Brazil bishops’ Lent campaign comes under fire

The Brazilian bishops’ convention has come underneath hearth from a few of its extra conservative members because it introduced this yr’s “fraternity marketing campaign”, which defends Indigenous peoples, criticises the excessive charges of femicide and speaks up towards LGBTQ violence and homophobia.

Archbishop Fernando Guimarães of Brazil’s Army Archdiocese has instructed chaplains working with Brazil’s armed forces to refuse to take part within the 2021 marketing campaign.

In a public letter despatched to Bishop Walmor Oliveira de Asevedo, president of the bishops’ convention, the archbishop mentioned “evangelisation of the devoted … at any time and much more so in a particular time comparable to Catholic Lent, shouldn’t be a spot for dialogue on controversial subjects and opposite to the genuine doctrine of our church”.

His letter mentioned that “throughout Lent this yr, we’ll comply with solely the theological-liturgical pointers particular to Lent and won’t use any of the supplies formally produced for this yr’s Fraternity Marketing campaign. Our navy chaplains are being directed to make use of solely ’Fratelli Tutti,’ by Pope Francis, in the event that they want to tackle the theme.”

A Catholic custom because the Nineteen Sixties, the Fraternity Marketing campaign, promoted yearly throughout Lent, is likely one of the church’s most profitable fundraising applications, bringing in lots of of hundreds of {dollars} from Christians.

Since 2001, each 5 years, the marketing campaign has been carried out in an ecumenical vogue, with the theme being chosen by a collegiate physique from the bishops’ convention and members of the Nationwide Council of Christian Church buildings of Brazil. This yr’s textual content was ready by the Christian church buildings council, of which the bishops’ convention is a member.

“You will need to emphasise that the social relations of sophistication, gender, race, ethnicity are traditionally interconnected,” mentioned the fraternity marketing campaign doc, noting that girls, particularly Black girls and Indigenous girls, are the most important victims of the “system of violence” in Brazil.

The half that drew the best controversy, nonetheless, was the assist given to the LGBTQ neighborhood.

“One other social group that suffers the results of systemic politics and violence and the creation of enemies is the LGBTQ+ inhabitants,” says the doc, Fraternity and Dialogue: Dedication of Love.

The assertion was adopted by knowledge on deaths of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender individuals, launched by one of many nation’s most well-known LGBT foyer teams, Homosexual Group of Bahia.

“These murders are the results of hate speech, spiritual fundamentalism, voices towards the popularity of the rights of LGBTQI populations and different persecuted and susceptible teams,” says the Fraternity Marketing campaign doc.

As criticism surged on social media, some church leaders began to talk up.

“This controversy is pushed by prejudices and anti-ecumenical ardour; along with baseless accusations towards the (bishops’ convention), additionally it is an argument marked by ideological polarisation. I admit that within the base textual content there are positions that may be criticised, that might not be shared, however for God’s sake, the main target right here shouldn’t be that,” mentioned Cardinal Odilo Scherer of São Paulo.

“The dialogue takes place between ‘the completely different’. Amongst equals, there isn’t a want for dialogue,” Bishop Pedro Stringhini of Mogi das Cruses mentioned on social media. “It’s clear that it’s ideological; when it speaks of the poor, towards inequalities and in favor of ideology, it’s ideological. Simply as it’s ideological who criticises.”