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Professor Leonardo Boff

Leonardo Boff was born 14 December 1938 in Concórdia, Santa Catarina state, Brazil. He is a theologian, philosopher and writer, known for his active support for the rights of the poor and excluded.

He currently serves as Professor Emeritus of Ethics, Philosophy of Religion and Ecology at the Rio de Janeiro State University.

Studies as a priest[link]

Boff entered the Franciscan Order in 1959 and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1964. He spent the following years studying for a doctorate in theology and philosophy at the University of Munich, which he received in 1970. Boff's doctoral thesis studied in what measure the church can be a sign of the sacred and the divine in the secular world and in the process of liberation of the oppressed. He has since published his thesis as a book available in German, entitled Die Kirche als Sakrament im Horizont der Welterfahrung.

Liberation theology[link]

He became one of the best known supporters (along with Gustavo Gutiérrez) of the early Liberation theologians. He was present in the first reflections that sought to articulate indignation against misery and marginalization with promissory discourse of the faith, leading to Liberation theology. He continues to be a controversial figure in the Catholic Church, primarily for his sharp criticism of the church's hierarchy, which he sees as "fundamentalist" ("A cardinal like J. Ratzinger, who publishes an official paper stating that the only true Church is the Catholic Church, and the others aren't even churches, that the only legitimate religion is Catholicism and the others don't even possess a faith, being just beliefs, perpetrates religious terrorism, besides being a grave theological error" ^[1]), but also for his past critical support of communist régimes.

He has always been an advocate of human rights causes, helping to formulate a new, Latin American perspective with "rights to life and the ways to maintain them with dignity". The work of liberation theologians helped lead to the creation of more than 1,000,000 "ecclesial base communities" ("Comunidades Eclesiais de Base" or CEBs) among poor Catholics in Brazil and in Latin America. The movement (and Boff) also criticised the role of the Roman Catholic Church in the social and economic order that oppressed the communities they worked in. Boff claimed to find much of the justification for his work in Chapter 1, No. 8 of Lumen Gentium ("Light of the Nations"), a document from Vatican II.

Political views[link]

He is critical of secular power as well of American foreign policy. He opposed the Iraq War and considered George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon's leadership to be similar to that of "fundamentalist terrorist states." He also criticizes despotic rulers in the Middle East: "Those [emirs and kings] are despotic, they do not even have a constitution. Though extremely rich, they maintain the people in poverty."^[2]

Boff said in an interview with the site "Comunità Italiana" (November 2001) about September 11 attacks on the United States of America: "For me, the terrorist attack of September 11 represents the shift towards a new humanitarian and world model. The targeted buildings sent a message: a new world civilization cannot be built with the kind of dominating economy (symbolized by the World Trade Center), with the kind of death machine set up (the Pentagon) and with the kind of arrogant politics and producer of many exclusions (...) For me the system and culture of capital began to collapse. They are too destructive." In the same interview he said that "One of the worst fundamentalisms is that of neoliberalism".^[1]

Break from Roman Catholic Church[link]

Authorities in the Roman Catholic Church did not appreciate his criticism of the church's leadership. They also felt his human rights advocacy had "politicized everything" and accused him of Marxism. In 1985, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, directed at that time by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), silenced him for a year for his book Church: Charism and Power. In the interview quoted above he accused Cardinal Ratzinger of "religious terrorism" (terrorismo religioso).

He was almost silenced again in 1992 by Rome, this time to prevent him from participating in the Eco-92 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, which finally led him to leave the Franciscan religious order and the priestly ministry.

For most of his life Boff has worked as a professor in the academic fields of theology, ethics and philosophy throughout Brazil and also as lecturer in many universities abroad such as University of Heidelberg, Harvard University, University of Salamanca, University of Lisbon, University of Barcelona, University of Lund, University of Louvain, University of Paris, University of Oslo, University of Torino and others.

He has written more than 100 books, translated into the main languages of the world. In 2001 he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in the Swedish Parliament.

Recognitions[link]

He has received honorary doctorates, in politics from the University of Turin and in theology for the University of Lund. He has also been honored with various awards, within Brazil and the rest of the world, for his struggles on behalf of human rights for the weak, oppressed and marginalized.

Notes[link]

1. ^ ^{a b} Interview to the Comunità Italiana(Portuguese)
2. ^ Interview to the Comunità Italiana: "[Os USA] fizeram alianças espúrias com os emires e reis. Estes são despóticos, sequer possuem constituição. Embora riquíssimos, mantém o povo na pobreza." (Portuguese)

References[link]

• Cox, Harvey (1988). The silencing of Leonardo Boff: the Vatican and the future of world Christianity. Meyer-Stone Books. ISBN 0-940989-35-2. OCLC 230967924 18193194 230967924. 

External links[link]

• Official home page
• Biography. Third World Traveller
• Right Livelihood Award
• Interview to the Comunita Italiana (in Portuguese)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Leonardo Boff

John Main OSB (1926–1982) was a Roman Catholic Benedictine monk and priest who presented a way of Christian meditation which utilized a prayer-phrase or mantra. In 1975 Main began Christian meditation groups which met at Ealing Abbey, his monastery in West London, England and, later, in Montreal, Canada. These were the origins of the ecumenical network of Christian meditation groups which have become the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM).

Life[link]

John Main was born in London as Douglas Main. He was the fourth of six children of David and Eileen Main. His siblings were Kathleen (Kitty), David John (Ian), Yvonne, Diane and Patrick Alan. In the late 1940s he joined the Canons Regular of the Lateran and studied at the diocesan seminary of St Edmund's College, Ware in England before being chosen to pursue theology studies at the Pontifical Athenaeum Angelicum in Rome. He then began to doubt his vocation to the priesthood and decided to leave his order to go to Dublin (where his family then lived). In Dublin, he studied law at Trinity College. He graduated in 1954 and joined the British Colonial Service.^[1]

Main was assigned to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, where he met Swami Satyananda, who taught him meditation using a mantra as the means to arrive at meditative stillness. The swami taught Main to meditate by giving him a Christian mantra.^[2]

In 1956 Main returned to Dublin and taught law at Trinity College. In 1959 he decided to join the Benedictines at Ealing Abbey in London. He took the name of John, in honour of St John the Apostle. He was ordained a priest in 1963.^[1] Following his ordination he taught at St Benedict's School, Ealing, which is governed by the monastic community of Ealing Abbey.

In 1970 Main was appointed the headmaster of St. Anselm's Abbey School in Washington, D.C.. It was here that he began to study seriously the writings of the desert father John Cassian for the first time.^[2] Main saw parallels between the spiritual practice taught by Cassian and the meditative practice he had been taught by the swami in Kuala Lumpur.^[1]

In 1974 Main left Saint Anselm's Abbey in Washington and returned to Ealing Abbey in London, where he began Christian meditation groups at an old house on the monastery grounds.^[1] He was assisted in this work by Laurence Freeman, also a monk of Ealing Abbey.^[3] In 1977 Main and Freeman were sent to establish a new Benedictine monastery in Montreal.^[2] Here too, they taught Christian meditation groups.^[4]

Main died of cancer in 1982. Freeman continued Main's work, travelling widely to establish Christian meditation groups across the world. In 1991 these Christian meditation groups were networked together into the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM).^[3] Each year the WCCM hosts the John Main Seminar, which has been led by Mary McAleese, Huston Smith, the Dalai Lama, Charles Taylor, Father William Johnston, Father Richard Rohr, O.F.M., Sister Joan Chittister OSB, Anglican archbishop Rowan Williams, Greek Orthodox bishop Kallistos Ware, Abbot Thomas Keating, Dom Bede Griffiths OSB Cam and others.^[5]

Teaching[link]

Main's teaching was simple: sit still and upright for a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 30 minutes, close your eyes and silently recite the prayer-phrase (mantra). The prayer-phrase is a sacred word or phrase which is repeated continually.^[6]

Both Main and Freeman recommended using the prayer-phrase Maranatha, which is Aramaic for "Come, Lord", as in I Corinthians 16:22 and Revelation 22:20.^[6]

Bibliography[link]

Word into Silence
Letters from the Heart
Moment of Christ: the path of meditation
The Present Christ
The Heart of Creation
Door of Silence
The Inner Christ
The Hunger for Depth and Meaning (and CDs)
Communitas Series (10 sets of CDs)

References[link]

External links[link]

• The World Community for Christian Meditation
• Canadian Christian Meditation Community
• John Main Christian Meditation Group San Francisco
• Meditacion Cristiana - Hispanoamérica
• WCCM - Russian/Ukrainian
• John Main Center and inter-religious dialogue, Georgetown University

Zuenir Ventura, 2012

Zuenir Carlos Ventura (born June 1, 1931 in Além Paraíba, Minas Gerais) is a Brazilian journalist and writer. He is a columnist for the newspaper O Globo, and for Época magazine. He won the Jabuti Prize in 1995 in the "reportage" category for the book Cidade Partida.^[1] In 2009, his book 1968 - O que Fizemos de Nós won the third place at the same category of the prize.^[2] In 1989, he and his team of journalists from Jornal do Brasil won the Esso Journalism Award for their reportage on Chico Mendes' murder investigation.^[3]

Zuenir was born in Minas Gerais and moved to Rio de Janeiro during his youth^[4]. He had to work in order to pay his superior studies^[4]. His first job was as a wall painter apprentice, with his father. He was also a janitor at a bar and a Dentures laboratory; an office-boy at a bank agency, a clerk in a shirt store, and a elementary school teacher.^[4] From this latter experience he created his will to study languages^[4]. He graduated as a techer and taught for more than forty years at the Communication School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and at the Superior School of Design of the Rio de Janeiro State University^[4].

His first job related to journalism was as an archivist at Tribuna da Imprensa, when he was still at university. However, he would only become a journalist when Carlos Lacerda (then manager-owner of the newspaper) asked to his employees if anyone would be able to write something about Albert Camus, who had recently died at the time. Zuenir offered himself and started his journalistic career.^[4]

Bibliography[link]

• 1968: O Ano que Não Terminou (1968: The Year That Didn't End) — Editora Nova Fronteira (1989, 2006)/Editora Planeta (2008)
• Cidade Partida (Broken City) — Companhia das Letras (1994)
• Inveja: Mal Secreto (Envy: Secret Evil) — Editora Objetiva (1998)
• Chico Mendes: Crime e Castigo: Quinze anos depois, o autor volta ao Acre para concluir a mais premiada reportagem sobre o herói dos povos da floresta (Chico Mendes: Crime and Punishment: Fifteen years later, the author returns to Acre to conclude the most awarded reportage about the hero of the people of the forest) — Companhia das Letras (2003)
• 1968: O que Fizemos de Nós (1968: What We Did of Us) — Editora Planeta do Brasil (2009)

References[link]

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