Brazil  The New Parish of the Risen Christ

“The Lord Is
with Us, in This Quarter”
It used to be a shantytown on stilts. Today, Novos Alagados is a fine working-class district. And, since September 14th, it finally has a church. There were two thousand people present at the inauguration–a people bearing witness to a history twenty years long, and moved by a desire

by Francisco Borba

On September 14th, over two thousand deeply moved people watched the inauguration of the church dedicated to the Risen Christ at Novos Alagados, a district on the outskirts of Salvador de Bahia. In a place where there are no other churches and where the inauguration marked the birth of a new parish, no one could have imagined the response of the local community. But in the eyes of those present, the people who arrived to celebrate the event (seeming to appear out of nowhere, emerging from their poor mud houses) participated in a way that not even the most enthusiastic organizers could have expected. The reality is that they did not come from nowhere, but from a twenty-year history, with the presence of CL and AVSI in the troubled situation of Novos Alagados. They came to testify to the deep longing for God, which lives in the heart of every human being and awaits the moment to be made manifest. In the Church of the Risen Christ that day, a new people gathered together, a fruit which had ripened on the outskirts of a city in which the European Catholic tradition mingled deeply with African traditions to create a unique culture, devoted especially to the love of beauty.
Some may wonder whether this synthesis is no more than a force of the past, a kind of folklore which will never return, begetting a now sterile beauty, petrified in the lovely churches preserved under the label of historical legacy. But the new church, inaugurated in one of the poorest parts of Salvador, bears witness precisely to the opposite. This power of synthesis is still alive; new people continue to be born and to fuse cultural traditions, social conditions, and even different nationalities with the same energy as in the past.

Home of the people
This was the message of Giancarlo Petrini, Auxiliary Bishop of Salvador, who has toiled for many years in the region (see page 28). Underpinning this achievement is the discreet effort of those young university students from CL who, twenty years ago, began to spend their time with the children and share the lives of the people of the quarter. Those same young people flocked to honor the new church and saw with emotion and pride those same children, now adults, whom they consider a part of their lives. Also underpinning it is the work of AVSI. After a string of failures by others, years ago a group of Italians from this NGO began to work with the local community, with the objective of eliminating the old favelas built on stilts.
They started from a simple principle: they would not only seek a solution to the problems but also enhance the potential that existed within the people there. This was why they succeeded in eradicating the stilts, creating a new working-class district, and developing a project that, over the years, has become an international landmark, even for the World Bank. AVSI’s work continues today with support for various local educational projects, such as the John Paul II Nursery School, the Educational Center for Children, the Orientation Center for Families, and the most recent Monsignor Luigi Giussani Nursery School.
And we cannot overlook the solidarity of the Abbondio family, who provided support, including funding, for a number of projects at Novos Alagados, such as the construction of the new church. And behind the Abbondio family in Italy is the charism of Fr. Giussani and the experience of CL, the starting point for the challenge to help a community so far away and with so few obvious ties to their everyday life. And further, there was the work of Claudio Pastro, the artist who is creating the whole interior of the Basilica of Aparecida and, through his friendship with Bishop Petrini and others of the community, created the church’s beautiful stained-glass windows.
There are many factors at work, to which we can add the last but not least: all those people, faithful to their origins and filled with a deep desire for God, packed the church on the day of its inauguration. They were all present there, in that single act, as a single people. In a period when many talk about cultural diversity, differences, and social barriers, it was really impressive to see all those people, rich and poor, university teachers and humble workers, pale Italians and dark Brazilians, blondes and mulattos, all sharing the same experience in a space where variety met its true destiny in communion.

“A beautiful place, made for us”
What is the significance of this church for the people of Novos Alagados? When Mass ended, Joseilma, one of the first members of the local community to get involved in the work of CL and AVSI, answered this question with moving words: “We look at all this and we feel a deep emotion, because we see that this is a beautiful place, made for us. It is a place of faith, but also a place of dignity. All this has come about because people who came from far away took an interest in us. This place exists because we were important to them. Their concern for us is a sign of our dignity.” But it is also a sign, for those who work there and all those who look at that reality from outside, that the true sense of life can only be discovered in an experience of sharing and commitment to the lives of others. Even more, this gesture, the inauguration, shows that every experience of sharing meets its true sense, its fulfillment, only in the community and in our encounter with Christ, because at the bottom of every circumstance, He is the one whom the heart of every man desires.
Father Ignazio, the priest of the new parish, never tires of repeating how important it is to understand that, through their enthusiasm, the people were testifying to their deep need for God. For this reason, he said, people had started turning up for 9:30 am Mass at 7 in the morning. By 8:30, every seat was taken.
It is a beautiful church, built in a busy area of the district and much appreciated by the locals even before its inauguration. Often, among the passengers on the buses that pass nearby, you could hear comments like: “A new church! Will it be Catholic? It’s so beautiful! When will it open?” “I know the people who built it. It’s Catholic, yes...” So the news circulated through the grapevine.
These are simple signs, but they leave an impression on the history and culture of a people–like the bells, whose fundamental function is all too often forgotten: an echo of a memory and a desire deeply rooted in people’s hearts. When they began ringing, a few days before the inauguration, they awakened people’s interest and desire to form part of the history of that house dedicated to God. This was the case with two boys attracted by the bells, who came to see out of curiosity, and then offered to help with the preparations.
“May the people understand that this church is a sign that Christ has come to them,” Father Ignazio said. Some volunteers in the previous weeks went from door to door delivering the invitations. Through their simple gesture, it was Christ who went to invite the people personally. This is a step that is destined to be repeated, as announced by Father Ignazio, with his offer to go and bless the homes of those who desired it. In the frank and cheerful face of the parish priest, Christ again moves among those people.

Looking and following
Fr. Carrón was also present at the ceremony. When it ended, he lingered with the CL community in Salvador. To the comment of Gilberto, who is responsible for the community, of how everything had been beautiful and how evident Christ’s presence had appeared, Carrón replied, “Do you see how true it is that it is easy to recognize His presence? You need only to look and follow.” He continued by recalling that seeing the events unfold was like seeing Christ Himself alive; it could not have been the fruit of human organization alone, not even the finest. It was Christ who had moved the hearts of the people; it was their desire for Him. We had seen a large number of people; ultimately, they were a multitude of hearts moved by Christ. But, insisted Carrón, those hearts would not have been moved by an event that happened 20 centuries ago. Christ moved those hearts because He is a living reality, present among us at this moment.
This was the final message that each person took away from the ceremony, together with the witness borne by all those people, today a community of the Parish of the Risen Christ.