Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

The end is to evangelize.
In evangelizing, to civilize.
In civilizing, to do good.

Indian Tribalism: The Communist-Missionary Ideal for Brazil in the Twenty-First Century

If the reader were to scan, even casually, the texts in Part III - taken predominantly from "up-to-date" missionary sources - he will note here and there ideas that will shock him. This certainly would not have happened years ago, if he had had some exposure to missionary literature that was not "up-to-date." The contrast illustrates a radical modification in mission doctrine. For some time now, this modification has deeply penetrated Brazilian missionary circles, where it spreads with the discretion and speed of an oil slick.

As we shall see, this transformation interests not only specialists, but it profoundly affects the future of the Church and the country, and thus everyone should be alerted to it.

This transformation is aimed at producing a dangerous wave in the world of the jungle, a wave which would join a yet greater one to be introduced into the cities and cultivated lands. In this manner, the whole country can be touched in some way.

1. Concept of the Mission

In the missiological doctrine of the Catholic Church, nearly twenty centuries old, the concept of the Catholic mission, its aims, and its methods are perfectly defined.

Since this doctrine corresponds with the way of understanding and feeling of the average Catholic reader, we can already be certain that the following paragraphs will not shock anyone. On the contrary, they will seem quite normal.

Mission comes from the Latin word "missio," from "mitto," that is, "I send." The missionary is thus someone who is sent (bishop, priest and by extension, a religious or a layman).

The missionary is one sent by the Church in the name of Jesus Christ, whom he represents, to non-Catholic peoples in order to bring them true Faith.

2. The Highest End of the Mission: Essentially Religious - the Glory of God and Eternal Happiness

The Church teaches that the normal way for a man to be saved consists in being baptized, in believing and professing the doctrine and law of Jesus Christ.

To draw men to the Church is therefore to open the gates of heaven for them. It is to save them. This is the purpose of the mission.

This salvation has the extrinsic glory of God as its supreme end. The soul that has made itself similar to Him through the observance of the law amidst the struggles of this life is saved. Thus, this soul will give glory to God for all eternity.

All likeness is, in itself, a factor of union. United to God in this way, the soul attains the plenitude of happiness.

3. Effects of the Mission in Temporal Life

a) Order

The glory of God and the perpetual happiness of men are missionary goals of the highest transcendence. This does not prevent the mission from having temporal effects that are also most elevated.

Indeed, God created the universe in a sublime and immutable order. And since man is the king of this universe, this order is admirable above all in what relates to Him.

The precepts of the natural order are expressed in the Ten Commandments (Cf. Saint Thomas, Summa Theologica, Ia. Ilac. Q. 100, aa 3 and 11), confirmed by Our Lord Jesus Christ ("I did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it." Matt. 5,17). and perfected by Him (Matt. 5, 17-48; John 13,34).

Now the observance of order, in any sphere of the universe, is the condition necessary not only for its conservation but also for its progress. This is true above all for living beings and particularly for men.

b) The Greatness and Well-Being of Nations

Hence it follows that the Law of God is the basis of the greatness and wellbeing of all nations (Cf. St. Augustine, Epistle 138 al. 5 ad Marcellinum, Chap. 11, no. 15).

To christianize and to civilize are thus correlated terms. It is impossible to christianize seriously without civilizing. Likewise and reciprocally, it is impossible to de-christianize without disordering, brutalizing and forcing a return to barbarity.

4. The Mission and the Indians

a) Contact with Jesus Christ

To be a missionary in Brazil is mainly to take the Gospel to the Indians. It is also to carry the supernatural means to them so that, by practicing the Ten Commandments, they may reach their celestial goal. It is to persuade them to free themselves from superstitions and barbaric customs that enslaved them in their millenary and unhappy stagnation. As a consequence, it is to civilize them.

It is fitting to insist: while it is proper for christianized and civilized man to progress continuously in the upright and free exercise of his intellectual and physical activities, the Indian is a slave of stagnant immobility which, from time immemorial, has hindered all possibilities of true progress for him.

Presenting himself to the Indian, the true missionary of Jesus Christ has the right to say, "Cognoscetis veritatem, et veritas liberabit vos" ("You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free") (John 8,32).

b) Contact with Modern Neo-Paganism

Of course, contact with the missionary necessarily brings, for the Indian, contact with civilization. It is not a contact with a chimerical civilization pulled from the clouds; it is contact with Western Civilization as it is concretely. In the measure in which this civilization still has authentically Christian ferments, it will be rich in spiritual and even material benefits for the natives. And to the extent that the germs of decadence and neo-paganism appear in this civilization, there is the risk that the Indians may be polluted in body and soul.

c) A Troubling Problem

This circumstance creates disconcerting difficulties for contemporary missionaries. How can they, carrying Jesus Christ to the Indians, keep the anti-Christ, or modern neo-paganism, from following close at their heels?

5. An Impossible Solution for the Missionary: To Do Nothing

a) The Power of Our Lord Jesus Christ Over Upright Souls

The problem, however intricate, cannot serve as a reason for the missionary not to carry Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Indians with the excuse that the modern anti-Christ will come immediately after Him. This would be to ignore the power and kindness of the Saviour. In all upright souls - obviously there are some among the Indians - Our Lord Jesus Christ is infinitely more powerful than the anti-Christ.

b) Contact With Western Civilization

When discussing this subject one must not boorishly confuse modern neo-paganism with Western civilization. The latter, which was Christian for more than one thousand years, though unfortunately one can no longer call it so, still keeps much of its former character. Even as some stone buildings retain the heat of the sun's rays late into the night, so also Western civilization, though it cannot be called Christian, and in spite of being submerged in total decadence, is still warm from the beneficial action of the Sun of justice (Malachias 4,2), Our Lord Jesus Christ, during long centuries of fidelity.

Hence it should be concluded that it would be thoughtless, simplistic, and even fanatic to claim that, in contact with Western Civilization, the Indians have nothing to gain and everything to lose.

c) Influence of the True Priest

In today's civilization the mission of the real priest is to fight. He fights on behalf of everything that comes from and leads to Jesus Christ. He fights against everything that comes from evil and estranges one from Jesus Christ.

If the Indian sees in the missionary this valiant attitude of discernment and struggle, he will have the grace and the good example to benefit from this civilization without being corrupted by it.

d) A Futile Problem

Furthermore, in the concrete reality in which we live, it would be completely useless to argue whether or not it is advisable for the Indians to receive, along with the missionaries' presence, the influence of our civilization as well. In its dazzling technological development, our civilization will reach all of them soon, with or without missionaries. It would be better for the Indians if, along with the neo-pagan civilization, missionaries of Our Lord Jesus Christ went also.

e) The Communist Agitator, the Missionary of Satan

This is especially true since, wherever it goes, the neo-pagan civilization takes with it, more often than not, the worst of what it has: the communist agitator, the "missionary" of Satan.

The example of Africa shows how earnestly international Communism strives to take advantage of aboriginal tribes. Who can guarantee that Communism will not sooner or later try the same with non-civilized Indians, or with those who may become civilized?

Moreover - it is painful to say - who can guarantee that Communism, once having infiltrated Catholic circles, will not use bishops, priests, or religious whose sympathy it may have gained to influence the Indians?

Therefore, the good missionary has every reason in the world to approach the Indian, if only to warn him against the communist “missionary.”

Next

Previous

Contents