With the theme “Brazilian biomasses and the defence of life” the 2017 Fraternity Campaign (Campanha da Fraternidade: CF) was launched on 1 March in Brasilia by the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (Conferência Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil: CNBB). The activity seeks to draw attention to the importance of protecting the diversity of Brazilian biomasses, promoting respectful relationships with life, the environment and the culture of the peoples who live in these locations.
Materials for the campaign, which has been running for over 50 years, are available for download at: https://goo.gl/Ku1qgL. These tools – stickers, post cards containing prayers, Lenten leaflets, and others – serve to guide discussions about the 2017 CF theme.
Father Marcus Barbosa from the Roman Apostolic Catholic Church (Igreja Católica Apostólica Romana: ICAR) provides his reflections about the Fraternity Campaign below.
Cultivate and Safeguard Creation – the 2017 Fraternity Campaign
The Fraternity Campaign, run by the Catholic Church in Brazil, has, for more than 50 years, been a living sign of the prophetic community of missionary disciples of Jesus Christ. Without prophetism, proclamation and denunciation, we would deny our mission as baptized, “salt of the earth and light of the world” (Matthew 5: 13-14). For this reason, we thank God’s Spirit which, through the Fraternity Campaign, once again drives our churches and society to a true conversion of the Gospel of life in commitment to rights and dignity for all and in the search for a fraternal coexistence between people, in the diversity and unity of all Creation. The CF is a voice that shouts in the desert of the indifference and passivity that refuses to hear the cry of God in the cry of the poor, calling us all to a Life full of mercy, of justice, of joy, of reconciled diversity – true signs of peace.
“Brazilian biomasses and the defence of life!” “Take care of and safeguard creation (Genesis 2: 15)!” The theme and slogan of CF 2017 is closely linked to and in continuity with the 2016 ecumenical Fraternity Campaign, ““Common home, shared responsibility”. Once again we are all involved in the Fraternity Campaign. We are called on to feel responsible for its proposal. This is an invitation of conversion to us all. We cannot only look to those “guilty” of the neglect and destruction of Creation. It is always good to remember: this is the pathway of conversion for us all.” As it is for our beloved CESE! We reaffirm and renew our commitment to the institution which, for more than 40 years, has dedicated itself, with judgement, prophetic resistance, spirituality rooted in the Gospel and in life, to its mission to strengthen civil society organizations, particularly grassroots ones, engaged in the struggle for the political, economic and social transformations which drive the structures in which democracy with justice prevails.
We are on the pathway laid down by the Fraternity Campaign and we know we need to advance. Courage. Let us go forward in hope!
It is difficult to talk of the CF 2017 without referring to an inspirational text from Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si’ about Care for our Common Home. These are provocative words, full of knowledge and commitment: “It must be said that some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment. Others are passive; they choose not to change their habits and thus become inconsistent. So what they all need is an “ecological conversion”, whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them. Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience (217)”.
A fundamental feature along the pathway of our ecological conversion as proposed by this Fraternity Campaign is the intimate relationship between the poor and the planet’s fragility. All this is closely linked in the world: criticism of the new paradigm and the forms of power that derive from technology, an invitation to seek out other means of understanding economy and progress, each creature’s value, the human meaning of ecology, the need for sincere and honest debates, the responsibility of politics, the throwaway culture and proposals for a new style of life. We will only find solutions that globally impact on the logic of the current exploitative and predatory development by acting together and in common accord.
I dare to say, finally, that, in a theme which embraces such wide-ranging, rich and complex reflections, the most essential element of this 2017 Fraternity Campaign is the proposal that we recover a contemplative vision of the extraordinary beauty and diversity of nature in Brazil. Recover a vision that knows how to admire, to contemplate the varied Brazilian biomasses and their original peoples, reminding us of the creative and prodigious work of God! This is where the source and origin of profound and real transformations may be found! If we do not cultivate a contemplative vision and are not touched by the magnanimity and goodness of the Creator, it will be hard to put into practice the activities, gestures, words and feelings of the cultivators and safeguarders of the created work, advocating for real and profound political, social, ecological and human changes in favour of the preservation of nature and the life and culture of our peoples.
“Give us, oh Lord, a contemplative vision, like that of Mary and of Martha’s labouring hands”.
Father Marcus Barbosa Guimarães