by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Mrs. M. J. Salgado, president of the Ladies of Charity, has sent me this letter:
The Association of Ladies of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, greatly honored by the outstanding TFP campaign to gather donations for Christmas for the poor under your leadership, extends its special thanks for the wise idea and the campaign’s excellent outcome. It also commends the many groups of young men who spared no effort or sacrifice in carrying out this challenging task, demonstrating Christian faith and warmth.
“Edifying work!
“An example our youth should follow. Work that gained the public’s sympathy in our capital, resulting in such an extensive collection. TFP’s presentation, with its standards, capes, and symbols, along with the gallantry the young men displayed at the beginning of the campaign, as well as the discipline, education, and distinction of its participants, contributed to this remarkable outcome.
“Besides greatly supporting the campaign, this situation also enhanced the Association’s reputation, increasing its visibility. The financial results exceeded expectations. All funds will be used to improve the care provided to those served, including material support as well as promotional, educational, and housing assistance—goals that the Association of Ladies of Charity has consistently pursued.
“With the Ladies of Charity’s thanks and prayers.”
The publication of these heartfelt words concludes our Christmas campaign, which ended on the 4th of this month in a solemn session at the Ladies of Charity auditorium, chaired by Bishop Ernesto de Paula, representing the Metropolitan Archbishop, Most Rev. Paulo Evaristo Arns.
On that occasion, checks were distributed for the total cash amount raised by the TFP, which, after deducting expenses, totaled Cr$42,276.00. The checks were handed to representatives of the Ladies of Charity’s various branches in the city’s impoverished neighborhoods so they could distribute them to the poor. The items collected by the TFP during the campaign—such as food, medicine, clothing, furniture, and toys, valued at a total of Cr$6,171.00—are now in the possession of the charitable ladies and have been distributed to those in need through a similar process. During the event, slides from the Christmas campaign were projected, receiving warm applause from Most Rev. Ernesto de Paula and the Ladies of Charity.
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Finally, it is important to note that a similar campaign was organized by TFP’s Guanabara section, which raised Cr$22,301.10 for the Casa São Luís para a Velhice (St. Louis Home for the Elderly). TFP’s Minas Gerais section also held a Christmas campaign to support those aided by Lar Dom Orione in Belo Horizonte, raising Cr$11,318.97. Additionally, the Paraná section of the TFP collected Cr$14,013.36 in its campaign to support Curitiba’s Ladies of Charity.
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The results of our campaigns will soon be published in the press. I will notify the readers.
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Based on the data collected here, two types of comments can be made. Some would relate to the broad outlines of the campaign and should be considered the most important. These include the elevated goals of our Christmas effort, the joy it will bring to thousands of needy families, the deeply Christian meaning of almsgiving, and so on. However, these considerations are so obvious to any well-informed mind that an article on the subject would be trivial and unnecessary.
Another set of considerations leads to consequences that many either overlook or refuse to see. Let us take a closer look at these.
The outstanding conduct of TFP young men has inspired enthusiasm among many people. They faced not only the unexpected but also the unimaginable: Even today, hundreds of young men, including college and high school students, shopkeepers, and workers, spend their free time, leisure hours, and even vacations collecting donations for the poor without seeking personal gain. Additionally, they endured a brutal heat wave that most people would find hard to believe if they did not see it.
It’s only fair to restate what has been said and repeated so often during the campaign: this selflessness is genuinely admirable.
But this is not enough. Ask these admirable young men why they are so dedicated, and any of them will say it is because of the principles, mentality, hard work habits, and discipline they gained in the TFP. They will also add that, if it weren’t for this, they would never have been drawn to run such a campaign, nor would they have had the energy to devote to it.
“By their fruits ye shall know them,” said Our Lord (Mt 12:33). If these young men’s admirable actions are a result of their TFP formation, one would have to be an unyielding fanatic to deny our organization any praise.
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Why do I recall this so emphatically?
I do this in the TFP’s legitimate self-defense. And being assertive is only natural for those who defend themselves with a clear conscience.
In fact, a “toadish” media network of spoken or whispered defamation exists throughout Brazil, continually spreading calumnies against the TFP. We have received letters simultaneously from TFP sections, subsections, or volunteer groups from various parts of the country reporting the emergence of the same new slander, apparently being transmitted from a central source. These slanders are so foolish and vulgar that anyone who refutes them would only diminish themselves. Moreover, they circulate without any supporting arguments. It is nothing but “hearsay,” without any proof or evidence. How can one refute something so inconsistent and venomous?
Besides, I am not trying to persuade the authors or spreaders of these slanders. They know very well that they are not telling the truth. My only goal is to protect the good-faith public from them. To such people, I say: do not believe the evil whispers about a tree whose fruits inspire such admiration.
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Overall, our campaign has received positive coverage on TV and radio news, and I want to thank them publicly and sincerely. The same goes for some newspapers, including Folha and Última Hora, to which I also extend my gratitude.
Unfortunately, what can be said about some cannot be said about all.
Hundreds of young men in red capes, carrying tall standards with golden lions, acting on behalf of the poor in the most central areas of large cities, are definitely more newsworthy than the wall that the rain knocked down during the night at the back of a school, or the car crash that frightened people but did not injure anyone, or a common brawl between two young men, in which one slapped the other.
Now—I say this with sadness, but I have the right to say it because the media are not a Fourth Estate, above all criticism—there are newspapers, even large and prestigious ones, that have space to report on all these trivialities but refused to publish a single line about the TFP campaign.
How can we explain this silence, which stubbornly refuses to acknowledge what the entire city sees, and thus denies support to a campaign that only the “toads” and their leftist allies fail to admire?
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I extend my reflection a bit further.
After the TFP campaign about Marxist Allende’s election in Chile ended, a young TFP volunteer from Porto Alegre was approached by a colleague who was an anti-TFP activist. A minor argument ensued. The anti-TFP activist insulted our volunteer’s mother and was slapped in response. The man who was slapped, seemingly seeking nothing more than that, went to the police to file a report and told a leftist newspaper in the city, which published it prominently. Several newspapers across Brazil echoed the story with a coordinated uproar. They launched a nationwide campaign over such a trivial incident as a fight between two boys over a slap.
Curiously, a media outlet that claims to be anticommunist spread false news about the slap and refused to publish the correction from the TFP volunteer. Yet it ignored and didn’t publish anything about our latest Christmas campaign!
I share this fact and point out the contradiction without any resentment. I am only motivated by a sincere desire to ask a question. Why is this so? Why?
View of the magnificent parade with which the Brazilian TFP inaugurated its campaign for Christmas for the poor in December 1970, on the Viaduto do Chá in São Paulo.