Green Theology and Social Justice Movements: An examination of the Catholic Church in Brazil

• In Event: 552 - Section on Political Economy of the World-Systems Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03. From Above and From Below: Agency and Structure

Abstract

In this paper (developed from my MA thesis), I ask: What is the historical role of the Catholic Church in environmental social movements in Brazil, and what is its current involvement? I examine the role that the Catholic Church in Brazil played in environmental justice mobilizations and discuss if a type of “green theology” has emerged, utilizing three main methodologies. The first is discursive analysis of texts: the writings of Leonardo Boff; yearly themes and documents produced by Campanha da Fraternidade (CF), a pastoral program led by the Brazilian bishops with priorities that change yearly; and materials within the Brazil’s Popular Groups. These three sources allow me to understand the voices of bishops, theologians, and grassroots activists within Brazilian progressive Catholicism from the 1960s to present day. The second component of my methodology is archival research of Brazil’s Popular Groups, a microfilm collection that chronicles popular groups and movements of the past five decades in Brazil. Theological interpretation of Boff’s writings is the third part of my methodology, which I believe adds to the value of this research. I suggest that one of the chief contributions of the Catholic Church in Brazil to environmental social movements is that it has brought an ethical and moral dimension to the problems of poverty, injustice, discrimination, violence. Further, its position against environmental destruction evolved by arguing that if economic and political systems cause suffering and destruction to people and nature, that those systems ought to be changed.

Author

• Caitlin Hays Schroering, University of Pittsburgh