A column in last week's edition of America magazine reported that Dom Hélder Câmara, a Brazilian archbishop who was known for his championing of the poor, will be considered for sainthood starting this upcoming May. Câmara, who died in 1999, was Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, and frequently clashed with Brazil's military dictatorship during his tenure from 1964 to 1985.
The Archbishop was a prominent exponent of liberation theology, which emphasized Christian opposition to social injustice. This was unsurprisingly a very risky stance under the dictatorship. Many traditional Catholics in Brazil wanted him arrested, while one of the Archbishop's allies, Father Antônio Henrique Pereira Neto, was assassinated. In addition to his criticism of the dictatorship, Archbishop Câmara also wrote Spiral of Violence, a critique of the Vietnam War.
My Gut Reaction: Why can't the Catholic Church glorify more saints like this?
Analysis below the fold...
The answer to my question above may be found in two blogs I've seen on the issue from conservative Catholics. One is entitled "Radical Marxist Up for Beatification in Hélder Câmara," while the other is called "Hélder Câmara: A Lifetime of Working Against the Church from the Inside." (I refuse to link to either.) Can we all say "red baiting"? The shrill tenor of these blogs can be seen in this quote from the first article:
Dom Helder Camara began his career as a pro-Nazi militant in the 30s and 40s, and was ordained wearing the ill-famed Nazi "green shirt" under his cassock, so deep were his convictions. Thereupon his remaining days on earth were spent as a communist activist implementing Marxist principles inside the Catholic Church. We know from ex-communists like Bella Dodd and Anatoliy Golitsyn how a number of Communist agents entered the seminaries back in the 30s and 40s for the purpose of deliberately destroying the Catholic Church from within. Camara fits the pattern perfectly.
First a Nazi, then a Communist? Wow, the Archbishop must have been versatile. Even more interesting is the fact that the blogger does not support his claims with any links. Then again, what do you expect from a blogger who follow up with the question: "Why not just beatify Hitler or Nelson Mandela?"
Unfortunately, these are not just the ravings of a borderline mental case blogger-they reflected, and still reflect, all too big a portion of the Catholic Church's hierarchy. Archbishop Câmara's efforts were ultimately undercut by the Vatican. When he retired in 1985, "Saint" John Paul II appointed a conservative archbishop, Dom José Cardoso Sobrinho, who quickly set about destroying his predecessor's accomplishments.
Hopefully, under Pope Francis, the Church will begin making moves to redress the errors of the past. Setting Dom Hélder Câmara on the path to sainthood is only the start. Replacing the conservative appointees of John Paul II and Benedict XVI as they age into retirement will go much further to putting the Church on the right path.