Bishop Christopher’s message from the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 6th May 2013
“Some of you may remember the award winning film called The City of God (2002/3), about a favela or shanty town on the outskirts of Rio which some years ago was a no-go area controlled violently by drug gangs with a high incidence of murder and gang warfare. This year in Rio I am co-chairing a meeting of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission. We continue to work on decision-making within our churches, local and global, especially in ethical questions. Not irrelevant subjects in relation to contemporary disputes in the Church of England.
But any discussion about the local church must be rooted in the real local church. So we visited the Cidade de Deus (City of God) now ‘pacified’ by community policing but teeming with 60-80,000 people and increasing by 30% a year. In the City of God there are a few Pentecostal churches, but also at the heart of the community are an Anglican and a Roman Catholic priest and their two parishes. They work together as a sacrament of the Kingdom of God. We were welcomed by smiles, greetings and warmth in communities where only a few years ago no one could do anything without the say of the drug barons.
We saw work with the elderly, and community organisations – including a community bank, children’s football (what else in Brazil with the World Cup?) and the community policing. We prayed ecumenical vespers with both priests and members of both parishes in the Anglican church. It has a mural depicting the story of the City of God.
The Rio favelas had their origins when the slaves were freed in Brazil in the late 19th century (at the prompting of the Papacy). Freed slaves moved out of the then city to the countryside. The City of God was originally built for a tiny fraction of the present number of its inhabitants when the government of Rio wanted to move the poor out of city centre. This was done by setting fire to their homes. Today, in spite of the past, and served by local people and the church, it is a city of hope. ARCIC’s talk of the church was well grounded in the City of God.” -- +Christopher Guildford
Photos courtesy of Diocesan House: “City of God” mural in the Anglican church; Bp Christopher with local clergy; Bp Christopher with Bp Linda Nicholls who will be leading this year’s priest’s ordination retreat in Guildford.
