A educação popular na Arquidiocese da Paraíba (1966-1985)

Abstract

In 1966, the Archdiocese of Paraíba inaugurated a new pastoral methodology with a strong presence in the popular milieu, where pastoral agents were not only missionaries or religious interested in spreading the Gospel message, but also popular educators with a desire to change the social order. The performance of such agents was characterized by the stripping and cultivation of a culture that did not overlap with that of its recipients, but which considered the reality of each community sharing knowledge and perceiving the value of popular construction. The time cut was from the time of the arrival of Dom José Maria Pires (1966), then archbishop of the Archdiocese of Paraíba, until the end of the military regime (1985). The themes present in the educational processes present a Church committed to the popular classes, systematizing their activities through the Ecclesial Base Communities (CEB's), the Pastoral Action Living Church, the Human Promotion Team of the Archdiocese, the Center for the Defense of Human Rights of the Archdiocese of Paraíba. In addition to these movements, there were several experiences in the archdiocesan soil that had other protagonists such as the Inserted Small Communities formed by sisters and the initiatives of evangelization and popular education of Fr. José Comblin. In such practices, one can notice the articulation of the ideas of Paulo Freire and of Liberation Theology that refer to a new pedagogical knowledge and a new theology. In both the action is evidenced as a prerequisite of any theory and a pedagogical and theological knowledge with meaning for life. In such pastoral and educational practices new actors are established in a scenario marked by oppression from the military regime, from local persecutions on behalf of political leaders and businessmen. It is the development of a new praxis in which faith and daily life are articulated by promoting with the oppressed their liberation.