Church of Our Lady of the Sugarcane Worker

Sugarcane Worker

In the state of Sao Paulo lies a small city by the name of Ribeirão Preto.  It’s a beautiful city where the people are friendly and some of the most hospitable I’ve ever experienced.  I spent several days visiting family in Ribeirão and discovered a city with an interesting story.  Ribeirão was at one point the largest coffee producer in the world but as of recently sugarcane began to surround the city for acres upon acres.  Currently Ribeirão is the largest alcohol and sugar producer on the planet, and most of its inhabitants live in poverty.

After the oil crisis in the 70′s the Brazilian government began to distribute subsidies to farmers to encourage them to plant sugarcane as part of an alcohol as fuel program.  Since then Ribeirão has grown substantially. There are two very distinct areas in the city; the south which  houses the local prestigious university with its shopping districts and bars and the north which supplies the labor force for all the shopping districts and the sugarcane fields.

By the mid 80′s many people in the north of Ribeirão were working excessive hours in the fields to support their families and growing food, not to feed the people but food for fuel.  At that time a small group of workers and community members began to meet and read the bible as a way to gain hope for a better life.  What they discovered was a solution to the conditions, right there  in the bible.    They began to read both the old and new testament and pieces by a local theologian by the name of Leonardo Boff.  They began to write music about liberation from their conditions and of a promised land created here on earth with justice from their oppressors.

Church of Christ the Liberator

Many in Ribeirão started to talk of organizing and leadership development of workers through the study of not just the bible but of the study of Jesus’ life and message as a liberator of the oppressed and poor.  Jesus as an example of a revolutionary for a new world with love and faith determining it’s destiny and not greed.  Before long a weekly meeting in someone’s house with 20 people turned into liberation themed mass/service in an empty plot of land down the street with over 200 people.  Afterwards people would eat together, sing, and organize their next move for creating the community they know God intended for all of us to have.    By the end of several years the north end of Ribeirão had 7 community churches in various locations.  Some churches were built from the ground up, brick by brick, and some were established by occupying empty schools or building in the neighborhood.  Workers began to demand better wages in the name of God and said the Almighty would want better conditions for his children.  Thousands of workers marched down streets and shut down business demanding justice with their pastors in the lead. The names of the churches ranged from Jesus the Liberator to The Church of the Poor. The official name of the diocese is named after the first church, a name given to the church by my uncle Luis Niz himself, and it is called The Church of Our Lady of the Sugarcane Worker.  

Revolutionize the schools and the people will make it (the Revolution) in the streets.

Today in Ribeirão the largest sugarcane factory in Brasil is located near the fields and as of right now the workers are on strike for a fair wage.  While they strike, the workers spend time reading the bible to inspire them while they struggle to fight for their human rights.  Less than a mile away the MST, Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement,which is the largest movement of poor and working class people in the world, has several camp sites where they are occupying land and doing leadership development and political education of the people to fight for Agrarian reform.  Twenty five years later and all of the churches mentioned are still operating and discussing liberation theology and moving people.  This small but powerful movement in Brasil was one of many that helped frame many other movements worldwide but I believe the most important lesson from this time in history is this; We don’t need to wait until we are gone from this earth to see heaven, we MUST see ourselves as part of the solution to creating our heaven here on Earth.