Aid to the Church in Need: Columbia: The Church's strategy against violence

Columbia: The Church's strategy against violence

Posted by ACN News on 23/10/2009, 4:53 pm
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Development and peace in Colombia.

"Pastoral dialogue" and the Church's strategy against violence

The threat is clear: "If you don't change your approach, you will be eliminated". It is addressed to two priests, and the gestures accompanying the words are unmistakable. The place is the village of Regidor in the province of Bolivar in northwest Colombia. The date, April 2008. Those uttering the threats are presumably members of one of the paramilitary groups; quite possibly they make their living by drug trafficking or represent the interests of those who do. None of that can be proved, however. In a country that for decades now has been suffering from a civil war in which to this day violence is a part of everyday life, such death threats do not surprise.

It is above all out in the countryside where people suffer most from the arbitrary violence of the paramilitaries or guerilleros, who continue still, after decades of conflict, to resolve their differences with guns and who now no longer pursue political goals but purely commercial ones. The motive behind the death threats in the village of Regidor is similarly obvious and surprises nobody there. For anyone who opposes the existing conditions of land ownership or criticises social injustice and exploitation, even only verbally, can expect violence in return.

What is unusual however is the reaction. Bishop Jorge Leonardo Gómez Serna of Magangué, the diocese in which Regidor is situated, has called together all the priests of the diocese to gather without delay at the spot where the threat was made. 60 priests respond to his call, and a gathering is held together with the 500 or so villagers, in which the death threats are made public. Following this, the locals and the priests walk in procession through the village, praying for peace and demonstrating their solidarity with those who have been threatened, encouraging and supporting all those actively opposing the violence and calling on the perpetrators to reconciliation. In his previous diocese the bishop experienced considerable success using this method of resistance. In Regidor too, the oppressors agree to leave their victims in peace. Says Bishop Jorge Leonardo Gómez Serna: "In such cases the government usually sends in the troops. But reacting to violence with violence achieves nothing".

(Bishop Jorge Leonardo Gómez Serna)

In the diocese of Magangué, as in other dioceses of the country, the Church in Colombia has for years now been pursuing a policy of so-called "pastoral dialogue", in which priests and laity seek to negotiate with representatives of the guerilla groups and right-wing paramilitary units and encourage the country people to stand up for their interests and express their fears and concerns. They have had considerable success. "Not all the problems have been solved, but the violence has abated and with it the insecurity that so many have been suffering from", explains Bishop Gómez Serna, a Dominican, who is visiting the headquarters of the International Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), in Germany. He is accompanied by Father Rafael Castillo Torres, one of the priests of the archdiocese of Cartagena.

The peace process that was begun years ago within the territory of the diocese of Magangué has not been without its setbacks, however. Although the Catholic Church in Colombia enjoys a high standing in the public mind, no fewer than 50 priests and two bishops have nevertheless been murdered in the country during the last years, according to the Dominican bishop.

In the hope of bringing peace to Colombia, the Church years ago initiated its programme for "Development and Peace". Father Rafael Torres explains what this involves: "The Church is striving to bring all the relevant groups together. After years of civil war they should be starting to talk to one another again and begin to become involved in political decision-making", he says. Father Rafael works in the province of Montes de María, a little developed region with a population of some 400,000 souls that lies within the archdiocese of Cartagena.

In the rural areas especially there is a lack of public structures that can enable people to become involved in the decision-making process or guarantee the rights of those who have little or no influence. And so the priests are deliberately working to ensure that the interests of all parties are brought to the table. In particular, the ordinary country people need help, for example in order to defend their own little plots of land from the rapacity of large landowners or international companies who want to practise agriculture on a grand scale or exploit mineral resources. "In such cases evangelisation in practice means explaining the social teaching of the Church and obliging companies to adhere to certain social standards", stresses Fr Torres, "or else mediating in the process of finding candidates for the election of a local mayor", he adds.

(Father Rafael Castillo Torres)

Another priority of this pastoral work is reconciliation, the Ruta por la Vida, or "Way to Life", as it is called. As Fr Torres explains, the priests have by now learnt that they cannot just call on the people to simply forgive and forget the violence, the expulsions and the murder of their family members and friends. "That doesn't work. Only in coming to know God can people learn to forgive and see history from a different perspective", he adds. In his parish there are three ruined chapels that he wants to rebuild, and ACN has already promised to support them.

In Las Piedras, one of the villages belonging to the parish of Fr Rafael, no fewer than 42 people were murdered between 1998 and 2001. Their names are now carved in stones that are to serve as the foundation stones of one of the chapels. The people of Las Piedras have asked that the stones for building the chapel should not be quarried from a stone quarry but taken instead from a nearby stream, the Masinguí. "That may sound strange, but for the people they see is an important symbol against every kind of violence", he says.

To help this cause please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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