Institutionalized Suffering

The pain and suffering of the poor has its roots not only in the uncaring of individuals, but in the social, political and economic institutions of our world. Institutions have controlled too many in their social thinking in such a way so that the goods of this world only secure the lives of a small percentage of the world's population at the expense of vast numbers who remain perpetually poor.

Jose Miguez Bonino, an Argentinian Methodist Professor of Theology, famous for his writing on Christianity and Marxism says: "WE MUST NOT 'SPIRITUALIZE' SUFFERING; we must make a commitment to the poor. We need to form communities around those who are suffering unjustly. The reign of god is AGAINST those systems which perpetuate such suffering."

This gentleman was one of the speakers at an International, Ecumenical Congress convened in Sao Paolo, Brazil, entitled "SUFFERING IN LATIN AMERICA". Sponsored by Stauros International, it drew 300 persons from Central and South America, together with representatives from the U.S., Canada, and Europe. There were close to 2000 applicants for the Congress, but the facilities could only accommodate 300.

The principal focus of the Congress was the SUFFERING THAT HAS BEEN CAUSED BY THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SYSTEMS which have dominated Latin America since its colonization by European countries. Speakers lamented the historical scandal that it was Christians, using the Cross as their standard, who came to Latin America, oppressed the native Indians, imported slaves, created the economic and social oppression which has lasted through the centuries. Fr. Vieira, a famous Jesuit missionary in the 1600's was driven out of Brazil for his opposition to slavery, and later imprisoned by the Holy Office during the Inquisition for his views.

From that time on, the socio-economic systems continued an endemic poverty with all its consequent social evils. Today, the lowest 40% of Brazil's population has only 8% of the total income, while the richest 2% receive 17% of the country's income. Church leaders, for the most part in the past, have given explicit, or tacit approval to these systems.

Among the speakers and participants were many internationally known persons who have distinguished themselves in academic circles as well as in their personal sufferings on behalf of the poor and oppressed in Latin America. This was typified in the person of the keynote speaker, Argentinian ADOLFO PEREZ ESQUIVEL, NOBEL PEACE PRICE RECIPIENT, President of International Justice and Peace Movement, who has been imprisoned and tortured because of his activities on behalf of the poor.

Today that domination is primarily by the first world, industrialized nations through their trans-national corporations. The nation singled out particularly for its domination, draining of resources and political influence is the U.S. By reason of this domination, with complicity on the part of wealthy landowners and politicians, the poverty cycle has continued and become systemic. The horrible consequences of unalleviated poverty, with the after-effects of malnutrition, disease, inhuman social and family conditions, continues for the vast majority of the people.

Cardinal Arns, of Sao Paolo, Brazil, one of the sponsors of the Congress, in a lecture given in Washington, D.C. stated: "One thing has become clear to us. we live in a world in conflict, a world where the great majority are marginalized. It would be clearer to say that we speak of a church that lives in the underworld of the poor and the marginalized. We are not a church of geniuses who suddenly decided to opt for the poor - the option came from pure necessity: 85 % of our population is oppressed and its oppression clearly showed us that we live in a social and economic SYSTEM of injustice. In Medellin, we verbalized our conviction that this injustice is not occasional, but that it is INSTITUTIONALIZED. . We faced an ethical demand: justice and political charity led us to see that TOTAL LIBERATION MEANT ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CHANGE. Personal conversion would not be an answer to social sin - a conversion has to be collective."

By reason of this, CAPITALISM, in its present form, is seen by an ever-increasing number as the principal cause of oppression. For example, the economic model adopted in Brazil, considered one of the most advanced countries in Latin America, is accelerated industrialization in cooperation with the multi-national corporations from first world countries. The growth is based on capital, on the quasi-monopoly over means of production and profit. Cheap labor is exploited and profits go to the local rich and foreign investors who know nothing, or care to know nothing, of the dirt-poor conditions of the people who work the coffee fields or the sugar plantations, or who populate the sprawling slums of the big cities. Only a short distance from the luxury beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema in Rio de Janiero, so gloriously placarded on the travel posters, is a mountainside cluster of shanties where 250,000 people are crammed into one of the world's worst slums. It was here that the Pope, on his visit to Brazil, took off his ring and gave it to a poor family. That gesture was appreciated as a sincere act of concern, but, as one participant put it: "symbols of charity have done nothing to change the system nor the pervading conditions. The slum is still there and daily gets worse."

More philosophically, CAPITALISM IS SEEN AS INDIVIDUALISM - a competitive system for self aggrandizement, a system of power over weakness, and is thus contrary to the communal aspect of Christianity, the strong caring for, and sharing with the weak, "being of one heart and mind", as enunciated in Acts 4, and in Vatican II's document on "The Church in the Modern World."

This group of Congress participants, representing every country in Latin America, and in positions of leadership among the masses, manifested such unanimity on the problems of Capitalism, and with such strong feeling, that one witnessing this up close, has to be convinced that relations with the U.S. and other first world countries invested there, have no way of improving unless there are radical changes. At the time of the Congress, the U.S. had its huge warfleet off the coast of Nicaraugua, and the John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier, with its menacing fighter planes and 5,000 sailors aboard floating in the harbor of Rio de Janiero. Likewise, the rhetoric emanating from the first world countries gave no indication of changing their philosophy or their modus operandi. These hardly give any indication that any radical changes are in sight. Thus that strong anti-Capitalist feeling is sure to increase as the people become more conscious of their condition and become more organized.

Being there, I got the feeling. FEELING is the word. I have read extensively and heard about the attitudes of Latin America toward U.S. Capitalism, but that does not give one the understanding of the feeling. That feeling is intense, long-standing and determined among the masses.

Marxism is not the bad word there that it is with us. With the disdain for Capitalism, it is seen as a viable alternative for many. However, it is not seen as Atheistic Marxism, as we have usually characterized it. As a group of veteran U.S. missionaries put it: our people who belong to communist parties are practicing Christians and in no way see their communism as against their religious beliefs and practices. It is just an economic system which they feel gives them more hope than what they have experienced. At the same time, they do not favor a brand of Marxism such as that in Russia or China. They want to be liberated politically as well as economically.

The Theology of the Cross Expressed at the Congress

What made this event different from the many others which deal with the socio-economic problems was the special linkage with the Cross of Christ. This theology was best dramatized by the "Celebration of the Martyrs' enacted early in the Congress. The stage was decorated with photographs of those from all parts of Latin America who have been killed in recent years because of their identification with the poor and their efforts for justice and peace. Together with the numerous photos, there were also mementoes of the thousands who are still missing and are undocumented. A surprising and alarming statistic presented was that there have been more martyrs in Latin America than those martyred in the early Church.

The accounts of their particular efforts, their persecution, tortures, imprisonment and ultimate deaths were simply, factually narrated. The impact was heightened by the presence of persons who knew and worked with these modern day martyrs, many of whom had been in prison with them, and tortured, and are still listed as 'enemies' in the countries they represented. With readings from Scripture, and other writings, and commentaries, and a litany to these martyrs, the Eucharist was celebrated, and communion distributed from patens made of the photos of the martyrs. The service was concluded with a procession to the altar to touch or to kiss objects which were in the possession of Some of these martyrs at the scenes of their deaths.

Another example of their theology of the Cross was the special service in which a large wooden cross, with a Coca Cola bottle affixed to it in the place of the figure of Christ, was carried in solemn procession and set in the sanctuary. At the conclusion, the bottle was taken down from the cross and a crown of flowers placed around the crossbeams. This symbolized the Crucifixion going on by the trans-nationals, and the ultimate triumph over this through the Passion and Resurrection of Christ.

The Theology of the Cross expressed by this group begins with the ongoing Passion and death of Jesus in His people who are enduring their crucifixion in this period of history. In one way or another, every speaker linked the historical event of the death of Jesus with the events of this time. Here are some of the thoughts of the speakers:

LEONARDO BOFF, OFM, Theology Professor, Brazil: . . "Crucifixion continues today in society. Like the Crucifixion of C hrist, this is a denunciation of unjustice. We must identify with the crucified ones in eliminating these injustices. Jesus expressed his Solidarity with the crucified of history. That is the Solidarity which Christians must exemplify today."

BISHOP PEDRO CASALDALIGA, lives with the poor in his diocese of Mato Grosso, nicknamed a 'Jungle Bishop', under many constraints by the government of Brazil: . . "It has been said that we should make an option for the poor, but the fact is that there is no option. It is a Gospel imperative that we go to the poor."

ENRIQUE DUSSEL, originally from Argentina, now teaching in Mexico: . . "Christianity demands first of all that people be provided food, clothing and housing. The Cross was used as a symbol of conquering and was a confirmation of the domination that followed. In the English, French, Spanish and Portuguese Christianity, persons were treated as animals. There was, and is, a Satanic Theology of the Cross which is allowed to exist in places like Brazil and South Africa, instead of a true Theology of the Cross."

ADOLFO PEREZ ESQUIVEL, of Argentina, Nobel Peace Price recipient: . . ."The Socio-Economic systems are the major contributing factors causing inhuman conditions and the institutionalization of poverty, oppression and disease. The organization of the marginalized in non-violence and solidarity will lead to Liberation. We have our hope and victory in the Resurrection of Christ."

HERMINIO GIL, Mexican Passionist Professor, summarizing the Congress: . . "We pledge to maintain hope as we confront the degrading conditions which interfere with building the Kingdom of God. In the Cross of Christ and his followers we have the sign of future peace and justice. . .There must be a continued struggle for human dignity, the elimination of forms of domination, a denouncing of violence, and an organization to build a better world. We must follow the example of Jesus in His solidarity with suffering persons and His dying in repudiating injustice. . The Cross must no longer be a symbol of manipulation and domination, but the symbol of liberation."

HARRY GIELEN, Belgian Passionist Secretary General of Stauros International, of Belgium: . . "It is the reality of suffering which binds us all together. When the word of the Cross is expressed in this context, it has strength. . it is not an abstract reality. This Congress was a reflection on the Cross."

My Own Reflections:

Early on at the Congress, I felt that I, as a sympathetic North American Capitalist, was being unfairly attacked. Some Congress participants even apologized to me, insisting that it is not the people of the United States they are criticizing, but the systems which we adhere to without understanding the harsh consequences on the poor and oppressed in Latin America. As the Congress progressed I came to see these persons as a people of deep spiritual life, coupled with this intense desire to remedy the conditions of those suffering from oppression. Most of them, if not all, are deeply involved on a daily basis, with this commitment. Their words fitted into the context of their lives, and their expressed beliefs and fervor were manifested in their reflections and actions. This was a no-nonsense kind of event - no touring, partying, cocktail hours, no other diversions. In a conversation with a Belgian, editor of the international review "World View", he remarked: "I AM STRUCK BY THE DYNAMISM OF THE PEOPLE... THEIR RELATIONSHIPS...THEIR AUTHENTIC BELIEVING. GOD IS IN THEM AND AMONG THEM." I wholeheartedly assent to this comment.

References

• Dr. Joel Gajardo-Velasquez, "Suffering Coming From The Struggle Against Suffering", THE MEANING OF HUMAN SUFFERING (Ed. Flavian Dougherty), Human Sciences Press, NY, NY. 1981. Mss. and Tape available from Stauros Office.
• LADOC (Latin America Documentation), Apartado 5594, Lima 100, Peru.
• ORIGENS, National Catholic News Service, 1312 Mass. Ave., N.W., Wash., D.C. 20005 Statements on Latin America by U.S. Bishops: Nov. 1981; Archbp. Roach, Aug. 4, 1983; Archbp. Hickey, Oct. 21, 1983.
• Latin American Dept., National Council of Churches, 475 Riverside Dr., NY, NY. 10115
• COMPASSION, Vol.II,~N. 2, Passionist Social Concerns, Monastery P1., Union City, N. J. 07087