Dos caminos ante la pobreza:
Los padres Gabriel y Néstor en la novela Nicodemus
Steven Casadont
posición extraordinaria de la iglesia
“El sistema,
de la cual la institución eclesiástica
es una pieza central, empezó a ser rechazado”
(Gutiérrez Teología 84).
En sus
comentarios en la última reunión del grupo
Nicodemus, el padre Gabriel subraya el
hecho de que la cara del opresor no siempre es un reflejo de la del
dictador:
El tirano
no siempre es una persona. Puede ser también un sistema, un orden de
cosas, una condición social, todo un régimen, no solamente político,
sino también social, económico, laboral, moral y hasta religioso […]
El verdadero tirano aquí que contradice el bien común en una forma
grave y permanente, es el sistema, el orden establecido, el régimen
social y económico y político y moral. (105) […] Nuestro tirano es
[…] un sistema que mantiene ese orden, un juego de intereses
particulares, todo un estado de cosas en tal forma montado en el
poder para provecho de unos pocos, con detrimento de los más. (113)
En el caso de
la Colombia de Gonzalo Canal Ramírez y Camilo
Torres, la palabra “Iglesia” era casi sinónima con el concepto de
“sociedad”. El estudio de Daniel Levine nos presenta con una imagen de
la integración total entre la Iglesia y el estado:
Until 1973, a concordat (originally
negotiated in 1887) set the terms of the Church’s legal status and
role. This agreement is a model of the traditional ideal of
“Christendom” –complete Church-state integration. The Church is
described as “an essential element of the social order” and given a
major role in many aspects of social life. For example, education at
all levels was to be maintained “in conformity with the dogma of the
Catholic religion and religious instruction was obligatory. The
Church also received a predominant position in the registry, with
parish records having preference over civil records. In addition to
the registry of birth, the management of death was placed in Church
hands, as cemeteries were turned over to the ecclesiastical
authorities.
Marriage, another major
step in the life cycle, was also firmly under Church control. Civil
divorce did not exist, and civil marriage for baptized Catholics was
contingent on public declarations of abandonment of the faith. These
statements were to be made before a judge, posted publicly and
communicated to the local bishop. It is difficult to imagine a more
effective mechanism of ostracism, or a more telling example of the
fusion of civil and religious powers than these arrangements (cf.
Jaramillo Salazar). Finally, the Church wields broad civil powers in
the more than 60 percent of Colombia’s area designated as “mission
territories”. Here, a 1953 agreement gave the missionary orders
extensive control over education as well as broad civil powers. The
concordat and additional accords clearly left many areas of
Colombian life to Church control and management.
(55)
Bibliografía
-
Canal
Ramírez, Gonzalo. Nicodemus. Bogotá: Congreso Eucarísto
Internacional, 1968.
-
Gutiérrez,
Gustavo. Teología de la liberación-perspectivas. Lima: Centro
de Estudios y Publicaciones, 1971.
-
Levine, Daniel. “Church
Elites in Venezuela and Colombia: Context, Background, and Beliefs”.
Latin American Research Review,
14.1 (1979): 51-79.
© Steven Casadont,
Dos caminos ante la pobreza: Los padres Gabriel y
Néstor en la novela Nicodemus. 2005.
