From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org
ALC Noticias Peru, Cuba, El Salvador, Brazil, Mexico
From
Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>
Date
Mon, 05 Apr 2004 13:23:43 -0700
ALC NEWS SERVICE
E-mail: director@alcnoticias.org
ALC HEADLINES:
PERU: Parliamentary forum emphasizes educational work of Adventist missionary
CUBA: Cuban theologian receive homage for 80th birthday
EL SALVADOR: Catholic Bishop calls on President elect to show unity and to
fulfill promises
BRAZIL: IURD expands its media empire
MEXICO: II Symposium on the history of Protestantism in Latin America
PERU
Parliamentary forum emphasizes educational work of Adventist missionary
LIMA, March 30, 2004 (alc). Congress representatives and Peruvian
intellectuals and from other countries attended a forum held in the
legislative palace in homage of Fernando Stahl, considered the father of
rural education in Peru.
Congresswoman Graciela Yanarico, organizer of the forum Genesis of Rural
Education in Peru said she could not help but express her profound
gratitude to Stahl. She considers herself to be the fruit of this education
and the efforts of a man who opted to leave the comforts of his
professional life in the United States, to educate Aymara indigenous in the
Puno highlands in southern Peru and later indigenous people in the Amazon
area.
Stahl, a member of the Adventist Church arrived in Puno with his wife and
children in the 1920s. He began to live alongside the Aymara, helping them
in the fields and learning their language.
Congress president Henry Pease lauded the fact that a forum was held in
Parliament to recognize and strengthen rural education in Peru and above
all to recall the educational efforts that the Adventist Church developed
through Stahl and his children, who lived alongside the people.
It is an admirable action that we Peruvians must recognize because the
only way to change the country, is to join with the poor, the excluded,
with those who were left on the margins hundreds of years ago, he said.
The forum brought together key historians including Jose Tamayo Herrera,
who spoke about indigenous education in Peru and Charles Teel, director of
the Stahl Foundation in the La Sierra University in California.
Another historian, Merlmn Alomia spoke about the history of rural education
in Peru. He affirmed that Adventism contributed to the formation of people
in the Puno area. When it entered the highlands it had a double effect, he
said. First, it broke the bindings of traditional culture and secondly, it
prepared people for the new tasks and challenges in modern society.
The event also included the testimony of the Chambi Venero brothers, who
are part of the history of rural education in Peru. Evenezer Chambi owns a
clinic in Beverly Hills, California and his brother Israel Chambi is a
renowned neurologist who also lives in the United States.
The head of the family is Pastor Pedro Chambi, who learned to read at age
22. He accompanied Stahl, becoming his guide and translator.
CUBA
Cuban theologian receive homage for 80th birthday
By Josi Aurelio Paz
HAVANA, March 31, 2004 (alc). Church leaders came together in the Martin
Luther King Jr Memorial Center in Havana to pay homage to Evangelical
theologian and Cuban congressman Sergio Arce Martinez for his 80th
birthday. Participants also included a delegation from Puerto Rico,
government official and members of the academic world.
During the event, a group of speakers referred to the so-called Theology in
the Revolution, developed by Arce Martinez based on the new vision of the
Cuban religious phenomenon after the social change in January 1959, which
challenged the Church to make changes in its evangelizing concept, its
praxis and its commitment with the people.
A professor of theology in the Presbyterian Seminary in Princeton, New
Jersey, Arce returned to Cuban in 1961. A doctor in Philosophy and
Literature in the University of Havana, he also has an Honoris Causa
doctorate in Theology from the Carolina University in the former Czech
Republic
Ricardo Alarcsn de Quesada, president of the Cuban parliament attended the
event. To unite the search for truth and the practice of virtue is the
quality that must preside the life of Marxists and Christians, said
Alarcon in his speech.
In 1968, Arce was named vice president of the Christian Conference for
Peace and created the Camilo Torres Restrepo national theology days,
aimed at analyzing, in the light of the Cuban reality, the example of the
priest who was murdered in Colombia.
A man who is emblematic of the theology of Cuban roots and committed to his
people, Arce, who was elected legislator for third consecutive period, also
receive the homage of the Cuban Council of Churches.
Other participants in the event, held in the Ebenezer de Marianao Church
included representatives from the Presbyterian Reform Church of Cuba, as
well as his local Church in Varadero where he was pastor for many years.
City government authorities and authorities from the Theological
Evangelical Seminary of Matanzas also attended the event. Caridad Diego
Bello, head of the Religious Affairs Office for the Central Community Party
Committee, Hart Davalos, president of the Catedra de Estudios Martianos y
Rhode Gonzalez, president of the Cuban Council of Churches, also attended.
The Reverend and legislator Raul Suarez Ramos presented a reprint of Sergio
Arces book The mission of the Church in a socialist society; published
by Caminos. An essential document of Arces work, it characterizes the
theological task in Cuba, controversial, novel and committed to a pastoral
ministry from and with the people.
EL SALVADOR
Catholic Bishop calls on President elect to show unity and to fulfill
promises
SAN SALVADOR, April 1, 2004 (alc). The country needs everyone. It is not
viable if we are not all included in a national project that favors the
most dispossessed, said Gregorio Rosa Chavez, auxiliary bishop of San
Salvador, in a homily addressing President elect Elias Antonio Saca.
The prelate offered the homily during a Mass celebrated in this cathedral
to mark the 24th anniversary since the March 24, 1980 murder of Salvadoran
Bishop Oscar Arnulto Romero, by a paramilitary commando.
In his homily entitled From fear to hope, Msgr. Rosa Chavez also referred
to the violence of the so-called maras or youth gangs in Central America.
Why does a young person turn to violence? Why do they turn to drugs? They
do so because doors are closed, because they cannot finish their studies,
because they cannot obtain dignified work, because they have no future,
because their hope is killed. We hope that we are capable of accompanying
the best there is in the government program so that the poor have life and
life in abundance, he said.
Saca, a candidate for the right wing Alianza Republicana Nacionalista
(Arena) party won with 57 percent of the vote last March 21, beating
Schafik Handal who ran for the leftist Frente Farabundo Martm para la
Liberacisn Nacional (FMLN).
The mass was attended by Carlos Rivas Zamora, mayor of San Salvador, Human
Rights Ombudsman Beatrice de Carrillo, Lutheran Bishop Medardo Gomez and
pastors from different Evangelical Churches as well as delegates from
Honduras, the United States and other countries.
Given the electoral results, Bishop Rosa Chavez asked, which was stronger
hope or fear? Didnt the candidates generate hope? And then a more
disturbing question, Do we have a future of hope after the results of last
Sunday?
He mentioned that Msgr. Romero, in the face of a military uprising October
15, 1979, spoke with many people, seeking the best for the country and
discovered that the project was going to fail because it was a reform
stained with blood and repression.
One year after the war in Iraq, there are two paths for the world: fear
and hope, he said.
The current situation in El Salvador can also be summarized in three words:
the first is hope, hope that things can change, the second is
disenchantment and the third is disappointment. I also see there are three
words to look to the future: the first is challenge, the second is
discernment and the third is commitment, he added.
We have the challenge of moving forward without losing hope. Then there is
discernment, which includes an objective analysis of what took place,
self-criticism and bravery and humility to accept the truth. Finally,
commitment, a commitment to say no to fear and yes to hope, he said.
What is our mission, the Churchs mission?, he asked. The Church, the
Churches have the responsibility to accompany the people from their own
identity and with complete freedom.
Political leaders also have a responsibility, he said. They must not forget
that their main commitment is to common good, above all the poorest. Social
leaders also have a responsibility; they must not allow themselves to be
overcome by exhaustion, pessimism and divisions.
There is a responsibility for those who follow Jesus Christ, for
Christians. We cannot forget that faith in eternal life leads us to
transform the world. We cannot remain with our arms crossed. If we do, the
economy will be at the service of profit and not the human being. If we
remain with our arms crossed we will have harsh and super harsh hand and
not the tenderness of God who wants all people to have life. (202/2004).
BRAZIL
IURD expands its media empire
SAO PAULO, April 2, 2004 (alc). The Universal Kingdom of God Church (IURD)
recently bought channel 67 of Atlanta and plans to broaden its media empire
in the world, buying a radio station in New York.
Channel 67, W67CI is affiliated with the Telemundo Network, one of the
biggest in the United States and the main American partner of Red Globo de
Televisisn, according to journalist Marcelo Dutra in the magazine Eclesia.
In Brazil the IURD owns Red Record de Televisisn, which vies for viewers
with Globo. They have been at loggerheads since 1995 when Globo produces
the miniseries Decadence which featured a corrupt pastor who grew rich
thanks to his Church.
The dispute peaked when Bishop Sergio Von Helde beat an image of our Our
Lady Who Appeared, patron saint of Brazil, during a Red Record television
show. The repercussions were so enormous that the IURD was forced to
transfer Von Helde to Portugal.
Today, another episode of this dispute is underway. Brazilian communication
media owe approximately $3.5 billion. Of that total, 60 percent corresponds
to Red Globo, which has appealed to the government for help.
Carlos Lessa, president of the National Economic and Social Development
Bank (BNDES) met March 19 with representatives from Record, TV and SBT
networks to discuss funding that would benefit, among others, Red Globo.
Networks that compete with Globo told Folha Universal, the IURD paper, that
they are in agreement with the BNDES concession as long as the money is
used for technological modernization and not to pay debts. This position
clearly affects Globos interests.
A 12-point study by the Communication and Culture Studies Institute looked
at the reasons for the current crisis the media are facing in Brazil.
It points to the family administration of these companies, businesses that
do not yield what is hoped for, such as Cable TV, Internet and Telephones,
dollar debts taken on when the Real and the dollar were equal. Today, one
dollar equals three Reales, which means the debt has tripled in the period.
Given this trend, Red Record is seeking new fronts abroad, seeking to
conquer a growing segment in the US market: the Hispanic community. On the
air since 1987, 85 percent of Telemundos audience is Spanish speaking.
The radio that the IURD is seeking to buy is WADO-1280 AM, which only
broadcasts in Spanish.
MEXICO
II Symposium on the history of Protestantism in Latin America
By Carlos Mondragsn
MEXICO CITY, April 2, 2004 (alc). The II International Symposium on the
History of Protestantism in Latin America and the Caribbean will be held
next October 20-22 in San Cristsbal de las Casas, Chiapas and the general
theme will be Making History in a Context of Poverty and Violence.
Experts from diverse Protestant Churches will analyze the main thematic
focal points of the event: 1) Evangelical Christianity in the indigenous
world; 2) History of Protestant thought in Latin America; 3) Experiences of
Protestant political participation; 4) Evangelical women, power and
violence and 5) Protestantism and social sciences: the methodological debate.
The Mexican section of the Latin American Theological Fraternity (FTL),
teaching personnel from the National Autonomous University of Mexico
(UNAM), the Mexican Studies Center on Protestantism (CEPROMEX) and the
Kairos Chiapas organization are convening the event.
The event will take place in the state of Chiapas, in the southeast of
Mexico, a region where Evangelical indigenous people have been the victims
of intolerance. In some cases, they have been expelled from their homes and
communities for abandoning the religious traditions of their ethnic groups.
More than 20,000 have been displaced, forced to flee their lands for
embracing the Evangelical faith. The majority sought refuge in the areas
surrounding San Cristobal de las Casas, the city where the symposium will
be carried out.
The state of Chiapas became famous for the indigenous rebellion of the
Zapatista de Liberacisn Nacional Army, which began a decade ago. It also
has the highest Evangelical population the country. According to official
data, more than 30 percent of the local population is non-Catholic,
something that contrasts with the national average of around 5 percent.
This symposium, organized by Carlos Martmnez Garcma, Alfredo Echegollen and
Carlos Mondragsn, is a continuation of the one held in October 2002 in the
National San Marcos University in Lima, Peru, sponsored by the university
and the Latin American Theological Fraternity. (205/2004).
------------------------
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