Message from Sr. Roselei Bertoldo*, one of 42 women auditors convoked to attend the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, Amazonia: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology. The Synod, a gathering of the Pope and Bishops across the 9 countries of the Amazon, begins today in Rome.
"... What we want to say to the Pope is the important role of the Church** in protecting life here. It is not possible to talk about evangelizing in the Amazon without thinking about the problems of violence against women, feminicídio (women killing), violence against youth, abuse and sexual exploitation."
" ...But what are the new directions that these priests want to open up in this Synod? I myself believe that women as deacons, this participation in the communities, is a right that we as women have. We live in a time of hope."
I was invited to participate in the Synod of the Amazon as a result of the work that our team is doing in the Network of the Call/Scream for Life (Rede um Grito pela Vida), that is a network that raises awareness and works to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation and human trafficking. During these years, our team has been doing a tremendous work on prevention, leadership development, service to victims, and political advocacy in the diverse places of river communities, Indigenous territories and numerous cities across the Amazon. From this work came the invitation to attend the Synod.
In the process leading up to my convocation, I participated in numerous consultations in many different venues across the Amazon and also in the Pan-Amazon region. In these consultations, 87,000 people participated with 53% being women. During this process of carrying out the Instrumentum Laboris we see the voices of women across the Amazon that point to situations of death, for example, the destruction of the environment and Indigenous communities. This is very clear.
The destruction of lives on the peripheries of city, the disregard to the situation by politicians, and lack of social programs at the local and state level is present. These situations create death: big development projects, mining, and monoculture crops by agro-business all have consequences for the lives of women and their families. Slavery, the exploitation of life for profit, of the bodies of women and children, youth suicides especially among the Indigenous, are all problems that kill life here.
Regarding human trafficking, we have highest indexes in the Amazon region of the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation in Brazil. The disappearance of children for organs and/or sexual exploitation, it is not clear always for which one is common. There are many cases of domestic servitude of Indigenous girls that are enticed to come to the city with the promise of being able to study but in the end are prisoners in the house of families, being exploited. We don't have exact statistics because these situations are under-reported.
The women of the Amazon bring to the surface all of these realities: internal migration and international immigration, the lack of jobs and life opportunities. The question of the expulsion of communities in the rural regions due to big projects such as hydro-electric dams, mining, and agro-business all bring destruction to local cultures.
The women are not quiet in facing these realities that destroy life. As I travel across the Amazon region, I have observed that the people who most preserve the forest and the rivers are the Indigenous communities and the Indigenous woman has a very important role. We realized that the Indigenous peoples do not have a dualist vision of life, there is no separation between them and nature because the land, water and forests are part of them. So celebrations, rituals, dances, food is very intertwined with nature. There is no separation.
I have learned a lot. I think one of the things I most appreciated is the dimension of silence, of listening, of respect that exists between them. I have learned that not everything has to be explained, but rather lived. This for me is the great wisdom of Indigenous people. The dimension of sharing. In the communities, no one goes hungry. When they hunt and bring in their crops, it is divided. There is not a notion of accumulation. When there is food, everyone eats. When there is not, they are all together in solidarity with this fact.
There is another dimension, too, of caring. The children of Indigenous people are cared by the community. There is the mother and the father that are responsible but the community cares, protects and educates the children. So when they leave the community, they are more vulnerable because they have a belief that the community will care for them. When they go to the city they often fall prey to cycles of violence and violations of human rights.
What I will take to Pope Francis is the voice of these women. We will tell him that the Church cannot be silent in the face of these violations. In the process of evangelization, the Church has to protect life. Where women are violated, when their bodies are violated, the Body of Christ is violated. Many of the women say that where the Church is present, there is a care for the people, their cultures and the land. And where the Church does not have a presence anymore, for example, where Evangelicals have entered there have been an increase in exploitation with the entering of illegal mining.
What we want to say to the Pope is the important role of the Church in protecting life here. It is not possible to talk about evangelizing without thinking about the problems of violence against women, feminicídio (women killing), violence against youth, abuse and sexual exploitation in the Amazon.
In this Synod, I am confident that there will be many advances. We will be a group of 42 women. There has not been a Synod with such a large presence of women. We have the right to speak, but not the right to vote. We will say to the Pope directly that we don't just want to be listened to, to just be valued, but we want the right to participate in decision-making. Even with the understanding that the Synod is for the Bishops, we want to remember that this Synod has a long and wide consultation process coming up to today.
The question of the role of women in the sacraments was clearly brought up by the women in the consultation process. They want to participate in the Church as decision-makers. They say that they want to be Deacons to give legitimacy to the work that they are already doing in the communities. There are communities in the Amazon where a priest goes once a year to do all the sacraments and the women ask why can't we do the sacraments? So they are asking for this, to be able to do the celebrations, baptisms, marriages, confirmations, confessions, and the Eucharist.
Women need to be recognized for what they have been doing in Church for a long time: taking on leadership roles and the coordinating of the communities. I don't know what will be the discussion regarding this issue of the priests at the Synod but Pope Francis himself points the direction with the name of the gathering " New Paths for the Church and Integrated Ecology.
What has already been done, it done. But what are the new directions that these priests want to open up in this Synod? I myself believe that women as deacons, this participation in the communities is a right that we as women have.
We live in a time of hope!
*Roselei is part of the Rede um Grito pela Vida and a Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Congregation
** Church refers to the Catholic Church
** Church refers to the Catholic Church
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