A práxis de José Comblin: pensamento progressista católico no Nordeste

Abstract

The formation, radicalization and consolidation of the progressive Church in Brazil from the 1940s to the 1960s found in the Brazilian rural environment both an object of its reflection and a target for its action. The countryside’s structural problems, such as illiteracy, poverty, hunger, land and work were themes of strong theoretical and practical advances by this sector of the Church. The Catholic Church,directly or indirectly, has always been involved in the nation's structural conflicts, predominantly on the side of the rural elites and to a lesser extent on the side of the working class masses. The positioning of this sector of the Church alongside the oppressed of the land in Brazil and the Brazilian Northeast, legitimizing their actions and helping various social movements, also occurred through a movement of awareness and education of clergy and laypeople, aiming to support the struggle of rural workers. Even from the 1980s onwards, where a conservative reaction in the Catholic Church organized an offensive against the work of progressive sectors, there was a strong involvement of clergy and lay people with rural workers throughout the Northeast. This work stems from the relationship between the progressive church and rural workers in the Northwest aiming to know the thoughts and the praxis of Father José Comblin, highlighting his political and social role during his second and third passage (from 1965 to 1972 and from 1980 to 2011) in Brazil.Based on his thinking and praxis, we will seek, as specific objectives, to analyze his contributions to the formation of clergy and laypeople in the Brazilian Northeast, analyze the reception and application of his ideas by clergy and laypeople and their practical implications in the workers' struggles, identifying the aspects of his thought and praxis that point to a lineage of progressive Brazilian Catholic thought. To achieve the methodological proposal of thinking about political thought, we will use a bibliographic research approach. As a result, we emphasize that understanding José Comblin's political thought and praxis will help us understand aspects of a lineage of radical, progressive Catholic political thought that raises awareness and enhances the protagonist role of the poor and laypeople in their struggles for liberation.