Catholic communities in Brazil

[Christiano]

Brazilian weekly newsmagazine “Veja” published a report last week saying that, in search for a spiritual answer for life challanges, 10,000 Catholic followers in Brazil live in 450 communities created in the last decade, work without receiving salaries and need authorization to date each other.

Here’s an excerpt:

At 6:00 AM, a siren sounds at the ranch where Community Light of Life is located, near Goiânia. The 37 residents leave their houses and walk to the chapel. In the following two hours, they attend Mass and tell the 220 beads of the rosary. Next, a heavy marathon of assistance and evangelization missions. A group treats drug addicts who aim at quitting addiction working on plantations. The main task accomplished on the ranch is the production of radio and TV shows with Catholic content. Soccer Show, on Light of Life FM, combine game narrations and religious messages. Activities end only at 10:30 PM, when everyone go rest. At the Light of Life Community, there are men and women who dediced to abandon the murmuring of the city to dedicate themselves completely to prayer, missionary work and community life according to the Catholic doctrine. At the ranch, they guide themselves by the monastic principles of poverty, obedience, chastity and fraternal life. They don’t receive salary. They live of what they call “divine providence” – or, in laic language, donations. Even the clothes they wear are donated.

According to the magazine:

96% of Brazilian Catholics are used to praying;
95% were baptized;
85% attend Mass at least once every six months;
35% attend Mass once a week;
72% did first communion;
71% pray daily;
37% got married at the church.

But many of them are against positions adopted by the church:

94% are in favor of the use of condoms;
74% are in favor of divorce;
59% would vote for capital penalty;
54% are in favor of the possibility of marrying more than once at the church;
46% are in favor of the legalization of same-sex marriages.

 

[Dale_M]

Thanks for letting us know about the article which, unfortunately for most of us, is written in Portuguese. I appreciate your taking the time to translate part of it for us.

I am curious about these communities. Do they include children? Do they only allow single people? Do the communities have a charismatic or evangelical slant?

The poll results (which I assume for all Brazilian Catholics, and not just the ones who live in those communities) seem pretty in line with US Catholics, except for maybe the low percentage who were married in the Church.

 

[Christiano]

Thanks for letting us know about the article which, unfortunately for most of us, is written in Portuguese. I appreciate your taking the time to translate part of it for us.

I am curious about these communities. Do they include children? Do they only allow single people? Do the communities have a charismatic or evangelical slant?

Hi, according to the report, there are 450 Catholic communities created in many Brazilian states in the last 10 years. They are called New Communities and they usually start in prayer groups of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. There’s an estimate of 12 million Charismatic Catholics in Brazil, who meet regularly in 23 thousand prayer groups and who say Mass packed up with pop rhythms.

The pioneer of these communities is Canção Nova (New Song), from Cachoeira Paulista, 195 km far from São Paulo. It was founded in 1978 and gathers 1,200 faithful. Last month, Pope Benedict XVI gave official recognition to New Song and a dele*gation of members of the community met with the Pope at the Vatican. Last year, another community, Shalom, from Fortaleza, in the northeast of Brazil, got the same distinction.

The members of the communities who are married may have kids in the communities. The report mentions a couple, 34 year old Ângelo Heitor Longhi and his wife, Ana Paula, who moved to the Oasis Community, in Rio Grande do Sul, in the South of Brazil. Their three kids were born in the community. This also answers another of your questions: they allow both single people and married couples.

The New Song Community has an English website: cancaonova.net/.

The poll results (which I assume for all Brazilian Catholics, and not just the ones who live in those communities) seem pretty in line with US Catholics, except for maybe the low percentage who were married in the Church.

You’re right, the poll results reflects the opinions of all Brazilian Catholics. It was made by Datafolha, a public opinion research institute from São Paulo.