What unmistakably characterizes the Brazilian TFP and the other TFPs in the world inspired by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira was not just the coherence of the vision of the world, but also the surprising new methods of apostolate.
From the very beginnings of its activity, the TFP found itself struggling against the conspiracy of silence imposed on its initiatives by the mass-media. In order to reach public opinion directly, Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira invented great publicity campaigns in which the young people of the TFP, through the use of megaphones, banners, slogans and music, attracted the attention of the people in the streets. On 30 March 1965, in the “Viaduto do Chá”, the most crowded thoroughfare of São Paulo, the great red standards with the rampant lion made their first appearance, which, in 1969, were to be followed by the red capes, idealized by Dr Plinio himself. These standards and capes today distinguish throughout the world the public apostolate of the TFP. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira always stressed the importance of this standard-bearing apostolate which “produces in public opinion a vivifying and healthy shock that symbolizes the counter-offensive of the good”.12
In the conversion process, not only does the logical factor intervene, but also psychological and supernatural factors, because it is above all the grace of God that works in the soul of man, attracting him towards adhesion to the truth and the practice of virtue. It is in fact through the “shock” of grace that the change from the old man to the new man, of which St Paul speaks in his letters, takes place.13
Dom Chautard teaches how a Catholic Institution worthy of this name must be penetrated by interior life, which is the condition of fruitfulness of action.14 The great development of external activities led to the birth among the TFP followers of the desire for particularly quiet areas, where they could build spiritual buttresses that would prevent them from falling into an excess of activism. Thus, next to the traditional centres, the “hermitages”15 were born: places of study and prayer characterized by greater meditation and a precise rule of life.
The establishment of areas where there was an atmosphere filled with seriousness and supernatural spirit responded to the requirement, always stressed by Dr Plinio, to fight the Revolution not just on the level of ideas, but also on that deeper one of the tendencies. In this same dimension, at a moment in time when the Revolution was spreading through the human type of the hippies and the punks, he invented special “ceremonial clothes”. They had the scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the cross of St. James, whose symbolic meaning was similar to that of the red capes used in public activities. These clothes, which because of their original style cannot neither be traced to traditional religious clothes, or even less to military uniforms, are worn in special circumstances to express a chivalrous spirit as opposed to modern moral degeneration.
Among the new means of propaganda, Dr Plinio also invented the “caravans”, formed by groups of young followers, who carry out an “itinerant” apostolate from one end of the immense country to the other. From October 1970 to 1995, they covered the whole Brazilian territory for a total of 5,031,360 kilometres, carrying out 23,199 campaigns in cities of all the states of Brazil and distributing 1,741,080 books and leaflets published by the association. This was a completely new propaganda tool, which made it possible to contact the general public while avoiding the filter of the “media”. The request for the works published, enormous for Latin America, confirmed the validity of Dr Plinio’s initiative.
For years, the TFP regularly promoted Study Weeks of anti-Communist Formation (SEFAC) during which, with conferences prepared with the help of audio-visual aids, a precise criticism of Communism was developed and the opposing Catholic doctrine was clearly expounded. These formation courses of the TFP were for young people from Brazil and every part of the world, a precious occasion to get to know each other, exchange opinions and live in a fraternal atmosphere.
Next to the commitment of the followers in the strict sense, called members or volunteers, a new form of apostolate has taken hold in recent years: that of the Correspondentes e Esclarecedores (Supporters and Friends).16 These latter spread the counter-revolutionary ideals within the family and professional environments where they work. At the end of the 1980s, through the modern technique of “direct mail”, that makes it possible to communicate by post with tens of thousands of supporters, the TFP acquired new efficient tools of apostolate. Some of the campaigns they promoted even managed to create new movements of opinion and radically change situations in various fields.
Notes:
12. P. Corrêa de Oliveira, “Obstáculo à corrida para o caos”, Catolicismo, no. 517, January 1994. According to what history teaches us, writes Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, “it seems that the great conversions usually occur by a fulminating thrust of the soul caused by grace on the occasion of a given internal or external fact”. Revolution and Counter-Revolution, p. 100.
13. Eph. 4:21-4.
14. Dom -B. Chautard, The Soul of the Apostolate, pp. 82-6.
15. The word “hermitage” is owed to Fabio Vidigal Xavier de Silveira, director of the Brazilian TFP, who died in 1971. A few years before his death, when visiting the famous Hermitage “dei Carceri” of Assisi, he was enthusiastic about the supernatural spirit that characterized it and had applied the use of this term, in everyday language, to the office where he worked.
16. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira himself thus defined the role of the Supporters: “Our supporters have the mission to fight in this great battle of public opinion, with their example, their behaviour, with all that transpires from their being true Catholics. And it is what a true counter-revolutionary must do and say, facing the wave of perdition that is dragging the modern world. We are doing this. We must give a good example again every time, repeat the same words, know how to proclaim our ideals on high and raise high our standards”. Meeting with the Supporters of 7 September 1989.