19 Jan 2022
Luis Carlos Araújo Moraes MSC is a member of the Brazilian Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Recently, he spoke with The Irish Catholic newspaper, sharing his experience as a missionary working in the Amazon region.
The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) in Brazil work in parishes on the outskirts of large cities. They attend to the human needs of people, especially the poorest, giving rise to the most diverse humanitarian services: Schools; health care for the poorest; care for abandoned children and adolescents, care for people with chemical dependency; psychological care, solidarity service for the hungry, support for institutions that work with homeless people, etc. All these activities are carried out in partnership with lay people and professionals from the most diverse areas.
In 1998, moved by the desire to be the presence of the human Heart of God, the MSC took on a challenging mission in the northern State of Amazonas, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon Forest. The Brazilian Amazon Region is almost another “Being the Heart of God, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon” country, with its own characteristics. This demands from the missionaries a deep process of enculturation, of detachment, respect and acceptance of the various indigenous ethnic groups and their languages, as well as their local culture.
We work in the city of São Gabriel da Cachoeira within the Diocese of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, in the State of Amazonas which has a population of 91,148,000, of which 89.3% are Catholic. In this city, nine out of ten inhabitants are indigenous, it being the municipality with the highest predominance of indigenous people in Brazil. Throughout the diocese, there are more than 20 indigenous ethnic groups, with their own languages and cultures. In addition to the Portuguese language, there are 4 official indigenous languages: Tukano, Baniwa, Nhengatu and Yanomami. Evangelizing, respecting all this cultural and linguistic diversity is a great challenge! Another major challenge is the geographical distances between communities. To reach these communities the only means of transport are small boats which means these visits take place less frequently than desired. We make four visits a year. These communities are no longer completely isolated from urban life. However, many indigenous people speak the languages of t heir ethnic groups as well as Portuguese.
Challenge
Cultural shock is also a challenge: how to keep the original cultures, with their traditions, customs, and values, in the face of the Western culture, experienced in cities? The tendency is to lose one’s own identity, in order to be able to insert oneself into the global culture. It is worth mentioning that the original process of evangelization of indigenous people, prohibited the experience of local culture with their customs. Today, the Church seeks to rescue, the culture of indigenous people, which has been practically destroyed by herself. And finally, there is a lack of vocations and missionaries willing to come to work in this region of Brazil. There are few native priests. Most priests in the diocese come from other regions of Brazil and here they remain only for a period.
After more than 6 months on this mission my eyes have seen, on the one hand, the abundance of the wonders of God, present in the indescribable beauty of forests and rivers, as well as the different indigenous ethnic groups. On the other hand, I have seen sad smiles which hid deep sufferings. I have seen misery and abandonment of the elderly. I have seen and continue to see men and women lying on the corners, as a result of the high rate of alcoholism, which is destroying families and causing domestic violence, especially against women and the elderly.
I’ve heard the laments of the people, who forced to leave their homes are thrown into an urban life style, out of their native environment, their mother tongues, and are now living in a city system that exploits them and leaves them with no possibility of developing, because it treats them as “easy prey”, for greedy investments, especially the sale of alcoholic beverages. I also heard reports of violence and sexual exploitation of women, especially adolescents.
Faced with all this, I feel sadness, impotence and indignation, to see how the colonial and consumerist mentality from the outside, marginalizes and enslaves those who had lived in harmony with nature. On the other hand, I continue to feel the joy, of being able to come into contact with the beauty and richness of ethnic groups, with their various languages, their cultures, their food customs and their simple and detached way of living; I feel compassion and mercy and a strong appeal to personal conversion.
Synod
After the Synod of the Amazon Pope Francis wrote:
“I dream of an Amazon that fights for the rights of the poorest, of the native peoples, of the latter, so that their voice may be heard and that their dignity may be promoted. I dream of an Amazon that preserves the cultural richness that characterizes it and in which human beauty shines so differently. I dream of an Amazon that zealously safeguards the seductive natural beauty that adorns it, the overflowing life that fills its rivers and forests. I dream of Christian communities capable of devoting themselves and incarnating themselves in the Amazon, to the point that they give the Church new faces with Amazonian traits” (Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation – Dear Amazonia, n. 7).
You may ask yourselves: What do the MSC accomplish in this Amazon mission? We do our best to “Be the presence of God” who loved humankind with a human heart. Whenever we can do nothing to change the reality, let us be present!
May we Missionaries of the Sacred Heart be the presence of tenderness, compassion, and meekness of the Heart of God for the Amazonian people!
“Beloved be everywhere the Sacred Heart of Jesus, forever!”
Originally published with images in The Irish Catholic on October 21st, 2021.
*