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Good News: there will be married priests

Leonardo Boff2 Comentários

Good News: there will be married priests

On July 17, 2019, the Vatican released a document recommending that the Pan-Amazonic Synod to be celebrated in Rome in October, to consider the ordination as priests of elderly and respected married men, especially the indigenous, in remote regions of the Amazon. Pope Francis does not want a Church that visits, but a Church that stays. This is an old aspiration which was proposed by the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) to Pope John Paul II in the 1980s. John Paul II took the suggestion as a provocation, and therefore maintained something of a distance from the CNBB.

Reliable ecclesiastic sources offer the following data: from 1964 to 2004, 70,000 priests left the Church’s ministry. In Brazil 7,000 of 18,000 priests also left. The Ecclesial Base Communities, CEBs, and the lay ministries fill in for the lack of priests. Why not welcome priests who are already married and let them resume their ministry, or ordain married men?

This suggestion of Pope Francis will surely be accepted by the Pan-Amazonic Synod. It also mentions an “official ministry for women”, but we do not know yet what it will entail. In the end, we finally will have married priests, an old desideratum of many churches.

The celibacy question has been divisive from the start of Christianity. Two tendencies appeared: one that allowed married priests and another that opted for celibate priests. It was clear to everyone that celibacy is not a dogma of faith but an ecclesiastic discipline, a characteristic of the Western Church. All the other Catholic Churches (the Orthodox, Syriac, Melkite, Ethiopic, etc.), and other Christian Churches do not follow that discipline. As a discipline, it can be abolished. In the end, it depends on the decision of the Pope.
Jesus speaks of three types of celibates, that are called eunuchs or castrated (eunoûxoi in Greek). He says of them: “there are some eunuchs who make themselves so for the love of the Kingdom of heaven; he who may understand let him do it” (Matthew 19,12). He recognizes that “not everyone is capable of understanding this, but only those to whom it has been given” (Matthew 19,11). Curiously, in the First Epistle to Timothy it says that “the bishop be husband of only one woman… he must know how to govern well his house and educate the children in obedience and chastity” (1 Timothy 3, 2-4).

Summarizing the long and twisted history of celibacy, it can be seen that initially it did not exist as law, and if there was such a law, it was not well observed. Popes Adrian II (867-872) and Sergio III (904-911) were married. Between the X and XIII centuries, historians say that it was common for a priest to have a compañera. That was also common in colonial Brazil. In the past, rural priests begat children and educated them to be sub deacons, deacons and priests, because there were no institutions to prepare them.

The fact that some Popes did not observe celibacy deserves an aside. There was an epoch, between 900 and 1110, of great moral decadence, called “the pornocratic era”. Benedict IX (1033-1045) was consecrated Pope when he was 12 years old, already “full of vices”. Pope John XII (955-964), consecrated at 18 years old, indulged in orgies and adulteries. Renaissance Popes such as Paul III, Alexander VI, with several children, and Leo X who married his children with pomp in the Vatican, were infamous, (see Daniel Rops, History of the Church of Christ (La historia de la Iglesia de Cristo, II, Porto 1960, p.617ss). Finally, when the Council of Trent was celebrated, (1545 and 1563) it made obligatory the law of celibacy for all who ascended to the priestly order. And it has remained that way until the present. Seminaries were created where the candidates were prepared for the priesthood from a very early age, with an apologetic perspective to confront the Protestant Reformation and later on, to deal with the heresies and the”modern errors”.
As in all the other Churches, we favor having married as well as celibate priests, not as a mandatory law or as a precondition for the ministry, but as an option. Celibacy is a charisma, a gift of the Spirit to the one who can live it without much sacrifice. Jesus understood it well: celibacy is a “castration”, with a void replacing the sensitivity and intimacy between man and woman. But that renunciation is assumed with love for the Kingdom of God, to serve the others, especially the poorest. Consequently, that absence is compensated by a superabundance of love. To that end, an intimate encounter with Christ is needed, a cultivation of spirituality, prayer and self control. Realistically, as the Master observes: “not all are capable of understanding that” (Matthew 19,11). There are those who understand it. They joyfully live their option for celibacy, without hardening themselves, maintaining the essential joy and tenderness, so encouraged by Pope Francis. How good it would be if by their sides, there were also married priests.
Now we finally will be able to enjoy the fact of also having married men, well integrated with their families, who could be priests and share the religious life of the faithful. It will be a gift for them and for the Catholic communities.

Leonardo Boff Eco-Theologian-Philosopher.Earthcharter Commission

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

Respect is everything

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

The lack of respect surely is a wound from which the whole world suffers, even among us.

First, respect demands recognition of the other as other, distinct from us. To respect the other implies that the other has the right to exist and be accepted for what the other is. This attitude is contrary to the intolerance that rejects the other and the other’s way of being.

Consequently there should not be discrimination, but respect, for homosexuals or others in the LGBTQ community: first as human beings, carriers of something sacred and untouchable: the dignity intrinsic in every being, such as intelligence, feelings and loving; and to guarantee their right to be as they are and to live according to their own sexual, racial or religious condition.

In one of their most beautiful documents, “Joy and Hope” (Gaudium et Spes), the Bishops of the world who gathered in Rome in the Vatican II Council (1962-1965), affirmed with certitude that:«Everyone must respect without exception a fellow human being as “another I”» (n.27).

Second, acknowledging the other means seeing in him value as himself, because existing as a unique and singular being in the universe expresses something of the Being, of the boundless Original Source of energy and capabilities whence we all come (the Basic Energy of the Universe, the best metaphor for the meaning of God). Each of us carries within something of the mystery of the world, of which each is a part. Because of that, a limit is established between the other and myself that cannot be transgressed: the sacred aspect of every human being and, deep down, of every being, because all that exists and lives deserves to exist and to live.

Buddhism, presented as wisdom rather than as a faith, teaches respect for every being, especially those who suffer (compassion). The daily wisdom of Feng Shui integrates and respects all the elements, the winds, the water, the soil, the different species. Likewise, Hinduism preaches respect as active non-violence (ahimsa), that found its referential archetype in Mahatma Gandhi.

Christianity knows the image of Saint Francis of Assisi, who respected all beings: the slug on the path, the bee lost in winter searching for food, the small wild plants that in his encyclical letter, “On the Caring for the Common Home”, quoting Saint Francis, Pope Francis calls on us to respect because, in their way, they also praise God (n.12).

The Bishops, in the document mentioned above, broadened respect when they affirmed:«Respect must be extended to those who in social, political and also in religious issues, think and act in different manners than ours» (n.28). Such a calling is currently important in the Brazilian situation, torn by religious intolerance (invasion of terreiros de candomblé), and political intolerance, through disrespectful names for those who are active in the social scene or who have a different reading of the historical reality

We have experienced incidents of great disrespect by students against teachers, using physical and symbolic violence with names we cannot write here. Many ask: what kind of mothers have raised those children? The correct question, however, is different: what kind of fathers have those children had? It is the father’s mission, often hard to carry out, to teach respect, to set the limits and pass on the personal and social values without which a society ceases to be civilized. Presently, with the eclipse of the father figure, sectors arise in society without fathers and because of that with no sense of limits and respect. As we have often seen, the result is the easy resort to violence, even deadly violence, to solve personal disagreements.

Arming the population, as the present President suggests, is not only irresponsible but furthers the current dangerous lack of respect and increased fracturing of all limits.

Lastly, one of the greatest expressions of disrespect is towards Mother Earth, with her over-exploited ecosystems, the dreadful deforestation of the Amazon and excessive use of agro-toxins that poison the soil, the waters, and the air. This lack of ecological respect can bring surprisingly grave consequences against life, biodiversity, and our future as a civilization and as a species.

Leonardo Boff Eco-Theologian-Philosopher,Earthcharter Commission

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

Alignment with the U.S.of the President Bolsonaro would not resolve the brazilian crisis

Leonardo Boff2 Comentários

In my understanding, two basic tendencies can be seen in the current globalization process: monopolar globalization, with the supremacy of the United States, backed by the large economic-financial corporations, and marked by how everything is homogenized. In pedestrian language, it would be the hamburgerization of the world: the same hamburger, made from the same recipe, and consumed in the U.S., Russia, Japan, China; and Brazil.

The other tendency is multipolar. It foresees several poles of power, with different decision centers, but all within the same Common Home, unique, complex, and threatened with ruin. China leads this tendency..

The monopolar tendency predominates. Trump’s “America first” means “only America”. The claim is that only the U.S. has global interests. It abrogates to itself the right to intervene where ever those interests are threatened or could be extended, either through direct war or delegated, as Trump attempted with Brazil during the crisis in Venezuela, ignoring treaties and international law.

The Northamerican strategy, radicalized after the attack on the Twin Towers, is to guarantee its world hegemony: first, through weapons of mass destruction, (the U.S. could kill the whole world), the capitalist economy and ideology (Hollywood plays a principal role in that), that is a form of soft war (hybrid War), but effective in conquering hearts and minds through symbolism and imaginary, with a facade of democracy and human rights.

But the primary means of domination is the neoliberal capitalist economy. It must be imposed on the whole world (China adopted it to fortify herself economically). This is accomplished through the huge global corporations and their internal national allies. It is a great weapon, because the alternative, war, functions as a deterrent, like a scarecrow, because it can destroy everyone, including those who invoke it.

Those who win the race for technological innovation, especially the military but also the economic, will acquire world hegemony.

What does this have to do with Brazil’s current political and economic situation? Everything. President Jair Bolsonaro accepted, with no compensation, an unconditional alignment with the strategies for world hegemony of the United States.

In the highest military levels and moneyed elites one hears the following argument: we have no possibility of becoming a great nation, even though we have all the necessary objective conditions. We arrived late and do not participate in the small group that decides the world’s path. We were a colony and recolonization has been imposed on us, in order to supply raw materials (commodities) to the developed countries. It is inevitable that the strongest, in this case the United States, offers economic advantages in order to incorporate as aggregated members the select transnational group that sustains this option. Missing was the wisdom to seek their own paths, in a dialectic relationship with the current powers.

The huge destitute majorities do not count. They are economic zeros. They produce less and consume almost nothing. From dependency they sink into non-participation.

What change has occurred in Brazil in the last years? The highest leading members of the army, the generals who have troops under their command (they are those who really matter) may have embraced this thesis. They may have left in second place a project of an autonomous nation. The security for which they are responsible may be now guaranteed by the United Sates with its military apparatus and more than 800 military bases spread all over the world. This adhesion also implies incorporation into the liberal economy (among us, ultra-liberal economy) and representative democracy, even though this democracy will be a low intensity one.

With the current President, Brazil has been taken over by the military. The former captain, made chief of State, is the visible head of this project, abruptly adopted in Brazil. Diligence is required to weaken everything that makes us a country-nation: industry must be diminished and replaced by imports; institutions with a democratic and nationalist taint, will be maintained, but rendered inefficient, public universities, undermined, will give way to private universities associated with large enterprises, because these enterprises need educated teams to function.

The minor internal fights between the astrologer from Virginia, Olavo de Carvalho, the extreme right Brazilian intellectual who lives in the United States and is the ideological mentor of President Bolsonaro, and the military, are irrelevant. Both accept the basic principle of adhesion to the United States and neo-liberalism, but with a difference. The Olavistas are crude, rough, with vulgar language. The military displays airs of education and civility in hopes of inspiring trust, but both have the same basic goal. And the same adhesion to the United States. Resigned, they admit that in the new cold war between the United States and China we must either opt for the United States or be devoured by China, thus renouncing a sovereign path through the tensions between the great powers.

I see two paths of confrontation, among others:

The ecological path: we are within the anthropocene, the age when human beings are rapidly destabilizing all the life-systems and the Earth-system. Wise people and scientists warn that if we do not change, we could experience a socio-ecological disaster that could destroy a great part of the biosphere and our civilization. This way, the very capitalist system and its culture would lose their base of support. The survivors would have to devise a global Marshall Plan to rescue what remained of civilization and restore the vitality of Mother Earth.

The political path: a massive popular uprising, a human tsunami in the streets, protesting and rejecting the anti-people, anti-life model. The generals would feel trapped by accusations of being unpatriotic, causing a divide between those who supported the streets and those who resisted. Politicians would slowly come around, because they would see no alternative. This way an alternative movement, opposing the current order,could arise.

There could be great violence on both sides. A Northamerican intervention could not be ruled out, because her interests are global, especially since control of the Amazon is an objective. But would Russia and China tolerate such intervention? The worst case could be if a sort of Syria were created in our territory. The scene is somber but not impossible. It is known there are hawks in the security organs who do not discard that possibility.

We are called to follow the political path, with all the risks it entails. We must not forego the opportunity to trust in our capabilities, especially with respect to our ecological wealth, and our role in determining the future of humanity and the living planet, the Earth.

The most important thing is to present a viable alternative, for a different type of Brazil: sovereign, with a representative democracy, just, open to the world and ready, with our natural resources, to set the table for the hungry human beings of the whole world.

Leonardo Boff Eco-Theologian-Philosopher, of the Earthcharter Commission

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

Love in times of rage and hatred

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

We are living times of rage and hatred in bolsonariano Brazil and around the world. Rage and hatred are the fruits of fundamentalism and intolerance, as was seen in Sri Lanka, where hundreds of Christians were murdered as they celebrated the triumph of love over death in the feast of the resurrection.
That macabre scene requires us to renew our belief that, despite everything, love is stronger than death.

The word love has been trivialized. It is love here and love there, love in the advertisements addressed more to people’s pocketbooks than to their hearts. We must rescue the sacred nature of love. We have no better or bigger word to describe the Ultimate Reality, God, other than to call it love.

We need to change how we talk about love, so that its nature and amplitude shine through and warm us. For that we must incorporate the contributions that come to us from the various Earth sciences, (Fritjof Capra), especially from biology (Humberto Maturana) and the studies about the cosmogenic process (Brian Swimme). It is ever more clear that love is an objective fact of global reality, a pleasant aspect of Mother Nature herself, of whom we are a part.

Two aspects, among others, drive the cosmogenic and biogenic processes: necessity and spontaneity. Necessity pertains to the survival of each being. It is the reason one being helps the other, in a network of inclusive relationships. The synergy and cooperation of each with all others constitute the most fundamental forces of the Universe, especially among living beings. That is the objective dynamic of the Cosmos itself.

Together with the force of necessity there is spontaneity. Beings relate to and interact with each other for the pure gratification and joy of coexisting. Such relationships do not correspond to a need. They occur in order to create new bonds, in function of a certain affinity that arises spontaneously and produces delight. It is the universe of the surprising, of the fascinating, of something imponderable. It is the advent of love.

That love occurs with the very first basic elements, the quarks, that interrelated beyond what was necessary, spontaneously, attracting each to the others. A world arose gratuitously, not necessary but possible, spontaneous and real.

Thus arose the force of love, that runs through all the stages of evolution and links all beings, giving them a profound nature and beauty. There is no single reason that caused them to combine with each other in bonds of spontaneity and freedom. They do it for pure pleasure and for the joy of being together.

It is this cosmic love that realizes what mysticism always intuited: the existence of pure gratuitousness. The mystic Angelus Silesius says: “The rose does not have a reason. She blooms just because she blooms. The rose does not care whether or not she is admired. She just blooms because she blooms”.

Do we not say that the profound meaning of life is simply to live? Likewise love flowers in us as the fruit of a free relationship between free beings with all other beings.

But as self conscious human beings, we can turn love, that belongs to the nature of everything, into a personal and civilizing project: to consciously live love, to create the conditions for a loving environment to arise among the inert and living beings. We can fall in love with a distant star and establish a history of affection with it.

Love is urgently needed in the present days, where the strength of the negative, of anti-love, seems to prevail. More than asking who committed acts of terror, we must ask why those acts of terror were committed. Surely terror arose from the absence of love as a relationship that links human beings in the blessed experience of opening to and jovially embracing one another.

Let us say it openly and clearly: the current world order does not love persons. It loves material goods, the strength of the laborer’s work, the muscles, the knowledge, the artistic production and the worker’s capacity for consumption. But the current systems does not gratuitously love people as people.

To preach love and to shout: “Let us love one another as we love ourselves” is to be revolutionary. It is absolutely to be anti-the dominant culture.

Let us make of love that which the great Florentine, Dante Alighieri, witnessed: “love that moves the heavens and the stars”, and we add: love that moves our lives, love that is the most holy name of the Original Fountain of all Being, God.

Leonardo Boff Eco-Theologian-Philosopher and of the Earthcharter Commission

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.