A Discussion with Arlete Mendes, Recife Sector Coordinator, Pastoral da Criança, Pernambuco, Brazil
With: Arlete Mendes Berkley Center Profile
July 5, 2014
Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice
Project, in July 2014 undergraduate student Adam Barton interviewed Arlete Mendes, the
Recife sector coordinator for Pastoral da Criança in the Archdiocese of
Olinda-Recife in Pernambuco, Brazil. In this interview, Mendes focuses on
the role of Pastoral da Criança in the communities that she oversees.
How did you come to work with
Pastoral da Criança?
Because I saw inside of my own family issues related to drinking and maladjustment, and because family is something that I deeply believe in, I decided to begin participating in the couples meeting here in the Engenho do Meio parish. My job was to work with couples to restore troubled families. I looked to Jesus for his opinion about divorce, and took from his Gospel that God’s will is truly in the family—keeping the family united and structured for the sake of those children who suffer.
One day, as I was working in my parish, our priest called me. He had resisted implementing Pastoral in our parish for a long time, but finally had a change of heart and decided that he wanted me to take on the job of starting it up.
I tried to tell him that working with children was not my calling, but he said that he had already set up a meeting between myself and Socorro—the archdiocese coordinator. Talking to her, I realized that by working with children I would be working with the whole family, and accepted this mission.
So that is how I became the coordinator of this parish back five years ago. After that, I began the hard work of recruiting families and training leaders, realizing slowly but surely that I was falling in love with Pastoral and its work. I deeply admired the methodology of Pastoral’s trainings, because it never leaves you—you are selected and you are prepared accordingly, never left on your own. It is wonderful, as you get to truly unite faith and life.
From there, God saw fit to give me a much larger mission, and today I coordinate a sector with forty parishes to care for.
As a sector coordinator, what is your role in Pastoral?
As a sector coordinator, my role is to encourage and inspire other coordinators—to guide them as I work to expand Pastoral into new communities. On a more concrete note, my responsibilities involve an aspect of accountability as I manage the accounts and finances for my sector. I also train leaders while making sure that all of my branches have the resources to function fully. The work of coordinating, though, is really not a job; it is a mission. It is a mission of expansion and care.
What, in your words, is Pastoral’s mission?
Pastoral’s mission is to listen to the voice of God and raise up those who have fallen.
In your communities, what is the reputation of Pastoral? What is it like to enter this neighborhood wearing a Pastoral shirt?
Pastoral’s logo speaks for itself in these communities. When I walk into this neighborhood, children come running and ask when their leader will come visit them next. There is so much joy that surrounds Pastoral in all of its work because we bring love and respect to those families that we serve. I tell my coordinators and leaders that we must always look upon our families with the eyes of Jesus and with the smile of Mary, always make them feel welcomed and valued.
Why do you think that Pastoral’s reputation is so strong here? Why do these children and mothers want to work with your leaders?
Because Pastoral is a serious organization with well-trained leaders who are fully prepared to do their work. Rain or shine, Pastoral is here in the community, and people see that. They know that we are here, doing our work out of the love in our hearts, because they see it every day.
When we enter these communities with our Pastoral shirt, we become something more. Just the other day, one of my leaders was working in Mercado São José when two men approached her and tried to rob her. Suddenly, one of them stopped and said, “No, stop, this is a Pastoral leader, look at her shirt.” And the men left, just like that. Pastoral is important in our communities.
And how do you think that Pastoral has been able to achieve such success?
I think that it is due, in large part, to the commitment of Dr. Zilda [Arns Neumann]. Her testimony was what made Pastoral grow so much and with such credibility, both within Brazil and without.
What makes the difference between a strong, successful Pastoral community and one that has “died”?
I believe that it is a lack of commitment on the part of the coordinator working in that area. At the end of the day, it is us coordinators who are called to enliven the spirit of those around us. The basis of everything in our work is spirituality. I believe, then, that a “dead” community is the fault of a coordinator who is not playing the role that his or her mission requires.
What impact does your faith have on your work with Pastoral?
Pastoral is ecumenical; it supports life. My faith is what drives me to do this work because, without faith and without the love of God, we cannot accomplish this task. It is a difficult job, yet it is beautiful one; to truly understand and appreciate it, we must be in God ourselves.
What is the most meaningful part of your work with Pastoral? What motivates you?
The most meaningful part is reaching that child and reaching that family. Pastoral does not just attend to the child, but rather the whole family. It is about giving each family the chance to be heard and cared for without judgment, and seeing the affection that you create.
Given the availability of governmental programming, why is Pastoral’s work still important today?
Pastoral goes far beyond what the government could ever give. We work with education, citizenship, and nutrition—as does the government. But above all we work with the value of the human person. That is the key.
I see no movement equal to Pastoral da Criança anywhere in the world, and that is because Pastoral works to see not just material needs, but the whole person.
How does Pastoral work with citizenship in its services?
We enter family homes to show them the rights that their citizenship confers. We tell them that they have the right to receive the first dose of antibiotic before leaving a clinic, that they have the right to be seen upon arrival, and that they have the right to full vaccinations for themselves and their children.
Leaders are trained to be able to converse with their families about these issues, and to facilitate discussions about healthcare rights during their work at our celebration of life events. We ask if any mothers have been to the clinic recently, if they were seen, and, if they were not, why. After informing the mother of her rights, we can go into the local clinic and say, “I am from Pastoral, and wondering why this child was not vaccinated.” The logo on our shirt speaks for itself, and people respect it.
Because I saw inside of my own family issues related to drinking and maladjustment, and because family is something that I deeply believe in, I decided to begin participating in the couples meeting here in the Engenho do Meio parish. My job was to work with couples to restore troubled families. I looked to Jesus for his opinion about divorce, and took from his Gospel that God’s will is truly in the family—keeping the family united and structured for the sake of those children who suffer.
One day, as I was working in my parish, our priest called me. He had resisted implementing Pastoral in our parish for a long time, but finally had a change of heart and decided that he wanted me to take on the job of starting it up.
I tried to tell him that working with children was not my calling, but he said that he had already set up a meeting between myself and Socorro—the archdiocese coordinator. Talking to her, I realized that by working with children I would be working with the whole family, and accepted this mission.
So that is how I became the coordinator of this parish back five years ago. After that, I began the hard work of recruiting families and training leaders, realizing slowly but surely that I was falling in love with Pastoral and its work. I deeply admired the methodology of Pastoral’s trainings, because it never leaves you—you are selected and you are prepared accordingly, never left on your own. It is wonderful, as you get to truly unite faith and life.
From there, God saw fit to give me a much larger mission, and today I coordinate a sector with forty parishes to care for.
As a sector coordinator, what is your role in Pastoral?
As a sector coordinator, my role is to encourage and inspire other coordinators—to guide them as I work to expand Pastoral into new communities. On a more concrete note, my responsibilities involve an aspect of accountability as I manage the accounts and finances for my sector. I also train leaders while making sure that all of my branches have the resources to function fully. The work of coordinating, though, is really not a job; it is a mission. It is a mission of expansion and care.
What, in your words, is Pastoral’s mission?
Pastoral’s mission is to listen to the voice of God and raise up those who have fallen.
In your communities, what is the reputation of Pastoral? What is it like to enter this neighborhood wearing a Pastoral shirt?
Pastoral’s logo speaks for itself in these communities. When I walk into this neighborhood, children come running and ask when their leader will come visit them next. There is so much joy that surrounds Pastoral in all of its work because we bring love and respect to those families that we serve. I tell my coordinators and leaders that we must always look upon our families with the eyes of Jesus and with the smile of Mary, always make them feel welcomed and valued.
Why do you think that Pastoral’s reputation is so strong here? Why do these children and mothers want to work with your leaders?
Because Pastoral is a serious organization with well-trained leaders who are fully prepared to do their work. Rain or shine, Pastoral is here in the community, and people see that. They know that we are here, doing our work out of the love in our hearts, because they see it every day.
When we enter these communities with our Pastoral shirt, we become something more. Just the other day, one of my leaders was working in Mercado São José when two men approached her and tried to rob her. Suddenly, one of them stopped and said, “No, stop, this is a Pastoral leader, look at her shirt.” And the men left, just like that. Pastoral is important in our communities.
And how do you think that Pastoral has been able to achieve such success?
I think that it is due, in large part, to the commitment of Dr. Zilda [Arns Neumann]. Her testimony was what made Pastoral grow so much and with such credibility, both within Brazil and without.
What makes the difference between a strong, successful Pastoral community and one that has “died”?
I believe that it is a lack of commitment on the part of the coordinator working in that area. At the end of the day, it is us coordinators who are called to enliven the spirit of those around us. The basis of everything in our work is spirituality. I believe, then, that a “dead” community is the fault of a coordinator who is not playing the role that his or her mission requires.
What impact does your faith have on your work with Pastoral?
Pastoral is ecumenical; it supports life. My faith is what drives me to do this work because, without faith and without the love of God, we cannot accomplish this task. It is a difficult job, yet it is beautiful one; to truly understand and appreciate it, we must be in God ourselves.
What is the most meaningful part of your work with Pastoral? What motivates you?
The most meaningful part is reaching that child and reaching that family. Pastoral does not just attend to the child, but rather the whole family. It is about giving each family the chance to be heard and cared for without judgment, and seeing the affection that you create.
Given the availability of governmental programming, why is Pastoral’s work still important today?
Pastoral goes far beyond what the government could ever give. We work with education, citizenship, and nutrition—as does the government. But above all we work with the value of the human person. That is the key.
I see no movement equal to Pastoral da Criança anywhere in the world, and that is because Pastoral works to see not just material needs, but the whole person.
How does Pastoral work with citizenship in its services?
We enter family homes to show them the rights that their citizenship confers. We tell them that they have the right to receive the first dose of antibiotic before leaving a clinic, that they have the right to be seen upon arrival, and that they have the right to full vaccinations for themselves and their children.
Leaders are trained to be able to converse with their families about these issues, and to facilitate discussions about healthcare rights during their work at our celebration of life events. We ask if any mothers have been to the clinic recently, if they were seen, and, if they were not, why. After informing the mother of her rights, we can go into the local clinic and say, “I am from Pastoral, and wondering why this child was not vaccinated.” The logo on our shirt speaks for itself, and people respect it.
Opens in a new window