Sowing the seeds of the Gospel in the Amazon

By evangelizing and helping the indigenous Ticuna people, the Capuchin friars, with the support of Aid to the Church in Need, are helping to preserve the Amazon rainforest.

“I have never left this place. I know nothing of the world, but I believe in God. He gives me eternal life. I called the friars here to baptize my children. I don’t want anybody to die without getting to know God. Now, the names of all my children are written in Heaven.”

So says Sônia Pinheiro, the vice chief of Enepü village in the Ticuna tribe. She is speaking not only of her biological children, but of her community, too.

To reach Enepü, the Capuchins from Belém do Solimões – located in a dangerous part of the Brazilian Amazon that borders Colombia and Peru – have to travel four hours by boat and more than six hours in an uncomfortable canoe, the only vessel capable of navigating the narrow waterways. Without material support, like the fuel provided by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the friars’ mission would be nearly impossible.

Sônia Pinheiro’s community consists of about 30 people, though she can’t give the exact number, because the Ticuna vocabulary doesn’t have words for numbers above 10. Nonetheless, she knows each member by name and holds them close to her heart, as a mother would.

She says that the friars are the only outsiders who come to visit them. Other groups who reach the area are often armed and only interested in tearing down the forest. Her traditional culture already had the concept of a God, but she says they have felt much more loved since learning Jesus died for them as well—and that they have a Mother interceding on their behalf in Heaven.

Protecting culture, protecting the land

The Capuchins have been in this region since 1910. Long before environmentalism was en vogue, they were already helping the natives to stay on their lands by protecting their culture and introducing the Gospel into their lives.

All along, the Franciscan community has witnessed how indigenous populations are tricked into leaving their lands, and how the region is destroyed in just six months by the felling of trees, predatory fishing, hunting, mining, and drug trafficking. The natives really are the forests’ natural guardians, the Capuchins say.

Just as they once helped save the Ticuna from slavery, today, the friars help save a new generation from modern forms of bondage, like alcoholism and suicide, which have spiked as modernity encroaches on the rainforest. The tool for the friars’ help is always the same: living the Gospel among the people.

“When I first came here, I quickly felt the deep joy of living with a humble people, people who evangelize us through their lives and who have helped me become a better Franciscan. I think that Saint Francis would have loved to live here among them, because they have a natural simplicity, fraternity, and harmony with nature. Nature is their home, and they know how to let nature care for them. If I were to get lost here, I might survive for three or four days, but they know how to make shelters and find food, water, and even medicine in nature,” says Friar Paolo Braghini, who currently heads the Belém do Solimões mission.

The community of Enepü is an example of this unique relationship. It is the natives who sustain the Capuchin friars, sharing with them their fruit, fish, and anything else they happen to catch or gather. What the natives cannot help with is material to further the friars’ evangelization work, including boats, fuel, and a house for new vocations. For these things, the friars are thankful for the support of ACN.

Rather than imposing their own habits, the friars do their best to learn from the Ticuna, which includes trying to master their difficult language, even though, Friar Paolo says, “words are not very important to them. They listen with their hearts. They have a very sharp, strong, and well-honed sensitivity. They understand with their hearts. If you give yourself to them fully, then they will give their lives for you. But if you hold a prejudice against them, they will understand it immediately.”

—Rodrigo Arantes