of conscientization of the populations of the peripheral neighborhoods and the countryside.Theseagentslively exclusivelyor predominantly on their pastoral work, being sustainedby parishes,prelacies, diocesesor

ecclesiasticalorganisms, even those linked to the CNBB, as the Pastoral Land Commission (PLC) and the Indian Missionary Corrnsel,for example. Frequently they are are on scholarshipsor are trainees from European, American or Canadianinstitutions that aid the Third World.

A great number of the priests who have left the ministry continue to exercisereligious activities as paid pastoral agents.

Not all ofthese pastoral agentsare Catholics: for example, there are Protestants frequently among the pastoral agents of the PLC. It is enoughto mention Lutherans who not long ago were engagedin bloody conflict of lands in Rondonia, membersof the PLC of the prelacy of Ji Paran{.

HOW GRCCs Ann BORN

THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE GRASSROOTS CHURCH COMMUNITIES

pastoralagentsand changedinto GRCCs,althoughkeeping thet former names.But, in reality, only the old labels remain-the contents changeconsiderably.

WHAT ARE THE GRCCS? The GRCCs are small religious groups organizedby the clergy and other pastoral agentsin the parishesand chapels.

Each GRCC hasten, thirty or fifty members,perhaps evenmore in the smallercitiesand the countryside,where 100,200 or more peoplegather on Sundaysfor Mass or "services." In the latter case,the peopleare divided into smallergroups known as "grassrootsgroups," "prayer groups," "reflectiongroups," "Bible groups," or other such names(the terminology varies greatly).

Each base group has its own meeting once a week, while oncea month there is a meetingof the whole community, the "assembly," "plenary" or "main group."

The name itself, Grassroots Church Communities (GRCCs), usually designatesthis ensembleof the various basegroups-usually about ten of them-gathered around a chapelor a community center.However, each one of those srnallergroups can also be called a Grassroots Church Community (GRCCs),which resultsin confusion, especiallywhen an attempt is made to ascertain the number of Communitiesin a certain area.Each parish or chapel can include countlessCommunities.

The severalGRCCsof a parish,neighborhoodor section of a city are assistedand coordinatedby a pastoral agent or a pastoral team; theseprovide a link with the Ordinary.

In some cases,the GRCC group adopts a name (for example,Community of Christ the Liberator and Community of Christ Risenare frequently usednames).But, in general,it is known by the name of the patron saint of the local parish churchor chapel(Communityof Saint Anthony, Community of Our Lady of Aparecida) or is known merely by the name of its location (Community of Cocaia Park). Members refer to their group simply as "the Community."

WHO BELONGSTo THE GRCCs? In general,the GRCCs are homogeneouswith respect to the cultural and socioeconomicstatus of their members, eachgroup being formed by family members,neighbors, co-workers, those who live on the samestreet or in the sameneighborhood, or membersof a parish or chapel. Inthe suburbsthey usually include housewives, laborers, clerks, shop and serviceworkers, a few small businessmen,perhapsa teacher, and retired people; in thecountrysidethey arecomposedof blue-collarworkers,

The rellglous motlvatlon ol the GRCCs glves the lelt a posslblllty ol success Lsnln neysr had. Alihough communlem hae made athelstlc revolullonstrlumph, ll has nol managedlo stamp oul rellglon.

Now lt stands a botler chance, dlsgulsed In lhe lorm ol rellglon and led by pastoral agents such as the nuns above.

squatters, co-op dwellers, small landowners and their families.

The Communities are usually organized along geographical boundaries.At times, however, their members are grouped accordingto age,profession, or condition anddivided into groupsof youths, domestichelp, launderers,servicemen,shantytown dwellers, the mentally disturbed, prisoners and even prostitutes. (There have beenprecedentsfor the latter set in the diocesesof Juazeiro,Rio Branco, Lins and Craterls.)There are also GRCCs for Indians such as the Xoc6s from the diocese of Propri6, in the stateof Sergipe,who invadedthe family landsof the mayor of Porto da Folha not long ago.

THE LEADERSHIPOF THE GRCC: A SMALL GROUPTHAT PLANS AND MAKES DECISIONSBEHIND TIIE SCENES SomeGrassrootsCommunitieshavean internal structure of a more or lessconventionalnaturerwith a president, secretary,treasurer and so on. Most of them, however,infected by the egalitarianism permeating the movement,reject theseformalities. Instead,they adopt the leaders, sometype of team leadership.Nevertheless, be they individuals or teams,purportedly do nothing more than interpret the common will of the Community, wherein all power and authority are said to reside,consistentwith the principles of utopian self-management.

Ostensibleleadershiprestsin the handsof well-trained monitors (also called "stimulators," "coordinators" or "leaders"), who work full time giving coursesin leadership techniques,management,group projectsand group dynamics in diocesan training centers.

GRCCsAre Like UFOs-Everyone Talks about Them, But No One Knows What They Are

But those who really orient and direct the GRCC are part of a small group that "works behind the scenes," a group that "plans and makes decisions but never appears," as one readsin the NortheastRegion-l report of the National Conferenceof Brazilian Bishops(CNBB).

The work of sucha group, which is calledthe "leavening group" (backedby a priest, nun or pastoral agent, of course), is carried out very cleverly in order to create the illusion that the membersactually have a part in the co-managementof the GRCC and that they are directing the group without external help; in other words, it is self-managed.Fr. PascoalRangelrightly observesthat it is obvious that the membersof the GRCC, having been disarmedfrom a critical standpoint, only repeatwhat they have been taught by clerics or well-trained agents. But after so much repetition, won't they eventuallybelieve that they have reachedthose conclusions on their own?

This is actually one of the major artifices employed in the process of conscientization, TIIE MAJOR GOAL OF THE GRCCS: CONSCIENTIZATION Most of the pastoral agentsconsiderconscientization to be the major objectiveand the primary purposeof the GRCCS.Approximately two-thirds of the efforts of the pastoral agentsis dedicatedto conscientization.All the internal and external activities of the Communities, worship servicesand celebrations,meditation, discussionand action meetings,neighborhoodprojects, communitarian leisureactivities,campaignsand pressuredrivesdirected at public authorities are all geared toward this.

TO SEE,JUDGE AND ACT . . .

AS TITE PASTORAL AGENTS WANT The meeting places vary according to the circumstances:a church, parish hall, chapel, community center, day carecenter,schoolor simply a shedcan all serve the purpose.In many places,celebrationsand meetings are held in the members' homeson a rotating basis; in other placesthey are held outside in the comfortable shadeof a tree or in a hidden forest clearing.

The meetings almost invariably follow the see-judgeact pattern.

After prayers and songs,the monitor, stimulator or coordinator asksparticipants to shareincidents from last week'shome, neighborhoodor work life; the participants then relatetheir various stories.One or two of the more important subjectsthat come up are chosen, and the meeting deals with them. At other times, the monitor selectsa community problem (and ownership or the lack of transportation, for example)and invites eachone to

'-# N!

talk about his personalexperienceswith it. This is done in order to seethe problem. The sessiongoeson to discussthe "reasonsbehind" the problem raisedand their n'causes":tlns is to judge the problem. And what does God think about it? The Bible is then brought out, and a passagerelating or analogousto the problem is chosen and applied to it. Finally, the time has come to act. Concreteaction to solvethe problem or changethe situation is agreedupon: the group decidesto pool its efforts in order to build a community center,organizedemonstrations at the city hall, form an opposition group to run in the labor union elections,or evenorganizean "Operation Grab-the-Farmer."

It is not difficult to seehow such a procedurefacilitatesthe manipulation of simple peoplewho have blind confidencein anything that comesfrom a priest, a welltrained monitor or other pastoral agent.Theseare adept at directingthe conversationin the line they desire,raising questionsslantedto their own interestand alwayshaving at hand a Biblical passage,which they presentfrom a "liberating perspective" that suits their objectives.

(Veritable Biblical "recipe files" exist that cover the most diversesituations.)

From discussingthe shortageof water, light, transportation or the high cost of living, it takes only one small step to enter the realm of rebellion againstthe reigning sociopolitical and economicregime; this is no difficult matter for the clever, well-trainedpastoral agents.This is why Friar Betto (singledout asone of the major spokesmen for the movement) says that the GRCCs have a political-pastoralcharacter:they causethe emergenceof a "critical consciousness."

To depoliticizethem, he says, is to deprivethem of this "liberating pastoral" character.

IIEPLACING ME WTI:II AN U.STIIAT IS INYOLVING AND CONGLOMERATING The weeklymeetingsof the GRCCsare of vital importanceto the Community; they guaranteethe cohesionof the group, the interrelationof its participantsand the exchangeof information and experiences.

In short, they are what rnakesthe communitorian spirit arise.

An important role also falls to theconvivâ‚Źncl'as,which are social activities that help integrate the individual into the Community and unite the Community participants.

Thesesocial eventsinclude luncheons,outings, picnics and dances.

The short mimeographednewslettersand bulletins also help maintain the GRCC's internal life and communication with other GRCCs. In addition to the regular meetingsand gatherings, the GRCCs organize innumerable other communal activities ofvarious natures:those of areligious character

THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE GRASSROOTS CHURCH COMMI.JNITIES

(catechesis,Bible courses, liturgical teams, singing groups, classesof preparation for the sacraments,etc.); those of a social character (collectivework, coursesin reading and writing, sewing, law, etc.); and those of a economic character (communitarian pharmacies,communitarian purchasing,common funding, etc.).

This exaggeratedeffort to effect a strong communitarian spirit is characteristicof the GRCCs, whosegoal is that the participants' lives revolveonly around the Community; everythingfrom their religiousnsocial and economic concernsdown to their family matters and very leisure should be lived in common. Even the most intimate and personalproblemsshouldbe presented,debated and resolvedin the Community. This goesso far as to includecasesof adultery,ashasbeenoutlinedby Friar Clodovis Bciff in his book about the GRCCs of Acre.

As one author writes, it is necessarythat the individual "give up a part of his ME and replaceit with an US that is involving and conglomerating."

COCOA, COFFEE,FISH AND MANIOC FLOUR INSTEAD OF BREAD AND WINE

V

Liturgical celebrationsand worship form the heart of the life of the GRCCS. According to the spirit and doctrine of the movement, the liturgy of the Community must reflect the everyday life of its members.

Consequently,the choiceof liturgical texts and songs and the organization of the celebrationsare being confided more and more to the Community members.

The result hasbeenthe liturgical"act." The so-called Celebrationof the Word, which can consistof the reading of a Biblical text, a letter of protestto the authorities or a subversivepoem by Bishop Pedro Casalddliga,or the discussionof the "problems of the people," has a preponderantif not exclusiverole.

In the "Celebrationof the Eucharist,".thesacrificial characterof the Holy Mass is relegatedto a secondary plane, when it is not implicitly or explicitly denied. The Mass is reduced to a simple repast, a mere meal (the "Love Feast" or "Lord's Supper"); it is referredto as a "dinner" in the answerto the question contained in the title of a small book by the GRCCs of 56o F6lix do Araguaia, Mass: What Is.Il? which was published by Editora Vozes of Petr6polis and widely distributed throughout Brazil.

Further on, this book teaches:"The Mass is a meal.

Jesusselectedbread and wine for this meal becausethis was the food that was availablein all the housesof his people, which is the sameas the rice, flour and coffee that we have here."

If the Mass is a simple meal, and if bread and wine

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were usedby Our Lord only becausethey werethe food of His people,then why not usethe food of our peoplewhich happens to be rice, flour and coffee-in the

"@?

This, in fact, is exactly what is done.

In liturgical celebrationsin the northern part of the itate of Esplrito Santo, the Eucharistic species were replacedby cocoa, coffee, fish and flour, dependingupon which product was predominantin the region. In Parafmade of steamed ba, an African dish called "c'r.qc1t4,," rice, was divided to symbolizethe breaking of the Host.

The litugical texts themselvesalwayshavea "conscientizing" and "liberoting" charactersaturatedwith the spirit of revolt and classwarfare.

THE VAST PERPHERAL BASEOF "SYMPAIIilZERS,'' ..ALLIES'' AND ..MANETIVERINGMASS'' In many parishes-especially in the neighborhoodsthat are on the peripheriesof large cities, in small towns and in rural areas-the local religious activities serveto extend the action of the GRCCs. This is becauseit is the membersof the GRCCs who prepareand conduct the celebrations,novenas,processions, commemorationsof the patron saints, and other regional religious customs.Theseeventsprovide an excellentoccasionto recruit and "conscientize" the faithful.

Toward this same end, the GRCCs also usually organizeand use the coursesof preparation for Baptism, First Holy Communion and Matrimony.

The most important externalactivities of the GRCCs are the campaignsof popular mobilization to promote somedemand;all the peoplewho dwell in the neighborhood, slum or rural area are gatheredtogether in the church, chapelor community centerin order to discuss somelocal problem (suchaswater, lighting, sewage,land ownershipor unions). Then, around the discussionof this problem, beginsthe conscientizationof the population.

The resultis that someactuallyjoin the GRCCs,others become "sympathizers" or "allies" and the majority, without realizing (or often evendesiring)it, becomethe important "maneuvering mass" for the GRCCs. In this way, the movementbuilds up avast peripheral baseor crown, of which the GRCCs are the nucleusor hard core, THE GRCC "MACHINE'' The GRCC movementthus hasat its disposala powerful "machine" of action made up of the outfits created or infiltrated by it.

Theseincludesuchorganizationsasclubsfor mothers, music and theater groups, welcomewagonsand neighbor-

GRCCsAre Like UFOs-Everyone Talks about Them,But No OneKnows What TheyAre

hood and rural movementsthat are demandingwater, lighting, transportation, health and child carecentersand protection against developmentinterests.

The GRCCs have also inspired ecclesiasticalmovementssuchasthe PastoralLand Commission,the Workers' Pastoral Group, the Commissionson Justice and Peace,the Centersfor Human Rights and others. It is the GRCCs who furnish the activistswith grassroots, without which these organizations, as a general rule, would be no more than mere labels.

With dl this, the GRCCssow discontentand revolt in the ambiencesin which they move. They transform the Marxist doctrine of "liberation theology" into the nuts and bolts of a praxis, thus reachingsectorsof the population that would be refractory to direct communist preaching.

MAKING USE OF A NAiiVE CONFIDENCE By their religious characterand their peculiar makeup, the GRCCsare ableto influencea number of people -and especiallya certain type of person-who would normally be adverseto any kind of political militancy.

Thus, they are able to mobilize peacefulheadsof families, tranquil housewives,law-abiding workers and simple farmersto overthrow the existingstructuresof society.

This occursbecauseofthe unrestrictedconfidencethese peoplehavein their priests,a confidencethat characterizes the ordinary Brazilian. However, this confidence, which in itself is praiseworthy,has unfortunately been deformed by an inaccurateunderstandingof pontifical infallibility, which hasbeeninordinately extendedto the bishops, the priests and even the nuns.

For the ordinary Brazilian Catholic, the priest is the incarnation of the Church herself. The Brazilian takes the priest's attitude and words-however shocking and heterodox they may be-as an indisputably faithful, authenticand completeexpressionof the thinking of the Church.

And the members of the clergy who are engaged in the GRCCs, which deny all infallibility and all authority, know how to exploit this deformation to the advantage of the Revolution in the bosom of the Church and of society.

References CNBB, PastoralSocial, Studiesfrom the CNBB-I0, 56o Paulo, 1976,idem, Comunidades:Igreia na Base, Studiesof the CNBB-3, 56o Paulo, 1975;idem, ComunidadesEclesiaisde Baseno Brcsil, Studiesfrom the CNBB-23, 56o Paulo, 1979; Friar Almir fubeiro Guimaries, O.F.M., Comunidodede Bose no Brasil: umo novo maneiro de ser em /gre7a (Petr6polis: Vozes,l9?9); Fr. Jos6Marins, "ComunidadesEclesiaisde Base na Am6rica Latina," in Concilium, no. 104, 1975; idem, ComunidadeEclesial de Base:prioridade pastoral (56o Paulo: JPaulinas,1976); Paul Singer and Vinicius Caldeira Brandt (org.), SdoPaulo: o Povo em movimento(Petr6polis-S6oPaulo: Vozes-CEBRAP,1980);Friar Betto, O que d Comunidode Eclesialde Bose(56o Paulo: Ed. Brasiliense,1981);Fr. Rog6rio Alicino PIME, Comunidade,l{der,pardquia (56o Paulo: Paulinas, 1977;Friar ClodovisBoff, O.S.M., Deuse o homemno inferno verde: Quatro mesesde convivâ‚Źncia com as CEBs do Acre (Petr6polis: Vozes, 1980);idem, "A influCnciapolltica dasComunidadesEclesiaisde Base(CEBs)," in SEDOC, Jan.Feb. 1979;CNBB-Regionaldo Nordeste-|, XVI Encontro da ComissdoEpiscopalRegionalNE-1, Teresina,Jan. 1980,App. 2; CNBB-Regional Sul-2; Manual sobre as Comunidades Eclesiaisde Base,2d ed. (Petr6polis: Vozes, 1977);Editorial Staff of the Diocesesof Caratinga,Te6filo Otoni, Divin6polis and Araguai, Abra a porta: Cartilha do Povo de Deus,2d ed.

(Paulinas, 1979); Fr. Raul Motta de Oliveira, Mqnusl das ComunidadesEclesiaisde Base(Caratinga:Editora Dom Carloto, 1978);Fr. G. DeelenSS.CC.,"La Iglesiaal encuentrodel pueblo en Am6rica Latina: Las comunidadesde baseen Brasil," Boletin Pro Mundi Vita,April-June 1980@russels);Fr. J. Kerkhofs, S.J., "ComunidadesEclesiaisde Baseen Am6rica Latina," BoletinPro Mundi Vito,Sept. 1976;Fr,JesusAndrâ‚ŹsVela, S.J,, Las Comunidadesde Basey una lglesia Nuevs (Buenas Aires: Editorial Guadalupe,197l); "Relat6rios e depoimentos dos EncontrosNacionaisde ComunidadesEclesiaisde Base," publishedir SEDOC, May 1975, Oct. 1976,Nov' 1976,Oct. 1978,Jan.-Feb.1979,Sept.l98l; Fr. DominiqueBatb6,En el futuro, lasComunidadesde BaseNladnd: Studium, 1974),prologue by JacquesLoew).

'rcrassrootsGommunities: A Term Inspired

by Marxist Terminologyand Equivalentto Soyiettt A Ghameleon-like MoYement That Feigns Noneristence T HE Most ReverendMiguel Balaguer,bishop of I Tacuaremb6,Uruguay, has a curious explanation for the origin of the term 'basiccommunities.'Speaking on the necessityfor small communities,he remarks: 'basic , /, "Now they havebeenbaptizedwith the nameof a term inspiredby Marxist terminology f-.o--unities,' and equivalentto 'soviet'.But this is no reasonto reject it. We had the namealreadychosenfor this child whose birth we were eagerlyawaiting."

Moreover,the study of the history, doctrineand action of the GrassrootsChurch Communities(GRCCS) showsthat the Marxist ideologyhasinfiltrated much further than the name alone.

This Uruguayanbishop'sstatement-almost shocking in its frankness-destroys one of the most carefully nourishedmyths of the GRCC movement:the myth of spontaneity, a spontaneitythat is presentedas being a sign of the work of the Spirit of God.

local necessities.

This is the way the GRCCs are presented to the generalpublic, and it is quite possiblethat they appqu as such to the eyesof many of their grassroots members,who perhapseven believethat they are protagonistsof this "new way of beingthe Church." (In reality, behindthis apparentradical equality and democracy is a well-trainedgroup of peoplewho direct everymove.)

On the other hand, they pretendto be alreadythe new Church and the new society:without structures,organization and authority, in conformity with the utopia of self-managementthat is in the backboneof their doctrine.

The myth of spontaneitythus plays an important role in the legitimation of the GRCCsbeforethe eyesof both their own membersand of the generalpubtc. For, if they are born spontaneouslyfrom the action of the Spirit, who can questiontheir physiognomy,their doctrine and their methods?

THE MYTH OF SPONTANEITY

A MOVEMENT THAT IS NOT SECRET, JUST ..DISCREET''

For doctrinal and strategic reasons,the GRCCs are strongly constrainedfrom appearingbefore the eyesof the generalpublic-and, aboveall, beforethoseof their own members-as an organizedmovement. as "a On the one hand,the GRCCsdefinethemselves Church born of the peopleby the Spirit of God." This action of the Spirit is supposedlyprovenby the spontaneous characterof their origin and formation, which should be interpretedas a "sign of the times."

Comparableto a spontaneousand unorganizedprocess, thesegroups have been inspired by the "Spirit" simultaneouslythroughout the world, especiallyin Latin America. Each Community shouldbe an autonomous and sovereigngroup, self-managedand born from the

Anyone who carefully follows the pressreports and studies the abundant information available about the GRCCswill seethat, in everystateand country, they have the samefundamentalcharacteristics, the samedoctrines, the sameobjectivesand the samemethodsof recruitment, formation and action; they evenhavetheir own jargon.

Also, therehavebeenfour nationalcongtesses and two internationalcongresses of the GrassrootsCommunities in Brazil, in addition to numerous inter-diocesanand regionalcongresses.

This obviouslyrequiresplanning,organization, coordination and financing.

It does not, then, seemunfounded to concludethat over and beyond the organizationalstructuresone can identify, the GRCCs are, in fact, a cohesive,solidary and

"Grassroots Communities:A Term Inspired by Morxist Terminologlt and Equivalenl lo Soviet"

Durlng the lamous "Sandlnleta Nlghl," whlch took place In 56o Paulo In 1980, Frlar Betto (lett) consults wlth Fr. Mlguel d'Escoto, Nlcaragua'slorelgn mlnlsier. Frlar Betto, an accompllce ol the communlst tenorlst Marlghela,ls one of the prlnclpaloxponenlsof the GRCC6on thE natlonal level.

disciplinedmovementof an international as well as national character.They are so obviously organized,that authorsbeyondsuspicion(sincethey are mentorsor supporters of the GRCCs)and publicationsof the National Conferenceof Brazilian Bishops(CNBB) itself refer to them asthe "movement of the GrassrootsChurch Communities."

However,how can one define a movementthat, if not secret,is at least discreetand that can adopt either any name or no name, accordingto statementsby Fr. Jos6 Marins, one of its leading theoreticiansand exponents on the international level?

WHO RUNS THE GRCC MOVEMENT? In theory, eachbishop is responsiblefor the GRCCs in his diocese,and each pastor for those in his parish.

And, in fact, they cannotbe formed without their knowledge and at least tacit approval.l But a questionremains:Who coordinatesthe GRCCs on the inter-diocesan,state,regionaland national levels?

And on the world level?

l. In 1975,Paul VI establishedthe conditionsfor a "Basic Community" to be cousideredan "ecclesial" entity rather than merely a sociological one in his apostolic exhortation Evongelii Nuntiandi. Orc of those conditions is that it musl be unjted with the hierarchy (doc. cit., no. 58).

Contrary to other religious movements,the GRCCs do not havean ostensivecentral leadershipnor known personsin positionsof responsibilityon higher levels,much lesson the national level.

Nevertheless,this communalistmovementis universally eoordinated.And the fact that this coordination often goesunnoticed by the generalpublic (and perhapsalso by most of the GRCCs' members)doesnot make it any lessreal or effective.

The unity of the movementis largely ensuredby countlesscongresses, assembliesand meetingsthat take place at all levels, by training coursesfor leaders and pastoral agentsand by an intenseinterchangeof persons and publications (more than three million monthly copies of mimeographedbulletins alone are mentioned).

This presupposesthe existenceof a coordinating organism, composedof people with authority who are obeyedand respectedby the Communitiesthroughout the country.

Who are thesepeople?

An ensembleof bishops,priests,nuns,pastoralagents, theologians,sociologistsand Protestantministers have closely followed the GrassrootsCommunitiesand even participatedin their national and international congresses.

Could they be the national leadersof the movement?This suppositionis not groundless,for it can be proven that their theoretical and practical directiveshave oriented the Brazilian GRCCS.

Origin of the GRCCr T T seemsthat the first GrassrootsCommunities I beganto appearin Brazil at the end ofthe 1950s with the "people's catechismclasses,"established

by Dom Agnelo Rossiin Barra do Para{;thesehad been precededby the Natal Movement's "grass roots education" groups, founded by Dom Eugâ‚Źnio Sallesand Dom Nivaldo Monte, who werethen young priests.

On the national level, the CNBB "Emergency Plan" (1962)laid the foundation for the movement, and the first "Plan for a Joint Pastorship" (1965) explicitly mentionsthe "Grassroots Co'mmunities."

In the following years,they beca:neone of the priorities of the CNBB. With the support of the episcopate, they beganto mushroom everywhere,especially after the Medellfn Conference(1968),where they received high priority status for the pastoral movement throughout the continent.

l0

CHURCH COMMUNITIES THE PHYSIOGNOMYOF THE GRASSROOTS

GRCCs? 2.5 MILION IOO,OOO

MEMBERS?

What is the total number of GRCCs in Brazil? How many peopleare enlistedin the movement?Thesearetwo questionsthat not eventhe CNBB can answer.Or so it says.The bishopswho are responsiblefor the GRCCs in their diocesescertainly should know the answersto thesequestions. ln 1974,a poll by the Centerof ReligiousStatisticsand SocialResearch(CERIS)put the total numberof GRCCs in Brazil at 40,000, without, however, giving the total numberof participants.In 1980,in responseto a Vatican requestfor information, CERIS put the number of GRCCs at 80,000;againit provided no total number of members.No current official data exist. Estimatescirculated by the religious and lay pressvary from 80,000 to 100,000GRCCs, with a contingentof between2 and 2.5 million "conscientized"people.Friars Leonardoand Clodovis Boff speakof 4 million members,an obvious exaggeration.

At present,it is impossibleto verify theseestimatesor evento approximatethe number of existingGRCCsand the total number of their members.Yet it is not so much the lack of statisticaldata that makesit difficult to evaluate the sizeof the GRCC movement;it is rather the discreet nature of the movement and its chameleon-like character,wherebyit assumesnow one name, now another, and now none at all, acting incognito or behind curtains and fagades.

PRESSUREAND THE THE GRCC GRASSROOTS CNBB LEADERSHIPPRESSURE Whateverthe figures,the GRCCsundoubtedlyinclude a significantnumberof people.Eventhough they involve a minority of the country's population-and a small one atthat, consideringtheir goals-they are still sufficiently largeto provokeenoughagitationto enablethe CNBB, certain political sectorsand the pressto presentthem as an irresistibleforce, to which one must surrender.They thus feign a grassrootspressureso that the CNBB can assumea leadershiprole in pressuringthe leadingclasses to acceptstructuralreforms (land reform, urban reform, businessreform and others);thesereforms would result in the elimination of private property and leadthe country into self-managingsocialism.

It is important to recognizethatthe GrassrootsCommunities are scatteredall over Brazil, making their action felt in the most diverse aspectsof national life: religious,political, syndicaland educational;they act in both urban and rural areas,in the neighborhoods,in the slums, in the countrysideand evenin the depthsof the Amazon jungle.

The GRCCsElect o Congresswoman N November15, 1971,two nunswentto a parish(OurLady of Gracein Vila Remo,Sflo Paulo) to give a course on church renewal. They showed the film The Volue of the Human Person, which proveshow everyoneis important and how everyonemust havea role in society.The nuns' suggestion:that participantsproceedfrom this coursc to other projects, start a Mothers' club, for example. . .

"It was agreedthat there should be a meetingevery Thursday. One of the nuns, Sister Ver6nica, left. The other, SisterAngdlica, remainedto continue the project. On the day shewas to take perpetual vows and return to the convent, she assembledthe community and asked whether she should return to her order or stay with the mothers.

After this meeting, she gave up being a nun. Today sheis married and has a child, and next month shewill give birth to a second.This young woman is a member of the state assembly,and her name is lrma Passoni" (O Sdo Paulo, 5/10/79).

The 1981pillaging of busesin Salvadorin the stateof Bahia, and the invasionsof urban lands in severalstate capitalsalarmedpublic opinion. The caseof the French priestswho wereaccusedof instigatingcrime amongthe squattersof Araguaia and the incident involving the farmhandsof Ronda Alta in the stateof Rio Grandedo Sul, illustratethe GRCCs' wide rangeof operations,in which there is no lack of bloodshed.

References Dom Miguel Balaguer, "Letter to the Presbytery" it Vida Pastoral,Montevideo,45 (1975);Ismar de OliveiraSoares,"Liberating Communication" rnFqm{lia CrirtA, September1980;Veja, 7/2/80 and 12/17/801'Isto 4,4/29/81; Fr. EduardoHoornaert, "The DangersThreateningthe GRCCs" in SEDOC, October 1976,col. 276,

"Grassroots Communities:A Term Inspired by Marxist Terminology and Equivalenl /o Soviet"

GRCC Experts and Specialists FriarLeonardo Boff, O.F.M. Professorat the FranciscanTheological Institute of Petr6polis and editor of the Brazilian EcclesiasticalReview andthe international theologicalreview Concilium. As one of the most prolific mentors of the GRCCs, his writings deal especially with the ecclesiasticalnature of the Grassroots Communities. He givescoursesto bishops, priests, nuns, lay pastoral agentsand leaders of the GRCCs throughout the country. He is an exponentof "liberation theology" on the international level.

Friar Gilberto Gorgulho, O.P. Professorof Sacred Scripture at the College of Theology of Our Lady of the Assumption and pastoral coordinator responsible for the GRCCs in the archdioceseof Sio Paulo.

Fr. Jos6 OscarBeozzo. Sociologist.Director of the Theological Institute of Lins. (The dioceseof Lins is one of the important promoters of the GrassrootsCommunities.) Coordinator of the fourth national GRCC congress.

FrlarBetto (CarlosAlberto Libinio Christo). Dominican. Although he completed the required studies, he opted to remain a kind of lay brother rather than be ordaineda priest. He serveda four-year prison term to which he was sentencedby the Department of Justice for his involvement in the urban guerrilla warfare led by Carlos Marighela, which bathed the country in blood.

Upon leaving prison, he went to work with the Grassroots Communitiesin the archdioceseof Vit6ria. He was coordinator of the fourth International Ecumenical CongressofTheology (the CongressofTaboio da Serra) and the "Sandinista Night." A memberof the Workers' Pastoral Council in the dioceseof Santo Andr6, he played a prominent role in the organization of the ABC metalworkers' strikes in 1980. (ABC stands for three citiesthat form an industrial belt around Sdo Paulo. They are extremely important becauseof the enormous number of factories there.) He gives "pastoral counseling" during his visits to GRCCSin severaldioceses and districts and has published works of a theoretical-practical nature. He is consideredone of the main organizersof the movement on the national level.

Fr. Eduardo lloornaert. A Belgian professor at the Theological Institute of Recife. Specialistin Ecclesiastical History, which he is rewriting accordingto the "vision of the oppressed.n' Msgr. G6rard Cambr6n. A Canadian who is considered a top specialistin GrassrootsCommunities, with which he has beenactive for someyearsnow in the state of Maranhdo.

Friar Carlos Mesters, O. Carm. A Dutchman who is the movement's "official" exegete.He travels throughout the country giving courseson Sacred Scripture to pastoral agents, leadersand membersof the GRCCs since he is the foremost proponent of the "Biblical reflection" method adopted by the movement,He is the author of various syllabi usedfor this purpose (the Biblical Circles), in addition to other works.

Fr. Joio Badsta Lib0nio, S.J. Advisor to the Conference ef lsazilian Religious. Member of the John XXIII Center(of the Jesuitsof Rio), which advisesthe CNBB. Professorat the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. Specialistin the theologicalaspects of the methodology of the GRCCS. Friar Clodovis Boff, O.S.M. Professorat the FranciscanTheological Institute of Petr6polis. He teaches six months of the year and spendsthe other six months working with the GRCCs in Acre and Purus. He has published severalworks on the GrassrootsCommunities, especiallyabout their role in pottics. He has also published works on "liberation theology."

Jether Pereira Ramalho. Sociologist and Protestant minister. Member of the Ecumenical Center of Documentation and Information, whose magazine, Time and Presence,is one of the mouthpiecesfor "liberation theology" and the GrassrootsCommunities, even though it is maintained by a Methodist institution.

Pedro Assis Oliveira Ribeiro. A sociologist from CERIS, which is annexedto the CNBB. Contributor to the Brazilian Ecclesiastical Review.

THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE GRASSROOTS CHURCH COMMUNITIES

"Look at Us and SeeIf We Have the Facesof Clerics!"

C't EMINARIANS increasinglyare being conducted D into the mainstreamof the GrassrootsCommunities. Suchis the case,for example,of 29-year-oldDeville Alongo and26-year-oldWilson de Oliveira Salles.Both are seminariansfrom the Belâ‚Źmepiscopaldistrict of Sdo Paulo. They aregood examplesof the newtype of priest

that is emergingin the "Church born of the people."

This is illustrated by their statementsto a magazinein early 1979: 'A good questionto ask is whetherwe are "Deville: seminarians.We are seculars;we do not belongto ordersor congregations.We owe total and uffestricted obedience to our Bishop. Just a second.I take back the 'total and unrestricted': we owe obedienceto the Bishop. We are 'engagedlaymen,' as I have said. Look at us and seeif we havethe facesof clerics,novicesor the like. . . . We are working ourselvesto deathin the Basic Communities. . . . Our formation is practical,with the people, suffering with the people. . . .' '. . . What we, the seculars,the engaged "Wilson: laymen and someother very socially aware priestsare striving for is an evangelizationstarting with concrete reality according to a real Marxist vision' " (Brosil Reportagem,vol. l, no.2,1979, p. 16; O Sdo Paulo, ll/30/79, pp. 1, 5).

A ReligiousKGB? The Dictatorship of the

GrassrootsGhurch Gommunities 1-1 NE of the most horrendousaspectsof the move\-/ ment of the GrassrootsChurch Communitiesis the veritable religious dictatorship that it establisheseverywhere.In many places,it is launched(or has alreadyadvanced) an actual religious persecation against persons who are refractory toward the GRCCs.

in smalllocalities,where religioussanctions,especially everyoneknowsand is relatedto everyoneelsein some way. ,AT THE MERCY OFTHE COMMUNITARIAII LEN)ERS The dioceseof 56o Mateus (Stateof Espfrito Santo), for example,requiresthat everyonehave a "Certificate of ReligiousResidence,"provided only under the most stringentconditions,including the promiseto participate in reflection groups at least once a week. Moreover, it makesthe following moral and political proviso: "10. To acceptthe pathway of the Catholic Church in this diocese,which choosesto walk with the poor, and to accept conscientization regarding social issues and political orientation." This is one of the conditions about whose observancethe leadersof the Communitiesare instructed to be particularly vigilant and rigorous.

The candidatefor the certificate fills out a questionnaire in the presenceof the leaders,who then tell him to return in a certain period of time to find out if he has been approved or not. During this interval, the leaders meet with the investigation team for Christian Living, which examinesthe candidate'slife to decideif he fulfills the requirementsfor receivingthe certificate.If they decidefavorably, they issuehim the paper, signedby at least four directors.

If they decidethat the person doesnot meet theserequirements,then, accordingto the instructions,the leaders cannot sien it. Rather than signing, eachone will write 'oin observation" and will explainto the interestedparty that his caseis still in deliberation but, if he demonstrates goodwill in "walking with the community," his casecan bc resolvedwithin a few months.

When the caseis decided,two copiesof the certificate

RELIGIOUS AND SocIAL SANCTI0N In order to win over the recalcitrants,the remiss, or the passiveinto the communitarianengagement,where, by meansof conscientization,their mentalitieswill be changed,the committed clergy make use of one of the most effective instrumentsin their possession:religious sanctions.To make suchsanctionseffective,they create a regulatory apparatus, something akin to a Gestapo or a KGB of progressivismand the Catholic left, which brings to mind the fearful political tactics of the Nazi and Soviet regimes.

In this way it can become difficult, throughout the whole country but aboveall in the more isolatedinterior regions, for someoneto receivethe sacramentsor take part in any religiousactivity (suchas, receivingBaptism, Confirmation, or First Communion, acting as godparents or sponsorsfor Baptism or Confirmation, or even simply standing as a witnessto a marriage)if that person doesnot belongto someGrassrootsCommunity and receivewritten authorization from it.

One can easilyseehow sucha religious ,,excommunication" often implies an authentic "social excommunication" of the individual. Suchis the casewith Baptism, Confirmation and, above all, Marriage, religious acts which are at the sametime social occasionsbringing together relativesand friends. It is necessaryto have this in mind in order to fully understandthe force of such

l3

t4

THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE GRASSROOTS CHURCH COMMI.JNITIES

are made, the first remaining with the Coordinotor for Christian Living for the priest to use on the day of the visit. ..DON'T LOOSENTIIE KNOT'' Friar Betto, speakingin regard to this samequestion in Acre, warned: "The monitors should be very careful not to loosen the knot, and considerthe presenceofthe parentsin three or four meetingsaspertaining to and participating in the community. . . . This should last until the people are conscientized."

THE DICTATORSHIPOF THE ..CARD FILE'' The parish of ltarana @spirito Santo)in the archdioceseof Vit6ria adoptedthe GrassrootsChurch Communities plan in 1966.It was decidedthat Baptism would be celebratedonly in the community and exclusivelywith peoplefrom the community "who had madethe mutual promises."The godparentscould also only be persons from the community who had "fulfilled the promises."

Among the required commitmentsis "conscientization in a weekly Bible circle." The agefor First Communion wasdeferreduntil agel5 or 16,in considerationofthese promisesbeing assumedby the candidate. Each Catechism student has his file, "which is watchedover with great attention."

This card file systemis extensivelyusedin almost all the parishesthat, like ltarana, haveadoptedthe dictatorial regimeof the GrassrootsComrnunities.Each member of the Community has an index card whereonhis progressor regressionsin communitarian involvement are noted for the pastoralagentsand the pastor. In Itarana' the cardsand coordinates(indeed, the teamthat processes is calledthe "registry."

Community the with iron control) that such tactics of to insist exaggeration It is not an to the organsof vigsimilar faithful are control over the regimes. in totalitarian ilance and repression

This veritable ecclesiasticaldictatorship, tlis religious persecution against those who are refractory to the GRCCs, has provoked some reactions. But they have been isolatedreactions,and, for the most part, of a lostructurehas cal nature, sincethe Brazilian ecclesiastical given firm support to the movement of the Grassroots Church Communities. Thus, either the faithful submit or they are deprived of the sacraments.Those who abandon the Church and losethe Faith axenot few in number.

A PUNGENT EXAMPLE A pungent example of the efficacy of these religious sanctions in achieving the conscientrzation of the individual and his involvementin the communitarian movement, of this pressureupon the simple and defenseless people,is narratedby Friar Betto, whom Bishop Moacir Grechi made a pastoral counselorin his prelacy of Acre and Purus. Friar Betto, the accompliceof terrorist Carlos Marighela recounts: "A father went to find the priest in the rectory in the city. 'What do you want?' askedthe priest. 'I cameto ask if you would baptizemy son.' 'Where do you live?'

'I live on the Montevideoplantation,' respondedthe poor man. The priest looked at the man and asked, 'Did you bring the letter from the monitor of your region, signed by membersof the community?' The man responded, 'No, father. I didn't know I had to bring this letter.' 'I can only baptize your son if I have that letter in my hands,' explainedthe priest.

"The man returned to the region. He sought out the monitor: 'I want to take my son to the priest for baptism. Can you giveme a letter for the priest?'Themonitor explained: 'If the letter is signed only by me, it is worthless.To be valid, it has to have at leastfive signatures. But the personscan only sign it after you and your wife have participated for at least one year in the

THE FAMOUS ..PREPARATORYCOURSES'' Friar Marcos Sassatelli,a Dominican from the archdioceseof Goi6nia, reportsthat in the local GRCCsBaptism is administeredonly two or three times per year' when the Community deemsthat the interestedparties are prepared;the samehappenswith Marriage. This same archdiocese(as well as others throughout the country), insiststhat coursesof preparationfor the sacraments(the famous "preparatory courses")shouldbe more demanding, "especiallyin relation to community living and conscientizationregardingthe Christian'srole in the modern world."

After walklng mllas to have hls son baptlzed,a poor lalher ls Informedby the prlesl lhal, "wllhoul a lsltor lrom the Commu. nlty," he cannotbapllzehlm.The Communltydemandeda oneyear partlclpallon In meellngs to glve the lellerl

A ReligiousKGB?

community.' At the end of this year of participation, this man did not need to take his child to the priest, havingbeenconscientizedto understandthat baptismby the monitor was just as good."

This is not all: the poor man had changedhis mentality, his vision of the Church and of the world.

References Dioceseof 56o Mateus-Parish of Barrade S. Francisco-ES, Folha doproya, exome,oo AtestododeResidAncia Religiosa, mimeographed, n.d.; idem, Um Caminho(Normase Instrug6es para llderes de Comunidades),December1978, pp. G9; idem,AtestadodeResidAncia mimeographed, Religiosa:

l5

Folhas de Instrugdesoos responsdveir,mimeographed,n.d., nos. 4 and 9; Friar Alberto Libineo Christo (Friar Betto), O canto do golo: Relatdrio pastoral de uma visita d Prelazia do Acre e Purus, Secretariatofthe ArchdiocesanPastoral, Goi6nia, mimeographed, p. ll, transcribed from the Revista EclesidsticoBrasileira, June 1977; Comunidodes Eclesiais de Base: Uma lgrejo que noscedo povo: Encontro de Vitdrio-ES (Petr6polis:Vozes,1975),pp. 38-41,52,69-70;Friar Marcos Sassatelli,"Comunidadede Base," in Revistada Arquidiocese, Goi6nia, September1976,p. 633; Revista da Arquidiocese, Goiinia, July 1976, p. 493; CNBB-SuI lI, Manual sobre as EclesiaisdeBase,?-ded.@etr6polis:Vozes,1977) Comunidades pp. 72-73, 77; Fiar Betto, Bst ismo de Sangue: Os d omin icanos e a morte de Marighela (Rio de Janeiro; CivilizagdoBrasileira, 1982).

How to Translorm the GRCCMember into an Insurgent Gonscientization: A Prooess of 'rUnperceiyed ldeological Transshipmentt t

r|r HIS chapter presentsa schematicoverview of the I psychologicaland doctrinal evolution of the individual from the moment that he is attracted to the GRCC until the end of the process,whenhe is completely integratedinto the movement,acceptingits doctrinesand objectivesand participating in its activities.

Suchan evolutioncould well be qualifiedas "unperceivedideologicaltransshipment," accordingto the expressioncoined by Prof. Plinio Corrâ‚Źa de Oliveira to designatea certain implicit and surreptitioustechnique of persuasionusedby internationalcommunism.Indeed, more than a few analogiescan be drawn betweenthe two I processes.

science" is formed. The prevalent opinion in the community comesto be the rule for proper thinking, feeling, and acting.

4) To the extentthat the personintegrateshimself like this into the life of the community, both participating in activitiesand assumingresponsibilities,his mechanisms of defenseand censureare demobilizedas he becomes increasinglyopen to the influencesof the group and its mentors.Interiorly he dissolves.

B) SURREPTITIOUS INDOCTRINATION l) The psychological demobilization and softening rnakesthe individual more susceptibleto indoctrination.

2) This doesnot take placein a formal and explicit way, but in a subtle and surreptitious manner.

3) By a systemof assertionspresentedin questionform, by discreetand cleverly oriented debates,and by subtly raised doubts and suspicions,the person's mentality is transformed,without his beingawareof it. He proceeds to respondmore and more to what is suggestedto him and to react as desired. Notwithstanding, he believes that he is respondingto his own thoughtsand sentiments and that he has reachedthese induced conclusionsbv himself.

A) ATTRACTION BY MEANS OF RELIGION 1) The pastoral agents, taking advantage of the religiosityof Brazilians(their religiouspractice,their sympathy for religion and its representatives), approachthe individual of the GrassrootsCommunity, attracting him toward a more intensepractice of religious life.

2) Participation in a religious group leadsthe person to feel that his life has been bettered,sustained,and orientedamidstthe anonymityand chaosof modernlife.

He tendsto open up and becomeincreasinglymore sociablein this group which appearsso helpful and cordial to him.

3) This tendencyto greatersociabilityof the neophytes of the GRCCs is exacerbatedby the aggrandizementof the communitarianaspectsnot only of religiouspractice, but of all other activities(social, cultural, professional, family and evenleisure).Gradually, a "community con-

C) CRITICIZING THE ..OLD RELIGIoN'' AND PRESENTINGTHE "NEW CHURCH'' l) Thus beginsthe critique of the "old religion" and the presentationof the "new Church."

Here the patient undergoesone of the most profound transformationsthat can take placein the human mind: a radical religious transformation. He passesfrom one antipode to the other.

1. "UnperceivedIdeologicalTransshipmentand Dialogue," in Crusadefor a Christian Civilization, October-December1982.

T6

MOI(EY

Or rather oaBlts,l, from wbloh oomeethe na,me CAPITAilSTSYSTEM, is the klnd of soolety ln whloh we preeentl5r llve.

2) It is gradually imparted to him that, unlike the "new Church," the "old Church" did not provide opportunity for the people:they were not consulted;everythingwas done by the pastor, who was a type of bossin the religious sphere.

3) A parallel is thus establishedbetween the "old Church" and civil society:in both, the poor had no voice or chance.Only the rich and the powerful commanded and were heard.

4) It is affirmed that the "old Church" wasconcerned only with individual sin and not with social injustice. It was, thereforg alienating; it preventedthe "little man" from leavinghis situation of oppressionon earth by holding out to him the consolation of happinessin heaven.

5) The "new Church" presentsitself, then, asbeingthe true Church,which strivesto "free" men from all the evil that comesfrom the sin that is already here on earth.

D) NEw VIEWP0INT oF RELIGIoN 1) It then showsthat the "true" practice of religion consistsof the fight against "social sin," the "institutionalizedsin" in the structuresof domination, and that the "root of all sin" is found in capitaliststructures,the "fruit of egoism." Thus, there cannot be harmony betweenthe classes,becausethere can be no harmony between the exploiting egoist and the exploited poor, betweenthe oppressedand the oppressor.

To be Catholic is to acceptthis revolutionary conception of the doctrine of the Church and the practice of the individual Christian virtues (relegatedto a secondary plane, if not completelyobliterated),and to practicethe great Christian virtue par excellence,that is, being

Conscientization,Not Hunger,MakesRevolutions X-secretarygeneralof the Brazilian Commup ! nist Party, the late Lufs Carlos Prestes,showed himself well awareof the needfor political conscientization to lead the peopleto rwolution. In Porto Alegre, he stated:"The peopleare [moving] increasingly leftward becauseof inflation, but it is not hunger that mokes revolutiott" but, rather, political conscimtization" (O Estado de S, Paalq 12/27/80\.

The communistleaderthus teachesso many magnates of capitalism who take pride in being "moderns" and Marxiststhat the good orderingof economicsmatterscannot suffice to hold back communist expansion.

'aaPrTAt

ERS

Lg

A vlrulenl antlcapltallsm and wlthoul nuances characlerlzes the poslers and pamphlels used In the GrassroolsChurch Communltles.

revolutionary and taking part in the socialistand communist revolution.

2) This was the teachingof Christ Himself, that is, to makethe "option for the poor," the "oppressed,"the "marginalized." He wasincarnatedin the classstruggle in order to conquersin and install the Kingdom of God. FIewas killed by the imperialistsof the time (the Romans) with the complicity of the clergy (pontiffs and doctors of the Law) and the leadersof the people(theSanhedrin), who did not want to lose their privileges.

3) The Kingdom of God, while only to be realizedin its fullnessat the end of time, could alreadybegin "here and now," on earth, by the establishmentof a society without classesand domination. tr) TRANSFORMATIONOF MENTALITIES

BY CONSCIENTIZATION l) At the sametime that a revolutionary religion is being inculcatedin the person,his mentality is modified by meansof a processof conscientuation,a processwhereby the individual and the group becomeconsciousof the of their situation in societyand their need disadvantages to participate in changingit.

2) This conscientizationgenerallybeginswith an "investigation," a "survey of the reality" of the neighborhood, region, and so on. Interviewing the inhabitants and collecting facts, the participantsin the Community becomeconscientizedabout their situation of want.

3) The identification of wants, deficiencies,and irregularities(of which modern life is replete)passeson to

l8

THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE GRASSROOTS CHURCH COMMTJNITIES

A Discreet Training of Activists T HE activity of J. [Fr. Jos6Mahon, creator of I the Workers' Ministry of the ABCI doesnot stop there, supporting only the GRCCs and the Workers' Ministry. He is also a parish priest, and not of just one parish, but two. . . . When the workersof the parishesthat J. takeson learn to expressthemselvesin public, to direct, and to set up meetingsor celebrations,they are learning (many of them have already learned)their professionof 'beingthe people.'They can apply this 'profession' in the Associationof Friendsof the Neighborhood, in the union, or in the union opposition, and also (why not?) in a political party that is really in the handsof the workers" @ilhosda Caridade,OsFil' hos da Caridade na Diocese de Santo Andrd ISdo Paulo: Oficinas das Edig6esLoyola, 19801,pp.

13-14.)

an analysisof the situation.The pastoralagents'monitors, or leadersof the Community conductthe "debate," raising conscientizingquestionsin order to discoverthe "roots of the evil." The conclusionis reachedthat all theseevils are the fruit not of very complexconjunctive situations(suchasthe greaturban concentrations,for example), insufficiencyof resources,or adversecircumstances(harshclimate,poor soil, and so on). Rather,they of a "system of sin." are the inevitableconsequences 4) The mentality of the member of the Grassroots Communitythus becomestense,vindictive,nonconformist, and revolted against his own situation. His "naive conscience"becomesa "critical conscience";that is, he ttsituation of oppression" in "becomes aware" of the which he is living in our contemporary classsociety.

5) It is not sufficient, however,that he realizehis oppressionand desireto escapeit. It is necessarythat he becomepersonallyengagedin the struggle,because"no one freesanyoneS'Each one should be the "agent of his own liberationl' beginningby changinghimself and freeing himselffrom an "alienatedand conformist"mentality.

F) MOTU,ZATION FOR VINDICTIVE ACTION AND PROTEST l) Once the local need is determined(lack of health facilities, transportation, running water, roads, etc.), mobilization for action can begin.

2) This outside action constitutesa powerful factor for the conscientizationof the GRCC membersthemselves aswell as for the whole population of the neighborhood, who are, by repercussion,acquiring the same state of tenseand vindictive spirit as the membersof the Community, thus making themselveseasily manipulable.

3) The strugglefor the "popular demands" completely changesthe life of the membersof the GrassrootsCommunities. The behavior of thesesimple people, who before had neveractedoutsidethe confinesof their modest family and neighborly relations, becomesprofoundly changed.The numerousgatheringsand meetingsof residents, signaturecollections,visits to newspapers,contacts with important people(lawyers,politicians, authorities), speakingopportunities,repetitionof the enormousquantity of ready-madeslogansand stock phrases-all these have the effect of removing them from the prosaismof daily life (at leastwhen they make social agitation). They feel their self-importanceenhancedas championsof a politico-religious cause.

4) Action is, therefore, indispensablefor the full integration of the individual into the GRCC in order to awaken in him a burning zeal againstreligious and social structures,in order to keephim open to the "sacred call" of the fight for the liberation of all oppressions.

At this point, one could say,the processbecameirreversible: only with difficulty could the victim of it desireand manageto return to his former situation asa simpleworker, law-abidinglaborer, placid headof a family or household, one concernedonly with the thousandlittle concrete problems that make up prosaic everydaylife.

G) ..CONSCIENTIZEDBIBLE READING'' l) The illusion of being paladins of a holy fight of a liberating character is exacerbatedin members of the GrassrootsChurch Communitiesby the veritable Biblical fundamentalismthat reigns in the movement.2 2. Biblical fundamentalismseesthe SacredBooks-understood above all in their literal sense- asthe only and supremesourceof knowledge and all authority. It inspiresthe majority of Protestantsectsof the "Pentacostalist" type and with a millenarian backglound.

Millenarians, interpreting wrongly a passagefrom the book of Apocalypse(20:l-6), await a newcomingof Our Lord JesusChrist who will reign directly, personally,for onethousandyears,the beginningof completehappinesson earth. Condemnedas heretical,the idea ofthe millennium is used again and again by religious or philosophical sects(even, in their own way, by atheistic sects like Marxism) who put their hope in a stage of perfection of mankind that would elininate all pain, suffering, making perfect happinessreign on earth (cf.

Les Religiors, s.v. "fondamentalistes" and "milenarisme"; Juls Monnerot, Sociologie de lo Rdvolution, port 2, "Les millenium sur la tene et les terreursde I'histoire @aris: Fayard, 1969);Fr. GeorgesM. M. Cottier, O.P., "Marxisme et messianisme,"in Ateismo e Didlogo, Bulletin of the Secretariat of Non-Believers (Vatican City, September 1974).

How to Transforrn the GRCC Member into an Insurgent

Teach by Askiog;

Convinceby Suggesting...

T HE core of conscientization consistsin giving I persons the impression that they, by themselves,are reachingthe conclusionsor positionsthat are being suggestedto them; thus, they do not perceivethat they are having their mentalities, temperaments,or opinions modified by suegestionscoming from outside. One of the most efficient artifices for achievingsucha result is introducing the subjectbeing treated in question form, and, by meansof successivequestions,to lead minds to the viewpoints of the pastoral agent. The questions,indeed, already implicitly contain the answer, or at least elements of it, indicating the tone, the direction that it should take. The questionsare only interrogative in form because,in fact, they serveto present affirmations, raise doubts, arousesuspicions,and the like, all under the pretext of trying to find a "group consensus,"which would be the result of the opinions of the group's members.Indeed, tlis group cansensusis only the object previously established by the pastoral agent and introduced under question-affirmation form. The group consensusconstitutes one of the most powerful elementsof psychological pressureon the group members,because in its name,the stubborn onesaccepta certainviewpoint or resolution under pain of marginalization.

This artifice is often usedby highly trained pastoraJ agents in the techniques of Group Dynamics.

l9

4) The conclusion of this principle is that God inspired and enlightenedthe patriarchs,prophets,and other Biblical personagesthe sameway that He inspires and enlightens men today. This fundamentalistposition leads many membersof the GRCCs to mythicize their own lives, identifying themselveswith Biblical personagesand consideringthemselves,like them, as investedwith a sacred mission and guided directly by God. 5) This naturally leadsto the most completelyfree examination of conscienceand opensdoors for everytype of digression-as well as for everytype of doctrinal aberration and personalitydeviation. Concretely,in the case of the GRCCs, a messianicand millenarian fanaticism is generated.

6) To this distortion is added "dialectical Bible reading": SacredScripturemust be read from a classistposition, from the "social place of the poor," that is, from the "vision of the oppressed."In the past God inspired the oppressedJewsin their struggleagainsttheir Egyptian oppressors,freeingthem from captivity by meansof the conscientizingaction of Moses. Today as well, the people(the poor, the marginalized)are oppressedby their captivity to capitalist structures.The Church's mission, like that of Moses,is to conscientizethe peopleso that, once awakened,they can fight for their liberation, destroying the sinful structuresof the capitalist regime.

7) Thus, it would be God Himself who would directly inspire all the sociopolitical agitation promoted by the GrassrootsChurch Communities.Becauseof this, there should be no retreat before any law or authority, be it civil or religious. For, what law or person, howeveraugust it be, can stand in opposition to the will of God Himself, as manifestedin the GRCCs? H) THE "LEGITNIIZING'' ROLE OF TIIE BISHOP

2) In effect, the Bible is occupying an increasingly preponderantrole in the life of the GRCCs, coming to be the singlepoint of referenceand ultimate and sovereign court of appeal,the Magisteriumof the Church being forgotten and set aside.

3) In "Bible circles," "Sunday services,"t'reflection meetings," and so on, the method called "Biblical life integration" is adopted. This takes a scriptural passage and comparesit with today's situation, or, on the contrary, departsfrom a current fact and seekssimilarity in someBiblical episode.Underlying this method is the principle that God revealsHimself the sameway in the Bible as in current events;that He is the Word of God in Sacred Scriptureas He is in what is taking placeright now.

In this way, the Bible needsto be understoodin light of today's events,and contemporaryeventsshould be interpretedin the light of the Bible.

l) In general,upon enlistingin the movementthe faithful are not awareof its errors and deviations.However, to the extent that the conscientizingprocessadvances, their Catholic senseleadsthem to perceivediscrepancies betweenwhat they hear and see and what traditional Catholic doctrine teaches.Many immediately abandon the movement,not infrequently becominghostile to it.

Some,suspicious,do not openly break with it, but tend to withdraw from it. Others, perplexed,try to reconcile the noveltieswith what they learnedin their catechism, and thesecan becomeenmeshedin an internal conflict, a situation of anguish, or even despair.

2) In order to confront suchsituations,the movement avails itself of a powerful sourceof legitimization: the moral support of the bishopstranquilizespersonsas to the Catholicity of the GRCCs and their fidelity to the Church. Becausereigning in the spirit of the Brazilian

20

CHURCH COMMUNITIES THE PHYSIOCNOMYOF THE GRASSROOTS

"Before Organizinga Revolution, It Is Necessary to Learn How to Organizea Picnic" R. Dominique Barb6, a French worker-priest, coordinatesthe Workers' Ministry of the Episcopalregion of Osascoand integratesit into the archdioceseof Sio Paulo. A great promoter of the GRCCs in worker neighborhoods,he outlinesa sketchof oneof them, that of Vila Yolando, in a book that has been translated into severallanguages.In this excerptfrom this book, Father Barbâ‚Ź clearly demonstrateshow the most usual activities, including the Liturgy, can be used for efficient training in revolutionary action: "After having studied all the texts of the Resurrection for three months, a team put togetherthe pamphlet of which we speak,which cameto be a synthesisof their findings. Even if they are not capableof composingthe text of a small journal, they nonethelesslearnedthat they could all write a petition, a letter, or a collective demand,on the day this would be necessary,obviously

peopleas a corollary, albeit gratuitous, of papal infallibility is the conviction of the infallibility of the bishop in his union with the Pope.The faithful thus imaginethat they would in someway be impiousor evendoubtingin Faith if they did not acceptas indisputableall that the bishop thinks, and even all that he does. If the bishop givesmoral support to the GRCCs, he doesso in consonancewith the thinking and directivesof the Pope.

Therefore,the faithful can acceptas Catholic all that the GRCCs say, evenif it is in opposition to the traditional teachingof the Church, becausethe bishop would not fail in his fidelity to the Pope. The Pope doesnot err.

3) It is, therefore,the belief in the infallibility of the Church that leadsthe individual to be deceivedin a processthat, without this, he would reject. One can clearly seethe importanceof the bishop'spresence(personally or through intermediarypastoral agentswho are known to enjoy his confidence)not only in the beginningof the process,but throughoutits development.An equalrole is exercised,a fortiori, by organs of the episcopate (CNBB, CELAM, and others)which supportthe GRCCs. I) A SCIENTIFICALLY STUDIED AND APPLIED METHOD l) This entiremethodis studiedscientificallyand elaborated by highly specializedexpertsfrom experiencesin Catholic Action, the "Paulo Freiremethod" ("liberating

to defenda just cause.. . . Luls, Renato, and Francisco have directedthe Mass for six months. Is it not true that if they learn to speakand read in public whenthey are in the Church that they will do so with more assurance on other occasions?This can be very useful for them." And, furthet on: "With the same group of youth we discoveredthat before thinking of organizing a revolution, it is necessaryto know how to organize a picnic. They want the revolution . . . we proposeto them a picnic and . . . together we discover that if tomorrow they want to have political responsibilities, to bring to good term a just grievance,it is necessary to humbly go through the organization of a picnic. This is the way one learns patience, longanimity, selfdominion and the strategy of action" (Dominique Barb6, En el Futuro, Las Comunidades de Base [Madrid: Studium, 1974], pp. 58-59). pedagogy")and other psychologicaland socialtechniques; the methodis then appliedby very well trainedpersonnel.

2) While this method can be applied on the individual level, it is conceptualizedfor use especiallyin groups.

3) Its greatestefficacy, therefore, is in group application: a numbersufficientlylargeto permit group pressure on individuals but not so large that the individual could feel outside the processand isolated within the group.

4) By meansof group dynamicsand other pyscho-social techniques,the individual becomesincreasinglydependent on the whole and incapableof thinking, desiring, or acting for himself. He increasinglybecomesa mere fragment of the group, and lessand lesshimself. Thus, the whole group walks together, making decisivesteps that eachindividual, by himself, would perhapsnot take.

The collectivedynamism pulls the individual, but he is unawareof this. Instead, at the end of the road, he believes he walked there on his own two legs.

5) The stagesof the processare not impervious, but interpenetrateeachother. The processfeedsupon itself.

To the extent that the person becomesembitteredtemperamentally,a burning desirefor vindication and protest grows in him; to the extent that this burning desire grows, he becomesmore open to the classstruggle; to the extentthat he throws himself into the classstruggle, he becomesmore disposedto accept doctrinal transformation, and so on. "Conscientization" unchainedaction, the action reinforces "conscientization."

CH,I,pTER II

Liberation Theology: The Doctrine of the Grassroots Church Communities Its Goal: Communism Its Philosophy: Marxism Its Strategy: ClassStruggle

1 The GRCGsTLiberation Theology Put into Practice

HE Most ReverendMoacir Grechi, bishop of Acre and Purus and one of the principal national mentors of the GrassrootsChurch Community movement, defined the GRCCs as "the concretepart of liberation theology." And the Most ReverendValdir Calheiros, bishop of Volta Redonda (Rio de Janeiro), another of its leaders(organizerof the First Latin American Congressand presidentof the Fourth National Congressof the GRCCs), considersthe GrassrootsCommunitiesto be "liberation theology put into practice." Friar Leonardo Boff, for his part, affirms that the link between the GrassrootsChurch Communitiesand liberation theology is not accidental,but necessary."The Grassroots communities and liberation theology are two consequencesof one sameprocessof the mobilization of the people," the first representing"the practiceof popular liberation" and the second"the theory ofthis practice."

tor Jos6Miguez Bonino), to debate,togetherwith their national and militant colleaguesof the GRCCs, the theme "Ecclesiologyof the GrassrootsChurch Communities."

LIBERANON TIIEOIOGY: THE RELIGIOUSDOCTRINE THAT EXPLAINS THE ACTION OF THE GRCCS Liberation theology, is, therefore, the content of the religious doctrine of the GrassrootsChurch Communities.l This religious doctrine molds all the programs of the GRCCs. Its externalaction is its internal life; it gives moral justification to its methodsof religious,social,political and economicegalitarianism;it confersimpulseand l. Someonemight object that it is not admissiblefor the doctrines of liberation theology to circulate in the GRCCs becauseliberation theology was condemnedby John Paul II in Puebla, Mexico.

In the first place, it is suitableto respondthat the link betweenthe CRCCs and liberation theology, pointed out here, is affirmed by national mentorsof the movernentof the GrassrootsCommunitiesin declarations concurrentwith or subsequentto Puebla. On the other hand, the doctrinal errors and deviations of conduct are denounced in the presentwork on the basisofabundant documentationprovidedby the most competentsources;that is, writings of the main idealistsof the movementand texts of the GRCCs themselves.

Now, the errors found there were well characterizedand condemned

by John Paul II in his addressat the opening of the Puebla Conference,asshownby Prof. Plinio Corr0ade Oliveira in lucid articlespublished in the daily pressin March and April of 1979.

The affirmation that liberation theology was condemnedby John Paul in Puebla is categoricallycontested,once ag4in, by prelatesin high positionsof the directorshipof the committeethat speaksfor the Brazilianbishops:Bishop Ivo Lorscheiter,presidentof the CNBB and BishopLuciano Mendesde Alneida, secretary,aswell as others,such as Bishop C6ndido Padim of Bauru.

The declarationof BishopIvo Lorscheiter(who, in passing,doesnot excelin logic) was made to Friar Betto who had inquired if the Pontiff had condemnedliberation theology. The presidentof the CNBB was emphatic: "In no way. The Pope only called attention 10 the risk of some abuses. Liberation theology was already incorporated in the Church's official doctrine, through Evangelii Nuntiondi wherein

GRCCs.LIBERATION THEOLOGY, A CONNECTIONTHAT IS NOT ACCIDENTAL It is not, therefore, a mere coincidencethat the principal mentorsof the GrassrootsChurch Communitiesin Brazil are preciselythe most notable national representativesof liberation theology.It is enoughto cite, among others, the brothers Friar Leonardo and Friar Clodovis Boff, Friar Betto, Friar Carlos Mesters,Friar Gilberto Gorgulho, Fr. J. B. LibAnio, S.J., and Fr. Eduardo Hoornaert.

It was also no accidentthat the Fourth International EcumenicalCongressof Theology in Taboio da Serra (56o Paulo), in February of 1980,brought togetherthe principal world exponentsof liberation theology, especially the Latin Americans (Fr. Gustavo Guti6rrez, Fr. Jon Sobrino,Fr. Pablo Richard,Fr. RonaldMuffoz, pas-

23

24

LIBERATION TUNOLOCY: THE DOCTRINE OF THE GRASSROOTS CHURCH COMMUNITIES

t-

"V[/hat We ProposeIs Not Theology in Marxism but Marxism in Theology"

I

- Texts -

FrlarLeonardo Bolf Friar Leonardo Boff: "Liberation theology . . . rereadsand interpretsthe conflictivesocialreality. And herea problemcropsup: whetherthis reality is worth knowing in the most scientificway possible.. . . The politicol option, ethicaland evangelical,in favor of the poor againsttheir poverty helpsin choosingthe instrument that doesjustice to the exploited'sclaimsto dignity. In this moment of rationality and objectivity, the theologion can use the Marxist theory of history. . . .

What wepropose is not theology in Marxism, but Marxism (historical moterialism) in theology."l Fr. Alfonso Garcia Rubio (analyzingliberation theology): "Since Marxism is a science,from the Christian viewpoint there is no problem in adoptingit."2 Fr. Juan Luis Segundo,S.J.: "Marxism aspiresto making the sociallie evident,and for this it elaborated a scientific, analytical instrument. Somethingthat the Christian should enjoy and be happy with is the fact that this instrument is being usedalso to manifest the

strengthof impact to the action of the leadersand great and small mentorsof the movementrangingfrom Cardinals and bishopsto pastoralagentsand simplemonitors of the GRCCs lost in the immensityof Brazil.

It is worth stressingthat liberation theology and the GrassrootsChurch Communitiesconstitutetwo movementsof one sameprocess:the theory and practiceof "popular liberation." Liberation theologyenlightensthe that Paul VI, without denyingif also warns aboutsomeexaggerations could be committed in its name." It is not easyto make the affirmation that a Pope incorporateda determinedtheologyin the Church's doctrine simply becausehe did not denyit, especiallywhen hegavewarningsagainstpossibleexaggerations in its name.But, what is important hereis that BishopLorscheiter(asalsoBishopMendesde Almeida and Bishop Padim) conteststhat liberation theology was condemned.

What it meansto admit is that it hasfree rein, not only in the Grassroots Church Communities,but in all Catholic circles.Regardingthe rest, oneneedonly to entera religiousbookstoreto seethat this is preciselywhat occursor, if you wish, to pagethrough the documentsof the CNBB.

'ideologizing' of the Church itself and of theological reflection. In this way, the Church is purified, something it always needs."3 Fr. FranciscoTaborda, S.J.: "My ideal is that which existsin the Bible, fraternity and love; but the Gospel does not give me the scientific instrument of analysis of reality. . . . The Marxist analysisof reality is an acquisition of the socialsciences."4 Luiz Alberto G6mezde Souza: "For liberation theology, there is no better theoreticalreflection today than Marxism, which is insertedin the praxis of reality."s l. "Marxismo na Teologia," in,Iornal do Brosil, 4/6/80.

2. Teologiodo Libenagdo: Pol{tica ou Profetismo? (Sio Paulo: Edig6esLoyola, 1977),p.243, 3. Summarizedby Fr. A. G. Rubio, op. cit., p, 227.

4. Jornal do Brasil, 8/24/80.

5. In Fr. RogerVekemans,S.J,, "Expansi6n mundial de la Teologia de la liberaci6n latinoamericana," in Socicllsmo y Socialismos en Amdrica Latina @ogot6: SecretariadoGeneraldel CELAM, 1977), p.276.

actionsof the GRCCsso that activitiesapparentlyeither innocuous, without seriousness,or even praiseworthy gain a new significancewhenseenunderthe light of liberation theology. Liberation theology points out the horizon toward which the GRCCs must march, and they accomplishthe program of liberation theology.

So, to form a clear idea of the true face of the Grassroots Church Communitiesand to understandtheir action in depth, it is indispensableto know, at least in generalterms,the basicprinciplesof liberationtheology.

FROM SUPERNATURALIIEDENPTION TO POLMCAL ..LIBERATIoN'' Liberation theology entirely obscures(whennot completely ignoring) the central point of the liberation accomplishedby Our Lord JesusChrist, His ransomingof the debt of mankind to the offended Divine Justice through His passionand death on the Cross. This was

The GRCCs: Liberation TheologyPut into Practice

25

a ransom that only He could pay; sincethe offense of original sin was committed againstan infinite God, the ransom could only be paid by God Himself.

Therefore, our liberation from the tyranny ofthe devil, of sin, and of eternal death-with all the consequences in the earthly social order-was a supernaturalliberation, a gratuitousgift of the Divine Mercy to which men must associatethemselvesby their good works.

Liberation theology, setting asidethe notion of ransom, transforms Redemption (ftom the Latin redempfio, ransom),into a liberation like any other, which one can achievethrough meansother than the payment of a contracteddebt. So, the role of Our Lord JesusChrist is entirely emptied of its fundamental importance. The samecan happen with the characterof the gratuity of the gift received.

For liberation theology, liberation takes on an eminently political-and not supematural-character, according

The unspeakablesulferlngs ol Our lord JEsusChrlsl ln Hls passlon and death on the Cross, lhe prlce ol our Redemptlon,aro expressed wlth the yeneratlon and lendemess of tradlllonal Chrlstlan plety In thls beautllul cruclllx, veneratedIn the headquartErsol the Brazlllan Socletylor lhe Delenceof Tradltlon,Famllyand PropertyIn S9o Paulo,

to which Christ Himself is seenmerelyasa popular leader who was killed for trying to shakeoff the yoke of the Roman Empire and the chiefs of the Synagogue.Similarly, the action of the prophets, especiallyMoses, is presentedaspolitical struggJefor freeing peoplefrom oppression.The causesof all oppressionthat dominatethe peopleuntil today, accordingto liberation theology, are political, economic,socialand religiousinequalities.Once theseinequalities are eliminated, liberation will finally be obtainedfor man. This is the real redemptionof mankind.

The Manlst concepllon adopled by llberallon theology and preva, lenl In lhe GRCGssees In the poor the true "mosslas', and ,,redeem. e/' of manklnd. Thl6 "cruclllx," prlnted by the Burlet n ol the PLC (Pastoral Land Commlsslon, llnked to the CNBB), ls enllrely ln ac. cord wlth such an ldea.

MARXISM AND CLASS STRUGGLE Having transformedthe conceptof redemption,Iiberation theology goeson to usea philosophy that is entirely

26

LIBERATION THEoLocY:

THE DOCTRINE OF THE GRASSROOTS CHURCH CoMMLJNITIES

The Myth of Marxist "Science"

Karl Marx

T IBERATION theologymaintainsthat it emanates I-r from the nature of reality to its theologicalelaboration, contraryto traditional theology,which emanates from Revelation.

However, it argues,the Gospel does not offer any scientificcriterion for the analysisof reality. Therefore, it is necessaryto find it in the socialsciences.And they concludethat the most apt scientific method for such an analysisis that offered by historicmaterialism:the Marxist analysis.

Now, to pretendthat Marxismis a science,is, in rigor of logic, an absurdity,sinceas "proofs" of the correctnessof its conclusions it presentsonly its own theoreticol premises.

On the other hand, the doctrinal fundamentalsof Marxism are not deducedin a logicalway, comingfrom

in accordwith this newconception:It is in Marxismthat it is going to find a new explanationfor the salvationof men and the strategicmeansfor achievingit. Fr. Battista Mondin, a professorat the PontificalUrbanianUniversity in Rome, comments:"The main principle[of liberation theologyl is constituted by the mystery of the liberation of mankind brought about by Christ: the hermeneutical (interpretive) principle is the Marxist philosophy of liberation. . . . And the strategy to achieve liberotion is, as proposed by Marx, class struggle."

Once the new conceptsare adopted and the strategy of classstruggleis used,who will replaceChrist as the redeemerof mankind?

THE PROLETARIAT:..MESSIAS''AND ..REDEEMER'' The responseof Marx is clear:The only elementcapa-

well-demonstratedpresuppositions,but are the mere of gratuitousaffirmationstaken asif they consequences were revealedprinciples. Now, with absurdity asa starting point everything is possible, so once one accepts theseaffirmations as valid, one can constructa whole systemwith the appearanceof logical correctness,in which sorneaffirmations serveas "proofs" and support of others.

Fr. BaldomeroOrtoneda,a SpanishJesuit,helpedby a team and oriented by specialists,sethimself to the task of analyzingfrom the point of view of philosophy and of the natural sciences,the basicprinciplesof MarxismLeninism. At the end of 700 pagesof comparisonsof the affirmations (more than 15,000of them) of some 900communistauthorswith data frombiologltt,chemistry, geology, and mathematics, as well asphilosophy, he found close to 400 scientific errors, 600 errors in reosoning,and 200philosophical enors. This totally disqualifies any system(cf. BaldomeroOrtoneda,Principios Fundamentalesdel Marxismo-Leninismo, MexicoMadrid, 1974).

As a result, the Marxist analysisof reality is nothing more than the adaptionof reality to the a priori presuppositions of historic materialism. Thus, reality is not investigatedaccording to the objectivity of the facts, but is interpretedand adaptedto prior doctrinal conclusions.

ble of savingmen from the situationof oppressionwhich they find in the classsociety,founded on private property and free enterprise,is theproletariat c/ass.According to the author of Das Kapital, the proletariat stemsfrom a systemof oppression,in which the wealth of some isthe necessaryfruit ofthe exploitation of others. Since he deniesthe legitimacy of profit, wealth can only be obtained through the robbery of the workers, the exploitation of their work by the mechanismof surplus value.

For Marx, the momentin which this class-the proletariat, impoverished,plundered,marginalized-unites and breaksthe yoke of exploitation, it will destroy the real mechanismof exploitation, the source of egoism which, accordingto him, is private property. In so doing, the proletariat will not only free itself but will liberate, redeem,the oppressorsthemselves.

The GRCCs: Liberation TheologyPut into Practice

THE "POOR'' OF GRCCS IS THE "PROLETARIAT. REDEEMER'' OF MARX Marxism considerstheproletarial to be the true "messias," as many authors have demonstrated,including the SwissDominican Fr. GeorgesM. M. Cottier and the Spanishpriest Fr. Gregorio Rodrlguez de Yurre.

Now, in the writings of the liberation theologians and in documentsemanatingfrom the GRCCs or destinedfor them, the way the "poor" (or the "people," sincein this context one is equivalentto the other) are presentedidentifies them entirely with the Marxist conception of the "proletariat," and, therefore, with the "messias" and the "redeemer"!

-How does this rotation of conceptsoccur?

Once again, by the adoption of Marxism.

Liberation theology takesthe conceptof "poor" from the Biblical significanceand reducesit to a meresociopolitical category, to an "oppressed class" proper to the Marxist analysis,according to.which societyis divided into the bourgeoisie and.theproletariat, oppressorsand oppressed.Inthis way, the "poor" of liberation theology is equivalent to the "proletariaf" of Marx.

TIIE "OPPRESSED CII\SS'': "THE PEOPLEOFGOD,'' RECEIYER OF THE GOSPELMESSAGE Another Biblical concept interpreted in the sameway to be a religiousreality, is the "people of God." It ceases being transformed into a merely sociologicalcategory, equallyunderstoodin a classicalsenseand equivalentto the proletarial (the "people," par excellencgaccording to Marx). The samehappenswith many other concepts.

It is to thepoor, understoodin this way, that the Gospel messageis destined,as can be seenin documentsof the GRCCs and writings of liberation theologians.This is, however,not in virtue of their personaldispositions of opennessto or acceptanceof this samemessage,but only becauseof their situation of "despoliation," which identifies them with the Marxist idea of the proletariat.

This "poor," tlis "people," understoodas the "oppressedclass," is purely and simply taken as being the "People of God. " That is, as the Church itself . "If you are not ofthe people, how can you be of the people of God?" asksa report for the SecondNational Congress of the GRCCS. In this way, "either liberation comesfrom the people, or there is no liberation," is the summary of the 1978 Christmas Messageof the dioceseof Goi6s.

It could not be any other way: Is it not the "people," the "poorr" the "oppressedr"the new ttmessias,"the new "redeemer," who are placedby liberation theology in the center of the mystery of salvation?

27

FrlarCarlosMeslerc le the maln ptopagandlst ol the Blbllcal rellec. tlon mothodemployed by the Grassroots Ghurch Communltles.

THE "CHURCH BORN OF TIrE PEOPLE," THE MARXIST CIITJRCII OF LIBERATION TIIEOLOGY Conferring this messianiccharacteron the poor' one can better understandthe sloganof the first two nationof the GRCCs: "a Church born of thepeoal congresses ple." lnthis context, the word "poor" or "the people" means"redeemer" of mankind, taking the placeof Our Lord JesusChrist. Consequentty,the Church, rather than beingborn from the opensideof the Savioron the Cross, is born from the suffering and the struggleof this "people/poor/redeemer," of its "liberating praxis. " This coincidesperfectly with all the presuppositionsof liberation theology, with its adoption of Marxist analysis.

The conclusion is unavoidable: the "church'that-isborn-oflhe-people," the GRCCs, is nothing more than the Marxist "church" of liberation theology.Its end can it, "to help build a only be, as Friar L. Boff expresses material can make the whose society more egalitarian possible and conmore in this world of God kingdom of the society classless is say, to seek a That to crete." utopia. communist THE LANGUAGE OF DOI]BLE MEANING How do you make Catholicsbelievethis new content of old concepts?

By using a very subtle artifice: languagewith a double meaning.

Liberation theologians,mentors of the GRCCs, and progressivistsin general employ an apparently Biblical language, full of Scriptural citations that are taken, by the lessattentivereader,in their natural and proper sense.

However, in reality, they have a camouflaged Marxist signiJicance.

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LIBERATIoNTHEoLoGy: THE DocTRINEoF THEGRAssRoorsCHURcHCoMMrJNrrrEs

It is, in large measure,by using this languagewith a double meaningthat clergymenand pastoralagentshave brought many faithful to agreewith seeminglywholesome propositionsthat are in fact revolutionary. Suchpropositions certainly would have been rejectedhad the true senseof the languagebeen understood.

The GRCCs Criticize the Holy Church and Preach an Egalitarian, Heretical, und Subversive "New-Church" ' Texts -

Relerences Books: Fr. Battista Mondin, Os Tedlogosda libertugAo(Edig6esPaulinas, 1980);Fr. A. G. Rubio, Teologia da Libertagdo: Pol{tica ou Profetismo? (Sio Paulo: Edig6esLoyola, 1977); Fr. GustavoGuti6rrez,A Theologyof Liberation (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1973);FriarLeonardoBoff, O.F.M.,,lesusChrist Liberator (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1978); idem, Teologia desdeel coutiverio (Bogotd: Indo-American PressService,1975);Friar ClodovisBoff, O.F.M., Comunidade Eclesial: ComunidadePoUfica (Petr6polis: Vozes, 1978);Fr. Alvaro Barreiro, 5,J., BasicEcclesialCommunities:TheEvangelizotion of the Poor (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1982); Fr. Gregorio Rodriguez de Yurre, EI Marxismo (Madrid: B.A.C., 1979), 2 volumes. Articles: Friar Leonardo Boff, O.F.M., "ComunidadesEclesiaisde Basee Teologiada Libertag6o," ln Convergdncio(magazineof the Conferenceof Religious of Braal), September l98l; idem, "Marxismo na Teologia," in Jornal do Brasil, 4/6/80; idem, "Igreja Povo que seLiberta," in RevistaEclisitisticaBrasileira,September1978; Fr. J. B. Libinio, S.J., "CongressoInternacionalEcumâ‚Źnico de Teologia," in RevistaEclesidsticoBrasileira, March 1980; Fr. J. Kerkhofs, S.J., "Las comunidadesde baseen la Iglesia," in Boletin Pro Mundi Zifa, Brussels,September1976;Fr. G. Deelen,SS.CC., "La Iglesiaal encuentrodel pueblo en Amdrica Latina: las comunidadesde baseen Brasil," in Boletin Pro Mundi Vita, April-Jrune1980;Fr. GeorgesCottier, O.P., "Marxisme et Messianisme,"in Ateismo e Dialogo (Bulletin of the Secretariatfor Non-Believers,Vatican City), September 1974;Maria Jos6 Sarno, "Pobre, Teologia e Libertagllo," in O Sdo Poulo, 10/2/81; Hugo Assemann, "A mem6ria dos pobres como revelagSode Deus," in O Sdo Paulo 10/4/81; " 'The Church of the Poor': Latin America's Comunidadesde Base Keep Growing," Time, 5/7/79; Movimento, l/29/79; "Natal: A Igreja volta a falar de justiga," in Jornol do Tarde, S5o Paulo, 12/25/781'Plinio Corr6a de Oliveira, "A mensagem de Puebla: notas e comentdrios," in Folha de S. Poulo, 3/ 26/79, 4/ 7/ 79, 4/ 14/ 79, 4/ 26/ 79 and5/ 19/ 79. Documents: "Documento final do CongressoInternacionalEcum6nicode Teologia" (Congress of Taboio da Serra-SP), in Revista EclesidsticaBrasileira, March 1980; "Carta aos Cristâ‚Źios que vivem e celeramsua f6 na ComunidadesCristis Popularesdos paisese regiOespobres do mundo," (Congressof Tabo6o da Serra-SP),ibid.

T HE First National Congress of the Grassroots I Church Communities(Vit6ria, 1975),speaksof the "new Church that is born of the people, principally through the grassrootsChurch communities,,' and tries to "outline its profile," to discoverits ,,future characteristics.' ' This "New-Church" is incompatible with the true Church of Our Lord JesusChrist-the Holy, Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church-which is presentedby the GRCCs and by liberation theology as an ,,oppressive" and "alienating" Church.

The following texts, taken from documentsof meetings of the GRCCs or from works and declarationsof "liberation theologians," serveto illustratethe injurious way the traditional Churchis treatedand to presentsome characteristicsof this " new-Church-that-is-born-of-thepeople."

A. CRNICISM OF THE TRADITIONAL CHURCH The "Church of Yesterday,,Was Alienating SecondNational Congressof the GRCCs (Report of the Communities of Ribeirdo Bonito and Cascalheira, prelacyof Sio Felix, Mato Grossodo Norte): ..Regarding the Church of yesterday,the peoplejudged that the priestswerethe ownersof salvation. Shers guilty of not being aware of us and for not having a better trfe. . . .

It used to be that the priests preachedthe sermon and prayed the whole rosary by themselves.They always wanted to know if the people knew their prayers. . . .

They beatthe people.They wantedto flog and subjugate them. They were rich like the profiteers and did not relate to the people.In that time, camaraderiewasbelated and the priestswerewise.The peopleweresimpletonsand the priests took advantageof the backwardnessof the people.They did not give orientation.,'l

The GRCCs:Liberation TheologyPut into Practice

29

Revolutionary Struggle to Liberate Oneself from an Alienating Religion

B. PROFILE OF THE NEW CIIURCH OFTHE GRCCS _LIBERATION TIIEOLOGY

Fr. GustavoGutidrrez: "The Latin American, by participating in his own liberation, . . . in the revolutionary strugglehe is freeing himself in one way or another from the tutelage of an alienating religion which tends to support the statusquo."2

It Is Born of the GRCCs

Ihe "Traditional Church" DoesNot Testify to the Word and Life of Jesus SecondNational Congressof the GRCCs (Messageof the Church of Goids, dioceseof Goi6s Velho): ,,In the Iight of the Gospel, the traditional Church presentsitself asa plot of land that really needsto be tilled. It continues to function, but it seemsthat something hinders it from testifuing to the word and the life of Jesus."3 It Is Separatedfrom Jesus "The trunk is JesusChrist and only him. Many want another trunk, that is, the priest or somesaint. And in the traditional Church, the priests actedin a way that favored this error."4 It Is Oppressiveand Blocks the Course of the "New-Church" Third National Congressof the GRCCs (Conclusions of the Report of the Communities of the State of Sio Paulo): "The old Church is on the side of capitatism. The dominion of the traditional Church blocks the courseof the new becauseit is very different. The traditional Church doesnot believein the people;it is afraid of the people,afraid of losing the throne. It is a dictatorial regime; everythingis decidedon top and the peoplesimply follow along."

"Signs of slavery: it is a Church that concentratesall the structureof power: political, economic,and cultural. . . . It didn't provide any option for the poor. . . . 1/ presents the reading of the Gospel as coming from the oppressor;it passesthe problemsto God (God wanus. . .; there will always be the poor . . .; the more you suffer here . . .); . . . it thinks that it is the only one capable of teachingthe truth."5 It Preachesan Alienating God Third National Congressof the GRCCx (Report of the participants of the GRCCs):"It is religion itself that exists and puts somethings in our heads.A rumor was put in peoples'headsabout God: that he is an alienatingGodl'6

First National Congressof the GRCCs (Report of the Congress):"The objective of the congresswas to outline the profile and discoverthe future characteristicsof the new Church born of the people, pincipally through the GrassrootsChurch Communities."T It Is a "Church-People" That Does Not Blindly Stare at the Gospel SecondNational Congressof the GRCCs (Messageof the Church of Goids): "Our Churchis for thosewho want and not for thosewho can." " It is of thepeople and not of money." "It is with the peopleand not on top of the people." "It is a compromisewith life and not with religion." "ft doesnot stare blindly ot the Gospelbut sees its clarity in the things of [fe." "It discernshow sin is settledin organizedsocietyand knows that it will win only with change."

"A Church that puts itself decisivelyat the serviceof the peoplegradually becomestransformed into a Churchpeople." "If yott are not of thepeople, how canyou be of the people of God?"8 A New Church, Without Religion, Without llierarchy, with Another Gospel SecondNational Congressof the GRCCs (Communities of Ribeirdo Bonito and Cascalheira,prelacy of Sdo F6lix do Araguaia): "Today the Church returns to the time of Christ. It is showingthe true Christian way. . . .

We ore hereforming a New Church." "God does not want the earth or heavenfor just a few. The profiteer, the egoist, has no place in the kingdom of God. Whoeverwantseverythingfor himself is outsidethe kingdom of God." "The glory of the Fatheris this: no one higher, no one lower." "'To leavereligion aside and head more toward faith.

To leaveour religion asideand go more toward the central message of the Gospel:Announcementof God asfather, announcementof salvation, Confront our Gospel with the gospel of the people in the phase of the OId Testoment."9 Amother Church That Undertakesto ChangeStructures: Eeonomic, Social, and Political Third National Congressof the GRCCs@eport of the Communities of the State of Sio Paulo): ',Another

30

Church lthe new-Churchof the GRCCs] is one that undertakes to change the economic, sociol, and political structures;it sustainsthe faith, which givescourageand basisfor the struggle;it reexamineshistory itself and rereadsthe Bible through the situation of the oppressedl'10 The Mission of the Church: to Organizethe Workers Third National Congressof the GRCCs(Report of the Congress):"Priests link the Churchwith the poor. . ' .

We are all reflecting about the Gospel,obout politics, and about trying to organize the workers (Goi6s)."rr The Church and the Popular Movement Just One Reali8 Congressof Taboio da Serra (Final Document): "In the people's struggle, the Church always increasingly rediscoversits identity and its own rnission.-The Christian cunent inside the popular movementand the renewal of the Church arising from its option for the poor are one unique and specificchurch movement.This church movement is forming different types of Grassroots Church Communities where the people find a place of resistance,of struggle,and hope in face of domination' There,the poor celebratetheir faith in the liberatorChrist and discoverthe political dimensionof charity."12 The Church: People at the Serviceof the People Friar Gilberto Gorgulho, O.P.: "The Church is simply a peopleat the serviceof the peoplethemselves'The presenceand pastoral action of the Church reacha pastoral dimensionthat emergesin the political field'"r3 he Function of the "New-Church": to Extinguish the Fear of Communism Fr. ErnestoCardenal(Questionof reporterPeterKlein: Doesthis meanthat the work of a Christian or of a priest of the Third World must be to transmit knowledgeof communismto the people,to take from them the fear of communism?):Cardenal:"Yes.The problem is to put an end to the fear that arises when confronted by communism; to be an elementof changeand reform; to help build socialismin Latin America until peaceis achieved and socialism established.Then, having accomplished this, we must go on to the building of a final communist 'kingdom of love.' "14 society,i.e, the founding of the The Role of the Episcopate:to Favor the Revolution Fr. Alfonso Garcia Rubio: "What doesliberation theology expect from the ecclesiasticalhierarchy? That it

"Dresslng as a guenllla, I leel as I mlght when I am vested as a prlesl," sald Blshop PedroCasald6llgawhlle pultlng on a guenllla unlform presentedto hlm durlng "SandlnlstaNlght" In 56o Paulo.

effectively separateitself from the ruling system;that it accept,in fact, in its interior, clearly revolutionary options. . . . In the great majority of the Latin American countries . . . this normally meansthe political option of the left-an option againstthe dominant System,consideredoppressiveand anti-human."15 The Sacraments:Liberating Actions and Conscientizing Celebrationsin the GRCCs Fr. Juan Luis Segundo,S.J. (summarizedby Fr. A. 'a G. Rubio): The sacramentseither constitute conscientizing celebrationand motivator of liberating action of man in history' or they contribute to the dehumanzing of man. . . . Just as in all true conscientizationthere is always a communitarian dimension, given that dialogue (no onebecomesconscientized is absolutelyindispensable nor liberates himself by himsel0, so also a liberating sacramentalpractice needs real church communities, Grassrootscommunities. " 16 Second Congress of the GRCCs (Messageof the Church of Goiis): "Baptism only makes senseif it is receivedin a community. . . . We are sorry that baptism wassquanderedall over the place. . . . We examinedthe 'Does other sacramentsand we got the sameresult. . . . it make senseto celebratethe sacramentin a society wherein capital and profit are law, which leadsto despising the persons?'. . . The Church of Goi6s resolvedto diminish the celebrationof the sacramentsto give more time and attention to evangelization."lT The New Saint the Political Militant Friar Leonardo Boff, O.F.M.: "The grassrootscomfirunities created the situation for another type of sanctity-that of the militant. More than fighting against one's passions(a permanentstruggle),it fights, politically, againstexploitation and generationof mechanismsof excludingaccumulationand in the effort of building more community and balancedrelations."lE

The GRCCs: Liberation Theology Put into Practice

"In contrastto the Christian saint-an observant,an ascetic-another type emergesin the grassrootscommunities: the militant, in solidarity with the people'sstruggles; involved worker-saintsemerge."le 1. SEDOC, November 1976' col. 565.

2. A Theologltof Liberation (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books' 1973), p. 68.

3. SEDOC, November 1976,col. 501.

4. SEDOC, col. 518.

5. SEDOC, October 1978, col. 329.

6. SEDOC, col. 433.

7, ComunidadesEclesiais de Base: uma lgreio que noscedo povo (Petr6polis:Vozes,1975)'P. ll.

8. SEDOC, November1976,col. 515, 523.

9. SEDOC, cols. 565, 567.

10. SEDOC, October 1978, col. 329. ll. SEDOC, col. 419.

12. Documento Final do CongressoEcamdnico Internacional de Teologia,nos. 20 and 21.

13. Folhetim, l/28/79, p. 6.

14. O Estado de S. Paulo, l/19/79.

15. Teolosio da Libertogdo: Pol{tica ou ProJetismo?(56o Paulo: Edig6esLoyola, 1977),p.31.

16. Ibid., p. 157.

17. SEDOC, November1976,cols.50l-502.

18. "Caracterlsticasda Igreja encarnadanas classessubalternas," in SEDOC, January-February1979,col. 841.

19. O Estado de S. Paulo,2/29/80.

The New Religion of the "I{ew-Church" : " The Bad

Thief Is God Too" Texts tTt HE mixture of modernisthereticalconceptionswith I the Marxist power-ideas of class struggle and of dominion of economy(the meansof production) over all the other activities of man, including the religious (as, liberationtheology,the doctrinethat animatesthe Grassroots Communitiesmovement),endsup beingpractically a transposition of Marxism in religiousterms. The texts that follow, extractedfrom documentsor from works and declarationsof well-known advocatesof this current of thought, presentdifferent aspectsof this new religion.

GOD: MAN. THE MARXIST INTERPRETATION OF TIIE BLESSEDTRINITY Fr. Gustavo Gutidrrez: "We find the Lord in our encounterswith men. . . . The poem of Le6n Felipe which 'Christ Che Guevaraliked so much is well known. . . .

I love you / . . . Youtaught us that manis God . . . /

3l

a poor God crucified like you / and the one who is at your left on Golgatha / thebad thief / is God too!' "r Bishop Alfonso LfipezTrujillo (referringto liberation 'Marxist Trinitarian theology): "Proofs are known of a politics' economy'soTheology,' in which the categories ciety, serveas a foundation and a manifestation of the personsof the Trinity. . . ."2 THE PASSIONOF CHRIST:PASSIONOFTIIE PEOPLE, VICTIMS OF CAPITALISM AND THE TRADITIONAL CHURCH Fr. Antonio Haddad,SSS:"But today the Churchattemptsto showsthat this death of Christ-so wept over and lamentedon Good Friday-is also the death of the people. . . the peoplethat, for survival, die in the cruelties of daily life.

"If Christ continuesto die today and the peoplealso . . . who are the assassins?

"He who supportsthe ownersof ABC [acronym for the three heavily industrializedcitiesjust outside56o Paulo, respectivelySantoAndr6, 56o Bernardo, Sdo Caetanol and does not hear the workers kills Christ and the people.

"He who wantsto maintainthe Braziliancapitalistsystem kills Christ and the PeoPle. "He who continuesdefendinga traditionalist Church out of touch with the problemsof the samepeoplekills Christ and the peoPle.. . .

"The peopleshoulddiscoverin this day of strugglefor mankind that this deathwill yet be the sourceof new life, as that of Christ was. It is the blood of the worker, of the marginslized,and of thosewho havesufferedinjustice that is going to make of this Brazilian land a country wherethosewho are the majority will take its destinyin their hands."3 Friar LeonardoBoff, O.F.M.: "For me the deathof Jesuswas human, provoked by the antagonismsof his time."4 THE DEYIL: PROFIT, CAPITALISM Fr. Juan Luis Segundo,S.J.: "When a child is baptized, the ritual prescribessomeprayersto expelthe devil from the child . . . why not teach a third possibility: calling by first and last namethis devil that you want to expel?. . . If you are dealingwith a poor child, why not say: 'Begoneuncleanspirit of capitalism.' . . . If you are 'Begonefrom this dealingwith a rich one, why not say: child, unclean spirit of Profit.' "5 Socorro Guerrero (Representativeof the Nicaraguan GRCCs in the Congressof Taboio da Serra): "Capitalism is the worst, the greatestenemy. It is what we call

32

LIBERATIONTHEOLOGY:THE DOCTRINEOF THE GRASSROOTS CHURCH COMMI.INITIES

the devilin the Bible. Because the devil, in himself,does not exist, but capitalismexists."6 ORIGINAL SIN: PRIVATE PR0PERTY Congressof Theologr of Taboio da Serra@nal Document): "The God we believein is the God of life, of liberty, and of justice. He created'the earth and everything in it' at the serviceof man and woman, so that they can live, communicatelife, and transform this earth into a home for all their children. Thesin of man thot oppropriatesthe landfor himself and assassinates his brother does not destroythe plan of God (Gen. 2:4).* "Becauseof this He calls Abraham to be the father of a people(Gen. 12ff.), and He callsMosesto free this peoplefrom oppression,to make a covenantwith Him, and to lead them to the promisedland @xodus,Deuteronomy)."7 ACTUAL SIN: CAPITALISM Messageto the GrassrootsCommunities(Congressof Theology of Taboio da Serra): "Let us organizea common struggleto take the sin from the world, the great socialsin of the capitalistsystemthat kills the life of so many brothers."8 Third National Congressof the GRCCs(Conclusions): "All this oppressionthat falls upon us hasits root in sin: ...This greatsin is presentlysocialand is calledthe capitalist system."e REDEMPTION:SOCIOPOLITICALLIBERATION Fr. GustavoGutidrrez: "Sin demandsa radical liberation, but this necessarily includespolitical liberationl'r0 * The cited passageof the final documentof the Congressof Tabo6o da Serraintendsto presenta summaryof the history ol creation, of the breakingof the covenantbetweenGod and man by original sin, and the renewalofthis covenantthrough Abraham and Moses.Now, the only referenceto the sin that broke the covenantbetweenGod and man is in the words, "the sin of man that appropriatesthe land for himself and assassinates his brother." The phrasethat ,,assassinates his brother" can only refer to the deathof Abel at the handsof Cain. as relatedin Genesis.However, the fratricide committed by Cain occurred after original sin. It cannot, therefore,be relatedwith it. Furthermore, it was sparkedby hatred and, in the text of the liberation theologians,has nothing to do with the antecedent,the ,.appropriation of land." Therefore,the sin of man, original sin, can only be understoodas being the "appropriation of the land.,' Now, chapters2 and 4 of the book of Genesisnarratethe creationof man, the original fall, the fruit of disobedience to God, and the murder of Abel by Cain.

Not one word is saidabout the "sin of the appropriation ofthe land."

Thosewho considerthe "appropriationofthe land,, asa kind of.,original sin" are the communists,who say that ,.primitive communism" ended becauseof the appropriation of the means of production (representedprincipally by land) and that the classsocietythus came about.

A Self-manogingChurch, in a Self-manugingSociety rp HERE is unity of thought in the Revolution: I propagated in the state, it filters into the Church; and propagatedin the Church, it filters into the state.

Fr. Dominique Barb6 showsthe intimate connection that existsbetweenthe implantation of selfmanagementin society and in the Church: ,,It is somethingstrangeand contradictoryto requestfor civil societyautonomy,self-management, democracy, socialization,evenpower,and, at the sametime, not let the GRCCs be autonomous, to manage themselves,even in that relating to its eucharistic life" ("The EucharisticMinistry and the Grassroots ChurchCommunities,"in O Sdopaulo,2/ZO/gl, p. 4).

The GRCCs do not desire,therefore, to reform just the stateand the political structurebut alsothe socialand evenreligiousstructuresaccordingto its ideal of radicalegalitarianism.A reform, therefore, of the Church and of civil society,both united, to createa newworld, a "Kingdom of God', that identifies itself with the classlessand the ,,selfmanaged"societyof the final stageof communism.

FhiarLeonardoBoff, O.EM.: .,salvationis an englobing concept.It is not restrictedto socioeconomicand political liberatioru,but it is alsonot realizedwithout them.',ll Fr. Alfonso Garcia Rubio: ..In the Latin American context [the liberation theologians]attribute to the revolutionary tendenciesan importanceprior to political liberation. In this the Christian lives the love of God and of neighbor,. . . engagtnghimselfcourageouslyin the liberating praxis until giving his life for the others.',l2 MORALITY: GOODIS HE WHO FAVORSREVOLUTION Fr. RonaldoMufioz, SS.CC.:,,I think that asChristians we can accept,in general,the Marxist conceptionthat he is ethically good who in the revolutionary praxis shows himself efficient for the causeof the proletariat.,'13 THE SOCIALIST.COMMUNISTPROGRAM: REALIZATIoN oF TIIE CHRISTIAN UToPIA Friar Leonardo Boff, O.F.M.: ..What theologycould say is that the socialist-communist program favors the

33

The Inequality of Classes T HE teachingof the traditional Magisteriumof the I Church regarding the diversity of classesis expressedin a clear and unequivocalway in a passageof Pope BenedictXV: "Those who occupyinferior positions, either of society or fortune, should be well convinced that the diversityof classesin societyspringsfrom nature itself, and that they should find it, in final analysis,in the will of God: 'for he madethe little and the great' (Wisdom 6:8), for the greater good of individuals and of society. Thesehumble personsshould be thoroughly convincedwith this truth: Whateverbe the betterment they obtain for their situation, as much by their personalefforts aswith the cooperationof good men, there will alwaysremain with them, as with the rest of men, a heavyinheritanceof sufferings. If they havethis exact vision of reality, they will not exhaustthemselves in uselessefforts to raise themselvesto a level beyond their capacities,and they will support the inevitable evilswith the resignationand the couragethat the hope of eternal things gives" (Benedict XV, So/itl Nos, March ll, 1920,to the bishop of Bergamo,Les EnseignementsPontiJicaux: La Paix IntCrieure des Nations, by the Monks of Solesmes,Descl6e& Cie, pp.

293-294).

faith with more possibilitiesthan capitalism for realizing the Christian utopia regardingman and society."t+ THE KINGDOM OF GON: INSTELLATION OF THE FINAL STAGEOF COMMUNISM Fr. Pablo Richard: "For us, with the triumph of the popular forces,the peopleof Nicaraguafind themselves now closerto the Kingdom of God."l5 Friar Betto and Fr. Pablo Richard: "Many theologians insistedon the integration betweenscienceand faith, and both Pablo Richard and Friar Betto-one a theologian, the other a pastoralagent-affirm that socialism'is only one stageof the Kingdom of God.' "16 Fr. Ernesto Cardenal(Sandinistaleaderand Minister of Culture of Nicaraguain the Ortega regime): "In one of my versesI oncewrote the following line: 'communism and kingdom of God on earth meanthe samething.' By

Proceedsfrom the Will of God

Pope BenedlclXV (1914.1922)

this I wanted to say that the communism and the state of the 'final communist society' that has not yet come to passin any part of the world (sincepresentlywe are still in the constructionphaseof socialism)that this future communist societywill itself be the 'Kingdom of God on Earth.' "17 "Communism, according to Marx, is the society in which therewill be no egoism,nor injustice of any kind.

It is the sameasthat which Christiansunderstandby the kingdom of God on Earth."18 l. A Theologyof Liberotion (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1973), pp. 201 and 2ll.

2. Teologio Liberadoro en Amdrbo Lotina (Bogot4: Ediciones Paulinas, 1974),p. 105.

3. O Sdo Paulo, 4/6/79, p. 4.

4. Cited by Friar Betto, Didrio dePueblo (Crrhzzâ‚Źro Brasileira, 1979), p. 60.

5. From Bishop Alfonso L6pez Trujillo, p. 79.

34

CHURCH COMMUNITIES LTBERATIoNTHEOLocy: THE DOCTRINEOF THE GRASSROOTS

6. Catolicismo, July-August 1980,p. 20. ?. "Documento Final do congressoInternacional Ecumâ‚Źnico de Brasileira,March 1980'p. 156.

Teologia," no.29, in RevistaEclesitistica 8. i'Carta aos Cristdos que vivem e celebram a sua f6 nas ComunidadesCristis Popularesdos paisese regi6espobresdo mundo," in RevistaEclesidsticoBrasileira, March 1980,p. 168' 9. "3.o Encontro Intereclesialdas ComunidadesEclesiaisde Base: Igreja Povo que seLiberta," in RevistaEclesitisticaBrasileira,September 1978,p. 510;SEDOC, October 1978,cols. 447-448.

10. From Fr. Alfonso Garcia Rubio, Teologiada Libertagdo:Polf'

tica ou Profetismo? (Sdo Paulo: Edig6es Loyola' 1977), p. 135.

I I. "Que 6 fazer Teologia partindo de uma Amdrica Latina em cativeiro?" in RevistaEclesidsticaBrasileira, December1975' p. 863.

12. Rubio,p. 213.

13. From Lopez Trujillo, p. 31.

14. "Marxismo na Teologia," in Jornal do Brasil, 4/6/80. | 5. Movimento, 2/ 25/ 80.

16.Movimento,3/3/80.

17. O Estado de S. Paulo, l/17/79.

18. Movimento, 8/6/79.

Archbishop Jos6 Maria Piresn a GRCCMovementLeader, Proclaims Prostitutiona Real Service of God!

rF HE 56o Paulo archdiocesanweekly demonstratesto I what extremesliberation theology can lead with its "messianic" conceptionof the figure of the "poor." In a featurearticletitled "A Meetingwith the Marginalized 'Woman," the newspaper(which is under the direction of Auxiliary Bishop Ang6lico Sindalo Bernardino) describesthe work of the dioceseof Juazeiro(in the state of Bahia) with the prostitutesof the city. The report states: "The school Senhordo Bonfim has as its first objective elevation of the prostitutes, making them feel like 'people,' daughtersof God, and renderingthem professionally capable.. . . The method of working with these women is to help them discovertheir values,creating a critical conscienceso they can perceivehow they are victims of exploitation. . . . One of the primary tools of the same [dioceseof Juazeiro] are the GrassrootsChurch Communities.Visits weremadeto recruit and invite them for weeklymeetingsin the School. It was envisioned,in the long run, that they would receiveformation in the GRCCs and have pleasantafternoons."

It is becausethey considerthem "exploited," "marginalized" and, therefote, "poor," that the Communities, in accordancewith liberation theology, began to work with women of ill repute. This becomesclearerin anotherreport of the sameweeklycoveringsimilar work in the Sabradinholocality, alsoin the dioceseof Juazeiro.

The newspaperof Cardinal Arns concludeswith this second report: "In this way the community of Sobradinho is discoveringthe immense'evangelizingpotential of the poor, while thesequestion[the Church] constantly,calling her to conversion' " (Puebla, lL47).

Along with this report, the newspaperpublisheda study

by Fr. Hugues d'Ans, of Lins, titled "'Ihe! Will Precede Us in the Kingdom of God. " Init, he affirms: "We now understandbetter why "/esasplacesprostitutes in theftrst

ploce in the Kingdom of God: in fact, contrary to what is generallythought, they are not 'women of easylife' but, indeed,poor (in all the sensesof the term), oppressed and exploited," As such,he representsthem as "the face of the suffering Christ, the Lord that questionsand interrogates" (Puebla,3l).

If the womenwho exercisethe infamousprofessionare so uniquely "poor" and not public sinners, why not, therefore, form GRCCs with them and admit them into the already existing Communities?r On the other hand, as the "poor-redeemer,"as conceivedby liberation theology,public women havea messianic role, a religious mission.

- What kind of role, what kind of missionwould this be?

Archbishop JosdMaria Piresof Jo6o Pessoa,a leader of the movementof the GrassrootsChurch Communities, answersthesequestionsin a way that leaveslittle of the Marxdoubt asto what aberrationsthe acceptance ist presuppositionsof liberation theology can lead.

His affirmations are so shocking that it is necessary to read his own words. Commentingin an interviewwith W. J. Solha on the novel Mutirdo para matar (Killing Raid), written by a certain Barreto, his friend, the archbishopsays:"There is agoodpart in the book. It is when he tells how a prostitute was well regardedin her small town despiteher profession. This was so becausesince her arrival in the little city, none of the husbandsbeat their wivesor molestedthe girls. However, one day this woman died and everything returned to the l. There are strong indications of the formation of GRCCs with prostitutes,or at least of their active participation in the Communities, in severalother placesas, for example,Lins (Sio Paulo), Rio Branco (Acre), and Taud (dioceseof Cratefs, Ceard).

35

CHURCH COMMLJNITIES LIBERATIONTIIEoLOGY: 'fHE DOCTRINEOF THE GRASSROOTS

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TheChurchneYerlgnoredthe problamol proslltutlon.However,lt a!' waystrledto resolie lt by removlngthe unlortunalâ‚Źwomanfromthe mlserablecondlllonlntowhlchshehadallowedhercelfto bedragged.

Pellellerfound' Followtngsucha nobletradltlon,SalntMaryEuphrasla ed the SEtersof lhe GoodShepherdwhosegoal wasto help repen' tant slnnerswho deslredlo changethelrllvesandto protectforsaken glrls and youngwomenfrom thls lype of danger.

Theworkof ihe Slslersof the GoodShepherd'foundedIn France

way it was before. . . . There was, however,in the same town, a girl from a good family who was about to becomea nun. Everythingappearedto be going well. When she . . . perceivedthe drama taking placein her community, . . . she askedherself:wouldn't I servethe Lord better if I took the place of the harlot? Facedwith this predicament,shewent to her father who simply advised her: 'My daughter: in the conventyou will be seming Our Lord and, at the sametime, you will be in a tranquil place with your hours of repose.There[in the brothel], no: you will be Christ himself!' Shechoseprostitution," concluded the archbishop of Paraiba!

The reporter askedif the story was true. Archbishop Pires respondedthat it wasn't. The real fact, which he had told the novelist,concerneda prostitute about to die who was attendedby a bishop. He insistedthat she tell

ln the last csntury, spread all ovsr lho world. The photographs show the young Salnt Mary Euphraslabelore enterlng tho convonl and lhon at tho end ol her llfe: an austereand laborlousllfe, entlrely consecraled lo resolvlng lhe problem of lmpurlty In lts extreme lorm, proslltutlon.

Much more than the course ol llme, the compler and absorblng duly lranslormed the young woman, dch In lhe beauty of her fealuros and ot her soul, Into lhe venerableelderly woman dlgnlfled by tldell. ly In her subllmE Yocallon.

"the good actions" shehad done. Finally, the infamous womantold him: "I don't know. . . . Maybe Jesusmight consider . . . I am even ashamedof saying it . . . but every Christmas I went to the prison and . . . gave my body . . . to thoseprisonerswho had the longestsentences to serve,those who most neededa woman. . . ."

The journalist commentedthat the real fact wasmuch better than the imagined. Archbishop Jos6Maria Pires confirmed: "Of course! And it has a new connotation, and a clearone, of the tiue senseof the serviceof God! " In this declaration it is necessaryto emphasizetwo points. First, that the archbishop of Joio Pessoa,on qualifying as "good" this excerptofthe novel, concurs with the statementof the supposedfather of the family that a young woman "in the convent is serving Our Lord," yet in the brothel "will be Christ himself." Sec-

Archbishop JosdMaria Pires Proclaims Prostitution a Real Semiceof God!

ondly, he afflrms, in an unequivocalway, that prostitution "has a new connotation,and a clearone, ofthe true senseof the serviceof God." That is, he believesthat prostitution, or at leasta certain form of prostitution, constitutesa true "service of God." It is as much as saying that it is sacred.

From this perspective,one understandsthe remarks of a nun who works with prostitutes as related by Friar Clodovis Boff in his book about the GRCCs of Acre: "The prostitutesbrought me a lot of religious and human richness.Many are examplesfor me. They evenlive better than I, a religious. . . . There is one who always prays the Creed before sleepingwith a man."

Suchwords are scandalous,and all the more so coming from the lips of a bride of Christ. They, however, make sensein view of the religious conceptof prostitution proclaimed by the archbishop of Paralba, which seemsto confer an offertory character on the sinful act itself: "There is one who alwaysprays the Creedbefore sleepingwith a man."

So, the sloganof a group of prostituteswho took part

37

in a liturgy presided over by the bishop of Acre and Purus and Bishop Moacir Grechi at the closing of a theology course administered by Friar Clodovis Boff to priests, pastoral agents, and leaders of the GRCCs should not be considered strange: "The last in society and the first in the Kingdom of God." References Te6filo Celso Da Silva, Relatdrio de umo visita ds cidades de Lins, Miranddpolis e Aragatuba-SP,56o Paulo, I 98l, p. I ; Fr. Hugues d'Ans and Iolanda Toshie Ide, "As prostitutas vos precederio no Reino de Deus," in Vida Pastoral, May-June 1981,pp. 7-12;Fr. Huguesd'Ans, "Elas nos precederiiono Reino de Deus," in O SdoPaulo, 6/L9/81, p. 4; "Pastoral em vez de viol6ncia," O Sdo Poulo, 6/19/81; "Um encontro da mulher marginalizada," O Sdo Paulo, l/22/82, p. 5; "Dom Jos6-di6logo com W. J. Solha," Correioda Paralba,7/18/78, p. 5; Friar Clodovis Boff, O.F.M., Deus e o homem no inferno verde: Quatro mesesde convivdncio com as CEBs do Acre (Petr6polis:Vozes, 1980),p. l17; Friar Clodovis Boff, "A Igreja, o Poder e o Povo (Relat6rio de um Curso de Teologia)," in RevistaEclesidstico Brasileira, March 1980, p. 47.

CH,IpTER III

The GRCCsin Actiontn the Countryside, in the Suburbs, in the Factories a

T Illanipulating Wordsand Concepts in Order to Justily Plunder and Violence

Inversely,anyonewho holds proprietorshipover land, but doesnot cultivate it directly or live exclusivelyfrom it, is considereda usurper, even if he is verifiably the legitimate owner. Thus, these persons are given the pejorativelabelsof "land grabbers," "profiteers," and others. And their employersare often smearedas "assasslrsr" "gunmenr" "henchmen."

This is exactlywhat was accomplishedby the authors of a CNBB study tendentiouslytitled Land Postoral: Possessionsand Conflicls, carried out under the responsibility of the Bishops' Pastoral Commission,which is subordinate to the Pastoral Land Commission. In presentinga picture of land conflicts in the Amazon region, the aforementionedstudycompletelyinvertsthe positions, qualifying as "invaders" of the "lands of the possessors"the proprietors, and the contractors, along with so-calledland grabbers(individualswho try to take over neighboringland usingfalsetitles or other dishonest means).That is to say, it transformsthe proprietors and contractorsinto plunderers,subject to the penaltiesof the law!

Having madethis subversionof concepts,the road is open for every type of violence: not everythingthat is legal (e.g., the title of proprietor) is legitimate,proclaim the pastoral agentsand leadersof the GRCCs. It is already apparentthat this affects not only the very large proprietors and superJargerural enterprises(generbut alsothe ally agriculturalor cattle-raisingbusinesses), visualizaThis farmers. small and even large, medium, property well as as the right of very the tion contests work not those of and are titles that of other legitimacy "precision."

It is no wondet, then, thereshouldbe suchaberrations asthe so-calledgrab thefarmer operations andthe raids spoken of further on. against the assassins

pastoral agentswho are active in the countryT HE I sideapplythe labelof "possessor"toeveryperson linked to the rural GRCCs. In so doing, they placethese individuals in conflict with the landowners,farming and cattle-raisingcompanies,public organs, and so on.

However, a "possessor" in our extremely complex agrarianlegislationis a legally defined categorywith defined and fixed rights and duties. By grving sucha qualification to eachand everyworker in litigation, the GRCCs are very often coveringwith the protectivemantle of the law not only true possessors,but also simple land invaders.The former, if they are of good faith, certainly merit the understandingof rural proprietors aswell asthat of the authorities.As for the latter, merelycalling themselvespossessorsdoesnot changethe fact that they are really invadersnor grant them any rights. Regardingthe land invadersof bad faith, they subjectthemselvesto the penaltiesprovided by the law for the crime of unlawful possession:They arg in reality, nothing but plunderers.

It is easyto seehow the pastoral agents,leaders,and advisersof the GRCCs, by meansof conscientization, manageto makethesesimplepeoplebelievethat they are, in fact, possessors,(holders,therefore, of certainrights) when,in reality, they themselvesoften do not know what their real legal situation is; in many cases,they know quite well that it is untenable.

As a pretext, the pastoral agentscreateda new figure -the"migrant."To this figure, they juxtaposeanother also recentlycreatedfigure which completesit and almost definesit: the "needy." So, the following relation is established:migrant : needy : possâ‚Źssor.That is to say: everymigrant, simply becausehe is a migrant, is one of the needy.Sincethis is the only legitimatetitle necessary for the possessionof land, eachone of the needyis immediately transformed into a possessor.

4L

42

TgB GRCCS IN ACTION_IN

THE COUNTRYSIDE, IN THE SUBURBS, IN THE FACTORIES

This completesubversionof the juridical order logically brings into questionthe juridical decisionsfavoring proprietorship and resistanceto action of the police chargedwith carrying out suchdecisions.This hasgiven rise to a systematic discrediting of the iudiciary power and the police who are always presented as being allied with the "land grabbers." This only servesto aggravate the land conflicts.

Characteristicof this is the following passagefrom the report of the rural GRCC of Maranhio: "The land grabbersdestroyedsomeof the fields here; we soughtout the Secretaryof Security,but he did nothing. The land grabberscontinueddestroyingthe fields.

When the policecame,it was to arrestsomeof us. The police and thejudges are always on the side of the landgrabbers.At our meetings,the peoplereflect on all this. do not have land deeds.The land grabThe possessors bers senthired thugsinto our lands and they devastated soughttheir rights, receiving our fields.The possessors support from the Union and the PLC (PastoralLand Commission).The authoritiesdid nothing. Then we resolvedto tear down the fencesthe land grabbershad made.Now they are making prisons,but the peopleare united. Thejudge here orders thepolice to orrest theposses.sors and defend the land grabbers."

Also symptomaticis the following instruction contained in a pamphlet from the Human Rights Defense Centerof the SecondNortheastRegionalof the CNBB, presentedby Bishop Helder Cdmara:"That is to say, to seekout the judge is a correctand legalroute. But it so thereis great happensthat in theseareasof the possessors, difficulty in finding a judge. It is notiust a matterof find' ing any judge. It is necessarythat the iudge be a person free to judge, who is on the side of the workers."

- Classjustice?

Here he castssuspicionover the integrity of the judges in a generalway: The magistratewho is not "on the side of the workers" is not a "person free to judge."

One frequentlyfinds in documentsof the GRCCsthe veiledor explicit accusationof systematicpartiality of the and the police.In the final conclusionof the magistrates SecondNational Meeting of GrassrootsCommunities (Vitoria, 1976),itwasaffirmed: "The largelandowners and evengovernmentalorganizationstry to expelthe possessors and smallproprietorsso they can take overtheir lands. . . . In this struggle,the large[landowners]always

have the support of the authorities and the police while the poor merit nothing nor have the right to anything.

They are treated worse than dogs."

The Pastoral Land Commission Bulletin emphasizes: "The rich who alwayswant more land, just as they alwayswant more money, makeeverykind of oppression: threats and direct violence,often even killing or ordering killings. Yet they are alwaysunhampered,acquitted, free, and protected.The day, however,that the Indians, possessors,or other workers get fed up and see that it is aselessto oppealfor justice-because nothing and no one in fact will champion or defend their rightand they staft to react directly and equally, confronting their aggressors(at times even wounding or killing, as a last resort, their violent competitors,who are not infrequently accompaniedby police officers). Then, yes, the authoritiesseemready and willing to put down the insurgents, to arrest the violent assassins,to disarm everyone(except the aggressors),to mete out punishments. . .tt If the judge and the police chief "are always on the side of the land grabbers," what elsecan be done?

It is obvious that the purposehere is not to deny the abuses,injustices,and evenviolencepracticedby land grabbers, proprietors, or even the authorities against workers. At the moment, however,suchis the campaign being carried out by the leftist clergyand by the GRCCs (with widespreadcoverageon the part of the pressat large) againstthe institution of private propefty, that it is not necessaryto dwell upon this aspectof the question. This is especiallyso sincethe object of this study is not the totality of Brazil's rural or urban situation, but only the activity of the GRCCs as an agent of tension and disruption of order and harmony.

References Pastorolda Terra-2: CNBB- Bishops'PastoralCommission, possee conflilos,Studiesof theCNBB-I3(56oPaulo:Edig6es pp. 232ff .; CNBB- Northeast Paulinas, 1976), ll, Reforma Agrdria: Tera para quemtrabalhanq terro (56oPaulo:Edig6esPaulinas, 1979),p. 52;SEDOC,October1978,col.416; SEDOC,October1976,col.44l;BoletimdoComissdo Pastoral da Terro,September-October 1977,p.2, editorial.

Pastoral hnd Commission" tEWeAre the Church in the Rural Milieu Organized into Grassroots Communities"

ing to Bishop Moacir Grechi, presidentofthe entity, are almost all members, and even monitors or coordinators, of the GrassrootsChurch Communities. Indeed, the Pastoral Land Commissiondefined itself at its Second National Assembly thus "VIle are the Church in the rural milieu, organized in theform of GrassBlshopMoaclrGrechl roots Church Communities, from which sprouted the PLC groups."

It was, therefore, the GRCCs that provided the Pastoral Land Commission with its grassrootselements, through which the work of the PLC could reachthe most remotecornersof the Brazilian rural world. On the other hand, the PLC (as an ecclesialorganizationlinked to the CNBB) provideda coverfor all the agitationpromoted in the countrysideby the pastoral agentsand membersof the GrassrootsCommunities,coveringthem with the protective mantle of invulnerability that it enjoys itself.

FOUNDING AND STRUCTUREOF THE PLC The principal agentthat organizes,conscientizesand nslilizes the rural workers,usingthe GrassrootsChurch Communities,is the PastoralLand Commission(PLC).

In 1975the National Conferenceof Brazilian Bishops and the Pontifical Commissionof Justiceand Peace@razilian section)sponsoreda conferencein Goi6nia where an unofficial organismof the episcopatewasestablished with the specialpurposeof dealingwith matters related to property possessionand land use. This was the Pastoral Land Commission (PLC), linked to the Bishops' Pastoral Commission.

The Commission'sstated objectivesare: a) To promote the "global process of land reform in our country"; b) To promote rural labor movements; c) "To organizejudicial assistance for all that pertains to problems of the land and the rural workers"; d) "To promote campaignsof conscientizationfor the rural workers and pastoral agents"; e) To promote the institution of an Agrarian Court.

The PLC is organizedon a national level under the presidencyand vice-presidencyof membersof the episcopate (at time of this writing, Bishop Moacir Grechi, of Acre and Purus,and BishopPedroCasaldtliga,of Sio Fdlix of Araguaia). On the regional level, it is managed by the RegionalSecretariatsof the CNBB. Organizational structuresalso exist on the diocesanand parish levelsand even in the GrassrootsCommunities.

As one can see,it is a vast network.

On its various levels,bishops, priests, nuns, lay pastoral agentsof both sexes,assistants(awyers, agriculturists, sociologists,anthropologists,economists),aswell aslaborers,makeup part of the PLC. The latter, accord-

PROGRAMOF TIIE PLC: "THE LAND BELONGS TO THE ONE WHO WORKSIT'' As for the programpromulgatedby the PLC, oneneed only considersomeof the conclusionsof the aforementioned SecondNational Assembly: "Comrades, . . . we havedecidedto support the workers . . . 1) In the struggle for lond reform, becausewe believethat the land belongs to the one who works and lives on it; .. . 3) In the right of the rural workers who do not have land, including those who were expelledfrom the land, to take

43

M

TgE GRCCS IN ACTION_IN

THE COUNTRYSIDE, IN THE SUBURBS, IN TI{E FACTORIES

possessionof uncultivated productive oreos of the large Iandownersand public lands. . . . We appealto all the women in the rural area, for them to participate in the grassrootsorganizationsand land struggles,putting an end to the machismo and oppression[they experience] within their own families."

If "the land belongsto the one who lives and works on it," then the proprietor who doesnot cultivatethe soil with his own hands and does not live on it, is nothing more than an usurper,and this "stolen" land should be "liberated." An editorial in a PLC bulletin proclaims: 'worker passover':the struggle to liber' "This is our ate the land! . . . The land, free from fencesand the greed of the rich."

The Worker Calendar for 1979, published by the samePLC, is categorical:"Fencesstealthe land from

the people. . . . When will the last day of all the fences dawn?"

It is for this reasonthat they are considered"damned": "Damned be all fences!

"Damned be all "Private property!"

Here, neatly summedup in theseversesof Pedro Casald6liga, bishop of 56o F6lix do Araguaia and vice-president Blshop PedroCasad6llga of the Pastoral Land Commission,is the whole program that inspiresthe rural agitation effectedby pastoral agentsand militants of GRCCs throughout Brazil.

"Land Procession" in Rio Grande do Sul: "That's Enough! This Land Has an Owner!" f N February of 1980, the Most ReverendMoacir I Grechi, bishop of Acre and Purus and national president of the Pastoral Land Commission,headedthe third "Land Procession,"which took placein Tiaraju, eight miles from 56o Gabriel in Rio Grande do Sul. The choice of the locality was not by chance:The Indian Sep6Tiaraju, "Saint Sep6," died here in the strugele against the white settlers in the eighteenth century.

The themeof this singular"procession" followed the "party line." Speakersappearedone after another all day long on the "Peoples' Tribunal," manifestingtheir disposition to "fight for the land that is being stolen by the big landowners."

By his presence,Bishop Grechi wantedto encourage this struggle.

The Way of the Cross was performed.

Way of the Cross?

There was, in fact, a man on foot carrying a cross and making regular stops for mediation (the "stations"). They did not, however,contemplateVeronica wiprng the face of the Savior, the Cyreneanhelping Him to carry the Cross, and much lessthe meeting of the BlessedVirgin Mary with her Divine Son. 'station' of this Way of the Cross," relates "Each a morning newspaperfrom Rio Grandedo Sul, "is dedicatedto a contemporarytheme, e.g., the exodus,lack of medical assistance,price gouging, union bullying."

The songswere equally "pious": "We will Jight/ to occupy our land/ The land belongs to the one who works it/ History does not faill we are going to win./ There has alreadybeenso much hope/ there has already been so much suffering/ The struggle will be so difficult/ By law or by force/ we are gotngto win./ If people die in this stntggle/ the blood will be a seed/ History does not fail/ we are going to win."

"By law or by force"" "if pebple die in this struggle," "the blood will be a seed." Theseversesprovide food for thought, above all when sung on the site of a land conflict betweenIndians and whites 200 years ago.

There is more. Bishop Grechi suggestedthat the phrase, "Thot's enough! This land hos en owner!" attributed to the Guarani leader,should serveas the slogan for all those who confront the "new invaders."

It hasaheadybeenshownwho these"invaders" are.

According to a CNBB study with a prefaceby the same Bishop Grechi, the PLC considersonly him n'whoworks and liveson the land" asits "owner." "That's enough, you proprietorst This land has an owner!" This seems to be the war cry suggestedby the prelateto the "possessors"from all over the country for confronting the holders of the property titles of the land.

References: FolhadeManhd,PortoAlegre,2/21/80,znd Jornal do Erasil, 2/27/80.

PLC: "The Church in the Rural Milieu Organizedinto GrassrootsCommunities"

45

References CNBB, Pastoral da terra, CNBB Studies-ll (S5o Paulo: Edig6esPaulinas, 1976),p. 24; CNBB, ComunidadesEclesiais de Baseno Brasil, CNBB Studies-23(S5oPaulo: Edig6esPaulinas, 1979), p. 50; PLC, Calenddrio do Lavrador-|979; Friar Betto, O que 4 Comunidade Eclesial de Base(56o Paulo: Brasiliense,l98l), p. 26; Bishop Pedro Casalddliga,"Tierra nuestra,libertad," in Plinio Corr6a de Oliveira, A lgrega ante a escaladadq qmeagqcomunista: Apelo aos Bispos silenciosos (56o Paulo: Editora Vera Cruz, D7A, p. 13; O Sdo Paulo, 4/29/80 and 10/5/79; SEDOC, May 1978,cols. 1009-1011; Dirce Carvalho, "Pastoral da Terra em defesado trabalhador rural," ir Famflio Cristd, May 1980,p. 5, Boletim da Comissdo Postoral da Terra, November-December 1977, p. 3 and March-April, 1979,pp. l-2; Didrio de Pernambuco, l/5/79.

ThePLC PreachesYiolence in Prose and Yerse There has been great struggle, much blood shed; either one enters the battle, or the ground is taken; either the possessorsrisk their lives, or lose the whole piece.

(Bulletin of the Pastoral Land Commission, June-August, 1977,p. 9).

AlagamaruTheory and Practice of Social Tension

tain the lands to implant on them a nucleusof colonizationand land reform. This did not occur and the lands were sold to ten different people.When the new owners wantedto make useof them, planting caneand herding cattle, conflicts began.

"It wasthen that the peopleof Alagamar had contact with the movement of Non-Violence. They learned to unite and organizethemselvesaround their rights," commented O Sdo Paulo, the weekly of the archdioceseof 56o Paulo.

In addition to the contact with the "Non-Violence" movement(that is, with Archbishop Pires himself, one of its leaders),the peopleof Alagamar also beganto receiveorientation from the Centerof Defenseof Human Rights of the archdioceseof Paraiba. As has been stated, this Centerwasorganizedand directed,sincethe end of 1977,by Vanderlei Caixe, a convicted terrorist.

It is not appropriate here to discussthe merit of the pending dispute betweenthe peasantsof Alagamar and the new landowners.However,evenabstractingfrom the merit of such a question, it is not difficult to perceive, that ofthe factsand the pronouncements, by the sequence the archbishop, directly or through the pastoral agents and the GrassrootsChurch Communities,gavea subversive slant to the action in favor of the occupants of Alagamar.

A LAGAMAR, in Paraiba, offers a characteristicex11, ample of how the GrassrootsCommunities act in land conflictsto createan"areaof socialtension," with the intention of confiscation.

A "BURNING'' EXAMPLE OF THE ACTION OF THE GRCCS In a conferencedealing with the GrassrootsCommunities held on February 29, 1980,in the theater of the CatholicUniversity,ArchbishopJosdMaria Pires,said at a certainpoint: "If thereis time, I would now like to presentan examplethat would have a little more heat.

It is the situation of somecommunities,especiallythe community of Alagamar."

ArchbishopPiresand his then Auxiliary BishopMarcelo Carvalheira (both national leadersof the movement of the GrassrootsChurch Communities)had presented this "burning" exampleas a model for the GRCCs of the archdioceseof Jodo Pessoain a pastoralletter of February 12, 1978.They orderedit to be read "in the first meetingsof the GrassrootsCommunities and the Groups of Reflection."

The "Alagamar case" could be summarizedin a few words. About 450 peasantfamilies lived on the lands of Mr. Arnaldo Maroja, paylnghim annualrent. In November of 1975,this landownerdied without heirs.However, he left a will establishingthat his lands (about 32'000 acres)be sold and the sum divided among forty-two indicatedpersons.

DESTROYINGFENCES,UPROOTINGCANE, SEIZING THE RANCHERS,CATTLE: SOME EXAMPLES OF "NON.VIOLENT ACTION'' In the cited pastoral letter, Archbishop Pires and Bishop Marcelo Carvalheirawrote: "When the difficulties began,[the peasants]alwayslooked for the classorganizations,that is, the labor union and the federation.

THE PASTORALAGENTS MAKE A CASE Interfering in the question, the pastoral agentsworking in the region put pressureon the governmentto ob46

Algamar:

Theory and Practice of Social Tension

They never resorted to violence. They tried to act within the law and to meet with the authorities."

Contradictorily, they immediately add:-"They pulled up the fences made during their tenures. They coralled and seizedthe roaming cattle that devoured their plantings. They cametogetherin o great number (about 300) to pull up the caneunduly planted. They gaveall possible assistanceto the eight companionswho were arrested by judicial order or detainedby order of the National Security."

If pulling down fences,corralling and seizingthe owners' cattle, and uprooting caneplanted by the ownersof the land do not constitute objectively violent means,then the words have no meaning.

Onepoint shouldbe stressed:The archbishopof Joio Pessoaand his auxiliary bishop ordered that the document relating suchattitudesbe read "in the first meeting of the GrassrootsCommunitiesand the Groups of Reflection." Is this not equivalentto giving an order to such communitiesand gloups to proceedin the sameway when a casepresentsitself?

WHO IS THE AGGRESSOR:THE OWNER OF THE LAND WIIO PLANTS CANE. OR THE ONE WHO PULLS IT UP? ArchbishopPiresand BishopCarvalheiraraisethe following question: "Who has more right to keep those lands? The 446 families (700 according to others) who live and work there or a dozen well-off people who reIt is the caseto ask if the right of propefty depends on the fact that someoneis "well-off ' or "comfortable" or if it is a natural right, guaranteedby the legislation of the non-communistcountries. j'Who is the aggressor,"continuethe bishops,"the buyerswho bring cattle from outsideand let them loose on the land or the farm-workers [peasants]who corral and seizethe cattle so that it doesnot ruin their farms?

Who is the aggressor?The buyerwho plants caneon the plots of the squattersor those who pull up the cqneto defend their plot?"

Note that the bishops do not accusethe ranchersof having taken possessionof the property in question through unlawful or fraudulent means.They purely and simply deny that their right of acquiring them is legiti mate, treating them as aggressorsfor wanting to plant or herd cattle on lands they bought. At the sametime, they supportthosewho seizetheir cattle and pull up their plantings: "And, if aggressionscomefrom the property owners,why is it that, until now, only peasantshave been arrested or detained when they did nothing besides defending, through non-violent means, their rights?"

47

TAXE TIIE OPTION FOR TIIE OPPRESSED TO ..MORE WEIGIITY'' CONSEQUENCES The indignant questionsof the two prelateslack logical sensesincethey refer to the farmers as landowners, as buyers, and, simultaneouslyqualify them as aggressors for wanting to use the lands they acquired. If the bishops deny the legitimacy of their rights, they ought to refer to them as usurpers' "land grabbers" or some other more adequatequalifier. But logic is not usually found in the writings of the leftists whetherthey be clergymen or laymen.

They saythat "The Church of Paraibahastaken a position: She is on the side of the laborers of Alagamar.

And they do it out of fidelity to the Gospeland for love of the people.Like Jesus,we havemadean option for the oppressed,eventhough we recognizethatwe are still far from taking this pledge to more weighty conse' quences.But we are heading in that direction and the number of those who have thrown their lot in with the people increasesconstantly." in whose What arethese"more weightyconsequences" heading? direction the two bishops say they are IF THE LAND BELONGSTO THOSE WHO WORK ON IT, WHY NOT THE FACTORY? The two prelatescontinue defendingMarx's principle of the distribution of riches"according to needs": "The buyersof Alagamar do not needthoselands to live. The peasantswho resideand work on them dependon them to survive.The common good, therefore, demandsthat they be confiscated.We hold that a purchasewith money cannotbe the only nor the principal sourceof the right of property. Necessityand work are more noble and more legitimote titles. He who needsland has more right to it thon he who does not need it. He who cultivates it with tendernessis more owner than he who has money but "neverplanted a seedof anything.' " This last affirmation is appalling:Behindit is the communist principle that "the land belongsto he who works on it." A natural sequiturwould be that "the factory belongsto he who works in it." If beinga landownernecessitates having planted a "seed" of something then, to have analogously,to be a factory owner' it is necessary fabricated some item. In other words, one must be a worker. Work, as in Marxist doctrine, becomesthe only sourceof rights.

DISOBEDIENCETO THE JT]DICIARY The two mentors of the GRCCsgo beyond stating principles. Archbishop Pires declaresto the weekly of the

48

TgE GRCCS IN ACTION_IN

THE COUNTRYSIDE, IN THE SUBURBS, IN THE FACTORIES

of SdoPaulo: "We havecontinuedto accomarchdiocese pany the non-violent developmentof Alagamar. I was there and could closelyseethe animation and the degree of consciencein the line of non-violent action. The first was an act of disobedienceto the judicial prohibition.

The judge had prohibitedthe useof coconutscollected and storedin a shed.The peoplewho lived therediscovered that they were being cheatedby the agentsof the propertyownersandpeacefullyinvadedtheshedand distributed the coconutsamong themselves."

Herethe subversionof the lawsis not only approved, raised up, but also eulogizedand set as an example(to increasethe "degreeof conscience")!This is what the archbishopcalls "non-violent development"! ..PRESSURE OF THE GRASSROOTS'' AND ..PRES. SUREOF THE LEADERSHIP'' deThe casedraggedon over the yearswith successive velopments.Thanksto the "social tension" created,part

of the lands were confiscated. But the prelate guarantees: "The government, in time, will have lo continue the disappropriation."

That is to say, the "tension" created by the GRCCs will continue until it reaches its ultimate objectives.

It is a local application of the binomial "pressure of the grassroots-pressure of the leadership" withthe radical reformism litigated by the CNBB in view.

References ArchbishopJosdMaria Pires,Do Centroparo a margem(Jodo Pessoa:Ed. Acaui, 1978),pp.40-53, 155-167, and 181-195; Jos6J. Queiroz,A lgreja dospobres na Amdrica Latina (S1o Paulo: Brasiliense, 1980), pp. 82-97; Boletim da CPT, no.

15, March-April 1978,pp. 3-10;Isto d, 4/18/79, p. 15, and l/23/80, p.22; O Norte, JodoPessoa,2/6/79i Kosmos,Sdo Paulo, March-April 1980, p. 3; SEDOC, December 1977, O Sdo Paulo, cols. 540-543,and May 1978,cols. 1025-1030; 7/15/78, p. 5;7/22/78, p. 5; ll/23/79, p. 4 ard 2/15/80, p. 7.

SubversiveElements Aid the GRCCs

PauloFoniellesde Llma judicial assessor of DAULO Fontellesde Lima is the of region in the Pastoral Land Commission the -f (south in the Par6) an area that of Araguaia-Tocantins 1970sthat sawthe most violent rural guerrilla war that Brazil hasknown. Fontellesis an admirerof this guerrilla war. He is, as a matter of fact, very well informed of its intrigues. This can be seenin a seriesof articles he publishedin the newspaperof the CommunistParty of Brazil that relatedthe "inside" story of the bloody war promoted by that party.

Actually, only a person very closeto the guerrillas could be informed of details of what went on in that insurrectionalmovementsuchasthoserelatedby Paulo

Fontelles.He writes: "Preparationswerealsomadefor the future peasantleadership.Patiently, through strict personalcontact, the guerrillas found the more firm, decidedand enlightenedpeasants.It is known that under the strictestconfidencequestionsof a political nature were dealt with among the militants of the Communist Party of Brazil and some leadersof the massesin preparation for the coming clashes.At the sametime alsowith the utmost secrecy,they weremaking individual and collectivemilitary preparations-both theoreticaland practical.The wholeregionwasmapped -waterways reconnoitered, caves noted down, the wildernessbecoming friendly." +

Algamar: Theory and Practice of Social Tension

Paulo Fontellesde Lima and his wife Hecilda were arrestedin Brasflia during the time the guerrillas were active (1971)and accusedof involvement with armed struggle.They weresentencedto prison (shefor one year and he to one year eight months) for their link with a clandestine organization Agdo Popular MarxistaLeninista [Marxist-LeninistPopular Action]. They had been distributing leaflets and setting up billboards againstthe governmentin the University of Brasflia, and for attempting to reorganizethe UNE [Uni4o Nacional dos Estudantesl-National Union of Students.Earlier in 1968-1969,he had participated in student agitation in Bel6m. He was one of the foundersand presidentof the Societyfor the Defenseof Human Rights of Par6, an entity intimately united to the controversialaction promoted by the clergy working all over the State of Pari but especiallyin the capital.

a communist,Archbishop JosdMaria Piresresponded: 'oWeare dealingwith the lawyer VanderleiCaixe, who I met when he wasimprisonedin PresidenteVenceslau with threeDominicans.I went to visit the threeDominicans and discovered more political prisoners there, amongthem Vanderlei.After he had servedhis sentence and wassetfree, he finishedhis law course.At the time of his arrest, he had been in his last year and he was always interestedin human rights. We had many and long conversations.We maintained an extensivecorrespondencearrdI asked Vanderleito comehelp me or' ganizethe Centerfor the Defenseof Human Rights. He did this serviceand, later, at my invitation, decidedto assumethe coordination of the Center.Until today, as far as I know, Vanderlei has worked inside the lawhelping the little personto find recourseto the law. .I/ he wasor is a communist; if he was or wasnot iailed, is snother thing . . ."

With men such as these as assessorsof the rural GRCCs acting as counselors of poor, unlearned orientation, can one peasantswho trust in ecclesiastical be surprisedthat tensionand violencein Brazil continue to increase?

ANDERLEI Caixe,the founder and, until a short I/ Y time ago, the director of the Center for the Defenseof Human Rights of the archdioceseof Paraiba (in which he has played a major role in the rural agitation promoted by the GRCCs in that state, e.g., the Alagamar case),is himself an urban ex-terrorist,jailed, judged and sentencedas such.

References: "Viver e lutarcomo povo," in TribunaOperIn an interview to TV Borborema, in the capital of tiria,l/3/81; Resistâ‚Źnciq, Bel6m,April 1981,pp. 8'9;O Norte, Paralba, in answerto an accusationthat his key aid was Jo6o Pessoa, 2/6/79.

tjHow about Revolution

Instead ol Reform?"

OW about revolution instead of reform?" In February1980,underthis headline,the archdiocesanweeklyof 56o Paulo publishedthe following declarations of Bishop Tomds Baldufno.

"The true name is not land reform, it is land revolution and this doesnot comewith only goodwill, with cordial gestures," affirmed the bishop of Goi6s Velho. . . . or, So then, are non-cordialgesturesnecessary? more literally, revolution? This seemsto be exactly the meaning of his words as can be read in this interview, three months afterwards,to a newspaperin Goiinia: "Land reform should be what the people want. . . .

I even believe,that to speak of radical reform is an incoherence.Only a revolution could be radical. A reform is always to odiust things . . . It is to paint the house when the solution, perhaps, would be to level it. " BishopTom6sBolduino is not the only episcopalvoice to preach violencein the countryside, as the following observationmade during the SixteenthCongressof the NortheastRegionI of the CNBB (bishopsof Maranhdo, Piauf and Cearri)in Januaryof 1980,demonstrates:"The bishops should respect the dynomism of the pastoral agentsof the land without forcing them to assumeviolent positions."

For his part, Bishop Pedro Casalddligaaffirmed that "now the problem is not to defend the lands but to invade them."

This was a word of order which the membersof his prelacy(controlled by the GRCCs)werealreadyputting into practice,accordingto the BrazrlianCommunistParty newspaper: "The Union of the Rural Workers of SantaTerezinha informs us: last Februaryan 'outbreak of occupationof lands' on the edgeof BR-158[highwaynumber 158],in

"The true name ls not land relorm, lt ls land revolullonl" alllrms BlshopTom6s Baldulno,of Gol6s,vlce-presldentol the IndlanMls. slonary Councll and nallonal leaderof the GrassrooteCommunltles.

the region of 56o F6lix, Mato Grossodo Norte. . . . It is a new movement,different from thoseof the last few years. Before, there was the struggle between the homesteadersand the land grabbers for vacant land.

Now, the number of vacant lands in the region practi cally ended. The occupationsare happening on established, fenced and functioning ranches. The primary reason for this comesstraight from the mouths of the 'It is the law of need .. . . The Labor Unhomesteaders: ion of Santa Terezinhainforms us that the reaction of

50

"How about RevolutionIstead of Reform?" the dominant classcameimmediately: 'the police forces in the townships of BR-158 were reinforced. Many homesteadershad their hunting weaponsseized.In addition, there were deaththreats and intimidations to the Union leadersand pastoral agentsof the local church. . . . RaimundoMurigoca,the combativepresidentof the Union . . . said that 'it is land reform being done by the hands of the people themselves.'"

- Is there anything lacking, then, for the "land revolution" proposedby BishopTomdsBalduino?That it be bloody?

Not much is lacking . . . if anything is lacking at all!

51

"[Regarding] many of the untitled lands wherethe first one to get there becamethe owner, the homesteaders suffered due to ignoranceor lack of conditions for legalization. There death threats against homesteadersand numerouscasesof deadly violence . . . Facedwith this problem, the homesteadersare achievingsuccessthrough armed resistanceand through conscientizationby the GrassrootsCommunities."

"Armed resistance," "concientization by the Grassroots Communities" are two elementsthat have appeared togetherwith an alarming frequency.This is something which, at least, should causealarm.

References In the already cited SixteenthCongressof the NortheastRegionI of the CNBB Maranhdo, Piauf and Ceard), with bishops,priests,nuns, pastoral agents,unionists and directors of the GRCCSpresent,the delegationof Maranhdo presentedthe situation of the land in their state:

O SdoPqulo,2/|5/80;"TibunaOperdria,"4/19/80;Relat6rio do XVI Encontrodo RegionalNorteste-I-CNBB, l/4-9/80, p. l0; idem,app.l, p. 3; Interviewof BishopTom6sBoldufno in Boletim to CincodeMargo(of Goi6s),5/26/80,transcribed Pastoralda Terro,May-June,1980,pp. 17-18. da Comissdo

Blood in the Region ol the Brazilian CommunistGuerrilla Wars , , , and the Watersof the Araguaia River Remain Tinged with Red ..THE PATMNCE OF THE PEOPLEHAS WORN THIN,

NE of the Brazilian regions where land conflicts -\ Lf hau" beenmore seriousis in the south of Par4, also a sceneof bloody guerrilla rural warfare in the 1970s.

The region is almost conterminouswith the territory of the dioceses of Marabi and Conceiglo do Araguaia presidedover by Bishop Alano Pena and Bishop Patrick JosephHanrahan (who replacedBishopEstâ‚Źvdo Cardosoof Avelar, who wastransferredto Uberlindia' in April of 1979).

GENERAL!'' As an indication of the heighteningof tensions,on May 25, 1980, the Most Reverend Alano Pena, bishop of Marab6, senta letter to GeneralManuel de Jesuse Silva, Commandantof the 23rd Brigadeof ForestInfantry. After referring to what he qualifies as outragescommitted by the "land grabbers," the prelatecontinues: "Now, onecannotsupportthis any more, General.The patience of the people has worn thin. What kind of regime is it that is efficient only in solving the problems of the rich and of those who have economicstrengthin their hands?What kind of regime folds its arms when the progressivecrushingof hundredsof poor just because they are poor? The poor are alwaysthe robbers, are alwaysthe the invaders.The rich are alwaysthe good people with all the rights on their side.

"Until what point, General?I fear that somethingvery disagreeableis going to explodeand a lot of blood will flow. And what of us, what are we going to do? The Church cannot, under pain of betrayingher master,ask a people, tortured by insecurityand constantthreats, lo havepatience. This would be an affront to the human dignity of this people trodden underfoot."

..THE HOMESTEADERSRESOLVEDTO RESIST'' In 1979,the newspaperO SdoPaulo describedthe situation in the region: "Last October,the PastoralLand regiondenounced Commissionof the Araguaia-Tocantins in Brasflia, the eminence[sic] of a conflict of large large landowners, proportions betweenhomesteaders, and the Military Policein the southof Par6. According to the report, in Conceigdodo Aragraia alone, during 45 daysin Septemberand October,therewere25 armedconflicts, with two gun-wielders killed and nine others wounded. Further, Paulo Fontelles, a lawyer with the PastoralLand Commission,explainsthat, in the last few days,therewasa radicalchangeof positionon the part of the homesteaders:'Tired of such injustices,they resolved not to leave the lands and to resist.' " The weekly O SdoPaulo, directedby BishopAng6lico Bernardino, mentions the casualtiesamong the "gunwielders" but he does not say who fired the shots that struck them. Fontelles,however,hurries to justify the "homesteaders":"Tired of suchinjustices,they resolved not to leave the lands and to resist."

Did they, oll by themselves,"resolve" to adopt the "resistance" or wasit a consequenceof conscientization by the GrassrootsCommunities?

..GRINGO'': LEANER OF THE GRCC AND OF TIIE LABOR OPPOSITION_DEATH AND VENGEANCE In reality, the prelate'sfearswerea little late: "Something disagreeable"had alreadyexplodedand blood had already begun to flow.

Days earlier, the rancher Fernando Leitdo Diniz was killed by a group of forty-two homesteaders.Blood continued fo flow: somedays later, Ferreira Lima, known 52

Blood in the Region of the Brazilian Communist Guerrilla Wars

53

Bishop Alano Pena doesnot hide his admiration for theguerrillas of the CommunistParty of Brazilwho acted within his diocesein the region of Araguaia: "The guerrillas sometimesenteredthe villages, in . . . lightning strikes; and one could see that they were very idealistic people, maybea little suicidalbecausethey overestimated the support of the grassroots, which could not be counted on yet. But it is certain that no one is going to deny the value of their courage, which extends to the point of giving their lives for this ideal no matter what they encountered.I don't know if the gangdefendingthe System would do the same. . . ," (Jornal da Tarde, l/L3/79, p. 5; Palm6rio D6ria et al., A Guerrilho do Araguaia, Col. Hist6ria Imediata-l [36o Paulo: Editora Alfa-Omega, 19781,p. 59).

as "Gringo," pastoral agent and opposition candidate for the presidencyof the Union of Rural Workers of Conceigio do Araguaia, was found dead. It appearsthat an adoptedson of Leitdo Diniz vowedto kill "Gringo" becausehe consideredhim responsiblefor the death of the assassinated rancher.

The Secretary-General of the CNBB, Bishop Luciano Mendesde Almeida, affirmed at the time that the Church was suffering a lamentable defamatory campaign in the region. RegardingLeitio Diniz's assassination, Bishop Luciano saidthe information givenhim by the CNBB Pastoral Land Commission indicated that the homesteadersflred in legitimate defensewith hunting weapons.

The impartial weekly of Bishop Paulo Evaristo Arns relateshow the homesteadersl"defended" themselves from the rancher: "A group of farm laborers of the region were in the editorial room of O SdoPaulo to presentthe correctversion of the facts. . . . The casesof land grabberswho are practicing "claim jumping," that is, fixing boundaries greater than those stipulated in the titles, are innumerable.An examplewas the conflict of the Central Brazil Foundation in the region of 56o Geraldo, about 300 miles from Conceigio do Araguaia, which endedin the death of "Gringo." One known land grabber, Oliveira Paulino, sold a plot of land of about 2,000acresto l. We ought to have always in mind that the progressivistcleric who promotes rural agitation systematically treats the property owners as "land grabbers," so one neverknows, on readingtheir reports, if the person designatedby this epithet is or is not dishonest.In the same way, the employees of these ranchers are qualified as ,,gun wielders," "thugs" and the like. And the farm laborersinvolved in Iitigations (frequently membersof the GRCCSor manipulatedby them), are alwayspresentedas "homesteaders" evenwhen, in reality,.they are simply invaders.

one FernandoDias Leitio [sic]. He, in turn, tried to extend his domain to an area encompassingsome 12,000 acres, expelling more than 800 families. . . . The homesteaderstried to come to an agreementwith Fernando Leitdo Diniz but when, after setting a meetingat which the homesteadersdid not appear they decidedto look for him. He was finishing marking out the boundaries of the expandedarea-boundaries with which the land invadersdid not agreeand whoseresolutionwasbeing delayedby legal questions.Two unarmed men went to speak to him and his gunmen while a group of forty peasonts waited forty yards from the place.

"ARMED. The homesteaders,noting that they were armed, beganto run, and the group of forty, who were far away, wereconfronted by Leitdo, who waskilled. The peasantshid in the woods and said they would only surrenderto the Army. Later on, they presentedthemselves to the judge in Conceigio do Araguaia. On the sameday (May 23) the mayors of Conceigdodo Araguaia and of Araguaina, togetherwith the presidentsof the peasants' unions of the two cities, went to the minister of justice to give their version of the facts sayingthat 'the priests were on the bordersof Araguaia with machineguns, organizing the guerrilla.' " A STRATEGYTO GUARANTEE IIITPUNITY? Whateverthe exactversion of the facts-and it is not fitting hereto probe deeperinto the heart ofthe question -the homesteaders'action appearsto have obeyed a previouslystudied strategy,with juridical assistance,to guarantee the impunity of the "homesteader." The hypothdsisgains substanceif it is examinedin the light of eventsbefore and after the confrontation with the rancher and during the subsequentpolice investigation.

54

THE GRCCS IN ACTION_IN

THE COUNTRYSIDE, IN THE SUBURBS,IN THE FACTORIES

In this regard, a Sio Paulo newspapercorrespondent comments:"The lawyer Paulo Fontelles,who is providin Conceigio do ing legolassistanceto the homesteaders Araguaia who killed the rancher Leitdo Diniz. . . yesterday contestedthe accusationsthat the Church had directed the crime as well as the homesteodersso that they would give the some version to the police. . . . During the investigation, despiteertensiveefforts by Police Commissioner Josd Maria Alves to identifi a leader, a com' mand, or the person who shot Jirst, he was unable to come ap with anything. This unitedfront by homesteaderswill effectivelyblock the Judiciaryfrom pointing out a guilty individuat. Since 42 people fired and 16 shots struck the rancher,only the doubt will remainin the end.

As the Judiciary is dedicatedto upholding the principle that the accusedreceivesthe benefit of the doubt, tftrs crime might go unpunished."

We ought not forget just who the lawyer Paulo Fontellesis: a sympathizerof the guerrillasof Araguaia, exmilitant of the Popular Marxist-LeninistAction, and collaborator of the newspaperof the Communist Party of Brazil.

We cannot emphasizeenoughthat if the "homesteaders" had been previously instructed on how to proceed so as to guaranteeimpunity, they would not have proceededin any other way-before, during, and after the criminal act.

Somedayslater, as previouslynoted, RaimundoFerreira Lima ("Gringo"), the leader and pastoral agent of these same homesteaders,was killed-apparently in retaliation for the assassinationof the rancherLeitio Diniz.

POLITICAL EXPLONATION OF A TRAGIC EPISODE The deathof "Gringo" was exploitedby the leftists' "Catholic" and otherwise,who tried to gain political dividendsfrom this tragic episodeby presentingit asthe fruit of "unjust structures."

All over, acts of repugnancewere organized. These were capped off with a masspolitico-religious demonstration in Conceigio do Araguaia on June 8, 1980 promoted by the GRCCs and the Pastoral Land Commission of the region. It was supported by thirty entities, including the CNBB, UNE [National Student Unionl, and the Societyfor Human Rightsof Par6. Many personageswere present:Bishop Albano Cavallin (auxthe CNBB); Bishiliary bishopof Curitiba, representing op CelsoPereira de Almeida (bishop of Porto Nacional and presidentof the Pastoral Land Commissionfor the Araguaia-Tocantinsregion); Bishop Alano Pena @ishop of Marab6); BishopEstâ‚ŹvdoCardosode Avelar (bishop of Uberldndoa and former bishop of Conceigio do

Araguaia); CongressmenAurdlio Perez(of the Grassrocits Communities of Sdo Paulo), Lucival Barbaho, Roman Tito, Jader Barbalho, and councilman Benedito Cintra of 36o Paulo (alsovery closeto the GRCCs).Naturally, the lawyer Paulo Fontelleswas there, as was the "pastoral agent" Nicola Arpone.

Addressing the crowd, Bishop Celso said: "The Church, my deor ones, is not afraid of blood; a united it wason blood that peopleis not afraid of bloodbec,ause the foundation of societywas built. Today we have the blood of 'Gringo' building the foundation of the opposition, that is, opposingthe electoralslate, and building the free union of Conceigio do Araguaia."

BishopEst0v6oCardosoAvelar spokesimilarly: "Raimundo wanted a free and liberating union that was not tied to the authorities."

Different representativesof the rural GRCCs also spoke.

BITTER FRUITS OF THE CONCIENTIZATION OF THE PEASANTS In the sameregion, on August 13, 1981,an ambush took place in which a forest ranger, Luiz Antonio dos Santos, and four agentsof the Federal Police and of the GETAT @xecutive Group of Lands of AraguaiaTocantins)were wounded. The ambushwas set by thirteen "homesteaders," incited, accordingto the Federal Police, by two Frenchpriests,Aristide Camio and Franqois Gouriou. The religiousand the "homesteaders," linked to the GRCCs of the region,2were imprisoned and condemnedin the lower court by the Military Justice for Crimes againstthe National Security. (The sentencewill be appealed.)

"It is the Church who provokestheseland invasions and ambushes,"chargesCol. FernandoMiranda of the GETAT. Fr. Ricardo Rezende,of the Pastoral Land Commission, alleges:"We still have not beenable to impedethe homesteadersfrom shooting the soldiers,showingthem that they will only harm themselvesif they resistthe police." Nevertheless,he observes:"it is impossibleto prevent the homesteadersand the thugs from killing each other. The hate betweenthem is very gteat."

2. A documentarybulletin of the Paris Foreign Mission Society' the religiousCongregationto which FathersCamio and Gouriou be' long, narratesthe whole case,sayingthat they "animated the Grassroots Communities along with the pastoral agents." Summing up' it says: "The GRCC then becamea place for questioning the social system in connection with the real and lived situation of the homesteaders. It is in this cofiert that one needs to place the oction of Fathers Aristide Camio and Frongois Gouriou, imprisoned on August 31,1981."

Blood in the Region of the Brazilian Communist Guerrilla Wars

The hate that arisesfrom the conscientizationin the GrassrootsCommunities cannot but increase.

Whateverthe final verdict of the Court asto how much responsibilitythe two Frenchpriestsand the homesteaders had in the ambushof August 13, 1981,one thing is certain:As long asthe processof conscientizationof the peasantsby the rural GRCCs and the "assessment"of the pastoral agentsand membersof the Pastoral Land Commissioncontinue, the land conflicts will not cease and the waters of the legendaryAraguaia will continue stained with red.

55

References O Sdo Paulo, ll/23/79,6/6/80, and 12/6/80:' Movimento, 6/16/80; O Dia, Rio de Janeiro,5/25/80; O Estado de S. Paulo, 5/30/80, ll/8, 12,18,and 26/81,6/23/82i Resistdncia,Bel6m, July 1980;Tribuna Operdria,6/14/80; CIC' 6/24/80; Isto 4, 12/16/81,p.53;Folhade S. Psulo, 12/10/81and 12/18/81; Jornal do Brssil, l0/16/81; Fr. FrangoisGouriou, "Nodl derribre les barreaux," in Echos de lo Rue du Bac (bulletin of documentationof the Foreign Missions), no. 159, February 1982,pp. 5l-54; ClaudeLange, "L'Eglise et la questionagraire en Amazonie," Echos de la Rue du Bac, no. 16l, April 1982' pp.107-113.

33TheConcrete Shape That Faith Takes

in the GRCCs"t Operation 33Grab-the-Farmer"

T HE Stateof Acre, sparselypopulatedand largely I coveredby impenetrablejungle, with treesgrowing on the very banksand shoresof its manyriversand lakes, lies on the current "agricultural frontier" of Brazil. Hordes of colonistshave flocked there, coming from the Northeast,the East(aboveall, EspiritoSanto)aswell as from the South (notably from Rio Grandedo Sul and Paran6).The regionhasalsoattractedthe interestof investorsfrom the Southwho havetakenadvantageof fiscal incentivesto acquire large areaswith an eyetoward developinglarge-scalefarms or ranches.Prices (until a short while ago relativelylow) and the good quality of the land also attractedfarmersfrom other regionsof the country. Despitethe fact that not all of them comefrom 56o Paulo, thesenew farmers are known in almost all Amaz6nia as "Paulistas."

But this agricultural expansionhas not taken place without clashesand tensions:as in all pioneerregions, conflictsbecauseof land questionsare numerousthere.

A curiouscoincidenceis that almost all the conflicts occurin the southeastregionof the statebetweenthe Acre and Purus rivers.

Coincidence?

There seemsto be more to it than this: this territory correspondsto the dioceseof Acre and Purus, whose bishop is none other than Bishop Moacir Grechi of the CNBB, presidentof the PastoralLand Commission,and one of the most activenationalmentorsof the Grassroots Church Communities.

tool for the conscientizationand the unification of the peasants."

From his assumptionof this prelacy (L973), Bishop Moacir beganto mobilize everyoneconnectedwith the ecclesiastical structureto promoteunionizationen masse, urban as well as rural and including priests, nuns, pastoral agentsand advisersof the GrassrootsChurch Communities. Even Friar Betto went there to give advice.

After three or four years,they had made stridesthat would makeany union leaderenvious:20,000peopleunionizedin a populationof 3@,000souls!Peasant,rubber gatherer,longshoreman,washerwoman,spy-everyone has his union of classassociation,whosedirectors, as a matter of fact, were confoundedwith the mentors and membersof the GRCCs. Such is the caseof Wilson de SouzaPinheiro, adviserof the GrassrootsCommunities and presidentof the Union of Rural Workersof Brasil6ia locatedon the border of Bolivia. He wastragically killed in a land disputethat wasbeingavengedby his companions in the GRCCs and the union. It is not worthwhile to go into the facts here. Shortly, we will seethe consequencesof the conscientizationof the rural unionized workersby the GRCCs of Acre and Purus. ..GRAB.THE.RANCHEROPERATIONS''AND ..HOUSE.RAIDSAGAINST THE THUGS" In an article inthe Brazilian EcclesiasticolReview,Fiar ClodovisBoff, pastoraladviserto the bishopof Acre and Purus, presentsin a pedagogicalway, so to speak, the tensionand the violencepromoted by the GRCCson the farms and rubber plantations of Acre.I

UNIONIZATION EN MASSE BishopMoacir Grechi did not wait for the conclusions of the SecondNationalCongressof the GRCCs(1976), which stated: "The union becomesan instrument, a

l. The reportsthat follow werecollectedfrom a questionablesource (due to factionalism favoring the GRCCs). So, they attempt to give

56

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L--r With the objectiveof "showing the concreteshapethat the faith takesin the GRCCs in terms of liberating mobilizatiorr," the servilereligious relatessomecases.The manner in which he refers to such casesalready speaks volumes: "grab-the-farmer operations," "house-raids against thugs."

The narrated facts are of such gravity that it seemed necessaryto transcribe Friar Boff's very words: "First case:'Grab-the-farmeroperation' "There was a rubber plantation owner from the 'Guanabara'plantation, in Alto Iac6, who for sometime alreadyhad madecommoncausewith one of thesefarmers from Sio Paulo who are invading, 'land grabbing,' and occupyingAmazdnia. He was threateningto expel the rubber gatherersand peasantsfrom somefour forest rubber tree grovesof that region. They resistedtogether, but the pressurecontinued. The matter was heating up. At a given point, an insuh to the dignity of the peasantswassufJicient to stir those men ap. (They were called 'dogs that barked but didn't bite.') Forty-one of them went with stakesand bundlesof sticksto block the the impression that in the three casespresentedhere the military and police authoritiesbelievedthe authors of the violencedescribed.This could lead one to admit that they had the right on their side.

Whateverthe case,the methodsusedare markedby violencewhich, in a civilized country with an organizedjudiciary, is not a meansof redressinggrievances.

small airstrip in the middle of the jungle wherethe farmer from 56o Paulo landed his small plane.

"A secondinsult occurredwith the start of the destruction of a groveof rubbertrees(in an areain which a good part of those people still live). This angeredmore than one hundred men. They armed themselveswith hunting rifles and, on their own accord, went to catchthefarmer from SdoPaulo and theplantation owner. After capturing them, they set them on two donkeys and brought them, under arms, on a three-dayjourney to a battalion of the army close to the Peruvian border. There, with the military authoritiespresent,they forced them to sign an agreementin which they promisednot to invade the lands of the peasantsand rubber gatherersany more. I should note in this casethat the absolutemaiority of those men werelinked to the GRCCsof the region. The initia'grablhe' tive itself and the strategy of the operation farmer' was discussedand led by the more active mem' bers of the same GRCCs." Friar Clodovis, with total tranquility, relateshow the membersof the GRCCs constitutediudges in their own right and also dealt out justice with their own handsinvadingproperty, holding up peopleand forcing them, "under arms," to accompanythem. For the peasants and rubber workers to be able to "resist together" (or evenindividually), it was necessarythat "right" be on their side; that the plantation owner and the farmer

58

TTTT GRCCS tN ACTION-IN

THE COUNTRYSIDE, IN THE SUBURBS, IN TI{E FACTORIES

be really land-grabbersand not legitimateowners.However, it is up to the judiciary to find out and not the bishops,pastoralagents,or leadersof the GRCCs;much lesscan they commit physical violenceor bring strong moral compulsionagainstthem. Evenso, they could only act in legitimatedefenseonceall the legal resourceswere exhausted.

Now, the friar, so well informed about the details of this eventand other "grab-the-farmeroperotions," does not, however, say exactlyjust what is the violencethat would be committed against the peasantsand rubber gatherers.He vaguelyalludesto "threats of expulsion," "pressure," and "insults." But the "insults to the dignity of the peasants,"allegedas the "drop of water," judging from the examplegiven (they had saidthey were "dogs that barkedbut didn't bite"), do not in themselves justify sucha violent and radical armedreaction as that related.

An operation that brings 100armed men together to attack properties,hold up peopleand restrain them by force for three days, was characterizedbefore as an action of banditry . . . or of insunectiorz.It representsthe rejection,in fact, of the laws and the institutionsof the country, submittingpart of them to the jurisdiction of private "tribunals" and of "popular militias."

Is is worthwhile to emphasizeFriar Clodovis'sown words: "the absolutemojority of thosemen werelinked to the GRCCsof the region." Even more: "The initiative itself and the strategy" of the operation,was discussedand decidedin the meetingsof the GRCCS. In a book aboutthe GrassrootsCommunitiesof Acre, Friar C. Boff againrefersto the "grab-the-farmeroperation" while speakingabout a meetingof the advisers of the GRCCs: "On the last day an analysiswasmadeof a confrontation that armed homesteadersof the region had with the ranchers.The upshotof it wasthat the peoplespoke ofthe courageand union they had showed.The negative aspectwas the lack of a greaterorganizationand, principally, having left the final solution of the conflict in the handsof two or threepersonswho, at the end of the 'operation,'wastedmost of what they alreadyachieved.

The question of using weaponswas discussedat length.

'Right on'; and others who Therewerepeople who said: 'it's said not right,' In the end, everyoneconcludedthat, particular case, there wos no other way. This in this useof force alwayscreatesa probthat the demonstrates it is needed'Cirbut that, sometimes, lem of conscience will." oblige the cumstances The report by Friar Clodovisprovidesa glimpseof the decisiverole the religious factor plays in leading the peasantsto violent actions:the "problem of conscience" of the aggressorswas only quietedthanks to the moral

prestigeof the Church, aswell as-it doesnot seemrash to suppose-to the ability of the pastoral agentswho, according to the technique already described,discreetly oriented the discussionto lead "everyone" "to think" that, in this case, "there was no way out" except "the use of force."

If it was necessaryto appealto religion to tranquilize someof the participants of the "grab-the-farmer operation," what would havebeenthe weight of this factor in bringing them to undertakean action that causedrepugnance in those few still not entirely "conscientized"?

Friar Clodovis continueshis report about the "liberating mobilization" of the GRCCs of Acre: Secondcase: "house-raid againstthe thugs" "This casetook place24 milesfrom the road that links Rio Branco with Boca do Acre (Amazonas).For some time, about forty homesteaderfamilies had been occupying and working in that region.However,a rancherfrom 56o Paulo went in with a half dozenthugs and decided to throw those families out on the pretext that the land was his becausehe bought it [sic]. The homesteaders resistedto such an extent that the situation becamelifethreatening.Then, the Union of Rural Workers together with peopleof the Churchresolvedto take action.They planned and executeda concreteact of solidarity with the threatenedfamilies. More than 300 men,from various locales,armed with machetesand hunting rifles, went to the disputedsite. . . . They caught what gunmenthey could (others fled) and took them (along with their weapons)to the authorities in Rio Branco. With the departureof the land-grabbersand their thugs,peacewas restoredto the threatenedfamilies."

In this case,Friar Clodovistries to masksomewhatthe responsibilityof the GRCCs,but he doesno more than confirm it: "We must observeherethat this action wasnot an enterpriseorganizedby the GRCCs. . . . It wasput together basically by the Union of Rural Workers. . . . The institutional Church supported this initiative and participated actively rn il (nuns were found among the workers, a priest went to offer a Mass of solidarity and thanksgiving in the place), but many membersof the GRCCs and, above all, advisershad a distinct role. It wasan action that wasupheld as an important reference in the later meetingsof the GRCCs, who naturally saw this popular initiative as one of their own.

"It has alsobeencommentedthat the rural unions were linked closely to the GRCCs both in their birth as well as in their actual development.It is commonplacetoday for a GRCC adviser to also be a union leader."

The GRCCs were so involved in this case,by means of members,advisers,and rural unions controlled by them, that one almostdoesnot understandthe disclaimer

"The ConcreteShapeThat Faith Tokesin the GRCCs": Operation "Grob'the-Farmer"

ofthe obedientfriar, that this "was not an enterpriseorganizedby the GRCCs." The disclaimer seemsa mere formality.

Nevertheless,in making it, Friar Clodovis lets slip an extremely important clue for understanding all the rural agltation stirred up by the Pastoral Land Commissionand its pastoral agents,not only in Acre, but in many other parts of Brazil.

In his book, describingthe training of GRCC advisers in Acre, Friar Boff adds some points: "Among the advisersin Brasil6ia, there were people who had participated inthe "house-raid of the thugs."

They told of the incident, saying:"We went thereto cat off the snake's headbecausethe tail was already stirring up the place."

"With figuresof speechlike this, the peopleshowthat they understand:they understandthat a systemof exploitation exists. If there is a problem of land in Boca do Acre, it is linked to the problem of land on the other side, here in Brasil6ia."

Do the "people" really "understand" all by themselves the "system of exploitation," or is it the "conscientizing" pastoral agentswho make them "see"?

Whatever it is, without the existenceof an organization like the GRCCs behind the peasantsand rubber gatherers of Acre, all this articulation betweenpeopleof such distant points, like Boca do Acre and Purus, and Brasildia

59

"on the other side," asFriar Clodovissaid, on the Bolivian border, would not be possible.Still less[without the support of the GRCCsIwould it be impossibleto explain the frequent transporting of people with limited means from one end of the dioceseof Bishop Moacir Grechi to the other in order to undertake "house-raids against the thugs" and "grab-the-rancher operotions. " However,the incidentsof agitation and violencepracticed by the GRCCs in Acre, which Friar C. Boff toasts with the readers of the Brazilian Ecclesiastical Review, do not end there. 'get-the-rancheroperation rI' "Third case: "This casehappenedaround last Christmas[1979]' in the standof rubber treesknown as 'Nova Empresa,' not far from Rio Branco. The situation there was similar: another caseof threats of expulsionfrom the land against somedozenhomesteaderfamilies in that area.After the 'Paulista' had destroyed,and evenburned severalhouses of the peasants,they could not bear it any longer. Some fifty of them got together, armed themselves,and went to the boss'shouseto catch him and his ruffians. However, the latter saw them coming and fled in time. The peasantsriddled the 'Paulista's' housewith bullets and wreckedthe insidebut left it standing.Afterwards, they went to the houseof one of the gunmen and leveledit.

When a detachmentof police arrived from the capital, under the commandof the Secretaryof Securityhimself

Franclsco Jull6o, lounder ol the Inlamous Peasant Leagues In the tlme ol Presldent Jolo Goulart, ln a letter to Blehop Helder Camera,calls the GRCCs "admlrable." The ex-congressman(who In the same leller declares hlmselt a Marxlst and manlfests enthuslasm for ihe Vletnamosocommunlst revolullonary Ho Chl Mln and lor Sandlno)has much reason lo admlre the GrassrootsCommunllles: the "grab.the.rancher operatlons" promoled by them are creatlng ln the Brazlllan counlryslde a cllmate of Insurgence and ol revoll slmllar to the one he Inclted wllh hls Leagues In those tumultuous days precedlng the 1964 Revolutlon.

60

THE GRCCS IN ACTION_IN THE COUNTRYSIDE,IN THE SUBURBS,IN THE FACTORIES

they surrenderedwithout a fight, convincedof the justice oftheir cause.Threedayslater, they returnedto their houses.They had alreadydecidedto make a cleanbreast 'Paulista' who, /o savehis of the land problem with the own skin, deemedit wiser to give in.

"This action was undertaken at the initiative of the peasants, the maiority of whom were people of the GRCCs.As a matter of fact, it wasin the GRCC meetings that thosefarm workers had decided on that opero'Paulisto,' as well, understood that that tion. . . . The action came directly from the pastoral work of the Church and he, a fugitive himself, came looking for the pastor to seekprotectionfrom the homesteaderswho still had not let him off."

This is a strangesituation in which aBrazilian citizen, "to savehis own skin," is obligedto askprotection. . . from the pastor! It must not be much different in the Iran of the Ayatollah Khomeini . . . except for one point: there the Shiite "clergy" have taken power formally.

The last caserelatedby Friar ClodovisBoff in the Brazilian EcclesiasticolReview revealsa degreeof organization and coordination, as well as a networking of the "peasants and ex-peasants"and that is something to think about!

"Fourth case:The invasionof the areaconcerningthe registry project 'Pedro Peixoto' "What wasin questionwasa vastarea(somel22,0OO acres)that was destinedby the governmentfor colonization. When implementationof the project was delayed, somelarge ranchersappropriatedthe area and beganto exploit it for their own benefit. They evenhad the consentof somegovernmentpeople.Stymiedby the INCRA' a large group of landlesspeasantsor ex-peasantsliving on the outskirts of the capital, many of them members of the GRCCs and informed only by word of mouth, gatheredtogether. With the support and networking of the Union of Rural Workers of Rio Branco and the PastoralLand Commission,they decidedto invadethat land and establishthemselvesthere. In the first attempt, on ChristmasEve, more than 100men armed with macheteswerenot ableto make any headwayinto the area' The operationwastoo open and had alreadyarousedthe attentionof the land grabbers,and the government,following it, intervenedwith the police to head off the invasion in time. The peasantsand ex-peasantsmade a strategic retreat to let the ranchers drop their guard' Shortly after Christmas, they enteredthe area in small groups, unnoticed. In this way, they openedthe doors for moreto follow. The land occupationwasthusbrought about right under the very eyesof the authorities."

Is it surprisingthat sucha processof violence,armed or not, resultsin violent deathsamong property owners and "land grabbers"aswell asamongthe peasantscon-

scientizedby the GRCCs? That is preciselywhat happened, as you will see,in the other incidentsthat took place in Acre.

Let us not forget, however,that Friar Clodovis Boff considersthe caseshe narrates to be examplesof the "concrete form that the faith takes in terms of liberating mobilization." In other words: the tumults and violence promoted by the GRCCs in Acre come from a religious motivation. This is the source of their radicalness.

GRCC ADVISER AND UNION LEADER IS KI,LED AND AVENGED ln 1979,a group of 94 rubber gatherersblocked the cutting of someacresof jungle on land belongingto Nilo Sdrgiode Oliveira, in Brasil6ia, on the Bolivian border.

Sometime later, the presidentof the local rural union, Wilson Pinheiro de Souza,also an adviserof the GRCC, For the companionsof the victim, there wasassassinated. was but one guilty party: the rancher Nilo S6rgio.

On Sunday,July 7, daysafter the deathof Wilson Pinheiro, a meetingof the unions of rural workers of Rio Branco, Cruzeiro do Sul, Xapuri, SenaMadureira, and Boca do Acre (Amazonas)was held. Both Jacob Bittar and Luiz In6cio da Silva (Lula) werepresent.According to the Secretaryof Security, there were "heated statements" during the meetingattendedby some6@ persons.

A day later, Nilo S6rgiowaskilled on the highwaythat links Brasildiaand Assisby a group of rubber gatherers.

Some day, this whole thing will perhapsbe clarified and the author and the responsibilityfor both crimeswill this is the duty of the pobe established.Nevertheless, judiciary. present work aims solely to The lice and the show the action of the GrassrootsChurch Communities in the woodlands, the countryside, and in the city.

To this end, there are some data available about the union leader who was, in fact, the moving assassinated force behind one of the operationsdescribedabove by Friar Clodovis, (Secondcase:"House-raid againstthe thugs"). The detailscome from Friar Clodovis himself, who met him in a GRCC advisers'training meeting.The facts are found in the book referred to earlier: "In the training in Brasil6ia,in the beginning of Decemberof 1979,I wasimpressedwith the convictionthat Wilson showedgiving his depositions.It was later that the Center for the Defenseof Human Rights sent some messagesshowing the situation regardingthe basic human rights in Acre: land, security, schools,housing. In the discussionsthat followed, Mr. Wilson said: "We, in the Union of Brasildia,havebeenfighting for four yearsalready, but there are still many workers who are againsttheir unions. So, the guilt for the oppression

6l

\,-@l I

itc d "We alreadyemphasizedthat in Latin America, and in almost all the underdevelopedcountries,the countryside(as it is today) is the locale best suited for the ideal struggle. The basis for the social changes that the guerrillas will stir up will be a changein the agrarian property structures. This struggle should be developed,then, continuously under the banner of Land Reform" @rnesto "Che" Guevaxa,OuevresI: Tqctesmilitaires [Paris: FrangoisMaspero, 19761,pp. 52-53.)

of the worker also restson the worker himself. Whenever someonehas a land problem, he runs to the Union.

Then, out of principle, we haveto tie up the saleof the land. But the homesteadergivesin. He sellsthe land. He comesto the city and afterwards returns, wanting his plot of land again. Against the thugs in Boca do Acre, we brought in 73 men. . . . We went there and cameback victorious. What I do not get tired of saying is that the worker himself is responsiblefor his misery. I spend all my days and nights in the claims [areas of exploration given to a rubber gathererl explaining to the worker. . . ."'

"Wilson had the destiny oJ Jesus and of all the prophets," continuesFriar Clodovis. In the past month

(July 1980),the greatnewspapersof Brazil reportedWilson's assassinationby the ranchers.They also reported that, due to the delay of justice, the companionsof the martyr lost their patience: They took justice into their own hands killing the one they consideredresponsiblefor that death. Now, the Commissionof Justiceand Peace of the Bishopsof Brazil (CNBB) is in Acre to follow the eventsfirst-hand."

Leavingasideany other considerationthat the excerpt could arouse,it is with strangefacility that the GRCC mentor attributes responsibilityfor the death of the union leaderand GRCC adviserto this or that group without waiting for the conclusionsof competentinquiries.

The friar likewiseseemsin a rush to justify "the companions of the martyr": "Due to the delay of justice," they "lost their patience" and "they took justice into their own hands." A simple verification of the facts is sufficient to lead one to believethat the vengeanceof Wilson's companionswasnot due to the "delay of justice."

The unionistwaskilled on July 21, 1988.The union meeting which Lula attendedwas on the 27 of the samemonth, and the murder of Nilo Sdrgio,the rancher,occurredthe next day, the 28, that is, just one week after Wilson's death.

References Friar ClodovisBoff, DeuseHomenno Inferno Verde@ettopo' lis: Vozes,1980),pp. 44,81-82;Friar C. Boff, "CEBse PrdtiEclesidstico Brasileiro,December casdeLibertaqSo,"in Revista 1980,pp. 6N-602;CarlosAlbertoLibidnoChristo(FriarBetto), Cantodo Galo: RelatdrioPastoralde amo visitad Prelo' zia deAcre e Purzs(Goiinia: SPAR, 1977);SEDOC,October 1976,col. M2, andMay 1980,col. 1145;Folhade S. Paulo, 7/29/79; Jornaldo Brqsil, 8/24/80.

Make Demands.', CreateTEnsiorr,,' Gonscientizo' , ' to LeadGRCCMembers to Marxism in Practice

The important thing, then, is to make demands.Make demandsalwaysand everywhere,evenif nothing comes of it; the commonstrugglehelpsto createthe "class conscience,"explainsMarist Brother Antonio Cechinof Rio Grande do Sul, coordinator of the GRCCs of the archdioceseof Porto Alegre and mentor of the peasantsof Ronda Alta.

Often, the membersof the GRCCs urgently request that for which they know no resourcesare to be promptly given them. Or, they ask the impossible,so that they are not attended, and thus they provoke revolt.

There is more. All the demandsare acrimonious, set in an atmosphereof indignationwhich explodesinto protest demonstrationsif they are not attended.

In other words, as Friar Boff points out, the demand processleads membersof the GRCCs to classstruggle and to Marxism in practice-even before they know the Marxist doctrine.

As a matter of fact, it is not by accidentthat the Brazilian Communist Party attributes an important political content to the demandspromoted by the GRCCs in the outlying neighborhoodsand in the slums.

However, such movementsof protest and demands, in their episodicaspects,shouldnot be consideredasisolated. They should be insertedin the more ample context of the intense political action engagedin by the involved clergythrough the GrassrootsChurch Communities and auxiliary organizations.

This action consistsin what is usually called "pressure from the grassroots" united with "pressure from the leadership," exercisedby the CNBB againstthe present institutions. This is in conformity with the communist strategyappliedin so many nationsthat aimsto promote reforms of structure (land reform, urban reform, businessreform, and so on) in order to lead a country ever

1 T is on the outskirtsof the largecitiesthat the demandI ing and protesting action-political in characterundertakenby the GRCCsis developedin a more intense, yet almost intangible, manner.

Well-trainedpastoralagents(priests,nuns, laymen)infiltrate the suffering populations of the outlying neighborhoods, making use of the local needs to attract, mobilize, and conscientizethe inhabitants. Using problems, which are often real but always exaggeratedand treated in a contentious way, they create a climate of general discontent, revolt, and classstruggle.

Theseagentsform "demand" movementsor take over alreadyexistingmovements,conferring on them a political and ideological note heretofore unknown.

However,this politicization of "demand" movements did not take place at the outset by doctrinal preaching.

It beganwith problemstouchingthe livesof the common man, dealing with his everydaylife, his immediateaspirations, or his most pressingnecessities.

This whole movementof the GRCCsin the outskirts and slumsdoesnot have asits finality the solving of real problemsof injusticesor real needs.Rather, it seeksto bind the population together-to conscientizeand mobilize it. At the sametime, it desiresto show the failure of the systemand to promoteits overthrow.The objective sought is not simply in taking up this or that case seekingcertainredress.The GRCCsneedsomevictories for the sakeof credibility, sincean action that neverleads to anything demoralizesany movement.This, however, is not the principal finality, as Bishop Angdlico Sdndalo Bernardino, auxiliary bishop of Sdo Paulo and mentor points out: "All deof the GRCCs in the archdiocese, mands, even those which do not end up in anything' are important steps in the conscientizationof the people."

62

63

closerto the final goal: a regime of self-managingsocialism, the last and most radical step of communism.

It would be tiring to reviewhereall this activity of the GRCCs, above all in the outskirts of the great urban centersthat are largely occupiedby business.

HOW "PRESST]REFROM TIIE GRASSROOTS" IS MADE Someexamples,selectedfrom many, will provide the readeran idea of the emotion-packed,tension-filledand revolted climate in which this "pressure from the grass roots" is created.They also showhow facts, many times really lamentableand worthy of reprehension,are used to bring about conscientizationor the exasperationof minds and the provocation of indignation. What should be noted here is not the merit of the questionsbut the form in which they are conductedand their finality. o In the Artur Alvim neighborhood, a train collided with a bus that was crossingthe tracks, killing many people. It was a tragic event. A demonstration,led by the acting bishop of the region, Bishop Ang6lico S0ndalo Bernadino,took placenext to the tracks. In the midst of speechesand againsta background of posters,Bishop Angdlicoproposedsuspendingall Masseson one Sunday and convoking all the peopleto sit on the rails until barriers were placedat the crossing.The railroad company was given sixty days to meet the demand. At the sametime, membersof the community circulateda petition around the neighborhooddemandinginstallationof the barriers. o The problem of lack of water in the outskirts of 56o Paulo, a city experiencingadizzytnggrowth rate, served as the occasion(one could almost say, the pretext) for demonstrationspromoted by the GRCCs. In Jardim Eliana, "200 inhabitants" took part in a parade-procession to the spring that suppliestheir area.

They prayed and sang. One of the chants included the following stanza, inspired in versesof Bishop Pedro Casalddliga: We are humans,we arepeople, We are the peopleof God We want waterin our homes We only haveit at a spring.. . .

We know the truth, and the right to be somethingmore We demandliberty, land, home,water,and peace.

How closely this resemblesLenin's slogan: "Bread, peace,and land."

Even the seminary of the archdioceseof 56o Paulo recognizesthat "the little community paradewould not have been possiblewithout the presenceof three semi-

narians" who for four years "have participated in the activitiesof the parishof Grajari, madeup of sevensaal/ communitiesof the Interlagos Sector." . In Jardim Romano, the foundations of an extremely largebuilding causedthe wells in the region to dry up.

The situation was distressful.Bishop Angdlico, flanked by two guitarists, stood on the hood of a truck to harangue the "people." He affirmed that the authorities would listen only d the people unitei that strikes are an exampleof this, and that the governmentis afraid of a united people. o In Vila R6, the demand was for a "health clinic."

The promoterssaidthat they are fighting for their rights.

T'heyaffirm that only the rich areprivileged. The people in the outlying areasdo not possessanything they have the right to.

Another problemthat stimulateda seriesof "little conscientizingactions" (the expressionis that of BishopAngâ‚Źlico) was the irregularity in subdividing building lots for the people.Evidently, it is hateful in itself to exploit the poor man with his already sparsegoods. However, in viewingthe demonstrationof the GRCCs, one would be led to think that all lot subdivisionsin Sio Paulo are unscrupulousand fraudulent.

In Parque Cocaia, Santo Amaro, the "inhabitants" demonstratedbeforethe realty office and sangthe verses of Bishop Casalddligathat were sungby the inhabitants of Jardim Eliana about the lack of water. The only differencewas that someof the verseswere altered in accord with the changeof pretext.

We are humans,We arepeople, We are a peopleof God. We wdnt our deeds, We want our lands.

The meetingplaceof the "inhabitants" was the communitary center of the church of Our Lady of Grace, which servedasthe headquartersof the teamof Fr. Mariano Baraglia dedicatedto the formation of grassroots communitiesin the archdioceseof Sdo Paulo. . March 6, lgTg,Ibirapuera Park: Led by StateCongresswomanIrma Passoni(ex-SisterAngdlica, a leader of the GRCCs), more than a thousandslum-dwellerswent to city hall to ask for all the land occupiedby slums.The mayor met with a delegationof tenantsand said that he could not meettheir request.The congresswomanrelayed the newsto those outsidethe prefecture,sparking a political rally. Loudspeakers,inflamed speeches,and revolted heckling made up the framework of hostility shown the mayor of 56o Paulo. The unrulinessof the slumdwellerswas intensified.

They proposed the purchaseof the lot where there was a small hut, a one year period to build a house of

64

TTTEGRCCs IN ACTION_IN THE COUNTRYSIDE,IN THE SUBURBS,INTHE FACTORIES

cementblocks, and payment for the land proportional to the salaryof eachfamily. In addition, they also asked for the installation of water and sewagesystems,electric service,police protection, channelizationof rainwater, a day-carecenter, a school, and a health clinic. When they arrived at the patio in front of the mayor's office, the slum-dwellerswere informed that he would receive only a commission.Annoyed at not being able to meet with the mayor, the slum-dwellersdecidedto ask, through their representatives,that the mayor come out to them so that they could make their demandsclear to him. He did not give into this pressurebut receivedthe councilmen and membersof parliament who accompaniedthe slum-dwellers along with their representatives.He presentedsome solutions to the requestsbut explained the impossibilityof resolvingall of them. This response displeased the "slum-dwellers."

The incident revealsthe characteristicmethodsof the GrassrootsCommunities:They demandthat the authorities receive their members directly or come to their demonstrations,and they presentdemandsthat are impossibleto meet,eitherby their very nature,their numWith this, the leaderscreate ber, or for lack of resources. among the guileless and easily-manipulated "grass roots," sentimentsof frustration and revolt againstthe constitutedauthority. The mentorsof the movementthen

accuse this authority of being deaf to the "small," the ' 'oppressed,' ' and of listening only to the demands of the "great," the "richr" the "powerful."

References Books: Paul Singer, "Movimentos de bairro," in Paul Singer and Vinicius Caldeira Brandt (org.), Sdo Paulo: o povo em movimento@ditora Vozes-CEBRAP,1980),p. 9l ; BrotherAntonio Cechin, "A catequesenas comunidadeseclesiaisde base," in Bishop Adriano Hip6lito and others, Pastoral popular libertadora (Porto Alegre: Escola Superior de Teologia 56o Lourengo de Brindes, l98l), p. 124;National Council of Communist Leaders, Tesespara um debate nacional de comunistas pela legalidadedo PCB (56oPaulo: Editora Juru6, l98l), pp. 92-93.

Articles and Clippings: Friar Betto, "Da prdtica da pastoral popular," in Encontros com q Civilizaqdo Brasileira, August 1978,pp. 105-106;Archdioceseof S5oPaulo, EpiscopalRegion of 36o Miguel, "O povo seorganiza caminhando-Assembl6ia de Comunidades," 1981,mimeographed;Friar Clodofis Boff, O.F.M., "A influ6ncia politica das ComunidadesEclesiaisde Base(CEBs)," in SEDOC, January-February1979,col. 816; Boletim dasPorteiros, mimeographed;Brasil Mulher, November 1978,p. 5; Mov imento,5/ 12/ 80,p. ll ; Veja, 12/2/ 76, pp.

30-31; Folhetim, no. 106, l/28/79, p. 4i Jornal do Brasil, 5/ l4/78; Folha de S. Paulo,4/14 and23/79;6/29/81; O Estado de S. Paulo, 3/8 and22/79;4/3/82; O SdoPaulo, 6/22/77, p. fil1 /2/11, p. li1 /10/77, p. 1;'7/16/77,pp. 4-5;8/n /77, p.2;9/3/77, pp. l, 8 and l0; 10/22/77,p. l0:' 10/29/77,p.

8; 12/31/77 , p. 5;7 /15/78, p. 5; l/6/79, p. 5; 4/24/81,p. 4.

tEWellave Organized hnd Invasions"

FazendaItupu was the setting for a well stagedshow or action of psychologicalwarfore, designedto impressthe country. The despairing"needy," invaded the "abandoned" area, trying to solve by themselvesone of the most anguishingurban problems, living space,that the faulty society could not or would not resolve.

According to statementsto the pressby the director of the DEOPS of Sdo Paulo, the invasion of Fazenda ntupu was decided on and planned over a period of months in a seriesof meetingsheld by the Society of Friends of Alto Riviera and in the GrassrootsChurch Communities.Among the other participantswerethe Oblate Fathers of Mary Immaculate (Americans); the Dominican Friar Airton Pereira da Silva; membersof congressAur6lio Perez(PMDB) and Irma Passoni(PT)' and city councilman Benedito Cintra (PMDB).

FathersJamesGibbons(provincialsuperiorof the Oblates) and John Drexel deniedthe involvement of their Congregationin the invasion,but they admittedthat the invasion proposal had beenbrought up in a meetingof the GrassrooisChurch Community of the regionand was "totally opposed."

Two daysbeforethe invasion,in oneof the final meetings with the sameparticipants,the detailsof the operation were laid out. The following report is from a 56o Paulo weekly: "Two days before, a much smaller group of about twenty personsheld a closed-doormeetingin the headquartersof the Societyof Friendsof Alto da Riviera, located in the same region as the property, to plan the invasion.All the detailswere considered.Above all, the participants deemedit essentialto establisha commission to coordinatethe movement,that is, a group that would take chargeof spreadingthe rumor that the prefecture was giving away those lands. Another group was to

(of Q TATE congresswoman,Irma Passoni the WorkL) ers' Party), speakingat the Methodist University of Piracicabain March 1981regardingGRCC activities of the South Zone of 56o Paulo, made the following confession: 'We have organizedseveralland invasionsof the IAPAS becausethe slum-dwellershave nowhereelseto build." Months afterwards, Bishop Ang6lico Sdndalo Bernardino, bishop of the East Zone of 56o Paulo, affirmed the needthat, through the organizationof the people, "the land that wasstolen from the people and that is in the hands of the few, be returnedto the possession of all, be it through legitimate meansor through invasions of lands belonging to the government."

Thus, this auxiliary bishop of 56o Paulo, as well as both leadersof the movementof the the congresswoman, GrassrootsChurch Communities,are open in affirming that invasionsare necessaryand that they are alreadyinvading urban lands. Bishop Ang6lico, reminding one of Marx and Proudhon, makesthe goal clear:Returningthe land that was "stolen from the peopleand that is in the hands of the few to the possessionof all" is to instoll collective socialism, to promote o radical urban reform.

The spectacular occupation of the Fazenda ltupu, property of the IAPAS in the Alto da Riviera, south Zone of Sdo Paulo, illustrates well the activities of the GRCCs in the urban land invasions.

INVASIONSIN TIIE SOUTH ZONE OF SAO PAULO: "SLICK onC,l,NZerION" In spiteofthe fact that the invasionof a 170-acreproperty closeto RepresaGuarapiranga,South Zone of 56o Paulo, on September6, 1981,wasnot the first land occupation promoted by the GRCCs in 56o Paulo, it was undoubtedly the most spectacular. For days the old 65

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THE GRCCS IN ACTION_IN

THE COUNTRYSIDE, IN THE SUBURBS, IN THE FACTORIES

organizethe volunteersfor subdividingthe property. Yet anotherwasto organizeand lead the daily gatheringsof homesteaders.Lastly, one wasto make surethat no one would completelyleavetheir land, telling the invadersto bring blankets,lanterns,and coffeeto supportthe vigils. slick orgonization."

In the same meeting, it was decidedto meet at the Figuira Grande soccerfield prior to the invasion. From there, about 200 to 400 personssuppliedwith scythes, machetes,spades,hoes,post-holediggers,and other implementsset out for the old property of IAPAS. The organizershad alreadyspreadthe rumor that the prefecture wasgoing to give the lands of the FazendaItupu (an artifice used, by the way, not only in Sio Paulo but elsewhere)and that everyoneinterestedshould mark off his lot. The movementcoordinatorswerebrought to the soccer field in a car belongingto the Oblate Fatherswho, togetherwith Friar Airton, are responsiblefor the nearby parish of Vila Remo.

Oncethe invasionwasover, the operationleaders(identified by a largecardboardsign,not with namesbut merely the inscription "Commission") beganto orient the that wereheld severaltimes invadersthrough assemblies a day. In spiteof the anonymity,the pressidentifiedone of the mostactivemembersof the "Commission" asthe Irma, ProfessorArmelinhusbandof Congresswomen do Passoni:"The field operationswerevisibly commanded by Armelindo. Provided with a clipboard, . . . he worked from the crackof dawn to late at night to regismeasuringwith his ter [asin a census]the homesteaders, measuringtape everythingin sight, orienting the whole work of the 'commission.'"

Daysafterwards,BishopFernandoPenteado,auxiliary of Sio Paulo and coordinator bishopof the archdiocese of its GrassrootsChurch Communities,visitedthe invadedand occupiedland.

Aur6lio Perezand Irma PasThe membersof congress soni and the city councilmandeniedhavinginstigatedthe invasionbut did not deny their decidedsupport for the invaders.Regardingthe invasion,Aur6lio Perezcommented enigmatically: "The next step is the looting of supermarketsbecausea hungry man is a savage."

Prediction or threat?

BishopSdndaloBernardinoconsideredthe invasiona "glaring signshowingus that the peopleare looking for their liberation." "Liberation" throughviolenceand invasions,despisingthe constitutedorder, have a name: revolution.

The withdrawal from the farm land and the its repossessionby the IAPAS, as decreedby the Judiciary,took placeon the sixth day of occupation(SeptemberI l). The evictionpassedwithout incidencebut not without expense for the constitutedpower. A strong police and military

contingent (about three thousand men from the Military, Civil, and FederalPolice) had to be mobilized to guarantee compliancewith the judicial decision.

One week after the eviction, about 300 people,led by the samemembersof congress,Aurdlio Perezand Irma Passoni, and by the city councilman Benedito Cintra, gatheredbefore the City Hall in the Parque do Ibirapuera to "exact from the mayor the promiseto cedea municipal property for the construction of our houses." The mayor later affirmed having proof that 8090of theseselfstyled "homesteadersof FazendaItupu'' had, in reality, not participatedin the invasionof the IAPAS land. They wereunsuccessfulas actorsin a new show trying to pass themselvesoff as poor "homesteaders" expelledfrom "their" lands, seekingjustice.

The mayor, furthermore, presentedphotos to prove that many of the demonstratorswerethe sameoneswho had beenat the prefecturethe previousyear demanding day-care centers. One of these individuals was Maria Saraiva, who was responsiblefor renting the bus that brought the demonstratorsto city hall. Sheactually was one of those who had participated in the invasion of FazendaItupu. Sheevenuseda megaphoneto direct the occupation. Maria Saraiva, who led other invasionsin the region, is one of the most outgoing of the activists of the Movement Against Want-one of the "political arms" of the GRCCswhich count amongtheir principal leadersthe two congressmembersAurdlio Perezand Irma Passoni.

MONTE TA6: THE GRCCs OF SAO PAULO ALSO INVADED IN THE EAST ZONE In the EastZone of 56o Paulo, the land invasionswere preceded by Grassroots Church Community "gettogethers."The guidebookfor thesemeetingswas the booklet The People Organize Themselveson the Move promoted by the EpiscopalRegionof 36o Miguel under the direction of Bishop S0ndaloBernardino. The booklet presentsthe caseof the invasion, sponsoredby the GRCCs, of land of the prefectureon Rua Monte Ta6, as a theme of "reflection" and discussionin the Communities in the form of a commemorationwith sociodramatic characteristics.The weekly of the archdiocese of 56o Paulo, having a large penetration in the Grassroots Communities,becameinvolvedin the casewith extensivecoverage.

The land invasionof Rua Monte Ta6, Jardim Camargo Novo, Itaim Paulista,was not asspectacularasthose that came later. It began discreetlyin the end of May 1981.One family, followedby two more, installeditself on the land in question. One of the residentson the street,claimingto be the owner of the place,told the city

"Vt/e Have OrganiTedLand Invasions"

67

Lessonsin OccupyingSomeoneElse's LandThe "Primer for the Urban Homesteader" tTt HE archdioceseof Goiinia launched a Primer for L tne Urban Homesteader, which has oriented land invasionsnot only in that capital, but also in other parts of Brazil (being found, for example, among the occupants of Yila dos Banc6rios in Porto Alegre).

The Primer arises from the following principle: the Brazilian Constitution establishesthat the minimum wageshould be sufficient to provide all the necessities of the worker, one of which is a respectablehome. In absenceof this, he hasthe right to look for vacantland on which to build his hut, "in the belief that the land is the right of the worker who makesup the wealth of Brazil." Setting forth the figure of the "urban homesteader," the Primer affirms that the invader of an "abandoned" land who built a hut and made other improvementscannot be disturbed since "this is the greatest document that becomesmore sacred than a written document that was abandoned." It recommendsthat any "act of violence or attempted eviction of the inhabitants" be denouncedto the Pastoral Land Commission, to the newspapers,and to television. It even advises them to "look for help and sotidarity in the GrassrootsCommunities,in churches,and in parishes."

The Primer plays ambiguously with the terms "unoccupiedr" "vacant," and "abandonedrt' virtually equatingthem with "no man's land." One of the illustrations, for example,presentsa man with a bag over

council and called the police. Then, according to a report in O Sdo Paulo, the GrassrootsCommunities entered the scene: "An individual from the Sio Marcoscommunity,who was passingby the place, decidedto seewhat was going on. When he found out about the violencebeingsuffered by the families, he immediatelywent to the community hall. There, he and othersof the community resolvedto support the evictedfamilies and evento stir up other families who werein a similar situation. . . . Meanwhile, an eight personcommission,amongwhich wereseveralwho weregoing lo invadethe land, recruitedtwenty families who wereundergoinggreat difficulties. They decidedto organizea work crew to do a 'blitz' during the entire day and night of June 13which would end symbolicallywith a commemorationin which thirty communitiesof ltaim Paulista would participate. . . . The 'blitz' started the sameday at 3 p.m. It lastedthe whole night, supported

his shoulderand sayingto his wife: "Mary! That land is abandoned! It must not belong to anybody. Let's make our hut there!?"

After explaining the casesin which the "homesteaders" can be evictedby judicial order, the Pnrzer teaches: "Before getting into this situation, there is one more recourse:the strengthofunion, capableofsuspending the eviction, Clvingthem direct possessionthrough expropriation," In other words, it teachesthem to resist as a group, creating a focus of tension and pressuring the authorities to promote the expropriation land for social interests,in terms of the current legislation.

For such a resistance,it insists on "communitarian union," the formation of communitiesand associations of tenants for joint studiesof the proposalsof settlements made by the property ownersor the authorities for vacating the invaded area and avoiding individual settlements.

The whole manner of speaking of the Primer is infected with class struggle, invariably presenting the property owner, the wealthy, as the oppressor who wants to increase his profits, to fatten his capital through exploitation of the poor, of the worker.

Correiodo Povo ar.dZeroHora, Polto Alegre, References: of Goidnia,PastoralSecretari8/18and l9l81; Archdiocese at" Cartilha do PosseiroUrbano, 1980.

by almost all the families of the communities. . . . The 'blitz' endedwith a commemorationat the location on 6/14 with the somethirty-odd communitiestaking part, walking to the place with banners and posters. . . . [n addition to the communities, the families enjoyed the presenceof Bishop Ang6lico, bishop of the region, and Irma Passoni."

Congresswoman The booklet destinedfor the GRCCs of the region of 56o Miguel presentsthe caseof Monte Ta6 as "the story of strugglefor a pieceof land and the oppressionof the powerful." It comparesthe caseto the "story of the Suffering Servant" (a prophecyof IsaiasregardingOur I-ord JesusChrist). Subsequentto this, camethe following suggestivequestionsand the conscientizingconclusions: ..THE PEOPLE ORGANIZE THEMSELVES ON THE MOVE "Animator: What will come? We don't know yet.

Are they going to be evicted?Are they going to win by

68

THP GRCCS IN ACTION_IN

THE COUNTRYSIDE, IN THE SUBURBS, IN TI{E FACTORIES

resistingto the end?Are they going to find anotherplace to live?

"To confront this oppressionthe peopleareUNITING and GAINING EXPERIENCE IN ORGANIZATION to the degreethat new reprisalsand new difficulties arise.

"Reader: In all the visits to the authorities (regional' prefecture,city council), a COMMISSION wasprepared to go with the peopleto speakand defendtheir position.

All are responsible.We won't surrender anyone.Hun' ger, necessity,and want moke everyonefight for a piece of ground. This story teachessomethingseriousand indispensable: ,,ALL: THE PEOPLE ORGANIZE THEMSELVES ON THE MOVE, ASSUMING AND EXECUTING THEIR MISSION!" The reviewfinisheswith the item: "Discusswith your companions": "1. Is our group and our Community in solidaritywith the popular strugglesthat occur inBrazil, in Sio Paulo, in our region?How do we supPortthem?

2. What doesthe struggleof MONTE TAO have to teach us?

3. What doesit meanto moveunited and organized?"

This guidebook was destined to prepare the GRCCs of the 56o Miguel region for the Regional Congress of Communities to be held on September 20, 1981. After similar "reflections" and "discussions," is it strange that the land invasions began in the region on October l?

Is it merely coincidence that in the beginning of the next year, after the series of land invasions of l98l (not only in 56o Paulo, but repeated in the principal capitals of Brazil), the CNBB approved a document demanding urban reform?

References Archdioceseof Goidnia-Pastoral Secretanat,Cartilha do posseiro (Jrbqno,1980; Tribuna Piracicobona,Piracicaba,56o Paulo,3/21 /81; Isto d, 9/16/81; Folha de S. Psulo, 9/8 to 23/81; Jornal do Brasil,7/14,9/7 andS/81; O Estado de S. Paulo, 9/9,19,22and30; l0/l/81; O SdoPaulo,T/3 andS/28/81; Brasil Reportagem,vol.1, no. 2, 1979,pp. 36-37;archdiocese of 56o Paulo, Guia Geral 1980;EpiscopalRegion of 56o Miguel (archdioceseof 56o Paulo), O povo se organizacaminhondo, mimeographed,n.d.; Isto d, 9/16/81, pp. 2l'23; Jornol do Brasil,9/ 7 and 9/8/8 I ; Folha de S. Paulo, 9/ 8, 9/ lL, 9/ 19 and 9/23/81: O Estadode S. Paulo,9/19,9/22,9/23 allld9/30/81, l0/l/81; O Sdo Paulo, T/13/81, p. 9 and 9/ll/81.

The Movement Against ilee{ Oneof the ssPoliticalArms" of the GRCGs

activity in the South Zone of 56o Paulo: "Often, in groups, we discussed what was better: demond more transportation or porticipate in the mAldeof street riots against the buses.The majority of the neighborhood opted for demands. However, after the vandalizing of FEPASA (FerroviasPaulistasS.A.) lRailroad Company of Sio Paulol, we oskedourselvesif it would not be better to leaveit asit wcaso that it would crashto pieces."

The most publicized campaignof the Movement was a petition drive against need, launched in 1978,which constituted one of the banners of the opposition and resultedin the election that year of severaldirectors of the MAN zlrma Passoni and Marco Aurdlio Ribeiro to the statecongressandAurdlio Perezto the federal congress,all under the opposition standard (MDB).

This petition evenplayed a large role in the outbreak and maintenanceof strikesunleashedin 56o Paulo and in ABC flocal acronym for the three large industrial cities outside 56o Paulol beginning in 1978.

As such, theMovementof the Cost of Life-today the Movement Against Need-was consideredby a co[lmentator to be the mun "political arm" of the Grassroots Church Communities.

T HE noisy strikes that rocked Salvador in August I and Septemberof 1981brought back to the pages of the newspapersthe nameof an entity that had sprung from the GRCCs of the South Zone of Slo Paulo and spreadthroughout the country: the Movement Against Need-MAN (previously called the Movement of the Cost of Life-MCV).

In effect, the vandalismof vehicles,attemptedlooting of supermarkets,and other actsof violencethat held the capital of Bahia in a state of continual unrest for three weeksall beganwith demonstrationsby MAN againstthe increasein bus fares.The tragic rash of disturbancesbegnning August 20 causedimmensematerial damage:four dead,dozenswounded,hundredsofbuses totally or partially destroyed,millions of dollars in damage.

For the leadersof the MAN, however,the outcomewas "positive." At leastit wasso consideredby the local coordinator of the Movement, Doctor Jane Vasconcellos,in an interview to the newspaperof the Communist Party of Bra"il: "The organizationalsurpluswasenormous:We wereableto createnew nuclei of the MAN in many neighborhoods.It alsoprovedthat union and popular pressure can lead to victories, can lead the powerful to retreat."

The doctor, who also managesthe national coordination of the MAN, was held responsiblefor the disturbancesin Salvador by a Federal Police investigation.

(Also chargedweresix more persons,amongwhom was Haroldo Lima, national director of the CommunistParty of Brazil.)

Whatever MAN's responsibilityin theseevents,it is necessaryto be awarethat the destructionof vehiclesas a meansof protest had beendiscussedin meetingsof the GrassrootsCommunities.This can be found in the testimony of Congresswoman lrma Passoniin a conference at the Methodist University of PiracicabacoveringGRCC

References A Tarde,8/22 and23,9/3,4 and22/81;Correiodo Bahia, 8/22/81;Jornalda Bqhia,S/ll,15,21 and22/8/81;Tribuna da Bohia,8/21to 27,9/15/81; Jornaldo Brqsil,8/23,26 and 27, 9/21/81;FolhadeS. Paulo,8/22to 27, 9/4/81; O Estado de S. Poulo,8/21 ro 29,9/4 and5, 10/24/81;Veja,9/9/81, pp. 20-23; Tribuna Operdria, 9/29/81, p. 2; Tribuna Piracicabana,3//7 /81; P. SingerandV. C. Brandt(org.),Sdo Paulo:VozesPaulo:o povo em movimento@etr6polis-S6o CEBRAP,1980),pp. 97-l0l; O SdoPaulo,5/10/79;Isto 4, p.23;Cadernos do 3/22/78,pp.8-1l; 5/3/78,p. V4;2/21/79, 1978,p. 23.

CEAS,September-October, 69

10 Where the CommunistPartY Failed, the Grassroots CommunitiesTriumphed A New Political Union of Religious lnspiration, Animated by Liberation TheologY eveningor weekendmeetingthat formed the new leaders who now direct the unions.

Regardingthis, the magazineIsto d (of the center-left and, therefore, above suspicion) comments that the Church substitutedfor the political parties, legal or illegal, by mobilizing the workers. It citesthe then clandestine bulletin Voz Operdria in which the Brazilian Communist Party tells of its lack of penetrationamong the workers: "[We must] find waysand meansto break down the barrier that separatesus from our socialgrass roots: the working massesand the working class." Isto d concludes:"There is a powerful organization, not the Communist Party, nor Arena, nor MDB, working within the workers'spheresince1968:the CatholicChurch."

The magazinesummarizesreality well: the Communist Party devotedall its efforts to the worker, but the then existinglegalpartieswerenot ableto movethem (ashappenswith the presentones).However,their placewastaken by organsworking in the nameof the Church, a much strongerforce than the partiesand the only one capable of moving Brazilians, workers or otherwise,in a direction that causesthem repugnance.Its most dynamic members make use of the high positions they occupy to promote, in her name,the destructionof presentsociety and its replacementwith an undefined socialismthat is taking on the rose(almostred) color of theself-manoging regimeof Mitterrand's French SocialistParty. The Workers' Ministries are the instrumentsfor this. Through the GrassrootsChurch Communities,they reachthe worker and his family in the factory, the parish, and the neighborhood.

Sincethe recruiting of GRCC membersin urban areas focusedparticularly on workers in the outskirts, it was inevitablethat the conscientizedworkerswould try to influence their own environments.The most natural way

tTt HE family of Josâ‚ŹPedro da Silva, originally from I Minas Gerais,was very religious.At agefourteen, Jos6Pedroenteredthe Marian Congregationin the North of Parand where he lived. When he was nineteen,Zd Pedro cameto 56o Paulo with his family. Sometime afterwards,in 1968,he enteredthe GrassrootsCommunity of Vila Yolandain Osasco(an industrialcity of Greater 56o Paulo) directedby a team of Frenchworker-priests led by Fr. Dominique Barb6. From then on his life changed.

Zâ‚ŹPedro becameuninhibited and political and leaned toward union militancy. In 1974,Ze Pedro was elected of the Ore WorkersUnion of Osasco.In vice-president a short time, at odds with his fellow union leaders,he switchedranks and joined the oppositionunion where he becameits most prominent member.

The story of 2;6Pedrois a good illustrationof the role the GrassrootsCommunitiesplay in the new unionism '60s: that has arisenin the country sincethe end of the a political unionismof religiousinspiration, animatedby liberation theology.

NEW LEADERSIIIP TOOK ROOT IN THE PARISHES This newunion movement,accordingto a publication of the Jesuits, took root and developedin a semiclandestineway in the period of repressionand intervention in the unions.This resultedin the strikesof Osasco and Contagem(Minas Gerais)in 1968that sprangfrom grassrootsgroupswhich werealmostalwayslinked to the workers' parishes.

The Ministriesof the Working World, or simply Workers' Ministries,werepointed out asthe strongesttool substituting for the unions in the political formation of workersin the aforementionedperiod: It wasthe parish

70

Wherethe Communist Party Failed, the GrassrootsComrnunitiesTriumphed

7l

A new unlonlsm, anlmaled by llberatlon theology. Melalworkerson strlke In lhe maln church ol 36o Bemardo do Campo, 56o Paulo, In 1g8O-

to do this is obviously through union militancy. They feel they are preparedfor this role by the internal life in the GRCCs as well as by its externalaction of mobilization, demands,and protest. In addition, many of them were trained in leadershiptechniques,group activities,group dynamics,and more. Suchtraining givesthem the means not only for influencing corporate decisionsbut even of dominatingthe unions where,until a short while ago, the only organizedand skilled militants were the communists.

in union militancy due to religiousmotivation, inspired by liberation theology: "Since they werepoliticians in the reading of the Gospel,they becamereligious in the union struggle."

This religiousnote is what marks the militancy of members of the GRCCs both in the unions and in the union opposition.In the sameway, it marksthe strikesinspired or sustainedby them.

..POLITICIANS IN THE REN)ING OF THE GOSPEL, RELIGIOUSIN TIIE UNION STRUGGLE''

A stepin the strategyusedby the GRCCsto dominate the unions, or evento strengthentheir position in them, is the intensivecampaignof unionism promoted by their membersnot only by enrolling themselvesin the respective unions but by bringing along their relatives, neighbors, and friends from work.

Such a campaign, aside from the obvious adYantage ofincreasing their own contingentsfor eventualelectoral races,offers the membersof the GRCCs an occasion for rnaking contact with a large part of the working class, amplifyrng in this way the extent of their influence.

The campaignpresentsa conscientizingcharactersince it tries to make the workers enroll in the union having in view not so much the provisional, social, and recreational benefits as "participation in the struggle for real con-

The presenceof the leftist clergyand of the Grassroots Communities in the union movementis so notorious that many ask themselvesif this clergydoesnot havea strategy for dominating the unions.

The Most ReverendTom6sBalduino, bishopof Goids Velho, on the occasionof the Third National Congress of the GRCCs (Jo6o Pessoa,1978),tried to denythe existenceof any such plan but his denial did little to convince anyone.He affirmed that the peoplelinked to the clergy entered spontaneously into the unions.

Nevertheless,Bishop Balduino admits-and this is of capital importance-that thesepeople becameinvolved

UNIONISM CONSCIENTTZING

72

Tss GRCCs rN ACTTON-IN THE COUNTRYSIDE,IN THE SUBURBS,IN THE FACTORIES

questsfor the wholeclass," asit is put in a report of the Communityof SantaMargarida(Vila Remo, 56o Paulo).

A NEW UNION OPPOSITION Through the GrassrootsCommunities, the Workers Ministry is creatinga new kind of union opposition: oppositionto the unionsofthe "protectionist" or "sheepskin" type (as they generallycall the unions that accept the official politics and thosethat do not caretoo much for classstruggleor that are only moderate).It is an opposition of a doctrinal, of a religious character.

Until now, the union oppositionaimeddirectly at winning leadershipposts of the classentities. They had an almost exclusivelyelectoralcharacter,being shortJived and dissolvingafter the union elections.

On the contrary, the new union opposition,inspired by the GRCCs-Workers'Ministries,doesnot haveelectoral victoriesas a goal. Rather,it wants,aboveall, to the workers,to implant a new mentalityin conscientize them, to convincethem that it is not enoughto fight for bettersalariesor betterworking conditionsbut that it is to abolishthe capitalistsystemitself, which is necessary pointed out as the causeof all the evils of the working classand of the poor in general.

As a result, the new union oppositiondoesnot have the transitorycharacterof the prior ones.It doesnot exhaustitself with the electoralprocess;it continuesactively as a kind of parallel union.

So, the GRCCs-Workers'Ministriescustomarilypromote oppositioncsndidalesin union electionsevenwhen thereis not the slightestpossibilityof victory. The electoral campaignis an important occasionfor their work of regimentingnew recruits and, aboveall, of conscientizing the workers.In addition, the simplefact that its membersdisputeelectivepostsconferson them/bD stability, protectedby current legislation,permitting them to continuetheir work of agitation in the factorieswithout fear of punishment.

MOBILIZATION OF THE WHOLE FAMILY This meticulous action within the factories seeksto mobilize the workers through "little struggles" against internal "irregularities" of each factory. These "irregularities"run the gamut from cafeteriafacilities,lavatory installation, and other problems, to demandsfor

medicalassistance and coverageand the strugglefor better salaries.

It is useful to know the tactics used. A report of the Community of SantaMargarida states:"In this work of articulation and of little struggles,all possiblemethods wereused;from conversationsat the machinesor in the washrooms,to distribution of bulletins and convoking of larger meetings,to the opinion poll that resultedin the cartoon story called Zâ‚Ź Marmita."

For their conscientizingaction, the GRCCs-Workers' Ministries haveevenpromoted in the neighborhoodsassembliesof workers from diversefactories, outsidethe union structure, in groups called "interfactories."

Union elections,asnoted earlier,offer an excellentoccasionfor conscientizationnot only of GRCC members and their workplace colleaguesbut also of the families of the workers. In these campaignsthe Communities mobilizeeveryonepossible:women, old folks, youths, and even children. In this way personsnot directly involved in the union battlesand who are evenimmune to such activity end up participating in them as a result of the religious motivation that the GRCCs give them.

EXPEL THE "MONEY CHANGERS" FROM THE UNION The religiousmotivation of the new union opposition is well illustrated by a passagein the previouslycited report of the Workers' Ministry of the Communityof Santa Margarida for the Third National Congress.When dealing with the subject of "union opposition," the report cites the Gospel of Saint Luke: "And enteringinto the temple, He beganto castout them that sold therein, and them that bought. Sayrngto them: It is written, My house is the houseof prayer. But you have made it a den of The Temple,in this case,is the thieves"(Luke 19:45-46).

Union, dominatedby the "sheepskins,"the "money changers" who must be expelledwith the whip.

References deBase Fr, DominiqueBarb6,En elfuturo, lasComunidades (Madrid:Studium,1974);CEDAC,Perspectivas do novo sinde Jos6Ibrahin (Edic6esLoyoladicalismo,Apresentagdo CEDAC,1980),pp. 33-37;O SdoPoulo,2/18/78andT/29/78; Folhetim,l/28/79; Isto d, 5/3/78,p. 20 ff.; "Relat6rioda deSantaMargarida,"in SEDOC,October1978, Comunidade cols.356,357,358and261.

1l Behind the Strlkesl

The Grassroots Church Communities

T HE metalworkers'strike of the ABC in 1980was I of such duration and revealedsuch organization, politicization, and radicalization-with aspectsof illegality and turbulence foreign to the peaceful and tranquil disposition of the Brazilian people-that many asked themselveswhat new factor hasinterferedin the workerunion environment?

During the time frame of that strike, the then secretarygeneralof the Brazilian Communist Party, the late Luis Carlos Prestes,after eulogizingLula, admitted that the Church, "one of the worst adversaries" of the Communist Party until 1964,"is today in communion" with the communists,"in the degreethat its representatives supportedthe metalworkers'strike." We should pay the utmost attention to this fact sinceit was a time when the support of the progressivistclergyfor the metalworkers' strike was total.

It wasnot the first (nor the last)time that the old communist leadermadeallusionsto an at leasttacit alliance betweenthe Church and the Communist Party without being contradictedin a convincing and irrefutable way or provoking the indignation that such a hypothesis should arousein ecclesiasticalcircles.

Would there have been an effective alliancebetween leftist sectorsof the clergy and the communistsabout those ABC strikes?

The presenceof bishopsand priestsin the strike movement was notorious. On the other hand, there were innumerabledenunciationsof communist infiltration in the strikeson the part of civil, police, and military authorities.

Are there doctrinal reasons to justify such an alliance?

Taking into accountthat the pastoral agents,priests, and bishopsactivelyparticipating in suchstrikesare followersof the so-calledliberation theology, it is not diffi-

73

cult to find reasonsof a doctrinal characterto justify a similar alliance.

Moreover,it waspreciselyin the nameof the "option for the poor" and of "liberation of the oppressed,"basic principles of liberation theology, that the clergy in question enteredinto the ABC strikes in 1980.

Thus, independentof any eventualde facto alliance that there could have been among the leftist sectorsof the clergyand this or that communistcurrent, the reality is that such clergymenconcretelybecame,on their own accord and without conclaves,objective allies of international communism.Their doctrinal principles and their subsequentpractical attitudes led to a marked resemblancewith communist methodsand goals: destruction of the present social structures,elimination of private property, and implantation of a socialist regime.

The main instrument of the leftist clergyin this action has been the GrassrootsChurch Communities. ..THE STRII(ESDID NOT CO}TSOUT OF TI{EBLIJE'' The strikes of 1978, '79, and'80 cannot be taken separately,as if they had no relation with one another.

On the contrary, they constituteda singledemandprocess(within thepolitical process)in which the most active elementwas undoubtedly and by far the progressivist clergy-employing its support in the most decisiveway through moral, material, and human resources.

Nevertheless,thesestrikes "did not come out of the blue as manna in the desert," emphasizesthe report of the community of SantaMargarida. They were, on the contrary, the "result of a slow, patient, and stubborn grassrootswork."

This "slow, patient, and stubborn grassrootswork" in the strikes of the ABC metalworkersin 1980can be

74

THE GRCCS IN ACTION_IN

THE COUNTRYSIDE, IN THE SUBURBS,IN THE FACTORTES

found in the pagesof O Sdo Psulo, the archdiocesan weekly.

The preparationbeganin March of that year in meetings of the SdoPaulo Workers' Ministry, months before the actual dissentbegan.

THE WORKERS'MINISTRY PLANS, THE GRCCs FUITN,I Already on December2 of the previous year (1979) militants and agentsof the variousgroupsand ministries had begunto study the bulletin of the Workers' Ministry of EasternEpiscopalRegion-2of the archdioceseof 56o Paulo. It proposes,amongotherthings,the following points: "organizea permanentfund for the strike"; "make useof all the religious and neighborhoodmove' ments for propagating and arousing struggles, as for examplethe Mass of the worker, Christmasnovena;organizedemandmovementsfor water, light . . ."; "reinforce the command and the interfactory meetings" and "continue to createand motivate support groups." For all thesetasks,the militants of the GRCCsand the ministries should"try to find the more combativepersonsin the neighborhoods,in the factories."

On January20, 1980,the samegroupsgatheredin 56o Miguel Paulista(wheremany workersof the ABC live) to debatethesepoints.On March 9, the entireWorkers' of 56o Paulogatheredin the Ministry of the archdiocese ArchdiocesanCollegeto evaluatethe workers' movement over the previousyearand to outlinemethodsfor 1980' They concludedthat eventhough the 1979strike had not achievedpositiveeconomicresults,it did representa po' litical advance.

On March 15, the Workers' Ministry againgathered in 56o Miguel Paulista.Everythingwasthought out and planned.The methodsweresetand tasksassigned:"To engagethe church groups in concretesupport of the workers' movement:mothers'clubs, street groups, human rights, youth, and so on"; "support the strike through church groups"; "formation of a permanent supportfund (form afinonce boord with representatives of various ministries)."

One could not desirea more minute preparationof the workplace for the programmedstrikes. Only the ecclesiasticalstructure had at its disposalsuch resources.

As a matter of fact, one of the coordinatorsof this whole mobilization,BishopSAndaloBernardino,auxiliarybishop of Sdo Paulo, who is responsiblefor the Workers' Ministry, affirms this: "There existsno entity like the Church that goesto work with the grassroots, getsthe man really wherehe is, in the neighborhood,in the field, in the Amazon interior."

He is right.

In theABC, the Unionists Belong to the GRCCs, but TheyDon't Go aroundSaying,So.. .

1| N the evening before the strike movement Uf was hatched,Friar Betto, consideredthe principal organizerof the GRCCs on a national level, declared: "There is a bond betweenthe majority of the workers and the Church becausethey participate in the Grassroots Communities and the Workers' Ministries; they frequent the churches; they makethe chapelsand churchesof their neighborhoodstheir habitual meetingplaces.. . . In the ABC, the Workers' Ministry and Workers' Catholic Action try to systematizethis presenceof the worker in the Church and the Church among the workers. This work is permanentlydone in the area but becomesevident in moments of crisis as this when the whole infrostructure of the Church is put into action by the workers themselveswho participate in the Grassroots Communities. . . . The union militants are memben of their parish grassroots community,but don't go aroundsayingso" (Componheiro, 5/7 /80). ..SOPHISTICATEDORGANIZATIONALGEARING'' One journalist observedthat this ABC metalworkers' strike was only possiblethanks to a "sophisticated organizationalgearing" that not only did awaywith the union headquarters,but with Lula himself. "Sophisticated gearing" that had as an axis the Workers'Ministry and the movementof the GrassrootsChurch Communities.

This reality was recognizedby the principal organizer of these strikes, Friar Betto, who affirmed that the majority of the union workers and militants participate in the GrassrootsCommunitiesand in the workers'ministry of their parishes,eventhough they do not declareit.

The GRCC coordinator in the ABC, Astrogildo Cdndido de Souza, declaredthat thesesame entities work directly within the metalworkers' organization. He said that the nuclei of his neighborhood,Vila Homero Thon in Santo Andr6, are divided up in such a way that each memberhasthe task of calling the metalworkersof a determined streetfor meetingsin the parishes,convoking them to support the movement.Here the famous s/reef

Behind the &rtkes: The GrassrootsChurch Communities

75

groups, mentionedin the descriptionof the movement, appear fully active. The eight GrassrootsCommunities of Vila Palmaresengagein a similar role: any communication of the strike command is sent to the sector representatives,who passit on to the street representa/lves.Thesedutifully go from houseto housepassingon the word-of-order.

The GRCCs filled a distinguishedrole in carrying out commandsfor a Strike Furdthrough "street gatherings" and luncheon benefits.

The activity of the visiting commissionswere very important. Their principal job was to convincethe metalworkers' wives to take greater part in the strikes.

400 Lulas") was comprisedof 480 metalworkers-43O men and 50 women. Some 215 meetings(held over a three-monthperiod from the end of Novemberto the beginning of March) were required for its formation.

It includednoviceswithout any experienceto old foxesfrom the '60sunions; somewell-knownunion activists suchas "Alem6o" and "Osmarzinho"; two or three exstudentsalready very involved with the workers of 56o Bernardo; and, finally, "innumerable workers' leaders formed in the grassroots religious movements of the region."

TIIE MOST POWERFUL AND UNASSAILABLE

"The help of Friar Betto, the Dominican who spread and coordinatedthe work of the GrassrootsChurch Communities in 56o Paulo and who is today a kind of adviser and shield bearer of Lula, was greatly valued," relatesa socialist weekly.

Friar Betto was the one who oriented the "Commission of 400 Lulas." He divided the work of the subcommissions"to prevent everyonefrom discussingeverything without having a concretetask." He evengavethe idea of replacingpart of the generalmeetingswith meetings of sub-groupsof 8 to l0 workers,eachwith specifictasks, as, for example,bleachersecurity in the Vila Euclides Stadium, snackpreparation, pamphlet and information distribution, programming of the "work of persuading the one who would break the strike on the following day." Thanks to this strategy,the tediousgeneralassemblies in the stadium in which the professionalunionists prayed werereplacedwith mini-assembliesof the workers, apportioned by factories and directed by members of the Commission.

The participation of Friar Betto in the ABC strike movementwas well documentedby the journalist Jos6 NuemannePinto. It is worthwhile to transcribehis words: "Friar Betto becamea kind of eminenceof the strike. ,\ personalfriend and confidant of Lula, he went to live in the houseof the worker leaderon Jardim Assungdo, in Sio Bernardodo Campo. Friar Betto is known for his tactical instructions and, accordingto a union militant, 'he is the one who pushesLula on when the pessimists come with their negative counsels and their lamentations."'

Other publications confirm this evaluation, mentioning phrasesheard here and there: "Lula follows the counselsof an ex-terrorist priest" or "Lula is being advisedby radicals." Theseare evident allusionsto the fact that Friar Betto was condemnedto prison for involvement in the urban guerrilla activities of Carlos Marighela who bloodied the country in the last years of the '60s.

.,PICKF..Trt

The participation of the Grassroots Communities among the pickets themselveswas intense. Their same coordinator in the ABC, Astrogildo Cdndido de Souza (himself a school-busdriver), declaredthat the members of the GRCCs-"despite that not all of them are metalworkers"-participated in the picketing,leavingat 4:00 in the morning for the bus stopsand the factory entrancesin the conscientizationeffort. The pickets were prepared in daily community meetingsin S5o Miguel, EasternZone of Sio Paulo, so that the following morning they could interceptcompanybusesand convincepeople who were still vacillating.

The Movement Against Need-MANconstituted one ofthe principal "support groups" for the strikers.It was one of the organizingentities of the "United May lst" that brought peoplefrom all over Greater Sio Paulo to the ABC in a show of support for the strike movement.

Even more, they activelyparticipatedin the collectionof money and commodities for the Strike Fund.

Summarizing,the Workers'Ministry, the GRCCs,and the rest of the outfits and entitieslinked to them constitute what a Marxist weekly properly called "the most powerful and unassailable'picket' that the workershave at their disposal."

MILITANTS OF THE GRCCs IN THE ..COMMISSIONoF THE 4OOLULAS'' As has been pointed out, the metalworkers' strike of the ABC in 1980was plannedin such a way to do away not only with the union headquarters,but alsowith Lula himself and with the rest of the entity's leaders.A kind of command post was set up which began to function evenbefore the hatching of the strike, the Commission of Salariesand Mobilization.

This commission(nicknamedthe "Commission of the

^A VERY SPECIAL ADYISER: FRIAR BETTO

76

Tge GRCCs IN ACTION_IN THE COUNTRYSIDE,IN THE SUBURBS,IN THE FACTORIES

..WAR AGAINST THE EMPLOYERS,' The metalworkers' strike of Sdo Bernardo and Santo Andr6, declaredillegal by the competenttribunal, was more than a strike for certain demands.This strike unleasheda "declaration of war againstthe employerand the government" in a "true war againstthe employer," as emphasizedby two leftist newspapers.

In the principal church of 56o Bernardo, during the last strike assembly,this "declaration of war" was read from the bulletin distributed by the deposedboard of directors of the metalworkers' union and by the Commission of Salariesand Mobilization: "So that the employers and the governmentknow: Behind eachmachine there will be a worker at war; . . . a continuous war becausein our hearts and in our souls we carry the wrath ' 'No of thejust and eternalthirst of justice." This means: overtime,slowingof production, lower quality; if a companion is fired, the machines will stop until he is re-hired."

The words of the last speakerat the assembly,Wagner Lino Alves, a memberof the "Commissionof the 400 Lulas," indicatesthe atmospherein which this war will be waged: "Tomorrow, whenyou go into thefactories' you must leave love at the door. In the heart of each worker there will be onlY hote." ..A POLITICAL STRIKE,YES, LORD'' During the strike, its political aspectwas stressedvery much. In an articletitled "A Political Strike, Yes,Lord," the journalist Ivan Valenteemphasizesthe political content of the metalworkers'demands.In fact, at the beginning of April, a memo from the metalworkers'Union of Siio Bernardoand Diademasaid that the strike would continue"not only becauseof the economicdemandsbut aboveall for socialguarantees,principallyjob stability."

In reality, this strike' sincethe very beginning,had as its objectivethe bolsteringof the union. A leaflet distributed by the metalworkers'unionsevenbefore negotiations started makes this entirely clear. Among the twenty-five demands presentedone month before the strike broke out, some are of an eminently political characteralong the line of self-managementas, for example, the demandsfor "free accessto the industriesfor union leadersto verify work conditions" and "control of supervisors,that is, the right of the workersto punish unjust supervisorsand to tell, everysix months,what they think about the behavior of their supervisorswith replacement of those not approvedof by the workers."

Other demandswere that the union delegation enioy stability and alsothat the industrycould fire workersonly on account of financial or technical difficulties. Even

then, the first to leavewould be thoseinterestedin leaving, then thosewith the smallermenial jobs, and so on.

In other words, the industriescould not punish the sociopolitical agitatorsby firing them. They would remain free to disturb the functioning of the factory.

The control of supervisorsby the workerswith the possibility of punishing and evenfiring them, as well as the control of job dismissal,representthe initial stepsfor the establishmentof a self-monagingdictatorship (asinthe Franceof Mitterrand). This would put industriesat the mercy of the militants of the GrassrootsCommunitiesand the unions.

A..LBERATING'' STRIKE The religious character of the new unionism of the GRCCs was presentin the metalworkers' strikes of the ABC in 1978-1980.It was accentuatednot only by the transformation of the churchesinto strike centersand placesof assembly,by the decidedsupport of the CNBB and of prelates such as the Most Reverend Cldudio Hummes, bishop of SantoAndr6, and Cardinal Arns and his auxiliaries, but above all by the philosophy that inspired the movement.

In the middle of the strike of 1980,a "Worker's Easter Mass" wascelebratedin the Vila EuclidesStadium (Sflo Bernardo),during which Bishop Cl6udio Hummescompared the "First Passover," the "liberation of the Jews from the slavery of Egypt" with the demandsof the metalworkersof the ABC. Somedayslater, in the strike meetingin the principal church of Sio Bernardo do Campo, Bishop Hummes returned to the comparisonbetweenthe oppressedJews and the striking workers: "Moses bothered the powerful, but he organizedhis people and was able to defeat the pharaoh.Each of you must be a Moses with the mis' sion of liberating the workers."

In a later interview, the bishop headedclearly in the direction of liberation theologlt, acceptingthe Marxist conceptionof the "proletariat-redeemer"(seethe report about liberation theology) and the leading role of the "organizedpeople."

Bishop Hummesaffirmed that the Church of the ABC would be faithful to the "preferential option for the poor" and added: "Inside this context of Puebla, the Church plans to be a Church that existsamidst the people and, evidently, in thot port of thepeople thst is most organiled, the part of the peoplewith greaterpossibilities for fulfilling a historical role in the name of all: the historical task of changingthe presentstructuresof our societywherethere is injustice, oppression,and corruption. . . . And the rnost orgonized part of thesepeople is that which carries the struggle for the building of

Behind the Strikes: The GrassrootsChurch Communities

a new world. And the rest of the people who still have not been able to be organizedmust be conscientizedto support the more organizedpart."

His words gain significancewhen comparedto the following affirmation of Lenin: "Only one class,precisely the urban industrial and factory workers in general, has the conditionsto leadthe whole massof workersand exploited in the struggleto shakeoff the yoke of capital."

UNDER THE BANNER OF THE NICARAGUAN

REvoLr.nroN As we have seen,the 4l-day strike of the metalworkersof the ABC wasconductedwith the religiouspseudomysticismthat impregnatesthe new unionism promoted by the GrassrootsChurch Communities fed by liberation theology, or to put it more precisely,by liberation theology put into practice. Now, accordingto the weekly of the archdioceseof SdoPaulo, "the highestexpressionof the concretepractice of liberation theology" wasthe Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua.

About a month before the ABC strike movement,the Fourth International Ecamenical Congressof Theology met in Taboio da Serra,Sio Paulo, with the participation of the principal world representativesof liberation theology. Its themewasthe "Ecclesiologyof the Grassroots Church Communities." Liberation theologyand GRCCs gatheredtogether in the samemeeting. Perhapsit was a coincidencebut the coordinator of this congresswas none other than the aforementionedFriar Betto.

The great attraction of the Congressof Taboio da Serra was the delegation from Nicaragua in which figures of the SandinistaLiberation Front and membersof the GrassrootsCommunities had a distinguishedplace.

The "case of Nicaragua" was presentedas the paradigm for the "liberating" action of the Grassroots Church Communities.

In addition to the Congress,there wasa Weekof Theologt, with sessionsin the Theaterof the Catholic University, designedespeciallyfor the membersof the GRCCs of Sio Paulo. In oneof thesesessions, dubbed,,sandinista Night" (presidedover by the sameFriar Betto), Socorro Guerrero, member of a GrassrootsCommunity in Mandgua and a guerrilla support group, urged (to applause)the militants of the Brazilian GRCCs to follow the exampleof thoseof his country who had resortedto armed insurrection to overthrow capitalism, which he called "the devil of the Bible."l l. The TFP widely promoted the distribution of the July-August 1980 issueof Ccfofcrsmo that carried ample photographic coverageand the texts of all the speechesof the "Sandinista Night. " Also included were commentaries by Prof. Plinio Confu de Oliveira.

The GRCCS,to the Left of the Brazilian CornrnunistParty A NALYZING the ac.{4. tivity of His Eminence Cardinal Arns in the strikes of 1979,Fr. $ellitti, from O Lutodar, the Catholic weekly of Belo Horizonte, said the following: "This transfer of the churches can only be

F!

qq

Paulo CardlnalAms

understood in its realdimensionif weperceive, behind the fact, somethingmore than the necessity of defendingthe right of the striking workers, deprivedof their headquarters, to assemble.

It is that the strike and the strike commandersdid not represent the positionof theunionsbut of theunion oppositions-aminority,no doubt,but a very activeonein which the radical and leastconciliatory left metwith theleadersof thepopularmovementsstimulatedby the Church.It is iu this zone of turbulence that the GRCCs(GrassraotsChurch Communities)haveplacedthemselves to theleft of theBrazilianCommunistPorty. This seemsto me to reveala dimensionlittle seen,little declared,but real,of thedecisionthat ledtheChurchof 56oPaulo to allow their churchesto beusedasstrikeheadquarters. It is this: the militants in the Church (GRCCs)wereout in the front of the movements strike,enkindledby the unionoppositionandnot by the union" ("Igreja maispoUticae Igrejamais religiosa," in Mensageirode SantaRita" Fmnca, 56o Paulo,December 1979,p.76).

At the closingof this Week of Theology, Cardinal Arns took the floor: "How to finish? There is no conclusion.

It hasjust started. . . . Look here, enoughof theology, let's get to the practical: Where are the groups that are going to Nicaragua to learn? I answer: I know that in 56o Paulo there are groups prepared,with suitcasesready to go, evenwith the permissionof the archbishopof Sio Faulo."

It wasnot necessaryto go to Nicaraguato learn, however. During those samedays, two embersof the Sandinista governmentjunta, CommandantDaniel Ortega, one of the principal guerrilla chiefs, and Fr. Miguel D'Escoto, chancellor, both of whom were present in

78

THE GRCCS IN ACTION_IN

THE COUNTRYSIDE, IN THE SUBURBS, IN THE FACTORIES

Tabo6o, met behind closeddoors with "representatives of the grassroots movements of the Church in the suburbs" (GRCCs)of the Ministries of the Archdiocese, and Mr. Lufs Inacio da Silva, "Lula," alongwith other leadersof the Workers' Party. The Cardinal was right: This was only the beginning. . . .

In fact, less than one month later the "liberating" strike of the ABC explodedunder the ostensiblecontrol of Lula (and the veiled control of Friar Betto) and with the blessingsof His Eminencethe Cardinal-Archbishop of Sdo Paulo.

References O Estadode S. Paulo,2/20,4/22,4/?.6and5/6/80;Jornal do Brasil,4/21 and4/22/80;CarlosCastelloBranco,"Substi-

tuem-se os personage\s," Jornel do Brasil,-"Coluna do Castello," 4/23/8O:.O Di.z, Rio de Janeiro,4/20/80; Folha da Tarde, Sdo Patlo, 5/l/80; SEDOC, October 1978, cols.

355-363; O SdoPaulo, | / 18,5/ 2, 3/7, 3/ 14,3/23 atd 4/ ll / 80; Companheiro, 2/21 , 4/9 and 5/1 /80i Movimento, 3/3, 4/14 and 5/12/80; O Trabqlho, 4/23/80; Isto d,3/12,4/9 and 4/30/80; Em Tempo, 5/15/80; Folha de S. Paulo, 5/2 and 1978,pp. 20 5/13/80; Cadernosdo CEAS, September-October ff .; Jornal de Bros{lia,5/l/80; Folhetim, l/28/79 and5/ll/80; Cstolicismo, July-August 1980;Jornal da Tarde, O Globo' Ditirio de Pernambuco" of 4/7/80; A grevena voz dos trabalhdores: Da Scaniaa ltu, ColegaoHist6ria Imediata (56o Paulo: Ed. Alfa Omega,1979),pp. 52-53;Lenin, Obras,vol.29, p.

38?, cited by V. G. Afanassiev, Filosotia Marxista: Compdndio Popular (Rio de Janeiro: Editorial Vit6ria, 1963)'p. 313; Fr. J. B. Libdnio, "Congresso Internacional Ecum6nico de Teologia," in Revista Eclesidsticq Brasileira, March 1980, pp. 126-133.

CHapTER IV

The GrassrootsChurch Communitiesand Politics

I A Religious Conception of Politics and the Politics of Religion

HAT is the political strength of the Grassroots Church Communities (GRCCs)?

The question-of great interestin itself-becomes even more apropos-with the opening of the electoralprocess.At first confined to ecclesiastical ambiencesand the restrictedsphereofpoliticians and the ruling elites,it soon gravitatedto the domain of the generalpublic, found resonancein the newspapersand becamethe topic of conversations.It even began to provoke debates(at times heated)involving personalitiesfrom all walks of life and from acrossBrazil.

It would show an excessivelynarrow and anachronistic conceptionof politics, however,to confinethe importanceof the GrassrootsChurch Communitiesto a purely electoralterrain. Without neglectingthe displayof force they have already shown in this field, it is necessaryto probe more deeplyto evaluatethe real political importance of the GRCCs in the Brazilian panorama.

More than organizationalstructureand numbers(not of negligibleconsequence),what makes the Grassroots Church Communitiesmovementan "emerging power" in the Brazilian political panoramais its characteras an ecclesiastical movement.Sincethe GRCCsareconsidered organismsof the Church, fomented,applauded,and given importanceby the episcopate,they acquirecredibility with the predominantlyCatholic population in the country. And, assuch,they receivecoveragefrom the greater paft of the newsmedia, which is alwayslavish in providing spaceand propagatory loudspeakersfor them, as well as for their plutocratic friends of the entire left.

This is the heart of the matter: It is religion that confers politicol strength on the GRCCs. It does so not only by external support, that is, by episcopallegitimization, but also by the very dynamism of its religious thought.

ALL "LIBERATING'' ACTION IS IIELIGIOUS PRACTICE asthe "concrete Indeed,the GRCCspresentthemselves practice" of liberation theology.Liberation theologyaffirms that faith has a political dimension: The finality 6f lsligion is the liberationof man from all "oppression."

The liberationtheologiansstatethat oppressiontoday, in the West, is embodiedin the structuresof the capitalist society.To liberate "the entire man and all of men," it is necessary to transform thesestructures.This is done political by activity (or by armed revolution). The religiouspracticeis, therefore,a liberatingpractice.Reciprocally, all liberating practiceis intrinsically religious-with scant concern for the quality or the intention of the agents.The essenceof religion, of faith, they affirm, is in the liberating action, not in the belief in dogmasand in the observanceof the Commandments.

Under this perspective,politics and religion cometogetherand are so intimately united that membersof the GRCCsenterinto the political strugglefor religiousreasonsand practicereligion in a political way: they are political in the practice of religion and religious in the practiceof politics. What countsis the liberatingcharacter of one and the other.

From this comesa broader notion of political activity that is not limited to the electoral game and to party militancy, but extendsto all the liberating action of the GrassrootsCommunities:demandmovements,protests, strikes, union struggles,rural agitation, and so on.

To the extent that it neglectsthis reality, the polemic regardingthe political importanceof the GRCCswill be off courseand will be reducedto being usedby parties (legal or illegal, open or clandestine)and to participation in the electoral process.

8l

82

THE GRASSROOTS CHURCH COMMUNITIES AND POLITICS

CONSCIENTIZATION:FROM RELIGION TO POLITICS The passagefrom the religious sphereto the political of the procis an immediateand inevitableconsequence essof conscientizationof the communitarianGrassroots -considered by the majority of the pastoral agentsas the main activity of the GRCCsand occupyingabout two thirds of its time. of conscientizationconsistsin awakening The essence the individual (in the name of religion) to the problems that surroundhim-problems of which he wasnot always ware and with which he wasaccustomedto live in a supportable way. The deliberateintention is to provoke dissatisfaction with the present situation and kindle the desireto participate in the transformation of society's structures,whereinresidesthe causeof all his troubles.

However,the transformationof societyis not brought about solely without political activity (or revolutionary action). Therefore,to the degreethat the individual is draggedinto the political arena,he is conscientized.

This beingthe case,thereis no point in saying,ashas often beenheard, that the GRCCsas suchdo not set up political partiesand that, if its membersenroll in a party, they do so on their own asindividuals.One who joins a party-whether due to personalcircumstancesor other reasons-no longercan be classifiedasa commoncitizen. Rather,theseindividuals,actingin accordancewith the ideasand methodsdrummedinto them by the GRCCs asbeingthe best,becamedissatisfiedwith the presentsystem and decidedto throw themselvesheadlonginto the struggleto transform its structures.

A memberof the GRCCs, upon enteringinto party politics, brings with him a new vision of man and the world. He is sweptup by a temperamentalspirit that conditions his action-even after formally separatingfrom the GRCC movement,as someprelateswish.

MEMBERSOF PARLIAMENT, YES. MEMBERSOF THE GRCCS AS WELL It is necessaryto emphasizethat, while GRCC members are quite active in various political parties, the majority frequentthesemeetingsquitenaturallyfor strictly religiousreasons.

In their public action,as, for example,in commenting about a political situation or suggestionsas to what to avoid, they inevitablyremaincontinuallyopento the state of spirit presentedto them by their immediatesuperiors in the GRCCs. These,in turn, receivefrom their directors orientationthat comesfrom the verytop of the movement. For the majority of members,at least, all this amountsto a true systemof transmissionof directives.As a result,in manyinstances,the performanceof politicians

involved in the Grassroots Communities could be influencedmuch more by the top leadershipof the movement than by the directionsof the partiesto which they belong.

A POLITICAL.ITELIGIOUS CENTAI]R Under sucha scenario,what do the GrassrootsChurch Communities representin the political life of Brazil?

We are dealing with a movement that has a philosophico-religiouscurrent sirnilar to that of the communist and socialist parties that want to appropriate the state power and place it at the serviceof their own religious and philosophical conceptions, that is, liberation theology.

Do the GRCCs constitute a political party?

In a certain sense,yes, in another sense,no. They do not reduce themselvesto a mere political party, even though they could be considered as such in some manifestationsof their activity. However,by their form, doctrine, and objectives,they far transcendthe narrow limits of the simpleparty confederation.They constitute a type of religion(indeed,a "new church," taking root, albeit obscurely,as was seenin chapterII when dealing with liberation theology) which plans to dominate the state and take it in a determineddirection. It could be said, metaphorically, that the GRCCs are a party, just asa centauris a horse:a hybrid movement-political and religious-in the sameway that the mystical centaur is half man, half horse.

It is this hybrid movement,this politico-religious(or religio-political) centaur, that tries, through politics, to dominatethe state.Political-it is worthwhile repeating -in the sensethat it is not restrictedto party and electoral activity but at the sametime does not excludeit.

Without identifying itself entirely with any myth, the GRCCshover over all, in a way that its memberscan act with freedom of movementin each party, as personal, may require.* local, or political circumstances * On the occasionof his visit to Brazil in 1980,His HolinessJohn Paul ll transmittedto the CNBB a messagedirectedto the country's GrassrootsChurch Communitiesthat included the following: "If in yearspast the Latin American GrassrootsChurch Communities' the Brazilian onesin particular, manifestedenonnousvitality and were collected as a most valuablepastoral element;if they had' besidesthis' notablerepercussionoutsidethe country' it waspreciselybecausethey dimension,with neitherdeviaknew how to maintain the ecclesiastical tions nor alterations, fleeing from ideological contamination" (Todos os pronunciamentosdo Papo no Brasil [56o Paulo: Edig6esLoyola' p. 268).

19801, Everythingrelatedhereabout the GRCCsis founded on undisputed documents.Should one concludethen, that the Pontiffwas insufficiently informed when he pronouncedthesewords?

Such a hypothesisdoesnot involve the leastirreverencein relation to the Chair of Saint Peter sincethe docirine ofthe Church admits the possibility that a Pontiff can be badly informed about someassociation or movement.

A ReligiousConception of Politics and the Politics of Religion

In what direction doesthis politico-religiouscentaur, inspired by the most radical sectorsof the clergy, run, trying the drag Brazil with it?

83

References

It is to ignore the radicalismof the movementto hold that the GrassrootsChurch Communities,when they enter the electoral process,do not have larger ambitions than the conquestof someparliamentaryseats,of some mayoral offices, or eventhe attainmentof one or another ministerialportfolio. They seekto dominatethe state, but only as an instrument since their project carries the extinction of the stateitself, in conformity with the anarchical utopia of Marx.

They plan-through a global political action-to exert influence not only in the public life of the nation but in the private lives of the citizens;to impose a new kind of political organization, a new society, o new man.

In a word, they want to implant in the Brazil asocialist self-manoging regime similar to that which the French Socialist Party of Mitterrand attempted to implement in France through gradual reforms and that which the Sandinistasattemptedto imposewith fire and sword in the suffering and unhappy Nicaragua.

Friars Leonardo and Clodovis Boff, "Comunidades Crist6s e Polltica Partid6ria," in Encontros com a CivilizagdoBrasileira, no. 3, September1978,p. 15. (This study "was discussedand approvedin meetingswith the grassroots and in the presence bishopsof the Catholic Church in Brazil."); Friar of seventeen L. Boff, "Que 6 fazer Teologiapartindo de uma Am6rica latina em cativeiro?" it Revistafulesidstico Brasileirs, December1975, p. 863; Fr. G. Guti5nez,A Theology of Liberotion (Maryknoll, N.Y.:Orbis Books, 1973);Fr. A. G. Rubiq Tbologiada Libertagdo:Pol{tica ou Profetismo?(S5oPaulo: Edig6esLoyola, 1977); Friar C. Boff, 'A influ6nciapolltica dasComunidadesEclesiais de Base (CEBs)i' in SEDOC January-February1979, cols.

802-808;Fburth National Conferenceof the GrassrootsChurch Communities(Itaici, l98l), "Relat6rio geral-Carta conclusao do encontrol' in SEDOC, September1981,col. 139; Claudio Guedes,"O conflito 6 entre o regime e a Igrejal' in Voz do Unidade, ll/14/80: "Mal orientada, CEB pode virar grupo polfticoi' (nterview with Bishop Jos6 Varani), Vozdo Parond, 10/23/77, p. 7; "Bispo teme influOncia marxista na lgrejai' Jornal de Brasllia, 9/23/80; "Cardeal alerta para infiltragdo nas comunidadesde basedo Riol' O Globo, 12/8/80:'"Ntncio acha exagerada dentncia de infiltrag6oi' O Estodo de S. Pqulo, 12/20/80; HelenaSalem,'A Igreja dos Oprimidosi' col. Brasil Hoje-3 (Sio Paulo: Ed. Brasil Debates,l98l), p. 204; "Bispo Auxiliar pede 'reformas urgentesi " Jornal do Brasil, 12/5/80; C6ndido Proc6pio Ferreirade Camargq et al., "Comunidades Eclesiaisde Basd'in P. Singerand V. C. Brant (org.), SdoPaulo: o povo em movimento (Petropolis:Vozes-CEBRAR1980),p.

78; O. Seixas Bianchini and A. Palmeira, Experiâ‚Źncias comunitdrias: mito e reslidade-Viagem aosMunic{pios de Sdo Mateus, Pinheiros e Boa Esperanga-Estado do Esp{rito Santo, April1981.

Moreover,wen though the words of John Paul II resoundas an unrestrainedeulogy of the Brazilian GRCCs, perhapsthere is another interpretation.

Earlier in the document, the Pontiff had, in effect, manifested serious apprehensions in relation to the GrassrootsChurch Communities, enhortingthem to vigilance:"Among the dimensionsof the Grassroots Church Communities, I judge it convenient to call attention to that which more profoundly defines them and without which their identity fades: the ecclesiostical.I underline this ecclesiasticalbecauseit is explicit already in the designation that, above all in latin America, the communitiesreceived.. . . I also underlinethis ecclesiastical because of the danger of weakening this dimension, if it does not disappear for the benefit of others, is neither unreal nor remotq rather, it is alwayspresent.The risk of meddling in politics ispartr'calorly insistent.

This meddling can come from the very genesisand formation of the communitiesthat congregatethemselvesnot from a vision of the Church bttfrom criteria and objectivesof political ideology. Such interferencg however,could come under the form of the political instrumentation of the communities that were born in the ecclesiasticalperspective.

A delicate attention and a serious and courageouseffort to maintain in all of its purity the ecclesiasticaldimension of these communities

is an eminent servicethat is rendered,on the one hand, to themselves, and on the other hand, to the Church. . . . The opportunity of this trip seemsto me to be the adequatemoment for exhorting the Grassroots Church Communities in Brazil to conserveintact its ecclesiastical dimensionnotwithstandingoppositetendenciesor impulsesthat come from without or from the country itself' (ibid., pp. 268-269;our emphasis).

In their immediate sensg these words forewarn the GRCCs against a danger that is very conceivable:the gf,aveand insistent danger that clearly puts the vigilance of the Pontiff in a state of lively apprehension . . . we could even say of alarm, Now it is highly improbable that this alarm would be expressedwith such nuancesof languagehad he taken the GRCCs as the cream of the intelectual crop, entirely immune to the sowing of seedsof evil-that is, had he not discernedtendenciesin the GRCCs for absorbingthe ideologico-political action of leftism, and lively tendenciest Readingthe pontifical pronouncementin this way, as a whole, it can be seenthat the data published here match in someway with apprehensions that already afflicted John Paul II. It simply puts in onds hands informative material about a reality that he seemsto havealready foreseen. In this sensq it sorrowfully confirms it.

FRENCH SELF.MANAGING SOCIALISM OR NICARAGUAN SANDINISM?

Religious Pressure for Electoral Goals The Political Machine of the GRGGs

One political commentatoraffirmed that the GRCCs decisivelyinfluencedthe parliamentaryelectionsof 1978, thus guaranteeingthe victory of the opposition party in regions until then under the control of the Arena.

This is preciselywhat happenedin Slo Paulo where the GRCCsof the SouthernZone-under the bannerof the opposition party- electedtwo of its most well known membersto the Legislative Assembly and the Federal Council. Onewasan ex-nun,SisterPassoni,and the other a community agitator Aurdlio P9rez.They were elected in a region of the city consideredto be the electoral stronghold of a known governing-partymember, who procureda seatin the statelegislaturewith difficulty. The GRCCs of the city of Sdo Paulo provided yet another statecongressman,Marco Aurelio Ribeiro, a lawyer associatedwith the Movementof the Cost of Life.

MIDST the valuescrisisand the chaosof the con' temporary world-taking into accountall the processesof desacralizationthrough which it has goneBrazilians still retain a greatpart of their confidencein the clergy, a remnant of times Past.

Therefore,shouldthe clergy,or part of it, want to use its strength and strengthenthe political activity of the GRCCs,they could be transformedinto a decisiveelement in Brazilian political life. This is what appearsto have happened.

In effect, the day in which a rigorous investigation about the participationof the GrassrootsChurch Communitiesin the Brazilianelectoralprocessis made,especially on the municipallevel,public opinion will certainly be surprisedasto the extentof the phenomenon:The clergy constitutean "emergingpower" in the public life of Brazil.

NOT ONLY IN THE OPPOSITION

FRAGMENTARYBUT EXPRESSIVEDATA

But it is not only in the oppositionparty that the Grassroots Church Communitiesmake their presenceknown in the panorama of Brazilian party politics. For example, in the municipal electionsin Curitiba in 1976,the GRCCsdecidedto promotethe Arena candidacyof their militant Jo6o Iglosso.He receivedthe most votes for town assemblymanin the city. In the samecontest,the Communities were instrumental in reelecting to the prefectureof Boa Esperangain EspfritoSanto,the former mayor Amaro Covre who belongedto the governingparty. As early as 1972, in the neighboring city of Sio Mateus,the GRCCs,under threat of boycottingthe elections, had imposedits own candidatesfor the municipal council on the local administrators of the Arena and MDB parties.The GRCCscandidateswereelectedeasily.

In the next race, (1976), using the MDB, two leaders

With its thousands of nuclei spread throughout Brazil-encompassing a contingentof membersdifficult to calculate-the GRCCsoutstripthe networkof any of the existingpolitical parties-perhaps, that of all of them combined.It is well to understandthen that politicians' public men and, in a generalway' responsiblecitizens, shouldbe mindful of this potentialand neverlosesight of the risk of its channelizationtoward electoralends.

Completecurrent information, however,is insufficient for evaluatingthe electoralaction of the GRCCs. What doesexist is fragmentarydata that occasionallysurfaces on the relatively tranquil waters of political news.

Suchfragmentsare, however,sufficient to provide an insight as to what occursin the greatestdepthsof these samewaters.

84

Religious Pressurefor Electoral Goals of the Community were electedto the offices of mayor and vice-mayor, Gualter Nuner Loureiro and Ttlio Paris, respectively.In so doing, the GRCCs,who alreadydominated the municipal council, also gained control of the executiveoffice. After four yearsof rule, Mayor Loureiro chosenot to run again.He wassucceeded

by Vice-Mayor Ttilio Paris, thus ensuringcontinuity of application of the Communities' program on the municipal level.

ALSO IN THE NORTHEAST, IN TIIE STATE OF RrO, AND IN PARANA The prefectureof Aratuba-a little municipality producing fruit and vegetableson the plain of Baturit6, 87 miles from Fortaleza-is virtually dominated by the 72 local Grassroots Communities. They elected a mayor whoseson and principal adviseris a community activist.

They havealreadyplannedto electin this year'sraceone of their own staff, preferably a rural worker. In the interior of Pernambuco,the mayor of Calcadocheckswith the GRCCs before dealing with the town council. In Trajano de Moraes, a poor municipality on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, community leaderscompletelydominate the local public life, taking the place of old party heads.

OUTSIDETHE INSTITUTIONS Alongsidethe presentinstitutional picture, the Grassroots Church Communities are creatinga new instrument of direct politicol action-the "Assemblies of the People" or "Popular Councils." Thesegroups, in the important cities of Campinas and Osasco and to the detrimentof the town councils,wereofficially recognized by the municipal administrationsasthe channelbetween the public authority and the inhabitants of the outlying neighborhoodsand slum areas.In a more discreetmanner, they exercisean analogousinfluence in the prefectures of Joinville and Lajes (in the state of Santa Catarina) and other localities.

The political domination of certain prefecturesby the GRCCs sometimestakes on somethingof a dictatorial air that is far from tranquilizing: "Our classgot involved in politics there," notesa report of the Communitiesof Cear6. "Let's test the mayor. If he doesnot work out, we will kick him out."

SAo MATEUS: ASSAULT oN THE MUNIcpAL GOyERNMENT The strategyof political conscientizationand careful long-range planning by which the GrassrootsChurch Communities gained this political dominance appears

85

clearly in the report of the eventsthat took placein Sio Mateus,a city on the north coastin the stateof Espirito Santo. Presentedat the Second National Conference of the GRCCsin 1976,the report providessucha good examplethat it is worthwhile to transcribeits essentials.

Subtitleshave been added to facilitate its reading. r Political Conscientizationof the GrassrootsCommunities. "The work of political conscientizationin the parish beganin 1972with the active participation of many communities.In the meetings,the organizersattempted to discoverthe problemsand difficulties of the communities. [Following are excerptsfrom various meetings.]

'Why all this? Would it be that "Hence the question: the municipality is poor, that the governmentdoes not have money?' 'No. The municipality has means! It is solelydueto the fact it doesnot take interestin the countryside. We of the countryside are forgotten by the authorities. Politicians only rememberus at electiontime.

Afterwards, we are not worth anything; we are exploited for votes. They only make promisesand never fulfill them.' 'Is all this right? Couldn't we do somethingto changethis situation? How?' " o Pressureon the Parties to SelectCandidatesof the GRCCs. "Among the various questions,a phenomenon appeared:The municipal council did not representthe peopleof the countryside.Only one of the nine councilmen lived in the country; all the others came from the city, removedfrom any community livelihood. . . . With the help of someof the organizersmore attunedto politics, o program of conscientizationwasplanned.lnreflections of the group, in worship, and in meetings,the topics ran on about the senseof real politics, the duties of the citizensin relation to politics, the dignity of the person not allowing himself to be bought, the senseof the vote, a poll was taken among etc. As a practical consequence, the communitiesso they could indicate their preferred eandidatesfor councilmen.The choicewas for persons who lived with the people.The candidateswereproposed to the directorsof the two political partieswith this condition: 'Either you put them among the candidatesfor the city council, or we will not vote.' Theparty leodersftrp, despitelack of agreement,had to acceptthe persons indicated by the communities."

Parenthetically,one might note that sincevoting is a legal obligation, a call for an electoralboycott amounts to a call for illegality.

The report of the GRCCs of 56o Mateus continues: "In the ensuingelection,eachdistrict in the countryside was able to easilyelectits representatives.Naturally, subsequentdifficulties and persecutionswere not lacking for those who reachedtheir shaky political domain in this manner." ln 1976,as noted earlier, the GRCCs won the prefec-

86

THE GRASSROOTS CHURCH COMMUNITIES AND POLITICS

ture, electing(through the MDB) Mayor Gualter Nunes Loureiro and Vice-Mayor Trilio Paris, both community leaders.In so doing, they wereable to implementtheir program.

What political party has at its disposala similar machine to exert such pressure,such accurateknow-how, and such well-trained agents? o ReligiousPressurefor Political Ends. To have an idea of the instrumentsusedby this true politico-religiousmachine, it is useful to know that in order to receivethe sacraments,marry, have childrenbaptized,be godparentsin Baptism and Confirmation, or simply act as witnessesin marriage, the faithful of the dioceseof 56o Mateusare subjectedto improper demands.It is necessary to presenta "Certificate of ReligiousResidence," furnished by the leadersof the Community. Among the requirementsfor receiving such a certificate is the following: "10. Do you acceptthe path of the Catholic Church in this diocese,which has chosento walk with the poor and do you occeptconscientizationregarding social problems and orientation about politics?" in a more brutal Is it possibleto violate consciences way, that is, in the nameof religion for declaredpolitical ends?How many faithful are in a position to resist such a machineof religiouspressure? wrrEN THE GRCCs Tlxn PowER: BOA ESPERAN9A' ROUGHDRAFT OF COMMUNITYSELF.MANAGEMENT In the neighboringmunicipality of Boa Esperanqa,the GrassrootsChurch Communities'machinehad Amaro Covre, a representativeof the majority party, electedfor deferred two separateterms (1971-1972and 197'7'1980, in that conditions they established way, tn this 1982). to locality of Espirito Santofor applicationof their experiment in "direct democracy"and "communitarianselfmanagement."

The "miracle" of o The "Miracle" of Boa Esperanga. sympathy with undisguised is narrated Boa Esperanga in an arTragtenberg Mauricio sociologist leftist by the Boa Revived Administration ticle titled "Community Esperanga."

Accordingto the report, the little city of Boa Esperangawas destinedto disappearfrom the map: its commerce was reducedto a grocery and two little clothing stores.The StateAuditing Office advisedabolishingthe municipality and incorporatingit into Sio Mateus.

Then a "miracle" haPPened: "The rural exoduswas curbed,miserywas eradicated, full employment attained, rural electrification set up, 190 miles of roads were built, production of coffee reachedl2 million sacks,daily milk productionroseto 7,000gallons, 1,000sacksof manioc flour weremilled'

and 33,000head of cattle could be counted-all due to the community mobilization program put into practice

by Mayor Amaro Covre from 1971to 1973(resuming againin 1977,whenhewaselectedfor four more years."

What resourcesdid Boa Esperangause to achieveits "economic miracle"? According to Tragtenberg'everything was accomplished"without financial resources' without counting on the support of the state or federal government." A true miraclethen! 'economicmiracle' "Boa Esperangabrought about its through its capacityts m6lilizs its communityresources, thus eliminatingthe rural exodus,misery, and economic decadence,"Tragtenbergaffirms.

A quite simple explanation for one who would want to believein this type of "miracle," sinceit doesnot point out how they could "mobilize resources"in a community that, accordingto Tragtenberg'sown report, wasat misthat self-management ery's door. However,it is necessary be presentedwith the attraction of magical"talismanic" things that-without exercisingmuch force-eliminate all human problems. o The Role of the GrassrootsChurch Communities.

Tragtenbergadds: "The fundamentalrole playedby the grassroots communities developed by the Church since l97l took the form of civil entitiesmadeup of representatives of economicand cultural groups and leading individualsof the municipal communities."

The wholecity is organizedon a "community" basis.

"Problems arebrought to the levelof the grassrootscommunity; eachschoolin the municipality is establishedin a community; and for every 12 families there is a street leaderchosenby them. They havemonthly meetings,convoked by the local teacherand coordinatedby the leaders. . . . Groups of the communities form a center of influence or agrovilla (an organized farm settlement providing community servicesand aiding to openup new territories),whosemembersmeeteverytwo monthswith all the leaders,counselors,the mayor and his advisers, the policedelegate,schooldirectors.They analyzethe actions of the grassrootscommunitiesand develop work plans to benefit all the communities." o The Communities Decide. The "structure of community power is defined as follows: "The structure of the communitary power of Boa Esperangais comprised of l50leadersfrom rural grassrootscommunitiesand 49 from urban grassroots. The prefectureis the animating force behind community power. Actual political power is in the grassrootscommunities, the sourceof the centers of influence basedon the Municipal Counselof Development, thst hss executive, legislative, and supervisory functions through the assembliesand action of its leaders.

"The mayor, the administration, and all the councilmen are subject to the council, the sovereignassembly

Wlll lhe sell-managlngsoclallsm ol the GRCCscome about only by the "electoral way" of Mlttenand, or wlll lt degeneralelnlo the armed "llberallon" ol Nlcaragua?The two lorms do not necessarlly exclude each othsr. In lhe photo on ihe lell, Mltlenand durlng hls preslden.

of the municipality. The councilman is electedby the citizensand is a community leader chosenby the community to which he belongs."

This presentationof communitypower in Boa Esperangaseemsto refer to anothercountry besidesBrazil. In this country, there existsno suchlegally instituted municipal superpowerwith the executive,Iegislative,and supervisory authority attributed to the Municipal Devel-

tial campafgn.On the rlght, the Sandlnlsla "Comandante" DanlelOrte. ga, applaudedby Frlar Betlo, prlesls, nuns, and leadercol the GRCCs, glves the communlsl saluto ln the lhealer of lhe Cathollc Unlverslty ol S6o Paulo.

opment Council and to which all are subject.In the Brazilian governmentalframework, there is no "sovereign assemblyof the municipality." Municipal executiveand legislativepowersare equal, enjoying autonomy in their own spheres.In our days, it is characteristicof the absolutist, totalitarian, or dictatorial regimesto combinethe two powers(along with the judicial) in the handsof one person,class,or institution. In its practical application,

Marxist Cells? "We Have to Run the Risk."

T HE Brazilian CommunistParty newspaperpubI lishedan articleby CldudioGuedeswhich read in pafi: "In a few words,the Churchthat supported the overthrowin'64 and whosetraditionin the country wasto supportthedominantclasses, changed.

This changeis clearlyrevealedin the pastoralobjectivesdefined in Medellln (1968)and confirmedby Puebla (1979):It is theduty of Catholicsto opposethe unjust socialandpolitical structuresthat oppressanddegrade millionsof peoplein Latin America.This directionwas firmly established with the formationof theGrassroots Church Communities(GRCCs)" (Voz da Unidade, rL/r4/8A\.

It i$ not surprising,then, to hear about communist infiltration in the GRCCs,or evenin its transformation into "communistcells." In an interviewin 1977, BishopJos6Varaniof Jaboticabal,affirmed:"If the leaderwas of, letts say, a leftist mentality,he could

make a communistcetlfrom the GRCC" (Voz da Paranti,10/23/77,p, 1), TomdsMurphy, auxiliarybishopof His Excellency Salvador,agreeswith the affirmationthat the danger existsthat the GRCCscould losetheir ecclesiastical characterand transform themselvesinto "Marxist cells." However,this prelatethinks that "we haveto run the risk" (lornal de Brosflia,9/X/8A\, of Rio deJaneiro,His ExTheCardinal-Archbishop Eugâ‚Źnio manifested his concernthat cellency Sales,also the GRCCscouldbe infiltratedby communism,even though he is not againstthe political participationof its membersas individuals(O Globo, 12/8/80), ThelateApostolicNuncio,CarmineRosso,deemed "exaggerated."the affirmationsthat thereis infiltration of leftismin theGRCCs.To callthemcommunists, it would be necessary that "they saya little bit more" (O Estadode Sdo Paalo, 12/20/80).

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THE GRASSROOTS CHURCH COMMUNITIES AND POLITICS

sucha council would be, therefore,a veritablecollegiate communitarian dictator, on the municipal level, just as the French self-managingsocialist regime is on the national level, as demonstratedby Prof. Plinio Corr6a de Oliveira in his famous "Message."

Tragtenberghaswords of specialinterestfor any who doubt that the GrassrootsChurch Communitiesconstitute a real camouflagedparty behind'the registeredpolitical parties: "Assemblymen of the PDS or PMDB distinguishthemselvesmore in function of their roles as community leaders.It is not the party directionsthat debut, yes,the terminetheir commitmentsand assignments communitiesto which they belong."

ProfessorTragtenbergexposesthe philosophybehind put dithis governmentof the GRCCs:"Boa Esperanqa rect democracl into practice, wherein the relations of work are stampedwith an egalitarianmark and not directed by a model of growth founded on the concentration of income,proceeds,gains,property, and power."

The experienceof Boa Esperanga,suchas it has been presented,seemsto indicatethe coursethat the Grassroots ChurchCommunitieswant Braziliansocietyto take: that of self-management.

But the self-managementof the GRCCs is a mere appearancesinceit is the clergy-and more especiallythe bishops,in whosehandsthe clergyare-who manipulates them. As a matter of fact, what is self'management,if not an immensebluff, in which the real forcesthat direct it-be they the clergy,a party or any other-do not appear?

Message, whosechculatlonls nearly35 mllllon In hls memorable unmasked theself' Prof.PllnloCon6ade Ollvelra coplesworldwlde, utopla. management

col. 466-467;Diocesede Sio Mateus-Par6quia de Barra de S. Francisco-ES,Folho de prova, emme, ao Atestado de ResidAnciaReligioson.d., mimeographed;Par6quia de Barra do S. Francisco,IJm cominho (Normas e instru96espara llderes de Comunidades),December1978,mimeographed,pp. 6-9; Diocesede S. Mateus,Atestado de Residâ‚ŹnciaReligioso@olhas n.d., mimeographed,no. 9; de Instrug6esaos responsdveis), References Folho de S. Poulo, l/4/81; Plinio Corrâ‚Źa de Oliveira, What Does Self-managingSocialism Meanfor Communism: A Bar' Books:MdricoMoreiraAlves,1 Forgado Povo-Democracia rier? Or a Bridgehead?Messageof the Societiesfor the Defense 1980).Articles: emLages(Sio Paulo:Brasiliense, Participativa of Tradition, Family and Property(TFP9 of thirteencountries, S. de Folha in na fica expectativa," PamelaNunes,"CNBB published in the major newspapersof the West), in Crusade pp.6 and10;"Os eleiMovimento,g/ll/18, Paulo,3/ll/191' a Christian Civilization, April-June 1982;"Forga popular for 2, 1979,pp.36-37; l, no. vol. pela Reportagem, F6,"Brasil tos apoio da Igreja em Campinas," O Estodo de S. Paulo' tem Cl6visRossi,"As CEBs,t6o temidascomodesconhecidas," 2/14/8O; "Faveladosde Campinasimpedemobrasde creche," uma Base, de in Folhade S. Poulo,6/29180;"Comunidades 'slides' para os favelados," Coridem, 5/5/81; "Cartilhas e Igrejaa serrevisada,"O Globo, l/29/79; Dioceseof Sdo (Campinas), 9/10/81; Jd Azevedo,"Comunidade reio Popular NaMat-eus-ES, "Pastorallibertadora"(Reportto theSecond polltico do cristeo," amadurecimento de 6 um lugar tambdm 1976' of theGRCCs),in SEDOC,November tional Congress Popular serHelo Caponi, Psulo,5/l/81; in O Sdo "Conselho Corde 56 Marcos l/4/81; de S. Paulo, Folha cols.466-467; S. Paulo, democracia," in Folha de de escola vird como e os politicos,in Jornal do Brqsil rOa,"ds communidades idem, "Universidade recebepopularespara discutir 5/19/81; Passos, "O Helena Maria ("Colunado Castello") 2/14/78; , Partidodospobres,"in Cooiornal(PortoAlegre),September o poder," idem, 6/ll/81; H. C., Ososcodiscuteo Conselho Popular, 6/ 11/ 8t; Luiz Roberto Saviani, "Reivindicagdes de of 1979,pp. 25-27;Jornaldo Brasil,5/14/18;Cornmunities favelados,"in Folha de S. Poulo,3/l/81; "10 anos!e depois?"

(Relat6rio),"in SEDOC,SeptemCear6,"I EncontroEstadual Hora Socra (Campinas), 10/12/80; Te6filo Celso da Silva, de Nacional 3.o Encontro ao 174 col, ber 1981, "Relat6rio CEBs, comunitarismo epol[tica partiddria no Norte do Esphide Sdo CEBs,"in SEDOC,October1978,col. 285;Diocese Santo-Relotdrio de uma visita a Boa Esperanga e Sdo to Na(Report Second of the Libertadora" Mateus-ES, "Pastoral May 1981.

Mateus, 1976, of theGRCCs),in SEDOC,November tional Congress

A Documentof John Paulll T HE present volume was already on the press I whenthe completetext of the letter of John Paul II to the bishops of Nicaragua was divulged.

The letter, dated June 29 and read in the churches of that country on August 8, 1982,allows one to see the Pontiff's concernwith problems very similar to those dealt with in this book. Under this title, it is useful to transcribeherethe most pertinent passages of the momentousdocument: "From this we can seehow absurd and dangerous it is to imaginethat there existsalongsideof-without actually saylng contrary to-the Church built up around the bishop, another Church regarded as 'charismatic' and not institutional, 'new' and not traditional, an alternativeand, as has beenrecently advocated,a 'Popular Church.'

"I am not unawarethat one can attribute to this last name-synonymous with 'a Church that takesits origin from the people'-a meaningthat is acceptable. By it one wishesto emphasizethat the Church comesinto being when a community of persons,especially of personswho by their littleness,humility and poverty are open to the Christian message,welcomesthe Good Newsof JesusChrist, and beginsto live according to it in a continuality of faith, love, hope, prayer, of celebration,of the participation in the Christian mysteries,especiallyin the Eucharist.

"But you are awarethat the concludingdocument of the Third EpiscopalConferenceof Latin America at Puebla declaredthat this title 'Popular Church' is not a happy one (seeno. 263). This was done after maturestudy and reflectionamongthe bishopsof the entire continent,becausethey wereawarethat this title, in general, concealsanother reality.

'Popular Church,' in its most common accepta" tion, as can be seenin the writings of a certain theological trend, meansa Church that it takes its origin much rather from the so-calledvalues of a certain strata ofthe population than from the free and gratuitous initiative of God. It meansa Church that ends

89

with the autonomy of the so-calledbases,without referenceto the legitimatepastorsor teachers;or at least puts the 'rights' of these former above the authority and charismswhich are perceivedthrough faith in the latter. 'people' lends it"It meansalso-since the term self easilyto a content that is markedly sociological and political-the Church incarnatein the popular organizationscharacterized by ideologies.Theseorganizations are put at the serviceof their claims, their programs,and groupswhich are consideredasnot belonging to the people.

"It is easyto see-and the documentof Pueblaindicatesthis-that the concept'Popular Church' can scarcelyavoid the infiltration of strongly ideological connotations, along the lines of a certain political radicalization, of classwarfare, of the acceptanceof violenceto attain certain ends, etc.

"When I myself in my inaugural addressto the assembly at Puebla made serious reservationsabout the title 'Church that takes its origin from the people,' I had in mind the dangers that I have just recalled.For this reasonsthat I feel it my duty now to repeat,usingyour voicesfor the purpose,the same pastoral warning with affection and with clarity. It is a call to your faithful people through your intermediary.

"A 'Popular Church' as opposedto the Church presidedover by its legitimate pastors is-from the point of view of the teachingof the Lord and of the apostlesin the New Testamentand alsoin the ancient and recentteachingof the solemnmagisteriumof the Church-a seriousdeparturefrom the will and plan of salvationof JesusChrist. It is besides,a principle of division and rupture of that unity which He left asa characteristicsign of the Church itself, and which He wished to confide preciselyto those whom 'the Floly Spirit establishedto rule the Church of God' (Acts 20:28) " ("The Bishop: Principle of Unity," in ThePopeSpeaks,vol.27,no. 4, 1982,pp. 340-341).