Roman Catholic Archbishop Talks with Executive Council Staff
Diocesan Press Service. March 3, 1967 [52-11]
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Brazil, Dom Helder Camara, addressed staff of the Executive Council at a meeting Feb. 13.
The Archbishop talked of the revival of the Roman Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council, and of the challenges facing Christians today.
"Let us learn once and for all that it is more important than being obsessed by Communism to face the problem incomparably more grave -- that of the ever-increasing distance between countries of 'have' and those of 'have not'," he told his audience.
He said that change is necessary before this gap can be breached, change in both the developed and developing nations, for in the present situation it is impossible for the latter nations to fully develop. A maintenance of the status-quo is, he said, a stratification of injustice.
He also told of increasing collaboration between Roman Catholics and other Christians in his diocese and of dangers in the increasing work by American churches in Latin America. Such increased activity may, the Archbishop said, unwittingly foster colonialism and aid in the imposition of North American standards.