Harry Clafin, McGill University
“The Religious Spirit in Social Change: The Theology of the Escola Fé e Política”
Abstract: Since the opening of democracy in Brazil the Movimento Fé e Política has worked to put morality into political action. The movement turned into a network of schools across the country. Focused in the northeast in a wealth of popular social action, this research with the Escola Fé e Política: Pe. Humberto Plummen is an attempt to uncover the proper theology of its students and friends who work together to bring the people to the awareness of political injustice, social change, and the social teachings of the Catholic Church. As the former influence of Liberation Theology fades from national and international awareness, and as both religious and economic-political influences come in from abroad, the Fé e Política movement in Brazil has taken an active role in educating people on citizenship, political structures, social movements, and reading the Bible as a history that shows a way of liberation that can be translated into contemporary situations. As one student of the Escola Fé e Política put it, “Deus sonha, e homem realiza.” God dreams, and man realizes it. This paper attempts to bring a presentation of the dynamic between social activism and both spiritual and political awareness that today’s liberation theologians are exploring in an option for the poor into the new arena of democracy and globalization — the community leaders, social workers, and lay Catholics in northeastern Brazil whose “eyes are being opened,” as many of them have described this process.
Bio: Henry Claflin is in his last year at McGill University, just north of the border but not too much chillier than his New Hampshire home. Studies in international development led him to a semester with SIT in northeast Brazil based on social movements, solidarity and a great deal of personal transformation. Coming off this adventure, Henry is driven to discover his own land and his own people, pursuing the work of human development from the "developed" world's end. Plans are in the works for an indefinite bicycle tour zigzagging the country to be educated in how to farm, how to survive, and how to be a compassionate piece of the human family.
