Berkley Center

Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in June 2014 undergraduate student Adam Barton interviewed Sister Vera Lucia Altoé, Pastoral da Criança’s national coordinator and the first successor of Pastoral founder Dr. Zilda Arns Neumann.  In this interview, Sister Vera reflects on the organization's role in public health in Brazil. 

Can you tell me about your path into the field of public health?

Actually, I am an educator with a passion for education. I specialized in adult and youth literacy development, as well as religious education, and spent 23 years working in a classroom. I do not have much experience in the healthcare field, but I understand perfectly that a quality education leads one to have high-quality health. I believe that all of the teachings we pass on inside of a classroom to the student have a direct impact on him or her leading a healthy life. To me, then, education is the most fundamental thing for all persons. Through education, one acquires a culture, learns how to take a stance, how to claim their rights, how to have a critical conscience and be bold. All of this learning, this whole path, makes all the difference in the life of a child, of whoever is receiving this knowledge.

What, in your words, is the mission of Pastoral da Crainça?

Pastoral’s mission is to unite life and faith. Our church speaks often of faith, but what sometimes is missing from those conversations is this idea of faith in communion with life. We see one type of faith when we go to church and profess and pray to God; that is certainly a laudable type of faith. But that alone is not Pastoral’s type of faith, for Pastoral’s is that faith which enters into reality; that faith which shares and incarnates itself. Pastoral, then, is really that incarnation of faith that enters into the reality of the poor. I pray, but at the same time go to see my prayers represented in that people, in that family, in that community. So, Pastoral’s mission is to bring faith, and unite that faith with life. 

What do you think is the ideal outcome for a family or community followed by Pastoral?

For me, the best result that can exist in a community is for us to be able to perceive a transformation; when we see that which was taught being put to practice by the families. When we see, for example, that a baby is born healthy, that the mother gives him all of the vaccines that he needs, breastfeeds him until six months of age, and feeds that child well, we sit back and say, “She understood the message; we did a good job.” But it is not just the families; in this process the leaders are also transformed. A leader arrives to Pastoral with no knowledge of community health practices, but little by little he learns, and so changes his attitude, and so changes his life, as well. So, for me, the most important result in our communities is the transformation of people and, eventually, of society. 
 
Speaking as an educator, could you tell me a bit about the methodology behind the system through which you train your leaders? 

First of all, it is important to mention the aspect of faith that exists in all of our work, as the Leader’s Guide, our volunteer training manual, begins by talking about spirituality. We do not train our leaders just because. There is something deeper behind that training; something we call spirituality and mysticism. That spirituality is what we embody through the reality of our work.

The methodology of our training is built around five foundational actions: seeing, judging, acting, evaluating, and celebrating. First, we seek to know the reality of the community; then we analyze the causes of that situation; then we seek to act to transform that reality; then we evaluate the new situation, the persisting needs as well as the errors that we may have made along the way; finally, we celebrate our victories, our learnings, as well as the union of the community around the healthy development of their children.

These actions are trained at once on two levels: theory and practice. When I am speaking to the leaders about pregnancy, for example, they will each go and visit an expectant mother, putting into practice that which they have learned in training. So, at its base, all of our trainings work the relationship between theory and practice, classroom learning and hands-on experience. It is a methodology that serves to keep us moving, to keep us engaged. 

What is the role of faith in the work of the Pastoral? 

To understand the role of faith in our work, just look at our volunteers. These are men and women who earn nothing, who wear out their shoes playing with children, who work all day under the hot sun, but who nevertheless go to work, doing so because they believe in and are committed to the sanctity of life, because they have faith. 

This work of Pastoral da Criança is truly the work of Jesus; it is going to where the smallest and the poorest, the most fragile and the abandoned are, and walking with them. Jesus stepped into concrete reality of another, and to me that is faith.

Sometimes, then, I think to myself, as a deeply religious woman, about how I am constantly meeting so many who have even more faith than I do in that sense of being there on the ground, every day, focusing on life. For me, that is the greatest gesture of faith that exists. 

One striking aspect of Pastoral da Criança is its non-discriminatory, ecumenical philosophy. Given the diverse community that you serve, have there been any conflicts between Pastoral’s Catholic identity and the work that it performs in the community? 

When it comes to ecumenism, it depends heavily on the minds of those who are involved. Something that happens often, for example, is that on the Celebration of Life Day, there are arguments about where the event will be held: will it be on land given by the Catholic Church, or at the Presbyterian chapel? There are people who do not care, but there are also Catholics and non-Catholics who are very closed-minded. So it depends on how open the minds are of those you are working with.

My biggest challenge, in fact, is when I come across closed-minded people, from within the Catholic Church and without. When I do, I always say this: “When we speak of lives, there is no religion.” Religion is to be saved for other moments. 
 
Through your work with Pastoral, what have you learned about community health education? 

One of the greatest things that I have learned is that through teaching, one learns. My second greatest lesson comes from the fact that, in Pastoral, it is the poor helping the poor in their own communities. It is the humblest classes of society that are truly concerned about others, that truly care for their neighbor. You do not need to hope that “qualified” professionals arrive on the scene, as sometimes those who are most qualified fall apart and become discouraged as soon as they begin. But then you see a poor, humble woman who struggles to put bread on the table, and she is there without a moment’s hesitation. These are women who stay with Pastoral for 25, 30 years, and that brings me great joy to see. You witness how that which was planted blossomed in their hearts and brought significance to their lives, that Pastoral da Criança is able to truly change lives. I clearly remember a woman who had a great impact on me: she said, “I used to take antidepressants, but after I became involved with Pastoral an antidepressant never once touched my tongue.” I have learned that, by giving oneself to another, one finds true happiness; the more one gives, the happier one feels. 
 
If you could communicate any message to an international audience about Pastoral, what would you say? 

I would say this: come see how we care for life; this life that must be nursed, fed, raised, and loved in order for a full and complete development. And I would end by telling you that Jesus said, “I have come so that all may have life,” and the most vulnerable of these lives are those of our children and our pregnant mothers.