Social Justice Activist Spotlight—Dom Helder Camara

Here at the Darst Center the bedrooms are named after significant people who have been models for doing work in social justice. Each month we highlight an individual to learn about their lives, the work they have done, and the impact they have made. This month we are highlighting Dom Helder Camara. Here is a synopsis of his life and work, and his impact on others:

"Archbishop Camara was a founder of the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops, the main Roman Catholic Church body in Brazil, and a founder of CELAM, the meeting of all the Latin American bishops. He was in attendance at the Vatican II (the council of the modernized Catholic Church) and at Medellin (a council of Latin American Catholics that instituted the reforms of Vatican II, especially regarding the plight of the poor and oppressed).

From 1964 to 1985, Camara served as Archbishop of Recife and Olinda, two neighboring northeastern cities in Brazil's poor northeast area. He campaigned for the government to combat drought in the dry northeast and spoke out against Brazil's 1964–85 military dictatorship. News coverage of his lectures and church sermons was routinely banned, and his home even came under gunfire. He continually worked to draw attention to the suffering of the poor, even after his retirement from his post in 1985.

Camara earned praise from Pope John Paul II, who called him a "brother of the poor." His work also earned him scorn from Brazilian military dictators, who called him a subversive communist." He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times, but never received the award. He died on August 30, 1999 from cardiac arrest. He was 90 years old."

"Keep your language. Love its sounds, its modulation, its rhythm. But try to march together with men of different languages, remote from your own, who wish like you for a more just and human world."