{"id":172,"date":"2013-12-06T00:00:25","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T00:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=172"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:51:35","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:51:35","slug":"dom-helder-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2013\/12\/06\/dom-helder-camera\/","title":{"rendered":"Dom Helder Camera"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Friday December 6, 2013<\/p>\n

Dom Helder Camera\u00a0February 7, 1909,\u00a0Fortaleza<\/a>,\u00a0Cear\u00e1<\/a>,Northeast Region<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Brazil<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 August 27, 1999. \u00a0He was archbishop of Recife and Olinda Brazil from 1964 to 1985 during severe military dictatorship in Brazil. \u00a0He\u00a0interpreted Catholic teaching with a consistent, fierce attention to the violence of systems that maintain brutal poverty. \u00a0Not surprisingly, \u00a0he made serious enemies who worked to silence him. \u00a0 It is said that some of Dom Helder’s enemies hired a hit man to assassinate him. \u00a0Like the professional he was, the hit man stalked the archbishop for some time, learning his habits, seeking a place and time most apt for killing. \u00a0 In the process, he listened to him speak a number of times until, one day, he fell at Dom Helder’s feet, weeping, and begged for the grace to change his profession and his life.<\/p>\n

This unblinking attention to the violence of poverty was matched by legendary playfulness. \u00a0Here is one story among many, this one I witnessed. \u00a0Once Dom Helder was speaking to about 1500 people who sat on the St. Louis levee overlooking the Mississippi River (by the Arch); in the middle of the talk, a helicopter took off right behind him filled with tourists taking a ride with a bird’s eye view of the river and the city. \u00a0 It made enough of a racket that it was impossible to hear what the Dom Helder was saying. \u00a0He paused, and turned around toward the\u00a0helicopter which was almost right behind him, and gave the tourists a puckish little wave. \u00a0When the helicopter got a little farther out on its trip, he turned back to us.<\/p>\n

I’ll stop with stories; \u00a0I could get carried away and these posts should be brief.<\/p>\n

For\u00a0this December Friday, here is one of his sayings. \u00a0 Have a \u00a0blest weekend.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“It is possible to travel alone, but we know the journey is human life
\nand life needs company.
\nCompanion is the one who eats the same bread.<\/p>\n

The good traveler cares for weary companions, grieves when we lose heart,
\ntakes us where she finds us,\u00a0 listens to us.
\nIntelligently, gently, above all lovingly, we encourage each other to go on
\nand recover our joy<\/p>\n

On the\u00a0 journey.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Dom Helder Camera<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday December 6, 2013 Dom Helder Camera\u00a0February 7, 1909,\u00a0Fortaleza,\u00a0Cear\u00e1,Northeast Region\u00a0of\u00a0Brazil\u00a0\u2013 August 27, 1999. \u00a0He was archbishop of Recife and Olinda Brazil from 1964 to 1985 during severe military dictatorship in Brazil. \u00a0He\u00a0interpreted Catholic teaching with a consistent, fierce attention to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1089,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions\/1089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}