Document
Series of testimonies and statements to be shown on video
Bishop Julio Cesar Holguin, CLAI President, Honduras
(Soundtrack - Spanish)
On behalf of the Latin American Council of Churches I want to repeat our warmest welcome to all the delegates who are participating in the Ninth Assembly of the World Council of Churches. I wish to repeat our welcome to Latin America, to Porto Alegre, to this dark-haired America. We ask you to come with open minds, ready to change what has to change. Just as we pray to God that, in Gods grace, God will transform the world, we pray also that God, in God's grace, will transform our churches, transform the ecumenical movement and equip us with his grace better to proclaim our faith through our diaconal service. May God in his infinite goodness, mercy and grace be with us always.
Bishop Adriel de Souza Maia, President of CONIC, Brazil
(Soundtrack - Portuguese)
The National Council of Christian Churches in Brazil has great pleasure in welcoming delegates from throughout the world to Brazil, and, in particular, to Porto Alegre for this Ninth Assembly of the World Council of Churches. This is a key moment in the life of Brazil, a time when we are consolidating the ecumenical movement. It is our hope that this Assembly, especially inspired by the theme God, in your Grace, Transform the World, will send out an appeal worldwide, so that, in Jesus' words, we might have life in abundance, and that the churches might bear effective witness to the the grace of God to a world where there is so much exclusion, in order that the world may believe in the gospel and in transformation.
Nora Cortiñas, a Mother of the Plaza de Mayo, Argentina
(Soundtrack - Spanish)
The last time I saw my son was at Easter 1977, on Easter Day. I shall never see him again, and I shall never know what has happened to him. Today, it is almost 29 years ago, and I still do not know to this day what happened to him, or where his body is, for Gustavo is certainly not alive. But, even so, I and all the mothers are hoping that the State will at some time respond to our legal demands and give an account of the events that have happened. From the moment my son disappeared I began to go out into the streets, and there I met the first group of mothers who went to the Plaza de Mayo for this imaginative campaign by Açucena Villa Flor de Vinzente. And so we began to meet one another, the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, and all of us began to make one demand, all of us for all our sons and daughters. The mothers began to stop taking individual action and began to campaign together, because they had taken away from us dissidents and leaders of people's movements. They took our children away from us, they held on to the children born of pregnant women, whom they kept for themselves, and they even arrested mothers who were looking for their sons and daughters. All of that shows what we have been condemning for years and years - a system that is perverse. And then, it shows that there are no limits, no boundaries, no frontiers, to the economic plan that the United States implemented here in the Southern Cone of Latin America, with the arrival of Kissinger to prepare the path for the military dictatorships. It also shows why and for what purpose they took away our sons and our daughters. It is obvious - it was because they were militants, militating for human rights, militating for life, militating for change. They took them away from us, so that they could implement fully this neo-liberal policy that is still with us today.
We began to understand this, and we took up the cause for which our sons and daughters had struggled, and we widened the call that we were making for them to be restored to us alive, with the guilty being justly punished, to take up also the cause of the defence of rights, economic, social and cultural rights. On this long journey, we have had many disappointments, but we have also had the joy of knowing that others have been with us. That is the case with the Catholic Church, local priests who had been friends of our sons and daughters, who had worked in poor areas alongside them. The Protestant churches have also been very generous in their solidarity, such as at times when the priests of the Catholic Church who were with us were being persecuted and being forbidden to associate with the movement of the Mothers and celebrate mass for the disappeared. We received, particularly from the Methodist Church, unqualified support and friendship and solidarity which deserve to be remembered still today.
Alba Lancillotto, grandmother of the Plaza de mayo, Argentina
(Soundtrack - Spanish)
I am very much involved in the struggle for life, because I struggle for our sons and daughters, I struggle for the disappeared, so that there will be no more disappearances. This is a struggle for life and for justice. I believe that the Christian churches have a duty to be involved in this struggle, for, if they did not, it would be a denial of the gospel. I had the good fortune as a practicing Catholic to be part of a committed church that was faithful to the gospel, and be very close to the Protestant churches, the Methodist Church, and various groups that have been and still are our friends. They have taught us many things. I believe that the churches have to be involved in this because it is part of their faithfulness to the gospel, and I believe that faithfulness to the gospel obliges us, and obliges the churches, to be present in the struggle for life, because God is a God of life. They have to be present in the struggle for life and in the struggle for justice. I could not be part of a church that did not think in that way.
Rigoberta Menchu, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Guatemala
(Soundtrack - Spanish)
The Nobel Prize is a symbol of peace. Beyond any doubt, it was a sign of hope for the struggles of the Indigenous peoples throughout the continent, freedom for Indigenous peoples, wherever they are in Latin America and worldwide. For as long as they are alive, there will be a gleam of hope and original thinking for life.
"I crossed the frontier full of sadness. I felt immense pain at this dark rain-sodden early morning, that goes beyond my own existence. Our mother earth is in mourning and is bathed in blood. She weeps day and night , she is so sad."
The so-called discovery (of Latin America) has above all resulted in a long night of darkness, quite apart from how we have survived in the ashes of 500 years. They have been for us 500 years of silence, marginalization and much oppression. And that is why we cannot rejoice in, nor celebrate the elimination of our ancestors in this long night of darkness.
These 500 years of oppression directed against the Indigenous peoples have had different forms, different methods, but a common feature has been the cruelty with which the voice of our people has been repressed and silenced.
As regards discrimination, it is not only lack of respect for people and their knowledge, their values and their opportunity to make a rich contribution to
culture, but we also feel lack of respect and appreciation even for our art, our dress, our way of life.
There are many things that unite us as the Indigenous peoples of America. There are aspects that unite us, such as love of the earth, the concept of Mother Earth as the source of culture, as the source of our roots.
We have survived the destruction of the earth, we have survived discrimination, the sterilization of women. In the same way we have felt the teaching that produces discrimination, oppression, and the denial of access to a life of greater dignity.
This is also the first time that as indigenous peoples we come together once again - a reaffirmation of our Indigenous pride. The Indigenous peoples not only demand adequate food and good housing. We also lay claim to our historic memory, we lay claim to our language, we lay claim to our Indigenous status.
This is a search for our roots, this moment in time is a search for our identity, which will strengthen the struggles of the Indigenous people and strengthen our cause.
The Nobel Peace Prize represents a recognition of all that the people of Guatemala have lost.
Revd Antonio Olimpio Santa-ana, Combat against Racism, Brazil
(Soundtrack - Portuguese)
CENACORA is devoted to struggle, as its title suggests, the struggle against racism, discrimination, intolerance, prejudice and xenophobia. We defend women and chidren, who are the main victims of violence - social, racial, physical and psychological violence. In our land we are committed to this task, working mostly with the churches, seeking to involve them in the struggle against these social evils.
In our population, which is 45.4% made up of black people, it is important to note that this is where the most poverty is concentrated, where there are the most poor people. Those who are the poorest are precisely those who are members of the black community. This is a classic picture mirrored again and again throughout Latin America. Poverty is quite normal where there are black people. The same situation is experienced mainly by black women, who are victimized because they are black, becauuse they are women, and, when they get old, throughout Latin America they become victims of a third prejudice: that of being old. All the black countries of Latin America have a black population that is naturally victimized because of the colour of their skin. In our land, as in all Latin America, we need to fight against what we call inequality.
Differences are natural, but inequality is not. Our struggle, which has been taking place since the beginning of the last century, is making progress, but despite all this, while we are making progress in our struggle, our oppressors are also perfecting their schemes of racism, their schemes of discrimination, their schemes of intolerance, of prejudice and xenophobia. We are all fully aware that our struggle must continue and that it is a hard struggle so that racism can be overcome. What I want to do is to express our pleasure that we, the black community of Brazil, have in welcoming all the members of the Assembly of the World Council of Churches.
Elza Tamez, Methodist Teologian, Costa Rica
(Soundtrack: Spanish)
The theme of this Assembly is grace. Obviously this setting needs grace, the grace of God, full of justice - transforming, liberating, tender grace - which is what has given as a tool to our people to be what we are, as sons and daughters of God, who are full of dignity. Why? Because grace is not abstract, but grows out of real life situations. Thus, as a woman, I do my theology based on the experience of women. What is this experience of women?
In today´s world women are being killed at a terrible rate. I have to take this into account as I do my theology. We know that the classical categories of Christian theology were based on Western patriarchal categories, that the Bible is a book written in a patriarchal culture. That presents great challenges to women, because all we women have to be creative as we do theology.
We women have a great contribution to make to the church, to help it become another way of being church, because at the moment it excludes women and, in the world of theology, which is generally a discipline in which men engage, women have not been present as subjects, as creators of theology. Theological studies have not been part of their world. But a new possibility is opening up in Latin American theology.
Poverty has a woman´s face. That means that , in this sinful econmic system that is increasingly separating rich and poor, having a woman´s face means that there is a very close connection between the patriarchal system and the economic system. We cannot skirt around this reality of sin. Can we speak of grace without also speaking of sin? That would be to undervalue what grace is. The situation in latin America challenges men and women to think about God, including speaking about God out of our situation, which cries out for justice, and for transforming grace.
Juan Sepulveda, Pentecostal theologian, Chile
(Soundtrack: Spanish)
We have already said this is not an complete or final description. We are not dealing with a closed truth, but with a truth in change. New actors appear on the religious scene and raise questions and demand discernment. That is the case with the so-called neo-Pentecostal movement. We need to acknoledge that it is a new, but legitimate, face of a diverse and multi-centred Christianity. This is a question that is still open and the reply will depend in large part on the way in which these movements themselves regard or approach the traditional Christian families.
Depending on how we experience it and on how we understand it, diversity could be something that we know, appreciate and celebrate. But it could also be a threat to unity, both Christian unity and social unity.
If we take an honest look at history, none of the faces we see can claim to be completely blameless with regard to the divisions, prejudices and intolerance that separate us. However, we wish to give thanks to God because little by little we are learning to get to know one another, to recognize one another as brothers and sisters, to pray together and to be together. We can thus venture to say that these are some of the faces with whom God is journeying in Latin America, bringing joy, confidence, hope and vitality to a people who, in the midst of great adversity, are seeking a new land in which all men and women will have their own space and live a dignified life.
Bishop Federico Pagura, WCC Latin America President, Argentina
(Soundtrack: Spanish)
Human rights have been one of the basic issues that have concerned me. Some people might ask, why human rights? We are researching, studying, proclaiming, sharing the gospel, the good news of Jesus´message, the message of the kingdom. Because human rights have been violated many times in my lifetime. But there was a key moment in my life, which was when I went to Central America, which we, proud people from the River Plate, in our prejudiced way, used to call ´banana republics´. In Mexico, in El Salvador and in Guatemala, I could see the suffering of the Indigenous people, the suffering of the peasants. I could see the fear in the faces of Costa Rican women and I also saw the oppression by the banana companies. The result was that my life took on a new direction, a new vision inspired by that Central American experience. I was led to a stronger commitment to the gospel, including the gospel of the kingdom, which includes the quest for justice, the quest for truth, for authentic freedom, and also the hope for a new world, the hope that a new world is possible.
As a President of the World Council of Churches I have tried to be the voice of Latin America within in the life of this much loved institution. In the midst of all that, I have also had the experience of being pastor in a city such as Mendoza, on the border with Chile. There thousands of refugees came to the hotels, where we Methodists, with the Lutherans and the Catholics - only those three churches - had the courage to commit ourselves, to serve our refugee brothers and sisters.
We campaign together in peace and justice organizations with our Nobel Prize winner Perez Esquivel. It is a task, a movement for justice and peace, without separating those two elements, because justice and peace have met, have kissed one another, and together they are the only possibility for a permanent and lasting peace for our peoples.
For all this I give thanks to God, for having been able for almost 83 years to be part of this great adventure that never ends, but that does end on a note of hope, for "I know whom I have trusted, and am confident of his power to keep safe what he has put into my charge until the great day", until the final victory of his kingdom. For all this, I give thanks to God.
Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Argentina
(Soundtrack: Spanish)
We continue working to solve conflict and support popular organizations, a work of faith and social action. In doing so, we are creating spaces of freedom, understanding, life and development. We are a people who are subjected and dominated, and inevitably we have to find answers in order to live in human dignity. That is the message of the gospel. It is a message of life, not a message of death. In so doing we are working to build, to contribute consciously to building the human person, to building a vision of the human person, and, naturally, to building as far as we can in our own countries. I believe that the church is the people of God, the people of God on a journey, who are building and attempting to do the will of the Father in the kingdom, this kingdom which is the kingdom of life, the kingdom of the human person, which with God transcends all.
Here in Argentina, some bishops - and I am speaking of the Catholic Church - collaborated with the military dictatorship. And there were others who were consistent with the message of the gospel, and accompanied the people, supporting them in their struggles and their demands.
In the Protestant churches it was more or less the same. Pastors in the Church of the River Plate, of the Methodist Church were very committed to social action. That is because Christ is our brother and sister and on that basis we can build new possibilities and a purpose to life based on faith. Sadly, we meet other groups who do not make this commitment.
I believe that the churches have an essential role. It is a role that has to do with critical consciousness, with values, with building a new dimension to the human person, and I believe that this is more effective when grounded in faith. I believe that out of our culture we can form relationships and reach understanding. I believe that in the ecumenical movement we must also have a deep sense of prayer, since without prayer we cannot be truly and concretely committed to express the word of God in our lives and in our communities.
Bishop Carlos Poma, Methodist, Bolivia
(Soundtrack: Spanish)
God is journeying on in the midst of God´s people. God has always been in the midst of God´s people, and God is also journeying in the midst of his people. God is raising up these peoples that for a long time have been excluded and forgotten and whom the powers that be have also forgotten and never paid attention to. But among these excluded people, there is God, journeying on with them. Here, in unity and diversity God is journeying on in Latin America.
Regina da Silva Ferreira, Lutheran (IECLB), Brazil
(Soundtrack: Portuguese)
I think that God is everywhere. I think that he lives in people´s hearts, God is with those who are suffering, with those who are happy. I think that sometimes people close their hearts a little to God but despite that God enters in, because we are God´s dwelling place. God is everywhere, in the world of nature, in the air, in the wind.
I believe that God is always with us, in everything, in every place, at all times.
Francisco Pernambucano, Movement of the Homeless, Brazil
(Sountrack: Portuguese)
God is present in Latin America in social movements, with the poor, with the homeless, with the landless. God is to be found particularly in the favelas, under the bridges where the beggers are, with the hungry, with those who have no justice, no peace, here in Brazil and throughout Latin America.
Revd Guadalupe Gomez, Baptist, Nicaragua
(Soundtrack: Spanish)
God is to be found in the midst of the conflicts taking place in Latin America, in the midst of brothers and sisters who have no hope, who struggle day after day and work for a better society, who proclaim the gospel, who denounce wrongdoing.
Revd Israel Batista Guerra, General Secretary of the Latin American Council of Churches
(Soundtrack: Spanish)
God is to be found today in Latin America among those who do not belong and immigrants. God is journeying on and invites us to join him to renew our hope.
Bishop Nely Ritchie, Methodist, Argentina
(Soundtrack: Spanish)
I believe that God is present and is to be seen in the faces of the little ones, the vulnerable of all times, and among the vulnerable there are those who, for our society and for the interests of this world, are often faceless, invisible, anonymous. God gives a name and dignity to people, and through the preaching of the gospel we give a face and a dignity to people.
Revd Milton Mejia, Presbyterian, Colombia
(Soundtrack: Spanish)
God is to be found in the churches that are committed to all those who are asking for the life in abundance which Jesus promised us. As churches we need to give signs that life in abundance is possible.
Christina Takatsu Winnischofer, Episcopal-Anglican, Brazil
(Soundtrack: Portuguese)
God is to be found everywhere in Latin America, in the recovery of cultures, for example the cultures of Indigenous peoples, of Afro-Latin Americans, bringing back to light all the experience of their ancestors, all their culture.
Revd Jorge Julio Vaccaro, Pentecostal (Church of God), Argentina
(Soundtrack: Spanish)
The Lord is dwelling among us and is to be found among the excluded the homeless, and those who are about to become homeless. Those who have no food, those who are hungry, those with no work. God is among them, is alongside them, blesses them, heals them, frees them, and also is doing it through other men and women, whether Christian or not. God is also present among Christians, in the churches, and at this particular time to enable us not to succumb to the temptation of theologies that come from the Empire.
