A Columban theologian says understanding how poverty relates to the Christian message has become crucial to the Latin American Church.
By Fr. Peter Hughes

It’s now been more than 25 years since the Third General Conference of Latin American Bishops met in 1979 in Puebla, Mexico. This conference, often referred to now as “Puebla,” underlined a new way of understanding poverty in relation to the Christian message; an understanding that has become central to the life of the Catholic Church in Latin America.

Poverty is no longer acceptable; it is simply an inhuman social disorder that destroys life. Moreover, poverty is sinful and implies a rejection of the Gospel, because it puts the lives of the majority of a community’s people at risk. Puebla states: “The situation of prevailing extreme poverty is etched on the faces of real people that demand to be recognized as the suffering Christ, the Lord, who questions and challenges us.”

These are the ones with names such as Maria, Carmen, Manuel, Pepe and Luis; the majority who struggle to eke out a livelihood in the inhuman economic conditions imposed in Peru and other Latin American nations over the last 15 years. International financial power groups, more concerned with repayment of debt than human lives, have insisted on these economic measures.

For the Christian, this situation can no longer be tolerated. Faith in the Risen Lord means a commitment to change and participation in the creation of a more just and humane society. Powerful economic interests continue to exploit natural resources, minerals, oil and gas reserves, abundant rainforests, and dwindling fish stocks with little regard for health risks and responsible development.

The Gospel & Poverty
The poor have always been a part of Latin American Christianity. In recent decades, however, through their own efforts, they have been able to make their voices heard. For the first time, they are engaged in the struggle for the heart of the Church.

They possess the unshakable conviction, rooted in centuries of oppression, that the core of the Gospel message speaks directly to their situation. This intuition is the heartbeat of the faith of a people, and the Church must continue to respond if it hopes to retain credibility. The poor now are clearly at the center of the renewal in the Church and that is due, in great measure, to the statements at Puebla.

There are many difficulties, discordant voices and even forces of frontal opposition. Powerful sectors of Latin American society have enjoyed a comfortable relationship with the Church throughout history, and will not let go without a fight. Conservative currents such as Opus Dei and others enjoy strong official support in the Church. The Church is also affected by the growth of evangelical and Pentecostal churches that often attract many. The effects of cultural trends and secularizing influences associated with contemporary globalization are also significant.

The process of renewal in relation to the reality of the poor is a rocky and uneven road—a struggle fraught with difficulties but also fueled by hope. Like all historical movements for change, there is progress and regression. But this process is in place and must be taken seriously by those both friend and foe. The poor have become the place of the Gospel, the sign of contradiction in the effort to follow Jesus Christ.

In the 1980s, Fr. Peter Hughes worked in the El Monton parish in this vast Lima, Peru, shantytown largely built atop garbage piles.

The issues and concerns that dominate the life of the Church are centered more on what happens to people in the real world; on the struggle, especially of young people, for jobs, health care and education.

The voice of women is particularly enriching as they discover their ministry in rescuing the Word of God from patriarchal forms of dominance and distortion. The Church represents a new space of freedom for sharing, learning, critical reflection and decision-making.

An important feature in the life of the Latin American Church today is the central place of the Bible. The access of the laity to the Bible over the past few decades has become the distinctive mark of daily life of Christians. People have discovered the power of reading the Word of God together, as a group, in community rather than in individual isolation.

They have also discovered the importance of relating the text to their own contemporary context of life. The Bible has become for many a powerful instrument of transformation. It also promotes the recovery of central issues such as the painful memory of the Conquest, native cultural beliefs, and values present in popular Mass celebration that have been largely ignored or underrated by the Church.

The Latin American Church is now faced with the challenge to serve the interests of the poor in their struggle for a more just and humane society. It can continue to be the important leaven for peacemaking, the growth of democracy, and the defense of native cultures. Or, it can withdraw from service to the world and become introspective and self-absorbed.

Recent decades have proved that, in a continent that has become more violent, a Catholic Church committed to peace and justice is an authentic witness to the Gospel. The ancient Christian adage that, “the blood of martyrs is the seed of new Christians,” has been proved as relevant as ever in the heroic deaths of bishops such as Oscar Romero and Juan Gerardi Conedera, and in the numerous priests, religious and laity who have been called to make the ultimate sacrifice for the truth of the Gospel.

Columban Father Peter Hughes of Ireland was ordained in 1965. He began his work in the shantytowns of Lima in 1967 and has taught pastoral theology in Lima universities.