Six years ago this month, more than 2,000 poor Brazilian farmers walked to the remote jungle town of Anapu for the funeral of a catholic nun whom they called the “Angel of the Trans-Amazonia”. The angel had being murdered on a forest path after being intercepted by two gun men who fired six bullets at her.
Dorothy was involved with the Pastoral land Commission, an organization of the Catholic Church that fights for the rights of rural workers and peasants and defends land reform in Brazil. She worked on a local sustainable development project- protecting the valuable biodiversity, but harvesting fruit and other products from tree.
Hundreds of community leaders have being killed in this tribal clash. After she started receiving death threats Dorothy commented, “I don’t want to flee, nor do I want to abandon the battle for the farmers who live without any protection in the forest.” Dorothy stand was intercepted by two gun men on 12 February, 2005; she tried to read a verse from the New Testament bible she was carrying to her killers before they shot her dead.
She was post-humously awarded one of the eight 2008 UN prizes for Human Rights. Dorothy often wore a tee shirt saying: THE END OF THE FOREST, IS THE END OF OUR LIVES.
We are all constantly faced with choices to make everyday concerning our life, career, family etc. To be frank it’s not easy to make daily decisions regarding any aspect of our life. However, decide we must. The protesters of Egypt made a decision and they were able to overcome. We are shaped everyday by the decisions we make.
Dorothy Stang didn’t die because she wanted to die, rather, she died for a cause, the protesters of Egypt protested for a cause. Christ died for a cause. We may not know our cause at present but through the daily decisions we make we might come to the realization of our ultimate cause which for me is God.
The good news is as Christians, we have a road map, to make a good quality choice which will lead us to our final destination and that is what we are constantly being presented to in the Gospels. Choose well and avoid evil. Remember, "what no eye has seen and no ear has heard, what the mind of man cannot visualize; God has prepared for those who love him."
Though, the people of Egypt celebrated their victory in their struggle for democracy and human rights as President Hosni Mubarak resigned last week, many died. We pray for the 302 people that died in last week’s struggle in Egypt. May they rest in peace.
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The “Angel of the Trans-Amazonia”.
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catholicism in africa