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CHAPTER 14: The Global South and Liberation

South Africa

1089. Bosch, David J. “Currents and Crosscurrents in South African Black Theology.” See 1093, 220-37.

Briefly traces the development of Black Theology in South Africa and then sums up the major elements of the theology: overcoming the slave mentality, eliminating white tokenism and the patronizing of white liberals. At the same time Black Theology calls for love of the White enemy, ecumenism, and a shift beyond the inner, pietistic elements of Christianity and toward an emphasis on the whole person.

1090. “Catholics Defy Banning,” Christian Century 98 (July 15, 1981): 729.

In a direct challenge to South Africa’s apartheid, the South African Catholic Bishops Conference named banned black priest Smangaliso Mkhatshwa as the group’s general secretary.

1091. Crowe, Sarah. “Clergy Stand Up, Cut Down with South African People,” NCR 22, 18 (Feb. 28, 1986): 1, 25.

The clergy, of all faiths, are playing a key role in avoiding even bloodier confrontations, but bringing their physical presence to funerals and other demonstrations and attempting to keep protestors and police apart and calm. Catholic clergy of all ranks from bishops down have been attacked, arrested, threatened, and deported. The South African Catholic Bishops’ Council under Archbishop Denis Hurley has committed itself to an activist campaign of civil disobedience and nonviolence resistance. Responding to the overwhelming call of Black unionists, the Catholic bishops are now moving to a forceful combination of economic sanctions against their government. Yet the church is racing against time and political currents that could make its recent actions meaningless.

1092. —. “Episcopal Votes Pose Challenges to Race, Nuclear Policy Positions,” NCR 22, 28 (May 9, 1986): 1, 17.

Sanctions by other nations are approved by the South African Catholic bishops as the most effective nonviolent method these countries can use against apartheid.

1093. Cone, James H., and Gayraud S. Wilmore, eds. Black Theology: A Documentary History 1966-1979. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1979.

A collection of essays, including 1089, 1094, and 1147.

1094. —. “Black Theology and African Theology: Considerations for Dialogue, Critique, and Integration.” See 1093, 463-76.

The basis of both theologies is the liberation theme in Exodus and the New Testament theme of Christ as liberator found in Galatians 5:1.

1095. de Gruchy, John W. The Church Struggle in South Africa. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s, 1979.

Not seen.

1096. Goodman, David L. “South Africa: Whites Who Won’t Fight,” Progressive 49,9 (September 1985): 29-31.

On whites who refuse to serve in the Defense Force either to enforce apartheid or to fight in Namibia. The End Conscription Campaign was launched in October 1984 and was an outgrowth of the conscientious-objector movement. Its strength has been increasing dramatically. In January 1984, 15,000 white males were called up for army duty. Of these 7,589 did not report. In fact only 1,596 did report in all of 1984.

This has caused a crisis in the apartheid government, since conscription has been used since 1961 as a major means of enforcing racial oppression. Since 1973 over 5,000 men have been prosecuted for failing to report for duty; 6,000 left the service between 1973 and 1980; and 2,000 a year currently leave. The first conscientious objectors were Jehovah’s Witnesses. In 1976 the first mainline Protestant refused service on just-war grounds; in 1983 the first political conscientious objector was jailed.

The End Conscription Campaign has been made possible by the crucial role of women working within it and the impetus given by Black Sash, the women’s group that has provided counseling on opposing the Pass laws. The ECC is also backed by Allan Boesak, Desmond Tutu, Nadine Gordimer, and others, including the ANC. It represents the major white nonviolent opposition to apartheid, and the government has acknowledged its power by beginning a series of raids and threats against it..

1097. Herman, Beth. “South African COs Continue Witness,” Reporter for Conscience Sake 35, 8 (August 1981): 3.

On May 11, 1981 Charles Yeats was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment for his conscientious objection. Such objection is especially threatening to South Africa’s system of apartheid, since it relies on the compliance of all eligible white males to military service to enforce its system of repression. Conscientious objection is thus an act of nonviolent rebellion.

1098. Hope, Marjorie, and James Young. The South African Churches in a Revolutionary Situation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983.

Examines the role of all the South African churches today and devotes a good deal of attention to the Catholic Church there. Catholicism entered South Africa as a minority religion, pushed off to the margins. This, and its linguistic and anthropological methods of evangelization, brought it success among the oppressed Blacks and gave root to the creation of an indigenous leadership. Not part of the ruling establishment that created apartheid, it thus has an easier time colliding with it.

The Catholic church thus maintained school integration after the Bantu Education Act of 1953 prohibited it, and it continued its policy after the Group Areas Act of 1960. Catholic bishops’ condemnations of apartheid first appeared in 1948 and were repeated in 1952, 1957, and 1960, when the hierarchy urged the Catholic laity to obey God’s law above human law. On the parish level, however, Catholics have been more hesitant to break with their neighbors, but strong leadership, especially that of Archbishop Denis Hurley of Durban, has begun to change attitudes. In 1976 the bishops’ announcement that they would integrate the Catholic schools despite the law saw lay and government opposition collapse. Catholics polled were, in fact, 85% in favor of integration.

Within the church itself, however, things have been slower to change, as few Blacks have won high positions. In 1977, however, the bishops vowed to speed up this process.

Another of the church’s most significant acts has been to urge the provision of a conscientious objector status for the military. This would, in effect, allow the young Catholic to refuse the military service that defends apartheid. The church has, significantly, thus put itself behind a nonviolent revolution among South African whites. Questions remain, however: what has the church’s effect been among Blacks? Can nonviolence, a word looked on with scorn in South Africa today, win the race against apartheid’s increasing oppression, and against the counterviolence of the oppressed?

1099. McCann, Owen Cardinal. “Letter from Rome,” Leadership South Africa 2 (Autumn 1983): 50-57.

Not seen.

1100. Regehr, Ernie. Perceptions of Apartheid: The Churches and Political Change in South Africa. Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press; Kitchener, ONT: Between the Lines, 1979.

Outlines events and attitudes of the churches toward South African society and the state. While the church is not as actively opposed to injustice as in Latin America, it did begin to voice its protests as early as the 1950s, and in response to black pressures it began to speak out against bannings, restrictions, pass laws, and eventually for the nonviolent overthrow of the apartheid system itself. Despite this, the church still has much progress to make in a very short time. In a church overwhelmingly Black, Blacks still represent only a small minority of the church hierarchy.

1101. “Rights of Anti-Apartheid Objectors to Refuse Service Recognized,” UN Chronicle 16, 66 (January 1979): 66.

The United Nations recognizes the right of the South African conscientious objector to refuse military or police service rather than enforce the racist and oppressive policies of the Pretoria regime.

1102. Walshe, Peter. Church vs State in South Africa. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983.

Despite its open condemnations of apartheid in 1957, 1960, and 1962, the Catholic church has a long, slow way to go in living up to its words. Only in 1973 were its own seminaries integrated, and Archbishop Denis Hurley has has to face the criticism of his own colleagues, clergy, and laity for his opposition to apartheid. Despite this, Hurley has called on fellow Catholics to join him in a nonviolent revolution to overthrow the South African system. This and other pressures, including the Soweto Massacre, have spurred the hierarchy to admit its own failure to pursue peace and justice actively enough and to commit itself to the poor and the oppressed, to ally with the Black consciousness movement, and to call for true conversion. Despite these moves, however, time continues to run out in South Africa.

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The Philippines

1103. Bernas, Joaquin G. “Empowering the Powerless,” America 145 (Dec. 26, 1981): 414.

Not seen.

1104. Broad, Robin, and John Cavanaugh. “The Philippines: Government Hits Church in Waves of Repression,” NCR 19, 19 (March 4, 1983): 1, 8.

Both Filipino clergy and foreign missionaries have been subjected to harassment, public denunciations, arrest, torture, and murder under the Marcos regime because of their activities on behalf of peace and social justice. The church hierarchy has steadily moved toward a condemnation of Marcos’ regime.

1105. “Church of Both Right and Left Suffers, Splits,” NCR 19, 41 (Sept. 16, 1983): 6-7, 9.

Church people are in all camps of the Filipino struggle. The institutional church seeks to protect its vast holdings and stay in Marcos’ favor; and the hierarchy remains largely ignorant about popular movements. In fact, fear of infiltration has caused many in the hierarchy to disown or end controversial church programs among the people. Cardinal Sin’s “critical collaboration” does not satisfy many. In the meanwhile many in the “popular” church have taken up the call of basic Christian communities to conscienticize among the people. Some others have also taken up the more extreme aspects of Liberation Theology and have sided with Marxist rebels in an attempt to overthrow the government by force. The result threatens a great polarization of the church.

1106. Claver, Francisco F. “Free Even in Enslavement. The Philippines: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow,” Commonweal 111 (March 9, 1984): 141-45.

Reviews the Philippines situation from the declaration of Martial Law in 1972 and summarizes the results of Marcos’ regime as militarization, insurgency, injustice, destruction of democracy, and the growing stranglehold of the multinational corporations. Either a military coup of communist counterviolence have become real possibilities. A return to democracy by nonviolent means is the most difficult path, but it is not impossible. Basic Christian communities show the true direction of change that is built slowly from the people, the grass roots upward.

1107. —. “Revolution, the Church and Nonviolence,” Fellowship 51, 6 (June 1985): 9-11.

Is violence justifiable in the attempt to right the wrongs of Filipino society and in implementing justice? It is a question that has faced the church there since the early 1970s. Marxism, and its millennial promise has attempted to enlist Christians to fight violently for justice; and the temptation is great, for violence is used on the right and the left. Nonviolence is condemned as subversive by the government and as reactionary by the Communists. With the assassination of Benigno Aquino, however, nonviolence has been seen as an increasingly viable alternative.

While Bishop Claver admits that violence could make sense in the abstract, if tied to the struggle for justice, in concrete terms in the Philippines, and in light of Christ’s cross, one must hesitate to use it. Yet what must one say to the desperate victims of violence? Claver urges the folly of Christ’s cross, the slow, patient revolution in society that will not pitch peasant against peasant and make them the only victims of evolutionary violence Yet nonviolence is more than a mere tactic: it is the end of the struggle itself. As one peasant farmer told him: “ We seek the peace and love of the kingdom through justice. Our justice must therefore be in full accord throughout with that peace and love. Otherwise, we destroy what we seek. We destroy ourselves.” Admirable testimony to the long, slow process of conscientization to active nonviolence that Claver and others are achieving in the Philippines.

1108. —. “Prophesy or Accommodation. The Dilemma of a Discerning Church,” America 142 (April 26, 1980): 354-56.

The basic question for the church has become: how does it play its prophetic role in the face of martial law? Because of the extreme suffering of the Filipino people this action has increasingly become as choice between “critical collaboration” with the power of the “national security state” or with that of violent revolution. But since the 1950s the church’s definition of its mission has begun to find a third path. It has begun to shift from passive and indirect support of “Catholic action” in unions and cooperatives to concerns of a more direct nature: economic and political clout. These have merged with the new Liberation Theology and the push to conscientization that Marcos’ martial law may, in fact, have been designed to halt. This theology, already developing in the Philippines independently, saw the salvation of the soul as the salvation of the whole person, body and soul, thus necessitating all the freedoms of the Christian essential for both. This has led to a true “option for the poor” expressed in social action.

At the same time the church’s response to this martial law grew gradually but strongly. In the process of change that was to overthrow the dictator, the role of the Catholic religious and laity was central, eventually reversing the process by which change flows through the church itself and influencing the hierarchy to declare itself against Marcos.

1109. —. The Stones Will Cry Out. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1978.

A collection of letters from this bishop to his diocese on the conditions of oppression within the Philippines, the injustices and brutalities of their lives under tyranny. It focuses on the faith of the Philippines Christians, and the work of the Basic Christian Communities in bringing hope in the midst of this darkness.

1110. Deats, Richard Baggett, “The Philippines: Islands in Ferment,” Fellowship 51, 6 (June 1985): 3-7.

Reviews the current situation in the Philippines in the wake of the Aquino assassination. Focus on the key role of the Basic Christian Communities in this overwhelmingly Catholic country, their process of conscientization, and the growing “politics of nonviolent action.” Yet the process is fraught with dangers: the growing militarization of society, aided and abetted by the U.S. Reagan administration, the open brutalities of Marcos’ paramilitary squads, and the desperation of a people that leads them to violence to redress their ills.

1111. Digan, Parig. Churches in Contestation. Asian Christian Social Protest. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1984.

An excellent introduction to Christianity in Asia. Digan’s account includes background on the origins and nature of Christianity there as a marginal, if not tenuous, Western cultural import. Tied to authoritarianism and colonialism, the church’s passive role merged well with the lack of an Asian tradition of protest. By the late twentieth century, however, this very marginality and Christianity’s base among the poor and oppressed had combined with an older Christian tradition of prophetic protest to forge a new Asian movement that began to fight against the “national security state” and its institutionalized oppression.

By the 1960s Asian bishops had begun organizing and launching programs for conscientization and social action that merged with the efforts of Vatican II and the emerging Liberation Theology in its option for the poor, influenced by Marx, Mao, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. This has led to a theology that also borrows from the Asian tradition of Buddhist nonviolence but that also sees violence as inevitable under certain conditions of oppression.

Digan then goes on to offer several examples of this new Christian activism at work in South Korea and in the Philippines. In the latter, under Jaime Cardinal Sin, the church has moved from its condemnation of revolutionary violence and reluctant support of oppressive state violence to a rejection of both. It acts, however, in a race against time between the communists and national security state and in fear of either communist infiltration of its work in the basic Christian communities or of government repression of these efforts.

1112. Drinan, Robert F., S.J. “Passiontide for the Philippine Church,” America 152 (March 16, 1985): 209-212.

In preaching the preferential option for the poor and for basic human and political rights the Catholic church has become a major force against Marcos. The main impetus comes through Basic Christian Communities. There are now 2,000 of these throughout the country with over 600,000 members.

Marcos has therefore set out to infiltrate or disrupt these; and government spokesmen like Juan Ponce Enrile have stressed the need for fight against communism on all levels. It has therefore launched a campaign of illegal arrests, disappearances and murders against churchpeople and members of the Basic Christian Communities.

1113. Evans, J.H., and Jack Epstein. “The Philippines: Manila Resembles Managua of Past,” NCR 20, 2 (Oct. 28, 1983): 8.

The atmosphere after the assassination of Benigno Aquino resembles that of Nicaragua shortly before the downfall of Somoza.

1114. “Filipino Bishops Approve Boycott of Election,” NCR 20, 14 (Jan. 27, 1984): 3.

Catholic bishops urge their congregations to ignore the Philippines’ compulsory election law and to participate only according to the dictates of their own consciences, repeating their stance in the 1981 election.

1115. Gaspar, Karl. How Long? Prison Reflections from the Philippines. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1985.

In march 1983 Gaspar, a lay theologian and church worker, was kidnapped by forces directed by Juan Ponce Enrile. He was held without charge for two years and repeatedly interrogated on suspicion of being a communist leader.

This book is a collection of his letters that, together, form a diary of life in prison amid physical and mental deprivations, boredom, beatings and torture. Gaspar’s hopes and physical condition were kept alive, however, by the quick work of friends and organizations who got wind of his disappearance and continued to pressure the government for his eventual release.

1116. Giordano, Pasquale T., S.J. “The Philippine Church: Exercising Her Prophetic Role to a Nation in Crisis,” New Catholic World 226 (Sept.-Oct. 1983): 226-28.

Since Vatican II the church has been involved in an “integral evangelization,” to portray the Gospels not only in words but also in promoting the development and liberation of peoples. This process is now at work in the Filipino church. There are problems, however: the shortage of clergy and the continuing suppression of human rights, of violence and counterviolence, that emerged under the Marcos regime.

1117. Hunt, Chester L. “Liberation Theology in the Philippines: A Test Case,” Christianity Today 26 (March 5, 1982): 24-26.

A negative assessment. Sees Liberation Theology as Marxist, pro-violence, class war and revolution, anti-Western, anti-rational, and ideological. Only one-third of the Filipino clergy are really opposed to Cardinal Sin’s “critical collaboration.” In fact, most of the Liberation Theology emerging in the Philippines is pressed on the native clergy by foreigners. Yet these discontents have failed in their attempts to stir up anti-American feeling. Conscientization is similar to the Alinsky technique of exacerbating grievances to bring on the revolution. “Liberation theology brings the frustrated Filipino intellectual and the expatriate clergy together. It combines the usual Marxist views with long-standing nationalist grievances.” Written at a period when it looked as if the forces of reaction would succeed in silencing the new theology.

1118. MacEoin, Gary. The Inner Elite. Kansas City, KS: Sheed Andrews & McMeel, 1978.

Biographies of major contenders in the college of cardinals to succeed Paul VI. Jaime Cardinal Sin is profiled.

1119. Martin, Earl S. “Cardinal Opposes Repression, Revolution,” NCR 16, 37 (Aug. 15, 1980): 7.

Jaime Cardinal Sin seeks to maintain his friendship with Ferdinand Marcos as his “parishioner,” thus influencing policy from the top, and he has rejected any support from mass demonstrations or other expressions of the popular church. By late 1980, however, one-quarter of Filipino bishops were openly opposed to martial law. While rejecting violent revolution, the October 1979 bishops’ conference had to admit that the causes of violence in Filipino society lay in the “inequalities among countless poor, the use of force — both overt and subtle — to preserve the privileges of wealth and status; the denial and frequent violation of basic human rights.”

1120. “Message from the Philippines,” America 151 (Oct. 20, 1984): 219-20.

On the efforts of Cardinal Sin to bring all segments of Filipino society, including business and professionals, into the struggle against Marcos. Marcos is still a friend of the United States, but he has warned of the dangers of keeping Marcos in power.

1121. Neumann, A. Lin. “Dictator Roulette: Philippine Vote Sparks Bishops’ Resistance Call,” NCR 22, 17 (Feb. 21, 1986): 1, 4, 8.

The Filipino Bishops’ Conference labeled the February 1986 election results a fraud and called on the Filipino people to “nonviolent struggle” and resistance. Reprints text of their letter

1122. —. “It Was the Grace of God That Enabled Us. Philippine Church Plays Key Role in Political Transition,” NCR 22, 19 (March 7, 1986): 1, 22.

As the Army, dissident troops, and the people stood on the verge of violent confrontation, priests, friars, nuns, and laity pushed themselves into their midst and with great physical bravery created a human shield that prevented bloodshed and sealed the downfall of the Marcos government. Cardinal Sin’s intervention, blasting the papal nuncio for his lingering support of Marcos, and calling on the Filipino people to complete their nonviolent revolution, was also key.

1123. —. “Pressures Forced Church Break with Marcos. Philippine Bishops Squeezed Between Forces Left and Right,” NCR 22, 22 (March 28, 1986): 9.

Traces the gradual evolution in the position of the Catholic hierarchy from accommodation with Marcos and martial law in the early 1970s, to their open condemnation of his regime in early 1986. Bishop Francisco Claver, the author of the bishops’ letter in February 1986, has been a key force in describing, and furthering, this process of conversion.

1124. Ostling, R.N. “Mission to the East,” Time 117 (March 2, 1981): 34-36.

A good summary of Pope John Paul II’s mission to the Philippines. In preparation for the visit Marcos lifted the eight-year martial law, but the pope still openly rebuked him for abuses. At the same time he also rebuked the clergy for participating in revolutionary activity and stressed that political action is the sphere of the laity. The poor must be liberated, but this cannot be done through violence or hate.

1125. “Papal Postponement Political,” NCR 16, 37 (Aug. 15, 1980): 14.

By delaying his trip to the Philippines John Paul II hoped to warn Marcos about his repression and maintenance of martial law.

1126. “Philippines,” NCR 19, 41 (Sept. 16, 1983).

A special issue.

1127. Rosenthal, Peggy. “The Precarious Road: Nonviolence in the Philippines,” Commonweal 113, 12 (June 20, 1986): 364-67.

What was the process that led up to the Philippines’ nonviolent revolution in February 1986? One of the answers lies ion the unheralded activities of the Goss-Mayrs, champions of nonviolence around the world. They themselves were invited to the Philippines in August 1984 to organize a nonviolent revolution, but give much of the credit to Benigno Aquino,who underwent his own conversion to nonviolence, Corazon Aquino, Cardinal Jaime Sin, and to the Basic Christian Communities in the Philippines, and Radio Veritas, with whom they worked to create the AKKAPKA, the nonviolent resistance movement that finally toppled Marcos. Yet the story goes beyond these individuals and groups, to the first nonviolent resistance organized by Bishop Francisco Claver in the early 1970s, and looks forward to the fulfillment of the promise of the February Revolution.

1128. Steif, William. “Philippines’ Sin Says Marcos Must Go to Halt Gains by Extremists,” NCR 22, 13 (Jan. 24, 1986): 1, 26-28.

Sin calls for Marcos’ election defeat in order to stem the rising tide of Communist revolution. Examines Sin’s personality, his life, and his role in the nonviolent revolution.

1129. Veneroso, Joseph R., M.M. “The Gathering Storm,” Maryknoll 80, 2 (February 1986): 3-11.

Catholic missionaries attempt to carry on their work amid rising violence from both government and insurgents. The article briefly reviews the government’s murder of clergy and church workers among the Basic Christian Communities. Meanwhile the church is increasingly lining up against Marcos.

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Latin America

1130. Bamat, Thomas. “The Catholic Church and Latin American Politics,” Latin American Research Review 18, 3 (1983): 219-26.

A review article. The church’s activities throughout Latin America are the single most important development since the Cuban revolution.

1131. Bokenkotter, Thomas. A Concise History of the Catholic Church. Rev. ed. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1979, 455-56.

Brief but useful introductory material to the church in Latin America that puts it firmly within the broad context of developments of the church in the twentieth century. Bokenkotter also gives attention to some of the continent’s most important peacemakers, including Archbishop Helder Camara of Brazil, Cardinal Silva Henriquez of Chile, and Archbishop Silvero of Paraguay. With ninety percent of the population at least nominally Catholic, recent decades have seen the church as the only institution that can stand up to the dictators and the military.

1132. Brown, Richard C. “Liberation Theology in Latin America: Its Challenge to the United States,” Conflict 4 (1983): 21-58.

This is a leftist ideology whose major thrust poses a threat to U.S. interests.

1133. Comblin, José. The Church and the National Security State. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1979.

This is a work of theological observation and reflection. It begins with a discussion of forms of theology, academic and liberation, European and Latin American. It then reviews the influence of Marx and the methods of modern social science on Catholic thought and goes on to outline a new “theology of revolution.” Comblin then briefly traces the history of Latin America from colonialism to modern times, the creation of the National Security State and the role it plays in worldwide geopolitics and as a bolster to local elites. The doctrine of the National Security State has, in effect, become a new theology, since it underpins the elite rule of military dictatorships with supposedly Christian sanctions and goals. Comblin next discusses the role of the church as the subservient tool of the state, its growing criticism, and ensuing conflict. This conflict is expressed in new theologies, in new practice of organization and evangelization, and in new divisions between a true church of the people and the false myths and brutal force of the political ideology of the state.

1134. Dahlin, Therrin C. and others. The Catholic Left in Latin America: A Comprehensive Bibliography. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1981.

An excellent introduction to the materials available, including both violent and nonviolent movements for change.

1135. Dipboye, Carolyn Cook. “The Roman Catholic Church and the Political Struggle for Human Rights in Latin America 1968-1980,” Journal of Church and State 24 (Autumn 1982): 497-524.

Not seen.

1136. Dussel, Enrique. “Current Events in Latin America.” See 1138, 77-102.

Follows events from the council of Sucre in 1972 to that of Puebla in 1979, characterizing this as a reactionary period in the history of church and state in Latin America.

1137. —. A History of the Church in Latin America: Colonialism to Liberation 1492-1979. 3rd. ed. Alan Neely, trans. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1981, 117-255.

The Latin American church entered the twentieth century as truly marginal: impoverished, powerless, and cut off from European Christendom. At the same time, from the 1930s a reawakening among the laity and the survival of collegiality among the region’s hierarchy insured that the church would become a strong force for change, especially after Vatican II (See 946–977 and in the face of the “national security state’s” brutal defense of “Western Christian Civilization” in the 1960s and 1970s.

Traces the immense impact of Vatican II, of Paul VI’s Populorum Progressio, of CELAM (The Conference of Latin American Bishops), of the Medellin Conference, and emerging Liberation Theology. Follows the events of the 1960s and 1970s in Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Paraguay, and Cuba. Then examines the examples of several individuals, including Helder Camara, Leonidas Proaño and Fr. Camilo Torres as an introduction to the problem of violence in Latin America today and the quest for an appropriate “vocabulary of peace” that will match the risk and the challenge of nonviolence.

Dussel also traces the reaction to Liberation in North America, in the reign of terror unleashed against the church by the National Security State between 1973 and 1979 (which created more martyrs for the church than the past 500 years combined) and at the councils of Sucre and Puebla. Surprisingly, however, Puebla ended as a triumph for the “People of God,” endorsed Liberation Theology, and put the church in Latin America clearly back in the tradition of Montesinos and Las Casas. See 764–781. The church thus declared decisively that it sought not to replace one oppressor with another, not the rule of elites over the masses, but to take up the role of teacher and prophet to lead the people themselves to their own liberation. Liberation Theology thus reembraced the peaceful apocalyptic of the Catholic tradition as an understanding of the mysteries of history and a process of gradual revelation, leading the people from the womb of the present into a new age.

1138. Eagleson, John, and Sergio Torres, eds. The Challenge of Basic Christian Communities. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1981.

Articles by Sergio Torres, Dussel, Gutierrez, Boff, Sobrino, d’Escoto, and others.

1139. Lange, Martin and Reinhold Iblacker, eds. Witnesses of Hope. William E. Jerman, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1981.

Documents the sufferings of Christians under the National Security State in Latin America between 1968 in the wake of the Medellin Conference and 1980. During these years over 1,500 bishops, priests, nuns, religious lay workers, numerous Indians and poor campesinos were imprisoned, tortured, murdered, and “disappeared” precisely because of their witness as Christians in seeking peace and justice according to the call of Medellin and Vatican II. The editors cite many examples from around the region, ranging from Archbishop Oscar Romero (See 1239–1244) and the American religious women martyred in El Salvador (See 1245–1249), to the plight of the poor and oppressed in Chile, to Indians exterminated in Brazil. This often recalls the Acts of the Christian Martyrs (252). Foreword by Karl Rahner, S.J.

1140. Lernoux, Penny. Cry of the People. New York: Penguin Books, 1982.

In minute, often painful detail, this journalist and expert on Latin American political and religious affairs narrates the sufferings of the Latin American people under the National Security State of the 1960s and 1970s. Her theme is the concerted U.S. policy of supporting military coups and dictatorships, and their rampages of arrest, torture, disappearances and murders against those struggling for human rights, most especially the Roman Catholic church. The church itself underwent a dramatic change from conservative bulwark of the status quo to the most dynamic force for change in the region in the period after Vatican II and Medellin, and it consequently suffered more martyrdoms than at any time since the Roman Empire.

Sometimes reading like the acts of the martyrs, sometimes like pure investigative reporting, sometimes like war correspondence, Lernoux’s narrative is riveting and emotionally packed. Her research is based on first-hand interviews, newspaper and magazine accounts, church and government documents. The book covers the rise of the new dictators, the church’s response, and numerous examples of the repression that this response invited, including ones from El Salvador, Chile, Mexico, and Brazil.

It then documents the role of the U.S. in training and motivating the Latin American officer corps that has unleashed this persecution, the doctrine of the National Security State, designed to protect U.S. “development” and regional elites, the role of U.S. multinationals, and the work of the CIA. Also examines the new ideology of “family, tradition, and property” that has been the rallying cry of oligarchs and death squads throughout the region. Lernoux also details European and U.S. funding for the repression.

The book then examines the role of the Catholic church in resisting this repression, the divisions within the church’s hierarchy and between hierarchy, lower clergy, and laity in working out a new “option for the poor,” and finally the U.S. role in supporting the church’s progressives and reactionaries in Latin America.

1141. —. “The Long Path to Puebla.” See 1151, 3-27.

An introduction to the historical, political, and religious events that led to the Puebla conference and to the church’s confirmation of the importance of Liberation Theology. This can be used as a brief introduction to the entire process of Catholic peacemaking in the region from first colonization to the 1970s.

1142. Levine, Daniel H. Religion and Politics in Latin America: The Catholic Church in Venezuela and Colombia. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981.

Religion is a vital and important factor in Latin America today; it is not a vestige of the past. These two countries provide case studies of the church’s influence and the forms that it takes. The work tends to focus on the hierarchy, however, and devotes little attention to the Basic Christian Communities. It also links Liberation Theology to Marxist and socialist political aims.

1143. “Nonviolence and Social Change in Latin America,” Maryknoll 79, 8 (August 1985): Special Issue.

Seven articles from throughout South and Central America on religious peacemaking.

1144. Skidmore, Thomas E., and Peter H. Smith. Modern Latin America. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984.

A political and socio-economic account, that traces modern structures from the colonial period, and views Latin American history in terms of this neo-colonial “dependency.” Good, up-to-date bibliography.

1145. Smith, Brian H. The Church and Politics in Chile: Challenges to Modern Catholicism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982.

How can the church as a whole implement the aims of Vatican II? Marxist analysis seems a valuable tool; yet on the whole the church in Chile is hesitant to take up its prophetic role unless its own hierarchical structures are threatened. A sociological approach based on extensive field research.

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Theological Reflection in Latin America

1146. Berryman, Philip E. “Latin American Liberation Theology.” See 1175, 20-83.

A solid, and sympathetic introduction to the subject.

1147. “Black Theology and Latin American Liberation Theology.” See 1093, 510-15.

Reflections by Paolo Friere, Assman, Cone and others. Attempts at dialogue between the two religious traditions in the face of European assertiveness.

1148. Boff, Leonardo. “Christ’s Liberation via Oppression: An Attempt at Theological Construction from the Standpoint of Latin America.” See 1157, 100-132.

The book of Exodus and Christ’s temptations in Luke 4:1-13 serve as the model for the new Christian who rejects both the power and despair of the world in doing God’s will.

1149. Colonnes, Louis M. Conscientization for Liberation. Washington, DC: U.S. Catholic Conference, 1971.

Not seen.

1150. Dussel, Enrique. “Historical and Philosophical Presuppositions of Latin American Theology.” See 1157, 184-212.

Liberation Theology grows out of praxis, from the experience of Latin America from Bartolomé de Las Casas (764–781) on. While Liberation Theology must be understood in the context of the universal Catholic church, the voice of that church is not a monologue. Latin American theology is the child of both European and Amerindian cultures, not only of European Christendom. Its tasks are therefore suited to the conditions of Latin America. It must serve to foster independence from authoritarianism and to unmask exploitation, as Christ and Las Casas did.

1151. Eagleson, John and Philip Scharper, eds.; John Drury, trans. Puebla and Beyond. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1980.

For the council of Puebla, Mexico in 1979, which conservatives in the church had intended to mark the end of Medellin’s influence and of Liberation Theology. The council was attended by important clerics and laity from around the world, including such Latin American bishops as Oscar Romero and Helder Camara. Press attention focused on the debates between conservatives and radicals within and outside the council, especially since Pope John Paul II attended the meetings and confirmed its conclusions. To the surprise of conservatives, the pope actually endorsed the thrust of the church’s new “option for the poor” and for nonviolent change in Latin America, while he also applied its theory to liberation struggles in other parts of the world. As the result of a church council, the final document is now part of the official teaching of the Catholic church throughout the world. The editors present the entire final document, the pope’s major addresses, and commentaries by leading theologians and observers of the Latin American scene.

1152. Ellacuria, Ignacio. Freedom Made Flesh. The Mission of Christ and His Church. John Drury, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1976.

Like Christ himself, who lived and died in the real world of political repression and liberation, his church today must take up its mission of liberation, even if this again involves the cross of suffering and death. Christ’s salvation is not purely spiritual — he came to save thew world, which means flesh and blood as well as spirit. Examines the problems of discussing a political ideology of salvation, the political and social elements of Jesus’ mission, his relationship to the state and political movements of his time, and then relates these to the situation of the church in Latin America.

Part Three: Violence and the Cross, examines the problems of aggressiveness and violence, finds their roots in human nature, and examines the choices open to Christians in pacifism (Charles de Foucauld), nonviolence (Martin Luther King) and revolutionary violence (Camilo Torres), and concludes that Christianity is too rich and multifaceted to be restricted to one attitude toward violence. Ellacuria carefully avoids passing judgment on any of these forms.

1153. “The Final Document: International Ecumenical Congress of Theology, Feb. 20-March 2, 1980, Sao Paolo, Brazil.” See 1138, 231-46.

On the theological and practical life of the basic Christian communities.

1154. Freire, Paolo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Myra Bergman Ramos, trans. New York: Seabury Press, 1970; reprinted Continuum, 1981.

On the process of conscientization. This is the fundamental book that has inspired much of the methods of Latin American Liberation Theology and the basic Christian communities.

1155. Galilea, Segundo. “Liberation Theology and New Tasks Facing Christians.” See 1157, 163-83.

Reviews the accomplishments of the Medellin and Sucre church conferences. Then outlines the tasks that face Liberation Theology: cultural liberation and conscientization. The new theology must also pursue liberation from violence, both the institutionalized and subversive types. Yet this cannot be overcome by human means, or through violence, but only through the Cross. Christians must shoulder the burden of prophetic proclamation, of denunciation of power and injustice, and the announcement of solidarity with the poor and oppressed, of repentance and reconciliation. “Christian liberation, then, implies reconciliation; hence Liberation Theology implies a theology of reconciliation.”

1156. —. Theology and the Church, A Response to Cardinal (Joseph) Ratzinger. New York: Seabury Press, 1985.

A pointed rebuttal to Cardinal Ratzinger’s attack on Liberation Theology as a “potential negation” of Christian teaching. Segundo defends the use of Marxist analysis and distinguishes this from Marxist-Leninist atheistic ideology. He notes, in fact, that even Pope John Paul II is using Marxist terminology when he speaks of “alienation” as the modern condition of sin. Marxism, however, is not the point of issue in the attack on Liberation Theology. Segundo goes right to the heart of Ratzinger’s instruction and sees it as an attack on Vatican II and the Pastoral Constitution that put an end to the dualistic split between inner spirituality and Christian activism for social justice and peace.

1157. Gibellini, Rosino, ed. Frontiers of Theology in Latin America. John Drury, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1979.

A collection of essays by the region’s leading intellectuals, including Boff (1148), Dussel (1150), Galilea (1155), Gutierrez (1159), Segundo (1172), and Vidales (1176).

1158. Goodman, Walter. “Church’s Activist Clergy: Rome Draws Line,” New York Times, Sept. 6, 1984:

On growing papal criticism of Boff and Gutierrez.

1159. Gutierrez, Gustavo. “Liberation Praxis and Christian Faith.” See 1157, 1-33.

A basic summation of Liberation Theology.

1160. —. A Theology of Liberation. Caridad Inda and John Eagleson, transls. and eds. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1973.

This is dense, often difficult, but fundamentally important reading for Catholic liberation and nonviolence, not only in Latin America, but around the world. The controversy that surrounded Gutierrez’ works, the attempt of Cardinal Ratzinger’s Holy Office to silence Gutierrez and Boff, and Pope John Paul II’s embrace and eventual vindication of Liberation Theology have made it the most important theological and practical movement in the church today. This book is the key text of that theology.

The church has finally entered an era that calls for a return to earlier Christian traditions: that faith is expressed through charity, that the church must raise a voice of prophesy, and that theology must once again flow from praxis, its working in the world, to illuminate the world and become the agent of the world’s transformation. The sources of Liberation Theology are papal documents, such as Paul VI’s Populorum Progressio (See 970), Gaudium et Spes of Vatican II (See 951), the Medellin Conference, and most importantly, the Bible. Key biblical texts include Galatians 5:1, Luke 4:1-13, and Exodus.

The major characteristics of this theology are the centrality of building the Kingdom of God that rejects the old dualism between personal, inner salvation and the institutional action of the church in Constantinian alliance with the powers of the world. Salvation is now seen as integral, that is, the church saves not only souls, but complete persons; it liberates both the oppressed and the oppressors from sin and from the poverty, alienation, exploitation, and oppression that define sin. Its emphasis on change is thus radical and integral, a rejection of older models of change, such as Western-style development, that impose it from the top down, the work of elites either clerical or governmental. Instead, change must come from the poor and the oppressed themselves, first through “conscientization,” then through denunciation of sin, and then through the proclamation of liberation.

In this process the structure of the church plays an essential part, for the church must manifest the new society of peace and justice by changing its own life, opting for the poverty of the oppressed, changing its structure to reflect the voice of the humble, rejecting its alliance with power, while defying the threats of the secular state that it is “meddling in politics” when it speaks out for the oppressed. Yet just as Christ refused to despair or to hope in the forces of this world by casting himself down from the temple, the new theology refuses to despair. Neither does it seek utopian solutions to the problems of the world, for these utopias are the works of humans and of ideologies; while the kingdom of God, though implemented by men and women, is really the work of God, and it builds new men and women, not new societies. As such it demands individual conversion, not compulsion or the leadership of enlightened elites.

The church, then, is the visible manifestation of God’s kingdom in the world and in history. The church exists not for itself, for its own structures and power, then, but for the world; it is the self-reflective part of the world. It is truly the sacrament of Christ’s liberation in history and time. All history, then, is sacred history, the history of salvation, and the growth of God’s kingdom is the process of liberation in the world. Only by forging social justice and love, therefore, can the individual and the church know God, and the type of knowledge one has of God through love and action (”orthopraxis”) far excels that of intellectual knowledge of God through “orthodoxy.”

Just as the new theology shifts emphasis from orthodoxy to orthopraxis, so too the sacramental and liturgical life of the church must focus away from individualistic piety and empty cultic worship and to a renewed emphasis on the Eucharist and Christ as the source and symbol of this new solidarity.

Much has been made of the “Marxist” and revolutionary elements of Liberation Theology. Here Gutierrez emphasizes that liberation must be the work of love and not of hate, but at the same time he recognizes that the oppressor is the enemy, and that physical poverty and oppression are real evils that must be combatted.

1161. —. We Drink From Our Own Wells. The Spiritual Journey of a People. Matthew J. O’Connell, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983.

The working of Liberation Theology in praxis, in the lives of the poor in Latin America. Part One discusses the contextual experience of Latin American liberation, the region’s oppression, alienation, and poverty. Part Two examines forms of Christian spirituality based on biblical paradigms. Part Three traces the actual developments in contemporary Latin America, blending theological reflection with the recollection of events as concrete manifestations of Christian faith, hope, and love.

1162. Kamm, Henry, “Friar Defends Views at Vatican Session,” New York Times, Sept. 8, 1984.

On Cardinal Ratzinger’s silencing of Liberation Theologian Leonardo Boff and the friar’s inquisition on the “Marxist” elements of his theology.

1163. —. “Vatican Censures Marxist Elements in New Theology,” New York Times, Sept. 4, 1984:

On certain aspects of Boff’s and Gutierrez’ writings perceived by Cardinal Ratzinger and his Holy Office as Marxist, political teachings of class hatred and struggle.

1164. “Liberation Theology: Thy Kingdom Come, Here and Now,” Economist, Oct. 13, 1984.

Critical of Boff and other Liberation Theologians for their insistence that sin and salvation apply to the body as well as the soul.

1165. “Light in the Latin Darkness,” Time 116 (Oct. 27, 1980): 75.

Not seen.

1166. McCann, Dennis P. Christian Realism and Liberation Theology. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1981.

Suspicious of the role of basic Christian communities and of individual Christians taking action that can be characterized as “political.” In the tradition of Rheinhold Niebuhr, McCann asserts that the Christian must leave the problems of the world to political solutions worked out by secular agents. Briefly reviews the leading Liberation theologians, asserting that Gutierrez, for example, has stretched Medellin’s option for the poor as a full endorsement of his position, that Segundo rejects “pacifism” as contributing to the status quo and calls for a liberating violence whose religious basis is illusionary, that he says the manipulation of the masses by a revolutionary elite dedicated to liberation is justified, and that he believes “the end justifies the means.”

1167. O’Brien, David J., and Thomas A. Shannon, eds. Renewing the Earth. Catholic Documents on Peace, Justice and Liberation. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977, 539-79.

Includes an introduction to Liberation Theology and the documents of the Medellin Conference on Justice and Peace, as well as the Conference’s Message to the Peoples of Latin America. The Medellin Conference was the second general meeting of the Conference of Latin American Bishops, held in Medellin, Colombia from August 24 to September 6, 1968. As such it was an official church council, and its final documents are part of the official teaching of the Catholic church around the world.

These final documents are the Latin American response to Vatican II and Pope Paul VI’s Populorum Progressio, and they form the theological and ecclesiological basis for the church’s nonviolent struggle for liberation. Medellin has become the central event for Latin American Liberation theologians and is the cornerstone of all later reflection, just as it was the summation of previous practice and theory. These documents are essential to any study of Latin American events and theory in the 1970s and 1980s.

1168. Ostling, Richard N. “Si to a Demanding Friend,” Time, Feb. 11, 1985: 76.

On John Paul II’s Latin American tour and his support for a nonviolent version of Liberation Theology strained of its Marxist elements. The pope fully supports the goals of peace as social justice embodied in the new theology.

1169. Pasca, T.M. “The Vatican Flops in Latin America,” The Nation 240, 3 (Jan. 26, 1985): 76-79.

On the failed attack on Liberation Theology and the Vatican’s accommodation with Nicaragua’s Sandinistas.

1170. Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal. Instruction on Certain Aspects of the “Theology of Liberation.” Rome: Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Washington, DC: U.S. Catholic Conference, 1984.

Assumes immediately a sharp distinction between liberation from sin, which he asserts to be purely spiritual, and liberation from “servitude of an earthly and temporal kind.” Thus Ratzinger a priori condemns what he has set out to examine, since the unity of spiritual and temporal sin lies at the heart of Liberation Theology. One cannot speak of physical oppression, political tyranny, or economic exploitation without defining them as sins against God and humanity, the Liberation Theologians contend, yet Ratzinger would stress the pre-Vatican II assumption that one can be saved from sin individually and internally while one ignores the injustices and calamities of the world around.

Ratzinger does, however, then go on to examine the origins of Liberation Theology in the praxis of Latin America and the Third World, to review its biblical foundations, and the “voice of the Magisterium,” that is the church’s own pronouncements on the process of liberation as found in Mater et magistra, Pacem in terris, Populorum progressio, and Evangelii nuntiando.

Ratzinger then goes to what he considers the heart of the problem, the confusion among good-intentioned clergy and laity to adopt “Marxist” analysis to further the process of liberation. While many currents exist within Marxism, its “pure” form notes “class-struggle” and this is not compatible with Christianity. One must avoid treating Marxism as if it were a scientific analysis to reality and not simply a sympathetic language. Ratzinger rejects what he considers the fundamentally violent interpretation of class-struggle and implies that this colors all of Liberation Theology, although he is careful to note that it is explicit in “certain of the writings.” He then goes on to stress that this identification is incompatible with Vatican II.

What also seems to disturb Ratzinger is what he sees as a sinister perversion of Christian doctrine into a “real system” complete with a rival “church of the poor, a rival liturgy of struggle, that rejects the true sacramental nature of the Eucharist a questioning of the hierarchical structure of the church, and a “radical politicization of faith’s affirmations” which is a priori bad. Pure Liberation Theologians, he asserts, stress that whoever disagrees with them are a priori members of the oppressor class. These people hold church social teaching in disdain, attempt a political re-reading of Scripture, and make the Kingdom of God an earthly goal. Even the assertions of complete faith in Christian creeds and doctrines espoused by the Liberation Theologians are mere shams, and the Jesus of struggle that they preach denies the Incarnate Word, “God made Lord and Christ.” True liberation is baptism, not “the political liberation of a people.”

In conclusion Ratzinger asserts that he is not for earthly oppression and calls on all clergy to dialogue with the “Magisterium of the Church,” to reject “blind” violence, to seek for the roots of injustice in the hearts of men, and to reject the temptation to seek solutions in structural change. He also dismisses Basic Christian Communities as misinformed and ignorant, if “generous,” sessions in which these false doctrines are spread

By his stress on what he begins by saying are “certain aspects” of Liberation Theology: Marxism, class-division, violence, un-Christian Christologies, Ratzinger raises so many red herrings that the reader who is not also familiar with the basic texts of Liberation Theology will come away believing that these “certain aspects” are the root and heart of the theology.

1171. Russell, George. “Taming the Liberation Theologians,” Time, Feb. 4, 1985, 56-59.

On Cardinal Ratzinger’s Holy Office inquisition of aspects of the works of Liberation theologians Boff and Gutierrez.

1172. Segundo, Juan Luis. “Capitalism Versus Socialism: Crux Theologica.” See 1157, 240-59.

Liberation theology is a whole theology that speaks to the reality of Latin America. This reality is not dominated by the struggle between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. but derives from the plight of the vast majority of its people.

1173. Swomley, John M. Liberation Ethics. New York: Macmillan, 1972.

The theory and methods of nonviolent change and revolution. The moral conversion of the individual to liberation is necessary before such change can begin. Recent history offers many examples of successful nonviolent change in Latin America. These include the nonviolent revolutions in Chile in July 1931, in Guatemala in 1944, and in El Salvador in 1944. All involved the withdrawal of consent from the dictators by the majority of the people across all classes and professions, often in the face of violent attempts at repression.

1174. —. Liberation Politics.

Not seen.

1175. Torres, Sergio and John Eagleson, eds. Theology in the Americas. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1976.

A collection of essays by the leading theologians in both continents.

1176. Vidales, Raul. “Methodological Issues in Liberation Theology.” See 1157, 34-57.

A discussion of Liberation Theology and its roots in theory and praxis. Summarizes its historical base and stresses that faith can only be understood via action. The basic features of Liberation Theology include solidarity with the exploited, a joyous unity among brothers and sisters, its operation in the midst of conflict, and a basis in Christian faith that is above all Christocentric.

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Individual Peacemakers

Dom Helder Camara and Brazil

1177. Bruneau, Thomas C. “The Church and Politics in Brazil: The Genesis of Change,” Journal of Latin American Studies 17 (Nov. 1985): 271-93.

Follows the transformation of the Catholic church in Brazil under the influence of Vatican II. CELAM and the statements of Medellin have been fundamental. Reviews developments and research in the field, statements of the hierarchy, the retreat from new commitments after the coup, but their reassertion in different form during the military’s rule. The church, in fact, weakened the political and economic grip of the generals. In return its own structures have changed. The church emerging now in Brazil will be far less institutionally oriented.

1178. —. The Church in Brazil: The Politics of Religion. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982.

Examines the 60,000 Basic Christian Communities throughout Brazil. These are the outcome of the church’s new approach to evangelization: the work through the people. The communities were begun between 1950 and 1964 and consolidated between 1964 and 1974, despite state repression. While the “MEBs” have not been as successful as hoped in true evangelization, they have presented a real challenge to Brazilian authoritarianism.

1179. Camara Helder. Church and Colonialism. London: Sheed & Ward, 1969.

Not seen.

1180. —. The Conversions of a Bishop: An Interview with José de Broucker. Hilary Davies, trans. London and Cleveland: Collins, 1979.

A biography of the bishop through a series of interviews in 1975 and 1976. Camara is quite outspoken here about many of the personalities in his life. He offers his thoughts on the struggle of a united people toward liberation, not by guerrilla war or violent revolution but through nonviolence, or “the violence of pacifists,” as he prefers to call it. He sharply distinguishes this with “passivism.”

1181. —. The Desert Is Fertile. Dinah Livingstone, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1982.

Active nonviolence is a force as strong as nuclear energy. It is the power of love and justice. Camara discusses his half-failure, his six-year attempt to make his Action for Justice and Peace succeed as an organized pressure group. He eventually realized, however, that institutions as such are incapable of bringing about change.

Camara condemns the U.S., U.S.S.R. and EEC for their exploitation and their continued arms race. He rests his hopes on the “Abrahamic minorities” who work in the darkness against all hope to create change.

1182. —. Hoping Against All Hope. Matthew J. O’Connell, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1984.

Camara goes beyond a disgust with poverty, the arms race, waste, materialism, and overspecialization to see hope that this disgust among people will be turned to positive energy to change. All these troubles in the world are “signs of God.”

This is a theological approach and underpining to his activist life. It is based heavily on Vatican II, Medellin, and Teilhard de Chardin’ a teleological approach. Abraham’s “hope against all hope” is a model for groups practicing “active nonviolence.” These are the “Abrahamic minorities.”

1183. —. Race Against Time. Della Couling, trans. London: Sheed & Ward, 1971.

Camara’s profound Christianity is the root of his concern for economic and social justice in Brazil. Examines the injustice and oppression of Brazilian society, discusses the need for change, the role of the institutional church, or capitalism and neo-colonialism, of the U.S.A. Camara calls for a revolution, among the universities and intellectuals especially here, and his declares his hopes despite the dehumanizing trends in science and technology. Teilhard de Chardin is an inspiration.

1184. —. Revolution Through Peace. Ruth Nanada Anshen, ed.; Amparo McLean, trans. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.

The then retired archbishop of Recifé, Brazil, Camara lays out the basic tenets of his revolution: neither capitalism nor communism will work in the Third World to cure the violence of poverty or exploitation, for which the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. are largely responsible both through their own economic exploitation and through the vast amounts they spend on arms while millions starve. Both nations, in fact, put the world in danger of extermination, while the U.S.’s emphasis on communism as the supreme evil of the world ignores the real evils suffered by the poor every day.

What, then, are the solutions to the Third World’s problems? Development as practiced by the North American and European technocrats certainly is not. This is change imposed from above for the benefit of oligarchs. Instead, Camara urges a gradual process, first of conscientization among the people, and then once the people have taken their lives into their own hands, a movement for true peace, which is based on justice, truth, charity, and dialogue. While violent revolutionaries have attempted to redress the violence of poverty and repression by armed struggle, Camara refuses to condemn their sacrifices, but he insists that “only love can build. Hate and violence only destroy.”

1185. —. Spiral of Violence. London: Sheed & Ward, 1969.

A description and analysis of violence, repression and counterviolence. Is there a solution? Camara describes his Action for Peace and Justice, its objectives, problems, modes of action, audience, and appeal.

1186. —. A Thousand Reasons for Living. José de Broucker, ed., Alan Neame, trans. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981.

Not seen.

1187. Castro, Marcos de. Dom Helder, o’bispo da esperança. Rio de Janeiro: Graal, 1978.

Camara’s profoundly religious approach is based on the hope of God’s grace. His development away from integralism to a struggle for justice via nonviolence. Examines his close ties to Pope Paul VI.

1188. Cirano, Marcos. Os caminhos de Dom Helder (1964-1980). Recifé: Editora Guararapes, 1983.

On the persecution of Camara and government attempts to keep him from the public eye. They have accused him of being a demagogue, a communist agitator, and a subversive. Reviews the press’s attacks on him, with a complete bibliography of articles written about him.

1189. Cuneen, Sally. “The Good News from Latin America,” Christian Century 98 (Jan. 7, 1981): 5.

On the occasion of Camara’s visit to the Fellowship of Reconciliation in the U.S. Traces the steps of John Paul II’s visit to Brazil and his physical embrace of the banned Camara on Brazilian television, and the coverage given to the pope’s invitation to Camara and Cardinal Aloisio Lorscheider, another proponent of nonviolent change, to ride in his open car from the airport. Camara declares that nonviolence stems from conviction and from the certitude that violence would be suicidal.

1190. De Broucker, José. Dom Helder Camara. The Violence of a Peacemaker. Herma Briffault, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1970.

Traces Camara’s personality and his daily routine, reviews the poverty and injustice of northeastern Brazil, the church’s role in the struggle for justice, and the state’s response in repression. Then goes on to analyze Camara’s own nonviolence and his emerging reputation as the Voice of the Third World. Concludes with a portrait of Camara’s life as a bishop in the Catholic church in Latin America.

1191. Filius, Jan, and Jan Glissenaar. Helder Camara in Nederland. Utrecht: Bruna & Zoon, 1971.

On the occasion of Camara’s 1970 visit. The warm welcome, the media coverage, the debates.

1192. Goss-Mayr, Hildegard. “Choosing Means Toward a Just End,” Fellowship 49, 10-11 (Oct./Nov. 1983): 5, 27.

Contrasts the commitments to revolution of Helder Camara and Camilo Torres, the Colombian priest who went underground to emerge with Marxist guerillas devoted to the armed overthrow of the government. Camara admires the courage and sacrifice that Torres made in giving up his life, and dislikes the word nonviolence to describe what he himself does. He finds it too passive.

1193. Hall, Mary. The Impossible Dream. The Spirituality of Dom Helder Camara. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1980.

A spiritual biography based on interviews and the author’s observation of his daily life. Discusses his work, the difficulties, and constant reminders of the brutal government repression.

1194. Hebblethwaite, Peter. “Harsh Letter to Brazil Bishops Repeats ‘Stay Out of Politics’,” NCR 17 (May 15, 1981): 5.

Not seen.

1195. Hope, Marjorie and James Young. The Struggle for Humanity. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1979, 109-44.

Reviews Camara’s life and early rise through the hierarchy in alliance with Brazil’s political and economic establishment, his subsequent conversion following Vatican II, and his embrace of the cause, and life, of the poor and the oppressed. Camara was subsequently removed from power and influence, banned from appearing in the media, and subjected to constant denunciation, harassment, and violent attack on his staff and friends.

Camara rejects both capitalist development and communism, both of which empower the elite even further and ignore the real needs of individual development and liberation. Change must begin with the people themselves, through conscientization and basic Christian communities. Its impact on society must be nonviolent, aimed at converting both the oppressed and oppressor. Yet “nonviolence” is too weak a word. Camara refuses to condemn the sacrifices of a Che Guevera or a Camilo Torres, but he argues that such violence, while altruistic, only pits the oppressed against the oppressed. Still, one cannot condemn the violence of terrorism without first condemning the violence of injustice.

1196. “Just Look Around a Bit,” Time 116 (July 14, 1980): 58.

On John Paul II’s trip to Brazil.

1197. Mainwaring, Scott. “The Catholic Church, Popular Education, and Political Change in Brazil,” Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 26 (February 1984): 97-124.

On the conversion of the church hierarchy from an alliance with the dominant class and the state to its link with the poor. The military government attempted to repress the tendencies proclaimed by Medellin, but the church remained the main opposition between 1968 and 1974. The influence of the Basic Christian Communities in this regard was strong. Article analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the MEBs, the important role of intellectuals in these changes and processes. Good bibliography.

1198. Matta, Fernando Reyes, ed. Universidad y Revolucion. Santiago: Ediciones Nueva Universidad, 1969.

A collection of documents, including Camara’s “University and Revolution,” and an examination of press coverage of the bishop on a wide variety of topics.

1199. Moosbrugger, Bernard. A Voice of the Third World: Dom Helder Camara. New York: Paulist Press, 1972.

Often in the bishop’s own words, this discusses his road to the bishopric, the poverty, hunger, ignorance and unemployment, the “silent fatalism” of the north. Reviews Camara’s appeals for justice and peace in Latin America, the United States, and Europe, and his hope that international big business can still be made responsible. He retains faith that human institutions — religious, political, economic — can solve problems. His greatest hope rests on youth.

1200. “The Pope in Brazil,” America 143 (July 5, 1980): 4.

Not seen.

1201. Schumacher, E. “Tireless Friend of the Dispossessed,” New York Times Biography Service 11 (October 1980): 1455-56.

A competent, brief biography.

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Adolfo Perez Esquivel and the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo

1202. “Adolfo Perez Esquivel,” Current Biography Yearbook. New York: H.H. Wilson, 1981, 321-24.

A good introduction to his life, written after his winning the Nobel Peace Prize for 1980, for which he had been nominated by Irish Peace People Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams. (See 1053 to 1059.) A good supplement to Esquivel’s own writing. See 1205.

1203. Amador, Miguel. “Silent Accomplices,” Christian Century 97 (Dec. 3, 1980): 1180-81.

Traces Esquivel’s activities since 1971, and his work as coordinator of the Service for Peace and Justice. On the news of Esquivel’s winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the bishops of Argentina quickly disassociated themselves from him, while the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo greeted him with ecumenical services. In the end, while some Catholic bishops congratulated the work of the Service for Peace and Justice, most remained silent, in tacit complicity with the generals.

1204. “An Interview with Adolfo Perez Esquivel,” Fellowship 51, 7-8 (July-August 1985): 9-11.

Nonviolence is not nonaggression but a respect for life and the individual. It is not an aim, not a tool, but a way of life. In the very process of changing their lives of oppression and ignorance in real ways people must be conscientizied to their harmony with the essence of life, their histories of war and heroes must be replaced by a history of peoples to teach the story of human cooperation and creativity. In this process both the great thinkers and the great activists have a part: Thomas Merton as well as Francis of Assisi. Yet even the “mystics” did not live with their eyes rolled up to heaven but energetically partook of the world and its problems. Without this, spirituality, even devout churchgoing appears empty.

In the end, however, the theory of nonviolence is a waste of time; only by putting principles into practice is it real. Working on the small, local, and limited scale, within one’s capabilities is the best way to solve the “big” world problems, which otherwise seem overwhelming. Hope is the best food and advice for peacemakers.

1205. Drinan, Robert F. “Human Rights in Argentina,” America 145 (Oct. 10, 1981): 198-200.

On July 15, 1981 seventy Catholic bishops issued a 74-page statement charging the government with illegal repression in their “dirty war.” While the bishops condemned “revolutionary violence,” they also strongly condemned such institutional and repressive violence. One of the strongest manifestations of Catholic nonviolence are the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who gather every Thursday to protest the disappearance of their loved ones. While, at the time of Drinan’s writing, there was no open persecution of the Catholic church in Argentina, there was considerable hostility to the outspoken, such as Adolfo Perez Esquivel.

1206. Esquivel, Adolfo Perez. Christ in a Poncho. Charles Antoine ed.; Robert R. Barr, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983, 117-34.

A collection of essays on various aspects of Esquivel’s life and work for nonviolent change in Latin America. Traces his life, organizing efforts, and the events of Argentine history in the 1970s that led to his arrest, imprisonment, and torture under the generals. Esquivel notes that his major influences have included John the Baptist, Gandhi, Thomas Merton (1306–1327), Francis of Assisi (453–464, 525–535), Ernesto Cardenal (1217–1238), Helder Camara (1177–1201), Lanza del Vasto (998–1018), the Medellin Conference’s declarations on Liberation Theology (1167), among others. While he is committed to nonviolent change, he rejects “do-gooder” social work aimed at patching the current system and seeks to build a new community from the grass roots up, through such forms as the basic Christian communities.

“Nonviolence” is a bad word in Latin America, since for so many it connotes passivity, yet no better word has yet been found. While Liberation Theology has not yet evolved a complete critique of violence, and liberation reached through armed struggle is not to be condemned, such victory is not efficacious: one cannot cure evil by using it. Instead one merely replaces one oppressor with another. Nonviolence, instead, must be built on a broad and popular base, it must be the result of people acting in trust and solidarity, whose own nonviolence renders the violence of the oppressor useless. Not even Nicaragua’s revolution succeeded through violence, but by the long nonviolent campaign that pushed the Sandinistas into power.

Esquivel rejects both communism and capitalism, and he sees the arms race as linked essentially to the materialism of both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. Therefore the work of the peacemaker must also be to awaken the consciences of those who make, profit from, or remain comfortable with, an arms race that starves the rest of the world.

The collection then goes on to examine several examples of active nonviolence at work in Latin America: the victory of nonviolent strikers and the efforts of Bishop Leonidas Proaño in Peru; the Latin American Charter of nonviolence; and the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

The Mothers are the sisters, daughters, cousins, wives, and mothers of the up to 30,000 men, women, and children who “disappeared” during the “dirty war” waged by Argentina’s generals in the years between their coup in 1976 and the restoration of democracy in 1983. They first began in isolation, seeking information about their relatives, but they soon organized to hold weekly protest vigils in Buenos Aires’ main square, not only demanding to know what the military had done to the disappeared but demanding justice for all of Argentina’s poor and oppressed.

Their original inspiration was nourished by Esquivel’s Peace and Justice office. They reject all forms of violence in favor of a Gospel form of peacemaking. The Mothers have been willing to suffer accusations of being subversives and communists; they have even been willing to face martyrdom for their witness to the truth that the Argentine generals’ defense of “Western Christian Civilization” was a sham. They continue to declare that only through the broad-based, nonviolent methods of the people — boycotts, strikes, noncooperation, civil disobedience, hunger strikes, etc. — can the field be taken from the enemy and his own tools of elitism and violence overthrown.

1207. “Forum: Adolfo Perez Esquivel,” NCR 22, 19 (March 7, 1986): 9-11.

A wide-ranging interview on apartheid in South Africa, the connection between the arms race, the Latin American debt, and the rise of the dictatorships in Latin America. Esquivel also pins the blame for the dictatorships and their reign of terror directly on the U.S. and their capitalist interests. President Carter was an exception to this, and his struggle for human rights is recognized, yet the Reagan administration has only worsened matters. Reagan’s “freedom fighters” kill women and children, destroy crops and wreak havoc on a people; at stake is U.S. hegemony over Central America.

Esquivel also sees the pope as too conditioned by his Polish experience and its anti-Communism. He does not understand the situation in the Third World or the full meaning of Liberation Theology. He also ignores, or is misinformed about the many Christian martyrs being made in Latin America today as an expression of Christian faith. Liberation involves the while person, and therefore it is possible for Christians and Marxists to enter into dialogue over practical issues. In Nicaragua, both Marxist and Christian, violent and nonviolent and violent responses are being made. One need only think of Foreign Minister D’Escoto’s nonviolent fast that brought world attention to U.S. aggression to get the point. Archbishop Obando, on the other hand, urges draft resistance while refusing to condemn contra atrocities: his is a political, not a religious opposition.

Esquivel advises his North American friends that peace is not the absence of conflict, but an activism to human relations. Too often North American peace movements take only a passive resistance. He urges North Americans to actively seek out the facts about Latin America, to know U.S. policy, and to bring the policy of their government into line with their own wishes.

1208. Lernoux, Penny. “In Peru, Argentina: Bishops Hit Government Acts,” NCR 17 (Aug. 28, 1981): 3.

Not seen.

1209. Lundy, M. “Interview: Adolfo Perez Esquivel,” America 143 (Dec. 27, 1980): 427-30.

Not seen.

1210. “Nobel Laureate Pleads Missing Children’s Case,” NCR 17 (Sept. 18, 1981): 6.

Esquivel attempts to get answers for the parents of the “disappeared.”

1211. “The Prize for Peace Doesn’t Always Lead to It: Outlasting Oppression,” New York Times, Oct. 21, 1984.

Briefly reviews Esquivel’s activities since the prize.

1212. “Self-Amnesty. A Military Pardon,” Time 122 (Oct. 3, 1983): 40.

Despite the optimism that the Falklands defeat would bring in a renewed democracy, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo continue to demonstrate, demanding a final answer to the disappearance of thousands in the “dirty war.”

1213. Simpson, John, and Jana Bennett. The Disappeared and the Mothers of the Plaza: The Story of the 11,000 Argentinians Who Vanished. New York: St. Martin’s, 1985.

This book gives ample credit and fine documentation to the Mothers. It stresses the internal dynamic and initiative of the Mothers themselves. The story of the disappeared, which the authors call the closest thing to Nazi Germany after 1933, is based on hundreds of interviews. The Mothers organized under constant threat, attack, even murder and kidnapping. Their demonstrations were harassed and broken up violently throughout 1978. By 1979 they had almost stopped completely. Finally they decided they had nothing to lose. Their act of courage broke the entire well-laid plan of the generals to commit mass murder via secret means. By 1980 they had turned the tide and has once again begun demonstrating in public.

The authors notes the almost total silence of the Argentine hierarchy to the atrocity, except in cases where clergy were the targets. Surprisingly, the role of Esquivel in this drama is ignored almost completely, except for the authors to remark that he also was imprisoned and that he may have invented his story of torture (pp. 281-82).

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Bishop Leonidas Proaño

1214. Esquivel. Christ in a Poncho. See 1206, 71-91.

Recounts the bishop’s alliance with the Indians of Toctezinin in Chimborazo province of Ecuador. Together they fight against the corruption of government officials in league with wealthy landowners who seek to end land reform and take the small farmers’ lands from them. The small farmers and the diocese’s pastoral teams aiding them have faced smear campaigns, accusations of being communist subversives, threats and physical violence from the landlords’ thugs, police, and army; but they have rejected all forms of violence as wrong and counterproductive. In a newspaper interview Proaño has called on the inspiration of Bartolomé de Las Casas (See 764–781), the Medellin Conference, and Helder Camara (See 1177–1201) and has declared, “there are only two invincible forces in the twentieth century — the atom bomb, and nonviolence.”

1215. Gudorf, Christine. “The Quiet Strength of Liberation Theology,” Commonweal 111, 12 (June 15, 1984): 365-67.

Reviews the situation in Peru: the Vatican’s investigation of theologian Gustavo Gutierrez at the instigation of Archbishop Lopez-Trujillo, the deadlock among Peruvian bishops on the issues of Gutierrez and Liberation Theology, and the activities of the church among the people, including the work of “pastoral agents.” Despite the hierarchy’s opposition and active repression by the government, the popular church has faith that the hierarchy will come over to its side and has no intention of causing a schism. Since the people are the church they expect to infuse the church with their efforts.

1216. Proaño, Leonidas. “The Church and Politics in Ecuador,” Concilium 71 (1972): 99-105.

Not seen.

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Central America

1217. Barreno, Mano. “Is There a Future for Nonviolence in Central America? A Latin American Response,” Fellowship 49, 10-11 (Oct./Nov. 1983): 7.

Nonviolence is a capitalist ploy to keep the people down. Just revolution was wedded to liberation by the Medellin Conference.

1218. Belli, Humberto. “Nicaragua’s Bishops: A Response to Gary MacEoin,” America 152 (Feb. 23, 1985): 145-46, 148.

Gary MacEoin’s attack on Nicaragua’s Catholic hierarchy (1231) is one-sided. The bishops’ response to the Sandinistas has been a delicate one. The hierarchy, especially Archbishop Obando y Bravo, played a brave role in resisting Somoza. Since 1974 he refused to attend any Somoza inaugurations and in October 1978 called on Somoza to resign. In fact, he was called “commando Miguel” by the Somozista press and as early as 1972 was the object of their defamations. The Sandinistas acknowledged this role in 1980.

MacEoin reduces support or opposition for the Sandinistas to a simplistic one of class. Yet the clergy in Nicaragua has not divided along class lines. For example, Obando y Bravo is from a poor background, while many of the clergy in the Sandinista government are from the elite, as are Ernesto Cardenal and Miguel d’Escoto. Some are even foreign-born intellectuals. In addition, the Nicaraguan priests who are from the working class tend to be opposed to the Sandinistas.

Belli also disputes CELAM-CIA-Reagan links made by MacEoin and asserts that he whitewashes the Sandinista record. They are anti-Semitic, they are carrying out an unprecedented arms buildup, they have abandoned the poor, they are warring against the Miskito people, they are developing a Marxist economy. “There is genuine civil war in Nicaragua, with more rebels fighting the government than in El Salvador.”

1219. Berrigan. Daniel. Steadfastness of the Saints. A Journal of Peace and War in Central and North America. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1985.

An account of Berrigan’s journey from the U.S. via the Plowshares trials and the madness of North American fixation on mass destruction to Central America. In El Salvador he encounters on-going , internal church politics, the refugee camps, the death squads, the Mothers of the Disappeared, theologians and pastors like Jon Sobrino and Medardos Gómez, and all over the Basic Christian Communities, the reservoirs of martyrdom and of hope. A tour through the desolate ruins of the State University, destroyed by the military in a crackdown on student protestors, the spirit of Oscar Romero, still alive.

Nicaragua is like day to El Salvador’s night. Here an active Witness for Peace from North America are welcomed in a country threatened by their Yet here their are signs that the rigors of revolution and of defense are taking their toll: the government’s hesitation to grant Conscientious objector status, the offensive prevarications of government spokesmen, like Ernesto Cardenal an old friend in whom Berrigan does not hide his disappointment.. Yet here too is a thriving Christianity among base Christian communities and the very real threat of the contras. Berrigan is also troubled by the conflict between the Nicaraguan state and church,and by the dilemma of the priests within the government.

This journal also ranges over his rejection of violence, even that called just by revolution, on this previous exile to Latin America in 1965, on Thomas Merton and on the strength and joy his companionship in the Jesuits gives him.

1220. Berryman, Philip. Inside Central America: The Essential Facts Past and Present on El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. New York: Pantheon, 1986.

A short paperback highlighting the main issues involved in Central America today and providing information on the origins of the conflicts there, the U.S. attempt to confront revolution, U.S. policy and the terms of debate, the actual results of U.S. policy in the region, and the regionalization of the conflict. Also examines the outlook for accommodation and negotiation in the context of U.S. ignorance of the situation there and the wide gap and stalemate between North Americans working for human rights and those obsessed with U.S. national security considerations.

1221. —. The Religious Roots of Rebellion. Christians in Central American Revolutions. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1984.

This is a huge, and very important, work chronicling Christians’ activities, violent and nonviolent throughout the region. Essential introduction.

1222. Cabestrero, Téofilo. Blood of the Innocent: Victims of the Contras’ War in Nicaragua. Robert R. Barr, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1985.

This is a powerful collection of first-hand testimony on the death threats, murders, rapes, beatings, kidnappings, tortures, massacres, destruction of property of individuals and cooperatives carried out by President Reagan’s “freedom fighters.” Victims include Nicaraguans, North Americans, Europeans, men, women, and children. Cabestrero prints his accounts exactly as they were reported to him.

1223. —. Ministers of God, Ministers of the People. Robert R. Barr, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983.

Detailed, first-person accounts of the Christian’s response to the Nicaraguan revolution by some of its best-known leaders, including Ernesto Cardenal, the priest, poet, friend of Thomas Merton and Daniel Berrigan, founder of Solintiname, and Nicaragua’s Minister of Culture; Francesco Cardenal, his brother, former Jesuit priest and coordinator of Nicaragua’s successful literacy program; and Miguel D’Escoto, Maryknoll priest and now Nicaragua’s foreign minister.

All three men have much in common, most especially their support of the “just revolution” against the Somoza government; their belief that as priests they had something unique to add to Nicaragua’s revolutionary government; their subsequent conflict with Pope John Paul II and his command to them to choose either service to the church or service to the government. These are all highly articulate, sensitive, and intelligent people, deeply committed to their Christianity and to the Nicaraguan revolution. While they accept the role of violence in that revolution, they also hope that their presence in it and the influence of many like them will Christianize the revolution. They hope not that the church might rule in alliance with power once again, but that the influence of Christians might truly make the revolution one for the people, imbued with human and religious ideals of the highest order.

1224. —. Revolutionaries for the Gospel. Philip Berryman, trans. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986.

The subtitle reads, “Testimony of Fifteen Christians in the Nicaraguan Government.” This is an important, eye-opening collection that will cause even the most skeptical to wonder. Those interviewed are in high- and middle-level positions in the government: the President of the Supreme Court, Comptroller General, Minister of Education, General Secretary of Housing, managers of the ports, energy, libraries and archives, judges, and social planners. They are well educated, with more or less solid Christian educations, many at Catholic universities in Central and North America. They are deeply committed to the ideals of Vatican II and its gospel of justice, yet they have almost all accepted the necessity of the revolution, if not of the revolution’s violence.

These Christians are aware of the conflict between Christianity and the state on one level, and are careful not to compromise their Christianity for the sake of the revolution. They are also people who believe in civil government, not military dictatorship. They stress that their conflict is not with doctrine, or with the hierarchical church, but with certain bishops and priests.

These are also practicing Roman Catholics, some with a traditional orthodoxy, many with a profound spirituality. Biblical citations flow naturally in their conversation, and sections of the Gospels are conscious models for policy. They assert, however, that if Marxist goals are not incompatible with Christian goals and means, they will cooperate fully in the revolution.

1225. Dear, John, S.J. “El Salvador: A Reference Point for Life,” Catholic Peace Fellowship Bulletin, Autumn 1985, pp. 1, 5-6.

A brief, sparse, but chilling account of this young Jesuit scholastic assignment as a worker in a refugee camp. Amid the constant threats of violence and the visible scars of bullet holes on church buildings, the Jesuit experiences both the degradation of the refugee camps and the great hope born of a feeling of unity with the oppressed. The church workers in the camp were constantly the objects of arrests, threats, and intimidation by the Army. Here even to possess a photo of slain archbishop Oscar Romero is considered subversive, to visit the grave of the women martyrs: Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan, enough to be brought in for questioning. Meanwhile the people of El Salvador live in constant terror of the Army, whose searches of homes and buses could lead to arrest or death at any time. Yet Dear also learned that only by forgiving those who commit the atrocities, in El Salvador and in the U.S. can one redeem one’s own humanity and that of one’s enemies and begin to bring Christ’s solidarity into the world.

1226. De Mott, Stephen T., M.M. “Central America’s Suffering People,” Maryknoll 80, 4 (April 1986): 3-11.

Testimony gathered during this Maryknoll missionary’s visit to Guatemalas, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Throughout the region the Army and right-wing death squads have burned down villages, killed and raped and tortured peasants, forced citizens into refugee camps, while U.S. corporations control up to 80% of the commerce of a country like Honduras, the U.S. uses the region as a base for its attacks on Nicaragua, and the vast majority of the people live it shacks without water, electricity, or the the most basic sanitation. Instead of building houses, hospitals and schools these governments buy guns and helicopters and ignore. In Nicaragua, meanwhile, vitals programs of public health, education, and land reform are threatened by the contras and by a virtual U.S. embargo in equipment and supplies. Problems do exist: the most serious are the military draft and the poor economy Both Latin America dn the U.S. know that Nicaragua is the keystone to change in the entire region. Much hangs in the balance.

1227. El Salvador: Background to the Crisis. Cambridge, MA: Central America Information Office, 1982.

A good, general introduction. Covers the history, the military, the Indians, land and its poverty, urbanization and industrialization, women, the international economy, the Catholic church, human rights, the death squads, agrarian reform, U.S. military and economic aid. The book also provides a chronology, glossaries, bibliography.

1228.  “El Salvador’s Search for Peace,” America 151 (Oct. 27, 1984): 42-46.

From 1979 to 1984, 50,000 civilians were killed in El Salvador. On March 6, 1983 Pope John Paul II called for peace talks there. This editorial notes optimism surrounding President Duarte’s offer to meet with rebels.

1229. Gettleman, Marvin E., Patrick Lacefield, Louis Manache, David Marmelstein, and Ronald Radosh, eds. El Salvador: Central America in the New Cold War. New York: Grove Press, 1982.

Excellent introduction to the contemporary political, economic, social, and religious situation in the region. See also 1235-1237, and 1242.

1230. Hunt, G.W. “Of Many Things,” America 151 (Dec. 22, 1984): 412.

On Dec. 21, 1984 Fernando Cardenal, S.J. was dismissed from the Jesuits for his insistence on remaining in his position on the Nicaraguan government. Notes the long process of negotiations surrounding the order to leave one or the other and Archbishop Obando y Bravo’s opposition to the Sandinistas. Review’s Cardenal’s achievement in planning and carrying out the Sandinista literacy campaign. While Cardenal had to leave the Jesuits for breaking his vow of obedience, he remains a priest.

1231. MacEoin, Gary. “Nicaragua: A Church Divided,” America 151 (Nov. 10, 1984): 294-99.

Religion is central to the current struggle in Nicaragua. At first the bishops supported the revolution and the ideals of the Sandinistas. By mid-1980, however, conflict had begun; and it reached its climax with the March 1983 visit of Pope John Paul II to the country. This conflict stems from both vested interest and opposition to the revolution and differing ecclesiologies, from both the legacy of Spanish Christendom in confrontation with developments in modern Latin America and from class struggle.

MacEoin reviews episcopal documents between 1971 and 1979 and asserts that they left the people defenseless against tyranny and oppression. Archbishop Obando y Bravo acted in overt complicity with the Somoza regime. Only in 1979, when Somoza was clearly on his way out, did the bishops make any sign of opposition, in their pastoral praising the revolution. In retrospect this seems a political ploy.

Since 1972 the Latin American bishops’ conference, CELAM, has been dominated by reactionaries and in the 1980s has been in league with the U.S. Reagan administration to turn back the tide of Liberation Theology. In this Reagan’s and John Paul II’s interests dovetail.

Within Nicaragua the Sandinistas enjoy truly wide support, but the clergy is divided, with the best orders — the Jesuits and Dominicans — supporting the Sandinistas and opposing the contras and the U.S. The “people’s church” is really a matter of ecclesiology, not Christian doctrine. Charges of Sandinista persecution of the church, of Jews, and others are unfounded. For an alternate view, see 1218.

1232. Montgomery, Tommie Sue. “Cross and Rifle: Revolution and the Church in El Salvador and Nicaragua,” Journal of International Affairs 36 (Fall/Winter 1982-83): 209-22.

A comparison of the church’s relation to the revolution in Nicaragua and El Salvador, and an examination of divisions within the church: theological, political, and ecclesiological. Montgomery notes the role of Central American universities and of the Basic Christian Communities. The article concludes that the church has been a very important variable in the revolutionary process and makes two central observations. Despite repression and violence the church cannot be killed, and the church has always had a tradition of being opposed to the state, even when this opposition was not revolutionary.

1233. —. Revolution in El Salvador. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1982.

An good introduction to the economic, social, political, and religious roots of rebellion, and to the progress of that process. The book will demonstrate that the problems of El Salvador and of Central America are native grown and not the product of East-West superpower conflicts.

1234. Randall, Margaret. Christians in the Nicaraguan Revolution. Vancouver: New Star, 1983.

The people whom Randall interviews here, intellectual elite, middle class, poor and semi-literate, are for the most part Christians deeply committed to the revolution in Nicaragua. They all embrace what can be loosely described as the “just-revolution” theory, an outgrowth of the just-war theory; and they still maintain that this revolution must be defended by the gun if their work as Christians is to be maintained. Their language is that of the Crusades, of dying “like Christ, to end the injustices that we have in Nicaragua.” They maintain that it is the Gospel that has told them to kill for Christ and the revolution. They emphasize the split between a true church of revolutionaries, who have read and understood the Gospels correctly, and a reactionary hierarchy that continues to distort the words of the Gospel in favor of oligarchs and reactionaries in Nicaragua and in North America.

A true synthesis of Marxism and Christianity can be achieved, they contend. If it cannot, the Nicaraguans interviewed here seem to favor a Christianity that is colored by Marx for the ends of the revolution. Some, in fact, favor a gradual discarding of formal Christianity once either Christian “values” have infused the revolution or once these values prove to be incompatible with it. In the end these Nicaraguans feel that the revolution can only be led by a small committed elite, that most “peasants” are too passive to lead their own revolution, and that it is up to this enlightened elite to pick who will fight, who will kill, and who will die in defense of the revolution. Nonviolence, in the end, is passivity. “Christ was a guerilla fighter.”

1235. Riding, Alan. “The Cross and the Sword in Latin America.” See 1229, 189-98. First published in New York Review of Books, May 28, 1981.

Traces the Catholic church’s evolving attitude as one of the decisive elements for change and revolution in Central America. The centuries-old alliance of the cross and the sword in Latin America is now finally falling apart. “The metamorphosis of the Church is the most significant political development in Latin America since the Cuban revolution.”

1236. Rivera y Damas, Archbishop, and Radio Vinceremos. “The Church in Salvador: Which Side Are You On?” See 1229, 203-6.

Riveras is criticized by Radio Vinceremos for accommodation to the oligarchs. Rivera contends that he is following in the footsteps of Oscar Romero, but Radio Vinceremos says he is now backing down.

1237. “A Sign of Resurrection in El Salvador.” See 1229, 206-10.

Outlines the theory of just-revolution emerging in El Salvador. Church groups, both hierarchical and popular, approve of violent revolution as a last resort.

1238. Williams, Philip J. “The Catholic Hierarchy in the Nicaraguan Revolution,” Journal of Latin American Studies 17 (November 1985): 341-69.

The presence of Christians in the Nicaraguan revolution is a clear sign of profound changes. The bishops’ middle path rejecting both violence and accommodation has proven futile. At the same time the revolution has brought with it radical priests; and the distance between the hierarchy and the revolution is widening. Even so, the bishops’ distancing themselves with the traditional Constantinian alliance with the state has some wisdom. Analyzes events surrounding the March 1983 visit of Pope John Paul II. Good bibliography in notes.

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Oscar Romero

1239. Brockman, James R. The Church Is All of You: Thoughts of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Minneapolis: Winston Press, 1984.

Not seen.

1240. —. The Word Remains: A Life of Oscar Romero. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983.

Oscar Romero was the archbishop of San Salvador in El Salvador. On March 23, 1980 he called on the army of El Salvador to lay down their arms, to stop the brutal repression of their fellow citizens, and to embrace the peace and justice of their religion. The next day he was slain while saying mass by a gunman set on him by the ruling oligarchy. Oscar Romero’s life symbolizes the progress of the church in Latin America today.

Raised in the conventional spirituality of the early twentieth century, with its emphasis on internal piety and obedience to authority in alliance with the secular state, Romero rose quickly through his church’s hierarchy and became a staunch defender of orthodoxy and political order as the rebellion in El Salvador spread. Soon after his election as archbishop of San Salvador, however, he began to turn away from the government’s harsh repression of dissent, its corruption, constant attacks on campesinos and those who would help them, its death squads, tortures, disappearances.

As he saw friends assassinated and unarmed farmers slaughtered, he quickly turned against his former friends in the oligarchy, condemning the violence of repression as well as that of rebellion. He began to forge a new image of the church as the sacrament of salvation that must save both the body and the soul, and embracing the new Liberation Theology. In the course of this journey Romero gained the support of Pope John Paul II, of Catholic hierarchy and laity around the world, and a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize for his call for nonviolent revolution against the forces of tyranny.

This is the best account of this martyr to Catholic peacemaking. Brockman bases his account on Romero’s own papers, numerous interviews with witnesses to the events described, newspaper accounts, and church documents. He also gives a great deal of attention to Salvadoran church politics, which are as important today to the progress of liberation as the doctrines and actions of the clergy and laity actively making peace in the region.

1241. Erdozain, Placido. Archbishop Romero. Martyr of Salvador. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1985.

Not seen.

1242. Lacefield, Patrick. “Oscar Romero: Archbishop of the Poor.” See 1229, 198-203.

An interview with the archbishop first published in Fellowship in November 1979.

1243. Pyes, Craig. “Who Killed Archbishop Romero? D’Aubuisson’s Role,” The Nation 239, 11 (Oct. 13, 1984): 337, 350-54.

Traces the guilt from the assassin — a psychopathic killer acting on a taunt and for cash — up the ladder of El Salvador’s military and paramilitary and into the channels of the ruling oligarchy, ending with D’Aubuisson himself as the man who ordered the archbishop shot.

1244. Sobrino, Jon, S.J. “A Voice Still Heard,” Maryknoll 80, 4 (April 1986): 49-51.

Since Archbishop Romero was killed more than 50,000 were also assassinated, most by the government; 5,000 disappeared, and 15,000 were killed and wounded in battle. This, as the U.S. and Salvadoran governments boast a return to democracy and peace. More than a half-million have fled the country as kidnappings and murders on both sides, but mostly the government’s continue. Almost 50% of the government budget is for war, wages have not risen since 1980, while prices have risen constantly. Unemployment is 50%. Yet aid from the U.S. totals more than $1 a day.

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The Woman Martyrs of El Salvador

1245. Allman, Timothy. “Rising Rebellion,” Harper’s (March 1981).

Not seen.

1246. Carrigan, Ana. Salvador Witness. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984; Ballantine/Epiphany, 1986.

A biography of Jean Donovan, one of the American Catholic missionary workers raped and murdered by the Salvadoran military on the outskirts of San Salvador in December 1980. The other three were Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, Maryknoll missionary sisters; and Dorothy Kazel, an Ursuline missionary. The biography traces Donovan’s conversion from the daughter of North American affluence, to business executive, lay missionary, and martyr for peace and social justice in Central America during the last days of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Called subversives by the government in El Salvador for their protest against repression and genocide and for their aid to the poor and dispossessed, the missionaries were brutally slain precisely because of their Christian witness and work. Their murders were largely ignored by the Reagan administration in the United States until public outrage, the pressure of the Catholic church, the victims’ families, and the courageous witness of former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, Robert White, forced an investigation.

This account is told in a crisp, journalistic style. It is based on extensive interviews with friends, family and acquaintances from all phases of Donovan’s life, as well frequent quotations from Donovan’s diary and letters.

1247. Dear, John, S.J. Jean Donovan: The Call to Discipleship. Erie, PA: Pax Christi, 1986.

Dear moves from a brief introduction on El Salvador (5 million citizens, 500,000 refugees within the country, 600,000 abroad, 60,000 killed since 1979, $1.5 million a day spent by the U.S. on military equipment used against the people by their own government), to the monuments to Oscar Romero and to the four American women martyrs on a road outside the capital where they were raped, murdered and hastily buried by the army.

Jean Donovan’s story is one of conversion, retracing the choice of the rich young man, and making the choice to give up all her riches and connections in the United States for the path of Christ and martyrdom. This little booklet traces her life with drawings and photographs, first-hand accounts of family and friends both in the U.S. and in El Salvador as a Maryknoll lay missionary. There her life became closely tied to the mission and fate of Archbishop Oscar Romero and all the church workers dedicated to bringing the Gospel to the poor and oppressed. Despite the dangers, and the increasing death threats for her work with poor refugees, or simply for burying the bodies of the dead and mutilated left by the army, Donovan continued to stress her sense of mission and to refuse friends’ offers and advise to leave the country.

Jean Donovan and her coworkers — Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, and Dorothy Kazel — are martyrs of our time who accepted God’s call. She and her companions have followed Jesus’ call to follow him; and their life and death invites others to follow in their steps. Her inner tranquility and outer commitment is the true meaning of peace.

1248. Jacobsen, Patricia. “God Came to El Salvador.” See 1139, 141-53.

Sparse, impressionistic, reflective, prayer-like biographies of the slain women missionaries that read like eulogies and that wrench the emotions in the same way.

1249. Noone, Judith M., M.M. The Same Fate As the Poor. Maryknoll, NY: Maryknoll Sisters Publications, 1985.

This accounts begins with the grim details of the four church-women’s kidnap, rape, and murder by El Salvador’s army. It then recounts the story of their lives, professional, solidly middle class and very mainstream, yet touched by a compassion for the worst of the world. Ita Ford’s reaction to Oscar Romero’s assassination, that “his death will bear fruit,” reminds us of the early martyrs. And so it should, for in this book we realize that main stream, middle class, comfortable North Americans, who reach out to “share the same fate as the poor,” may share it in its truest, most Christ-like sense.

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Updated 11.29.09