upport for missionaries and the denouncing of the “gravity” of the situation by Bishop Franco Masserdotti, Comboni Missionary, President of the Native Missionary Council, an initiative of the Church in Brazil in favor of demands and human rights for natives. Bishop Masserdotti, in a communiqué denounced outright “the old strategy to stimulate internal conflict” and the renewed aggression of “anti-native sectors.”
It is a reaction against those who, like Church and the missionaries, for a long time, supported by the Bishops’ Conference and by the whole Church of Brazil, have supported these just demands of the natives
The recent kidnapping (and release) of three Consolata Missionaries has been defined as an “absurd” attack on the Church commitment. It happened in a small village in the Roraima region, 150 miles north of the capital Boa Vista, probably tied with the protest of local landowners against the law that provides the handing back of land to natives. The fight in defense of natives has also seen the involvement of the Pastoral Commissoin for Land.
Bishops Tomas Balduino, OP, and Pedro Casaldaliga, CMF, both important figures in defending natives, have announced they will be in Roraima in the next few days to meet with natives and follow the developments in the protest and the demands. The natives are demonstrating, blocking several roads to avoid the repeal of the law’s signing.
Fr. Giorgio Dal Ben, 35 years in Brazil, Consolata Missionary, notes that before this law, which only lacks the signature of President Lula, one should have expected a “reaction against those who, like Church and the missionaries, for a long time, supported by the Bishops’ Conference and by the whole Church of Brazil, have supported these just demands of the natives” regarding the handing back of their lands.
Fr. Dal Ben adds, “The social commitment of the missionaries is part of the commitment for life. Jesus Christ said he came to bring life and to bring it in abundance, therefore why does this life have to only include a certain aspect. If one looks at our commitment as political action, we refuse to end this meaning. It needs to be looked at as a march for life against death, there an expression that is concrete, strong, pacific, and effective.”
(From VID)