By Art Kubick
Two Biographies, a Film Documentary, and a Radio Documentary
The Cross. At the heart of each settlement established by the MST (Movimento dos Sem Terra, The Landless Movement) in Brazil stands a cross, erected by the people as a sign that this for them is their piece of the Promised Land. It carries within it meanings both profound and ironic. After all, the Cross, planted on American soil by “discoverers” both Portuguese and Spanish in the 15th and 16th centuries, symbolized conquest, claim and church – a joining of church and empire. 
Now that cross represents a reversal, the people reclaiming unused land from once vast latifundias, some dating back to the conquest itself. It also makes present and real the suffering and even death endured on this journey from landlessness to land – the broken promises, shattered dreams, struggles, even massacres of peasants moving continually forward in this hope for new beginnings. That cross symbolizes suffering, resurrection, and salvation/liberation: Presente.
As a priest reflected during a celebration remembering the massacre of nineteen landless workers in April 1996, “[W]ith us today are present all the martyrs of the struggle for land. Present are the nineteen landless of Eldorado do Carajás, who one year ago today bathed the Brazilian land with their blood. Present are the martyrs of Corumbiara, present are the assassinated Indians, workers, youths, housewives, all the brothers and sisters, we are heirs of their blood.
They are the companions who have been faithful to Jesus, companions of struggle for life and life in abundance. Our martyrs march taking with them a new history, with them we march, liberating our future” (quoted by John Burdick in Legacies of Liberation).
Way of the Cross
Just as the cross centers a hopeful community of once-landless settlers, so too does it mark the life and death of each martyr, a dangerous memory of suffering opening to a hope-filled future. In the small community of Boa Esperança in the northern Brazilian state of Pará a cross marks the grave of Sr. Dorothy Stang, planted – not buried – in the Amazon soil, as one of the peasants she worked with insists.
On the anniversary of her murder, the community set up 820 wooden crosses to symbolize the dangerous struggle for land. 772 white crosses represented the murdered victims of the land wars in the state of Pará; 48 red crosses stood for local people facing death threats. Present there was Erwin Kräutler, the Roman Catholic bishop of Xingu, known as both the largest and most dangerous diocese in South America; Tarcísio Feitosa da Silva, director of the Catholic Church’s Comissão Pastoral da Terra, or Pastoral Land Comission, in the region replaced Sr. Dorothy at the top of that death list.
Both supported Sr. Dorothy in her work, and now along with 46 others face the same fate because of their commitment to the rights of the poor. The loggers, ranchers, miners and land speculators who maintain this list have little to fear: only a handful have ever been brought to trial for their crimes, and just one or two of these have spent time in prison. But this might be changing.
True Accompaniment
The 16th century defender of the native peoples of the Americas, Bartolomé de las Casas, spoke of “the scourged Christ of the Indies,” a term he could easily have extended to the indigenous peoples of Brazil as well as the black slaves brought there from Africa – and to all those “crucified” in land conflicts.
As Carlos Mendes, an investigative journalist from Belém, tells Binka Le Breton, “The five mortal sins of Amazônia: land conflicts, slave labor, illegal logging, invading indigenous areas, and stealing minerals and timber.” And one might add, murdering – with impunity – those who protest these sins through their words, actions, presence.
The “crucified people” of Brazil live not only in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, but also in the vast lands of the Amazon – often lawless territory. In the state of Pará, for example, 1% of the population owns more than 50% of the land, a situation found throughout Brazil, which has one of the highest inequities of wealth in the world.
So the questions posed by the late Salvadoran theologian Ignacio Ellacuría challenge us to place ourselves before the crucified victims of today and ask three critical questions:
What have I done to crucify them?
What am I doing to end their crucifixion?
What should I do so that this people might rise from the dead?
These are questions asked, and answered, in various ways over the past forty years by many in Brazil – workers, young people, religious women and men, priests, bishops. By asking these questions any divisions between victims and activists melt away and a true accompaniment takes place.
What does it mean to accompany the crucified people? When an American like Dorothy Stang is murdered in the Amazon for walking with the poor, how does that shape our own asking of the three questions in the North American context? How do we journey Exodus-like with the landless of Brazil who seek only the Promised Land of rest and work on their own land? Two recent biographies, a documentary film, and a radio series on Sr. Dorothy Stang offer us some valuable background and insights into how to answer those questions.
Sr. Dorothy Stang arrived in Brazil in 1966 with five other sisters, two years after the 1964 coup that established a repressive military government in power for the next twenty years. By this time she had been a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur for fifteen years, teaching in Illinois and Arizona where she also worked with migrant families. Her sense of mission and commitment with the poor solidified during these years so that the move to Brazil proved to be one more (permanent) step on her journey of accompaniment.
In her biography, Martyr of the Amazon: The Life of Sister Dorothy Stang (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2007) Roseanne Murphy, S.N.D. de N., explores this journey. As a member of Dorothy Stang’s religious community, she brings a valuable sense of that community’s charism to her telling of this fascinating story. (She is also the author of Julie Billiart: Woman of Courage, a biography of the community’s founder.)
Their mission is to “make known God’s goodness and love of the poor through a Gospel way of life, community and prayer… We take our stand with poor people, especially women and children, in the most abandoned places. Each of us commits her one and only life to work with others to create justice and peace for all.”
Through this biography we see how Dorothy Stang – a woman joyful but stubborn, gentle, soft-spoken but hard as nails – lived out this vision from her childhood and teenage years in Dayton, Ohio, to her death on a muddy pathway in the Amazon rainforest.
A Time of Hope
The 1960s were a time of hope and vision in Latin America, especially Brazil. Paulo Freire’s educational work was raising consciousness among the poor; the JOC (Young Christian Workers) movement from Belgium had been established with its “See, Judge, Act” process; John XXIII had called for religious communities to send 10% of their personnel to Latin America; the Vatican Council was bringing new light to a darkened church; and the Latin American Bishops’ Conference meeting in 1968 would embrace an option for the poor and encourage the development of basic Christian communities. Liberation theology was alive and well.
Dorothy and the other sisters spent August to December of 1966 at CENFI (or CIF), the Center for Intercultural Formation, in Petrópolis, Brazil. Ivan Illich had begun the original CENFI (later to become CIDOC, the Center for Intercultural Documentation) in Cuernavaca, Mexico, supported by the progressive bishop Dom Sergio Mendez Arceo. This branch in Brazil continued the work of cultural and linguistic preparation for missionaries responding to the Pope’s call.
But there was also a certain subversive quality about CENFI: questioning the ambitious plans of the U.S. government with the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps and questioning the U.S. Catholic Church’s response to John XXIII’s call. Illich saw much of this as a desire to “help” the poor in Latin America by bringing to them U.S. middle-class values and vision (see his controversial article, “The Seamy Side of Charity” published in America, January 21, 1967).
The work of CENFI aimed at immersing the missionaries into the Brazilian culture and the Portuguese language, to move them toward an awareness of walking with the people and learning from them rather than “helping” them. One senses that Dorothy and the other sisters came with this experience of accompaniment, and that CENFI built upon it. The story that unfolds shows them entering into the culture, struggling with the language, but above all committing themselves to the poor.
The Poor, the Bible and Justice
This commitment evolved quickly, bringing them closer and closer to the people they served. Early on the religious habits disappeared, replaced by plain and practical clothing. Involvement with basic Christian communities led Dorothy and the others into deeper reflection on Scripture and the daily reality for the poor, raising questions about land rights, social justice, and oppression of workers. Violence and repression by the military dictatorship made this questioning dangerous.
As Sr. Barbara English, SND, remembers: “By 1968, all of us (SNDs) in Brazil were aware of the repression and violence promoted by the military dictatorship. People who worked for human rights and for the small farmers’ rights to the land were labeled subversive, and the military dictatorship had them hunted down.” Their work brought them first to Coroatá in the state of Maranhão, then eventually on to Marabá in the state of Pará.
In the early 1970s the military government had begun its program to “integrate the men without land in the northeast with the land without men in Amazônia” – a way of opening the Amazon forest to settlement with the Transamazon Highway. People were given plots of land to live on and farm along the highway. Ultimately it would become clear that the poor were being used in this process; the real goal was exploiting the wealth of the Amazon through ranching, agribusiness, mining, and logging. Dorothy and Sr. Becky Spires felt called to accompany the people, “to move deeper into the forest and work with the poor there.”
We Must Be Poor with the Poor
From this point on, Roseanne Murphy gives us an intimate portrait of Dorothy Stang as she moves deeper and deeper into the forest, falling more and more in love with the people she accompanies. We read about her growing vision of sustainable living on the land, her hopes and fears and doubts. This is not a pious hagiography of a “saint,” but rather a realistic portrait of someone whose vision did not always make her easy to work with. As Dorothy’s sister says, “She may have been a martyr, but she’s no saint!”
The spirituality that sustained her through so many struggles with government officials, land-grabbers, pistoleiros, mistrust and division was rooted in a quiet simplicity: the Bible, the breviary, silent contemplative prayer. Her 1992 sabbatical at Holy Names College in California introduced her to creation spirituality, and gave her the tools to integrate her love for the poor with her love for the earth, especially the Amazon rainforest.
Photos of Dorothy show her wearing a tee shirt with the words, “A morte da floresta e o fim da nossa vida (the death of the forest is the end of our lives).” “We must be poor with the poor and recapture a tender and kind relationship with Mother Earth. Then we will know how to act.” Eventually Dorothy’s own death would seal these actions-with the local people calling her “the angel of the Transamazonia” (while the loggers, ranchers and other opponents called her a “terrorist” and accused her of supplying guns to the peasants).
Fundamentally the same story is told by Binka Le Breton in her biography of Dorothy Stang, The Greatest Gift: The Courageous Life and Martyrdom of Sister Dorothy Stang (New York: Doubleday, 2007). She brings to it the perspective of someone who has lived in Brazil for the past twenty-five years and, like Sister Dorothy, is deeply concerned about the survival of the rainforest. As cofounder and director of the Iracambi Research Center in the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil, she is committed to working on biodiversity, conservation, sustainability, and human rights.
When news first came out about the murder of an environmental activist in Brazil, many of her friends assumed that it was Binka Le Breton. Her own love for the Amazon is reflected in other books she has written: Voices from the Amazon (Kumerian Press, 1993), a listening to the lives of people living in the Amazon – Indians, rubber tappers, miners, settlers, loggers and ranchers; A Land To Die For (Clarity Press, 1997), the life and death of Padre Josimo, a black priest committed to justice for the landless in the Parrot’s Beak area of the Amazon; and Trapped: Modern-Day Slavery in the Brazilian Amazon (Kumerian Press, 2003), documenting the lives of migrant workers trapped in the illegal trade in humans in the Amazon.
Although Binka Le Breton and Sr. Dorothy Stang never met – only speaking several times via a poor telephone connection – they shared a common passion for justice. It was Binka Le Breton who connected two young students with Dorothy, which led to their interesting film “The Student, the Nun & the Amazon” (www.studentnunamazon.com). Recognizing the similarities between her life and Dorothy’s, she wanted to learn more about this interesting and dedicated woman, so she spent time with Dorothy’s congregation in Ohio, with full access to letters and other material dealing with Dorothy’s life.
Back in Brazil, she interviewed those who worked with and knew Dorothy, deepened her understanding of the PDS (Sustainable Development Project) Dorothy had begun in Boa Esperança, immersed herself in the land and people there – even sleeping in Dorothy’s bed and reading her books. The result is an insightful account of Dorothy Stang’s prophetic life and martyr’s death.
The two biographies complement one another, building upon the strengths and insights of each writer. Both include photos enhancing the story: Le Breton’s incorporated into the text, Murphy’s gathered into two sections of her book. Le Breton’s biography contains a helpful index for the reader wanting to reconnect with certain sections of the book. She also tells the story through quoted conversations with various persons who knew Dorothy.
This makes for a very readable and engaging style, but at times crosses into imagined conversations and inner thoughts that move beyond the realm of the biographer and into that of the novelist or screenwriter. And yet the final sentence in her chapter, “February 12, 2005,” carries reflective power: “There was complete silence, and then, very gently, it started to rain on Dorothy’s body as it lay on the road, mingling her blood with the red clay of the forest floor.”
The story of Sr. Dorothy Stang does not end here with her death and “planting” in Brazilian soil. Her murderers, Raifran das Neves Sales and Clodoaldo Carlos Batista, were arrested within days of the shooting. They had been hired by Amair Feijoli da Cunha, also known as “Tato,” the intermediary in the murder. He in turn had been paid by the intellectual authors of the crime – two ranchers: Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, or “Bida,” and Regivaldo Pereira Galvão.
All of this, including the murder trial, is summarized in the Epilogue to each biography, but it is the central focus of a recent (2009) Just Media and HBO documentary film, “They Killed Sister Dorothy,” directed by award-winning filmmaker Daniel Junge and narrated by Martin Sheen (www.theykilledsisterdorothy.com).
Within a few days of Dorothy’s murder her younger brother David Stang (a former Maryknoll missioner) flies to Brazil with two questions: Why was she killed? Who was involved? The filmmakers follow him on his quest, introducing us along the way to the people of the Boa Esperança PDS, the Notre Dame sisters who worked with Dorothy, and to Dorothy herself….
Of course this is not just another story about Dorothy Stang. The larger story centers on the struggle of peasant farmers to maintain a way of life in the face of wealthy industrial interests. Beyond the loggers and the ranchers are the multinational corporations such as Cargill, John Deere, ADM, and Bunge.
In a nation plagued by a long history of division between the haves and the have-nots, who will stand with the poor? And does “progress” involve the destruction of the ecosystem?
“Peasant people…don’t have a chance to share in the riches that the planet can offer because some people are taking off so much of the pleasures of this world, and there’s only so much to go around,” Sr. Dorothy says in the film. But we also come to understand the complex issues facing Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his government in balancing development/jobs over against climate change.
Dorothy’s work with the CPT, the PDS, and Greenpeace placed her in the midst of this struggle – with an uncompromising stand on the side of the people and the rainforest. (A suggestion: Watch David Brancaccio’s interview with filmmaker Daniel Junge on PBS’ NOW, March 6, 2009 – www.pbs.org/now – for a fuller discussion of the film.)
Finally, a four-part radio series, “Modern Day Saints and Martyrs: The Life and Death of Sr. Dorothy Stang” (www.provokeradio.com, programs #76-79, 2008), brings to life the people and places of her life. Sponsored by the Maryland Province of Jesuits, Provoke Radio explores “issues of social justice and ethics… within the context of inter-religious dialogue,” and “tackles issues that affect the poor and marginalized throughout the world and gives a voice not only to them, but also to those working on their behalf.”
In this series of well-written and produced half-hour programs, producer Claire Hartman explores the life of Dorothy Stang on “a simple quest to discover the humanity of those we call saints.” While the series follows the same timeline as the biographies by Murphy and Le Breton, it does so with a creative narrative structure.
Through the voices of the Notre Dame de Namur nuns who served with Dorothy in Brazil, we are introduced to the broader spiritual vision and missionary community that sustained her in her work. Sisters Becky Spires, Jo Depwig, Jane Dwyer, Joan Krimm, Bobbie English and Katy Webster weave together a loving but realistic portrait of Dorothy, Brazil, and their work among the poor.
“We walk the road of liberation together.” Very early on the sisters working in Brazil saw that their call was to walk with the people – more than that, to live with the people, sharing their lives as much as possible….”
Their goal was to listen, find out what the people needed, and then respond; to empower the people. And so it was only logical that when the people moved to the Amazon seeking land, the sisters – specifically Sr. Dorothy and Sr. Becky Spires – would join them.
Dorothy always carried a shoulder bag containing three things: her Bible, a book of property codes and laws (with miscellaneous papers), and maps of the disputed areas. She was guided in her journey through life by a belief in the basic goodness of each person. Perhaps this was naïve, but at the same time she was “tough as nails,” insisting that the government simply follow the law; in fact, certain that the government would do so.
Through all of this we find her sustained by her religious community, the people, and a contemplative spirituality. Especially in her final years, living under death threats and burdened by the struggle, she turned to Charles de Foucauld’s example and prayer of abandonment:
Father,
I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures.
I wish no more that this, O Lord.
She continued her immersion in the Scriptures, especially the psalms, listening to tapes on spirituality and biblical tradition as her eyesight worsened. “I need to fill myself up so that I can have courage in the struggle.” Ultimately her final words would be from the gospel of Matthew, Jesus’ words. As she was confronted by her killers, she reached into her shoulder bag, pulled out her Bible and read from the beatitudes.
In their biographies Murphy and Le Breton each quote different beatitudes at this point. Scott Wallace in his article on the Amazon and Dorothy Stang offers these words: “Bem-aventurados os que têm fome e sede de justiça, pois serão satisfeitos – Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied” (“Last of the Amazon,” National Geographic, January 2007). Whatever her final words, there is no doubt that in life and death Dorothy Stang embodied all of the beatitudes.
A simple wooden cross marks Dorothy’s grave in Anapu, present in the forest and among the people she loved and accompanied. As each of these varied biographical examinations of her life and death make clear, Dorothy Stang took the cross seriously.
Like Jesus she “set her face firmly toward Jerusalem/Boa Esperança,” because this is how she saw herself answering the questions posed by Ellacuría at the beginning of this essay – doing something to end the crucifixion of the poor, acting so that this people might rise from the dead.
“The situation of pervasive extreme poverty takes on very concrete faces in real life. In these faces we ought to recognize the suffering features of Christ, the Lord who questions and challenges us” (Latin American Bishops at Puebla 1979, #31). Sister Dorothy did.
Dorothy Stang, Presente!
