A Tale of Two Priests and Two Struggles: Liberation Theology from Dictatorship to Democracy in the Brazilian Northeast

A Tale of Two Priests and Two Struggles:

Liberation Theology from Dictatorship to Democracy in the Brazilian Northeast

Introduction

Land for the landless, food for the hungry, literacy for the uneducated—not through charitable works, but by forcing the state to take seriously its responsibilities to its poorest citizens. This was integral to the theology of liberation as it was practiced by bishops, priests, and nuns in Brazil beginning shortly after the close of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. Important sectors of the Brazilian Catholic Church were "opting for the poor"¹ at a time when economic development, modernization, and democracy were not considered appropriate or meaningful partners in the repressive environment characterized by the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985).

The development of liberation theology as a social movement in Latin America is generally attributed to a "convergence of changes within and without the Church in the late 1950s," a "complex evolution of links between religious and political cultures, in a context of modernization and intense social and political conflict."² Internally, new theological currents inspired by European experiences during World War II culminated in the pontificate of John XXIII (1958-63) and the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), which began to systematize new concerns with inequalities and social justice that were already afoot. These Church concerns coincided with events in Latin America that began with intensive industrialization and the concomitant dependence on the northern hemisphere during the 1950s. Reaching a head with the Cuban Revolution in 1959, social struggles took off in the rest of Latin America. These were some of the conditions that made possible the "radicalization of Latin American Catholic culture"³ which led to liberation theology described by Phillip Berryman as "one manifestation of a worldwide movement for emancipation"; "an interpretation of Christian faith out of the suffering, struggle, and hope of the poor; a critique of society and the ideologies sustaining it; a critique of the activity of the church and of Christians from the angle of the poor."⁴

Liberation theology teaches that "[p]eople do not simply happen to be poor; their poverty is largely a product of the way society is organized . . . it is [therefore] a critique of economic structures that enable some Latin Americans to jet to Miami or London to shop, while most of their fellow citizens do not have safe drinking water."⁵ Of all the countries in Latin America, including Peru from which the first treatise on liberation theology emanated,⁶ Brazil is most associated with the doctrine, "the only Church on the continent where liberation theology and its pastoral followers . . . won a decisive influence."⁷ That influence grew rapidly in opposition to the military government beginning in 1968 with the hardening of the dictatorship's position against "subversives." In fact, during that period the "Brazilian Church was practically the only effective space of liberty . . . the voice of the voiceless."⁸ Moreover, liberation theology played a critical role in the Church's changing attitudes toward indigenous rights and land struggles, and served as the catalyzing force behind the creative use of law to advance those goals.⁹

This article examines two successful struggles in the semi-arid backlands of the northeastern region of Brazil that were shaped by, and helped define,

two generations of pastoral agents inspired by liberation theology. Two decades apart, the struggles were conducted on the banks of the São Francisco River in Sergipe, the smallest state of Brazil (see figures 1 and 2), in the county of Porto da Folha, which constitutes a significant portion of the Catholic diocese of Propriá (see figure 3).¹⁰ The first was a movement for recognition and land by a group of rural workers...