He apparently subscribed to “liberation theology” (roughly: Catholic socialism). This is perhaps one of the larger anti-poverty movements in the world, but it has zero mentions on the forum, since it is triply distant from us: religious, Latin American, and politically activist.
It’s great you mentioned liberation theology. Here’s some extra information since I’ve had some contact with it through social activism in Brazil:
Liberation theology grew especially strong in Brazil during the military dictatorship of 1964-1985, under the leadership of Dom Hélder Câmara. This guy names streets, schools, hospitals, and all sorts of things you can think of in the region where he worked as Archbishop (Recife, where I live). He’s considered a saint by many.
The influence of liberation theology and its charismatic leaders is perceived well beyond the church. I worked with social movements in several cause areas and almost all of them are influenced by it to some extent: criminal justice, land use (farmers), housing, education, public health, etc. There is a big “social movement forum” that gets all of these activists together to take the streets on Worker’s Day every year. I’d guess they manage to gather 10-20k people on average. The” forum” is named after Dom Hélder Câmara.
However, the content of the ideology is fuzzy. I didn’t come across people referring to seminal written works or clear concepts in the context of social activism. Mostly, being socialist and Catholic as Gavin described is as deep as it goes for most activists.
I guess the main merit of the ideology is to make altruistically-minded people care about politics and systemic change. It’s a call to arms for Catholics to go beyond isolated acts of charity and work to change the system more profoundly, even if this means going against traditional values or the political establishment. This focus on actual change rather than aesthetic altruism may relate to EA to some extent.
Dom Hélder’s most famous saying, in the context of the far-right military dictatorship: “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.”
It’s great you mentioned liberation theology. Here’s some extra information since I’ve had some contact with it through social activism in Brazil:
Liberation theology grew especially strong in Brazil during the military dictatorship of 1964-1985, under the leadership of Dom Hélder Câmara. This guy names streets, schools, hospitals, and all sorts of things you can think of in the region where he worked as Archbishop (Recife, where I live). He’s considered a saint by many.
The influence of liberation theology and its charismatic leaders is perceived well beyond the church. I worked with social movements in several cause areas and almost all of them are influenced by it to some extent: criminal justice, land use (farmers), housing, education, public health, etc. There is a big “social movement forum” that gets all of these activists together to take the streets on Worker’s Day every year. I’d guess they manage to gather 10-20k people on average. The” forum” is named after Dom Hélder Câmara.
However, the content of the ideology is fuzzy. I didn’t come across people referring to seminal written works or clear concepts in the context of social activism. Mostly, being socialist and Catholic as Gavin described is as deep as it goes for most activists.
I guess the main merit of the ideology is to make altruistically-minded people care about politics and systemic change. It’s a call to arms for Catholics to go beyond isolated acts of charity and work to change the system more profoundly, even if this means going against traditional values or the political establishment. This focus on actual change rather than aesthetic altruism may relate to EA to some extent.
Dom Hélder’s most famous saying, in the context of the far-right military dictatorship: “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.”