Basic Ecclesiastic Communities in Brazil

Recently, considerable attention — both within the United States and around the world — has been focused on the role and involvement of the Catholic church in worldly problems related to peace, the nuclear threat, the economy, and education. Of particular importance is the Latin American scene. In this article, Luiza Fernandes discusses the evolving role and the increasing involvement of the Catholic church on behalf of the poor and persecuted in what is considered the largest Catholic country in the world — Brazil. She focuses on what are known as Basic Ecclesiastic Communities, which were developed in Brazil within the Catholic church and now number over 80,000. Based partially on her own experience with these communities, Fernandes describes their function and the concerns of the participants. She stresses the interaction of politics, religion, and education and the role of the latter two in understanding and challenging the inhuman and unjust conditions under which the vast majority of Brazilians live today.