THE LAY WOMAN'S MISSION IN LATIN AMERICA TODAY

 

 

Small groups which are formed with faith in the Lord where women and men toiled side by side are witnessed even unto martyrdom. Since the 1960s many movements in Latin America sought social change, but they failed, and military governments took over power in many countries. In Brazil in 1964 the military government closed down all normal institutions of civil society or put an army general in charge of them. The only institution that could not be directed by the military was the church, which became a privileged space where people could still meet to discuss their problems. It was during this time that faith came to be understood as having social implications. God was seen as a God of life who could not bear to see any of God’s children having less life than others.

The religious experience which then began was based on solidarity, since the science. Some priests and university students became involved in social problems, and some actually went to live in the urban slums or in poor rural communities. Living close to the poor, they came to understand that religious salvation was to be obtained through their commitment to the here and how now of the suffering “other.”

Bible study groups began to appear, reflecting on the word of God and comparing it with their lives. The members gradually discovered ways to aid themselves on their journey along the road of faith towards the building of God’s Reign. These Bible study groups were also the germinating seed of the basic ecclesiastical communities (CEBs), a new way of being for the church, it was precisely in the CEBs that women began to exercise a new and important role by assuming leadership positions, stimulating and promoting many services such as works of charity, teaching catechism, organizing liturgy, spreading the word of God. The predominantly male face of the church began to change. Women are generally more religious than men. They experienced God in their day-to-today lives and in their hope for a better future.

Traditionally catechesis was taught that a person who suffer now will have a better life eternally, but with Vatican II they began to understand that they have to struggle to transform the present life into a better and more dignified one according to the loving plans of God. This shows that “earthly progress is highly important for the reign of God, in the sense that it can contribute towards organizing human society” (Gaudium et Spes#39).

The spirit that breathes anywhere and does not say where it came from or where it is going (John 3:8) calls for constantly renewed forms of service to the gospel according to the times and the needs of different communities. With the biblical renewal inspired by the Vatican II, a rereading of the sacred scriptures was undertaken in the concrete reality of each region. In this circumstances the Reign of God is understood not as something realized after death, but something that begins here and now to the extent that we seek to live in more sisterly and brotherly, and egalitarian relationships with each other.

The Reign of God is something is something dynamic. It is the intervention of God in is a task that depends on each one of us. Faith is understood in a more integrated and integrating way. We demonstrate our faith in God by transforming unjust reality and struggling to provide more dignified living conditions for all God’s children. God’s maternal instincts (Isaiah 49:15, Jer. 31:20) cannot bear the idea that her most unfortunate children who are also beloved children, suffer so much.

The Church in Latin America lives in the continent which is so rich and yet so exploited and so full of misery, has made a preferential choice towards the poor. This is the fruit not just of ideological considerations but also of the need and desire to suffer along with, to feel with, to have compassion for those who suffer. In Latin America their theological discourse wishes to serve life. The God of Life of Mercy who is love, challenges each one of us to take up a position in the face of the reality of suffering, death, naked exploitation, and structural violence.

It is women who suffer most from the violence and exploitation. Hence the clamor of women emerges from the within the cry of the oppressed, imploring the heavens for a place, for space. The difficult task of building the Reign of God involves the concrete struggles of women, blacks, native Americans, urban and rural workers, in short, of all kinds of persons marginalized from society.

The Latin American reality has an experience of equality is fundamental for women who are traditionally oppressed. This enables them to participate in the process of becoming full-fledged human beings and, together with men, transmitting the image and likeness of God which indeed they are (Gen. 1:27). This is taking place in grass-roots movements. Many women, oppressed just being women, for being poor, and many times for being black, discover themselves as people who can think for themselves and express their own opinions. By sharing experiences and relationships the women discover that they share the same problems and can mutually help one another. A strong bond of solidarity arises among them. It is as if a new world is opened before their eyes, enriches their lives beyond the household environment. This awakening of consciousness is a truly liberating process which makes women lose their timidity and expand the horizons of their little family world.

From the communitarian experiences women discover the strengths of being united and organized and begin participating in people’s movements. These which involve struggles for land, unions, slum-dweller associations, community home construction crews, community clean –up and garden projects, pro-black and pro-Indian movements and so on. Women having discovered themselves as people, they begin to struggle for a better life for all, in the manner of following Jesus Christ who came to bring “life and life plentiful (John 10:10). When they open themselves up more to the world, they feel the crushing weight of male chauvinism. Going to church and community meetings is one thing, but getting involved in social movements is another. After all, home is the proper place for women, the men claim. Thus, the women have to struggle not only against their husbands at home, but also against other men at the union hall, in the associations, and at political meetings. These struggles are undertaken together with others for better living conditions. The first demands are better health conditions, then for schools, for better transportation, and for a place where they can plant and live, in short, for the basic elements necessary to be able to live a proper human existence.

The struggles have not always led victories. Many have been taken prisoner, tortured, killed. But female resistance is hidden force which they have. Their lives, which have been marked by oppression and marginalization, have given them fiber, guts and the will to struggle, anchored in faith and in hope. This strength emerges especially at

moments of crisis, such as widowhood (Ruth, Gen.38) or war (Judith). So they continue courageously the struggle to build a better world for their children and grandchildren.

The movements of women from among the working classes of Brazil continue to emerge today. They are sustained by faith and by the churches, and make their presence felt particularly with respect to social questions. Their struggle has a profound consequence because it questions deeply embedded structures and types of relationships regarding the family, the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and working traditions.