Pat Brennan, an Irish Divine Word missionary, talks about his 27 years working in Brazil with Tom Cahill.
Pat Brennan, a native of Johnscourt, Knockcroghery, Co Roscommon, joined the SVD in 1970. A visit to Ireland by an SVD provincial from one of Brazil’s northern provinces influenced Pat to apply for Brazil as his mission country after ordination. Describing the need for priests there, the provincial said that in one diocese alone there were 12 parishes without priests. That was just one diocese in a country about 120 times the size of Ireland. Six years later Fr Pat found himself in Brazil fighting for land ownership rights for the landless.
When he first arrived in Rio de Janeiro, then a city of 6 million people, he recalls feeling completely lost. The country faced huge problems – not least its poverty. He was privileged, he believes, to have been in Brazil during the years of military rule when priests, bishops, lay-leaders and indeed anybody who defended the poor were persecuted. “At that stage we had some fantastic bishops who were prophets and on the side of the poor,” he says. Singling out an Irish Redemptorist, Bishop Hanrahan, he claims, “we could be proud of his work with poor people.” He mentions another bishop – a Franciscan and Brazilian, who was kidnapped, beaten, stripped naked and left in the street. .
Looking back on those years, Fr Pat remarks that there was more dynamism in the church then. Basic Christian Communities (BCC) were at full strength organizing bible study groups for enthusiastic Christians who related what they read in Scripture to what they experienced in life. Through bible sharing groups people were inspired and energized by God’s word to fight for their rights, and to take action to have schools and roads built for their communities.
Taking any form of action was not without risk. Two French SVD priests working in the Amazon region – the first SVDs to move here – were expelled from Brazil having been falsely accused of being communists. Fr Pat, too, received threats. On one occasion police came into his room, turned it upside down, and told him he was going to prison. However, he was lucky that he had evidence to back up everything he had said publicly about injustices towards the people he served. Summing up that period he remarks: “You live through it and it makes you grow.”
For the past five years he has been working with indigenous people. While they have had some success in getting ownership of land, they have a long way to go yet before they have good health and education services. However, some omens are good. Brazil has democracy now, and has a president who was a factory worker. But the gap between rich and poor is still great.
With regard to the Church, he thinks that Rome has a policy of appointing conservative bishops in Brazil which, in his opinion has led to what he calls “a going back”. Some Church authorities just do not see the wealth that has come to Brazil from a new type of Church that is neither European nor North American, but Brazilian. They fear it and try to control it.
“Rome,” he says, “has produced beautiful documents on enculturation but when people have tried to live this the authorities haven’t accepted it.” Liturgy, according to some authorities, must be conducted as it is in Rome or somewhere else. Fortunately, however, he believes that there are still many bishops determined to maintain the spirit of renewal, and to seek new ways of opting for the poor.
While a missionary’s work in Brazil is to spread the Gospel, Fr Pat says that in many ways missionaries do not “bring” the Gospel to the people here because they would be living much mor evangelical lives than people in Europe. A missionary in his view celebrates the people’s faith with them, is present with them in their difficulties, and acts with them to achieve justice. In Fr Pat’s case that means mainly preparing people for the sacraments, organising various courses for faith formation, publishing a magazine for Indians that focuses on Indian issues, bringing in people from outside his parish to explain what the government is doing for Indian people, and involving himself occasionally in health projects for the benefit of the people. When asked if he could see the youth of Ireland today interested in that sort of missionary commitment he says that it would be difficult to present any type of religious vocation to the young people of Ireland because of “persecution of the Church by the media”.
“I think one would have to be a very courageous young guy to offer himself either to be a priest or a missionary,” he says. “You need somebody ready to serve God and serve his people. Somebody who maybe is going to be rejected by society.” But he is hopeful that the Church will purify herself and grow through her difficulties.
Article Credits
This article first appeared in The Word (March 2005), a Divine Word Missionary Publication.
