A Discussion with Sonia Melo Pratti, Journalist, Pastoral da Criança, Curitiba, Parana, Brazil
With: Sonia Melo Pratti Berkley Center Profile
June 7, 2014
Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice Project, student Adam Barton interviewed Sonia Melo Pratti, a journalist working at the national headquarters for Pastoral da Criança in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil. In this interview, Pratti taps into her deep knowledge as one of the principal researchers compiling the organization's history for publication to share her insight into the institutional development of the Pastoral network.
How did you come to work in the field of community health with Pastoral da Criança?
I was born and raised in ABC Paulista, a region that is famous throughout Brazil for its critical social consciousness. Virtually all of the movements for governmental change and social action—the strikes that one hears about regularly in the news, for example—come from there. My father was very active in the trade unions and played a major role in their struggle for social justice; upon his death, then, we were left with his legacy of a strong critical conscience. Inspired by my father, I began my work in community involvement early in life and continued on with that mission through my work in the Church.
Having always studied in religious schools—both Catholic and Methodist—I decided to channel some of my energy into helping my diocese, working to create the parish bulletins. My diocese, the Diocese of St. Andrew, took up that very mission of justice and peace with a passion, having formed the Justice and Peace Group that was responsible for many of the national strikes and social change movements.
After my work with the diocese, I studied journalism and went to work in São Paulo, collaborating with local parishes in the Archdiocese of São Paulo in that same role of communications for justice and peace movements—writing, making videos, and developing radio programs while always working to unite faith, social conscience, and community improvement. At that time, Archbishop Paulo Evariso Arns, Dr. Zilda [Arns Neumann]’s brother, was the cardinal for São Paulo. When I came to live in Curitiba with my husband to found the production company Pax, which develops projects for change around social justice and peace, I was approached by Pastoral da Criança to make some videos for them. We traveled all around the country for filming, and, when we returned, we were tapped to improve the consistency of Pastoral’s radio and journal communications. My husband works on the radio, which hosts programs for the general public, and I take care of the journal and other communication materials distributed to Pastoral leaders.
In your own words, what is the mission of Pastoral da Criança?
Pastoral’s mission is to empower communities to become agents of their own change. Pastoral does not arrive in a community to implement dynamic transformations, but rather helps communities to realize that they must work toward the creation of a supportive unit living in solidarity.
Can you tell me about Pastoral’s history and evolution?
In 1982, James Grant, the executive director of UNICEF and president of the United Nations Children’s Fund, met with Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns at a conference in Geneva. There, Grant asked Cardinal Arns if the Catholic Church, given its reach throughout the entirety of the Brazilian republic, would be able to work with him on an initiative to reduce the massive infant mortality rates that were plaguing the nation. Bishop Arns decided to take this request to his sister, the pediatrician Dr. Zilda Arns, who was at the time working at the National Department of Health. Dr. Zilda’s reply was immediate and decisive: “Perfect, let’s make a plan for founding this Pastoral,” she said.
What they found out was that Paraná had at the time an extremely poor community in Florestópolis where the infant mortality rate was 127 per 1,000 live births. Dr. Zilda accepted the challenge before her, and approached the archbishop of Londrina, Cardinal Geraldo Majella Agnelo, a native of Florestópolis. Together, they formed a plan that would become the foundation for what is today Pastoral da Criança.
Going from community to community to assess the causes of this high infant mortality rate, they determined that the majority these children were dying preventable deaths due to malnutrition and dehydration. Dr. Zilda, then, moved to see how the community could organize itself to address these issues, and in doing so formed the first group of Pastoral leaders who, as the precursor to what would become the Celebration of Life event, weighed the first group of children in 1983 in Florestópolis.
The question that you should be asking yourself now is, “Why did James Grant ask this question in the first place?” Interestingly, James Grant is the son of Dr. John Grant, the man considered to be the father of public health. James grew up in China while his father worked as a missionary, pioneering the way for public health through the Church. James, then, recognized the power of the Church to promote community change and thus pursued this connection that would pave the way for the organization you see today.
And how did Pastoral come to expand throughout the rest of Brazil?
At the National Conference of Bishops, which took place around the time that this new organization was beginning to take root, some bishops in attendance began to realize that their communities were facing this same problem of severe and preventable child mortality, and thus requested Dr. Zilda to bring this methodology of community involvement to other states in Brazil.
By this time, Pastoral had already been receiving a bit of funding from UNICEF, but significant governmental funding efforts began in earnest after the formation of the legal entity Association of Friends of Pastoral da Criança (ANAPAC). With this money, Pastoral was able to create large-scale plans for nationwide expansion and community strengthening.
It was only after Brazil began achieving significant rates of decline in infant mortality that Pastoral began to look around at its neighbors in Latin America and abroad and realized that they were experiencing the same issues related to preventable infant mortality rates. Because of the existing Church structures abroad, Pastoral was able to begin successfully replicating its own experience in other nations.
Can you tell me about the perception of Pastoral in the communities that you have visited?
I think we have to draw two parallels. The first is the perception of Pastoral by the general public, which I have seen to be reflecting a serious, competent, and transparent organization; we have much credibility in the eyes of the public.
The second perception is by community members that we serve. There, you see a beautiful openness that stems from the trust that Pastoral sews together with its ecumenical philosophy of love demonstrated, for example, in its annual leadership of the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children.
I was born and raised in ABC Paulista, a region that is famous throughout Brazil for its critical social consciousness. Virtually all of the movements for governmental change and social action—the strikes that one hears about regularly in the news, for example—come from there. My father was very active in the trade unions and played a major role in their struggle for social justice; upon his death, then, we were left with his legacy of a strong critical conscience. Inspired by my father, I began my work in community involvement early in life and continued on with that mission through my work in the Church.
Having always studied in religious schools—both Catholic and Methodist—I decided to channel some of my energy into helping my diocese, working to create the parish bulletins. My diocese, the Diocese of St. Andrew, took up that very mission of justice and peace with a passion, having formed the Justice and Peace Group that was responsible for many of the national strikes and social change movements.
After my work with the diocese, I studied journalism and went to work in São Paulo, collaborating with local parishes in the Archdiocese of São Paulo in that same role of communications for justice and peace movements—writing, making videos, and developing radio programs while always working to unite faith, social conscience, and community improvement. At that time, Archbishop Paulo Evariso Arns, Dr. Zilda [Arns Neumann]’s brother, was the cardinal for São Paulo. When I came to live in Curitiba with my husband to found the production company Pax, which develops projects for change around social justice and peace, I was approached by Pastoral da Criança to make some videos for them. We traveled all around the country for filming, and, when we returned, we were tapped to improve the consistency of Pastoral’s radio and journal communications. My husband works on the radio, which hosts programs for the general public, and I take care of the journal and other communication materials distributed to Pastoral leaders.
In your own words, what is the mission of Pastoral da Criança?
Pastoral’s mission is to empower communities to become agents of their own change. Pastoral does not arrive in a community to implement dynamic transformations, but rather helps communities to realize that they must work toward the creation of a supportive unit living in solidarity.
Can you tell me about Pastoral’s history and evolution?
In 1982, James Grant, the executive director of UNICEF and president of the United Nations Children’s Fund, met with Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns at a conference in Geneva. There, Grant asked Cardinal Arns if the Catholic Church, given its reach throughout the entirety of the Brazilian republic, would be able to work with him on an initiative to reduce the massive infant mortality rates that were plaguing the nation. Bishop Arns decided to take this request to his sister, the pediatrician Dr. Zilda Arns, who was at the time working at the National Department of Health. Dr. Zilda’s reply was immediate and decisive: “Perfect, let’s make a plan for founding this Pastoral,” she said.
What they found out was that Paraná had at the time an extremely poor community in Florestópolis where the infant mortality rate was 127 per 1,000 live births. Dr. Zilda accepted the challenge before her, and approached the archbishop of Londrina, Cardinal Geraldo Majella Agnelo, a native of Florestópolis. Together, they formed a plan that would become the foundation for what is today Pastoral da Criança.
Going from community to community to assess the causes of this high infant mortality rate, they determined that the majority these children were dying preventable deaths due to malnutrition and dehydration. Dr. Zilda, then, moved to see how the community could organize itself to address these issues, and in doing so formed the first group of Pastoral leaders who, as the precursor to what would become the Celebration of Life event, weighed the first group of children in 1983 in Florestópolis.
The question that you should be asking yourself now is, “Why did James Grant ask this question in the first place?” Interestingly, James Grant is the son of Dr. John Grant, the man considered to be the father of public health. James grew up in China while his father worked as a missionary, pioneering the way for public health through the Church. James, then, recognized the power of the Church to promote community change and thus pursued this connection that would pave the way for the organization you see today.
And how did Pastoral come to expand throughout the rest of Brazil?
At the National Conference of Bishops, which took place around the time that this new organization was beginning to take root, some bishops in attendance began to realize that their communities were facing this same problem of severe and preventable child mortality, and thus requested Dr. Zilda to bring this methodology of community involvement to other states in Brazil.
By this time, Pastoral had already been receiving a bit of funding from UNICEF, but significant governmental funding efforts began in earnest after the formation of the legal entity Association of Friends of Pastoral da Criança (ANAPAC). With this money, Pastoral was able to create large-scale plans for nationwide expansion and community strengthening.
It was only after Brazil began achieving significant rates of decline in infant mortality that Pastoral began to look around at its neighbors in Latin America and abroad and realized that they were experiencing the same issues related to preventable infant mortality rates. Because of the existing Church structures abroad, Pastoral was able to begin successfully replicating its own experience in other nations.
Can you tell me about the perception of Pastoral in the communities that you have visited?
I think we have to draw two parallels. The first is the perception of Pastoral by the general public, which I have seen to be reflecting a serious, competent, and transparent organization; we have much credibility in the eyes of the public.
The second perception is by community members that we serve. There, you see a beautiful openness that stems from the trust that Pastoral sews together with its ecumenical philosophy of love demonstrated, for example, in its annual leadership of the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children.
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