Old article but good info...
January 10, 2000
Catholics Battle Brazilian Faith in 'Black Rome'
By LARRY ROHTER
ALVADOR, Brazil -- To the traditionalists who dominate the Roman Catholic Church here, the choice is clear: the word of God versus resurgent paganism.
But to a predominantly black group of local clergy and lay people, the doctrinal dispute that has erupted in Brazil's oldest diocese is merely the latest round in a 400-year struggle for religious tolerance and respect.
With positions on both sides hardening, the schism has taken on racial overtones. Since mid-1998, the diocese's most prominent black bishop has been transferred to a remote parish, black laymen's groups have complained that certain churches have closed their doors to them and charges that blacks have been systematically excluded from the priesthood are increasing.
At the center of the conflict is the African-derived faith known as Candomblé, which has particularly strong roots in this city of two million that the Italian writer Umberto Eco called "the Black Rome" in one of his novels.
Like Santería in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean or voodoo in Haiti, Candomblé merges the identities of African deities and Roman Catholic saints, so that St. George, for instance, is also Ogum, the god of war and of metals.
Followers of Candomblé, created by slaves, were persecuted by both religious and civil authorities throughout the colonial period and well into modern times. But the faith was never stamped out. The number of Candomblé adherents has grown rapidly across Brazil in recent years, as what was once a lower-class religion has come to be valued as authentically Brazilian, and its increasingly assertive clergy have begun to demand greater recognition.
Many in the Catholic Church, however, see that trend as harmful. "I am going to continue combating syncretism," Cardinal Lucas Moreira Neves said soon after arriving here in 1987, adding that while such practices may have been understandable when slaves were forced to abandon African beliefs, "now, with total freedom of religion in Brazil, everyone must follow their own faith, without mixtures."
So when an annual conference of black priests and bishops here in July included a visit to the city's two principal Candomblé temples, criticism came quickly. A French-born priest, the Rev. Pierre Mathon, announced that he intended to celebrate a "Mass of repudiation" of religious practices that he described as "demonic" and accused the black clergy of deviating from the one true faith.
"Dialogue is fine, but to condone Catholic priests receiving blessings from Candomblé priests just is not acceptable," Father Mathon said in a sermon. "These priests are the Church itself, and they are setting a bad example."
Brazil is the world's largest Roman Catholic country, at least nominally.
More than 80 percent of the country's 165 million people identify themselves as Catholics, though many, perhaps even a majority, also profess or practice Candomblé and its variants.
But the dispute here has repercussions that go far beyond Brazil. Early this year, Cardinal Neves was promoted to a new post in Rome, prefect of the Bishops Congregation, which put him in charge of the process of selecting new bishops and gives him powers to see that orthodox views are enforced around the world.
The Vatican has made proselytism in Africa and Asia its top priority for the new century, and in those places, clerical leaders sympathetic to Candomblé note, Catholicism will encounter other religions with animist elements.
"The real issue here is the evangelization of Africa and who is going to go there and what they are going to say," said the Rev. Alfredo Souza Doria, chaplain of the Church of Our Lady of the Black Rosary, a center of black religious consciousness here since freed slaves founded it in the 1700's. "After 500 years, we believe that we, the colonized, have a right to speak, because we have a theology and philosophy too."
Cardinal Neves has been replaced here by Msgr. Geraldo Majella, who was transferred from Rome, where he had been Secretary of the Congregation for the Divine Faith and Discipline of the Sacraments, which oversees questions of the liturgy.
Though Monsignor Majella has attended some ecumenical events since his arrival last March, he made it clear in an interview that he intends to continue enforcing doctrinal orthodoxy. "Syncretism arises when people may not have a profound knowledge of religion and their faith," the monsignor said. "Therefore they believe that anything goes, that everything is fine, that you can mix the faith of the Church with that of another creed, as if with some kind of blender."
But, he continued, the notion that "I can go to a church and take the sacraments and also go to Candomblé" is a misconception, "the result of a lack of training in catechism." He added: "We must respect the doctrine of the Church, respecting the faith of each and every person, but we want that faith to be enlightened, without confusing people."
Within Candomblé, there are also disagreements as to the proper relationship with the Catholic Church. María Estella Azevedo dos Santos, who is the ialorixá, or high priestess, of the Ilê Axé Opo Afonjá terreiro, or temple, has also condemned syncretism in terms that Monsignor Majella said he applauds with "the greatest admiration and respect."
"We are not against the Catholic religion, but we do oppose syncretism," Ms. Azevedo dos Santos -- better known by her religious name, Mãe Stella de Oxossí, or Mother Stella -- said recently. "One thing does not take away the validity of the other, but you cannot mix them together very much."
But another influential Candomblé figure, Mãe Cleusa, who was until her death last year the leader of the
Gantois temple here, argued that since "all roads lead to God," opposing syncretism was unrealistic. "After all these centuries, you cannot separate them," Mother Cleusa said of Catholicism and Candomblé in an interview a few years ago.
The Brazilian government, which has long had political differences with the National Council of Bishops, has largely remained aloof from the theological dispute here other than to note that the Constitution of 1988 guarantees full freedom of religion. Nevertheless, Candomblé followers got an important boost when the Minister of Culture, Francisco Weffort, came in late November to declare the Ilê Axé Opo Afonjá temple part of the "national patrimony."
"This is a national monument and we should protect it," Mr. Weffort said in a speech at the temple, adding that the measure was part of an effort to "right wrongs done to blacks in the past."
The local governor and mayor also attended the ceremony. Ignoring criticism from the church hierarchy, Msgr. Gílio Felício, the black bishop who had been reassigned, came too and was wildly applauded when a speaker described him as a "companion and partner in our struggle."
"That event was an enormous victory for Candomblé followers," said Juca Ferreira, a city councilman. "The state was saying it finally recognizes that not only Catholic churches are part of our national legacy and birthright."
In addition, a prosecutor, Lidivaldo Britto, has started an investigation of Father Mathon with the intention of filing charges against him for violating Brazil's freedom of religion statute. "It is against the law to create a climate that discourages others from practicing their faith, and that is what he has attempted to do," Mr. Britto said.
Monsignor Majella said he agreed that the Brazilian church must do more to address the spiritual needs of its black parishioners and urged them to be patient, saying that an effort is under way to attract and train more black priests and bishops.
But Albérico Paiva Pereira, leader of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Black Rosary, a Catholic layman's group, argues that is not enough.
"The church must come to understand the religious dualism that has always existed in Bahia and Brazil,
and recognize that its values are not the only ones that are worthwhile," he said. "In a country in which most people are black, you have to do this, or else the Church itself will die."
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/americas/011000brazil-religion.html
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