Greek Melkites in Brazil: Fastest Growing Catholics Communities
While Brazil is sometimes imagined as a “liberal” country, recent polls and demographics has shown quite the contrary, despite the general international imagination and association of the country with carnival, football and the beach lifestyle, as examples. Today, Brazil holds the largest Catholic community of followers in the world. If we take a closer look, states like Rio, (with its iconic Christ The Redeemer Statue), the Northeast, and the wide country-side, we can really see why Brazil has today approximately 145 million Roman Catholics, according to Wikipedia, or 147,460,000 million Roman Catholics according to CIA FACTBOOK. This makes Brazil the country with the greatest number of Catholics in the world. As per 2009, about 134,818,000 million Brazilians were baptized.
Even if we were to take the “per capita standards”, Brazil still holds the impressive record of the 7th largest Roman Catholic country per capita , only losing to Italy, Poland, Mexico, Spain, Colombia, and Argentina . With more than 5,100 Catholic churches, it is not rare to find a church in Brazilian larger cities, at every 2 blocks or so. Also, with the 554 Catholic schools, hundreds of hospitals, and almost 30 formal teaching seminars, it’s easy to understand why and how the country has such solid Catholic community and foundation.
The country which heartily received the Blessed John Paul II 3 times sees now a new movement: The fast growing community of the Melkite Greek Catholics. With 2 main Churches, one in São Paulo, called Eparchy of Nossa Senhora do Paraíso em São Paulo, and one in Rio de Janeiro, called St. Basil's Parish and Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Melkite Greek Catholic communities are facing rapid expansions.
In São Paulo, the Eparchy was established in 1972 by Pope Paul VI and since 1999, is run by Archbishop Dom Fares Maakaroun. The Church is located in the center of the city of São Paulo, in the neighborhood which holds the same name “Paraíso”, (Paradise in Portuguese ) and can be easily accessed through a subway station, just a few meters away. The Church is famous not only because of the inner golden iconostasis, but also because of the impressive meticulously hand painted basilica, consisting a true art work.
Moving north, to Rio de Janeiro, we see another beautiful Melkite Greek Catholic Chuch, the St. Basil Parish (or in Portuguese Paróquia São Basílio). This Eparchy is run Mons. George Khoury, who was born in Syria, has two Doctoral degrees and is considered by many “a pious, charismatic and caring” Father. Rio´s Melkite Greek Catholic St. Basil Church by its chance was finalized even before the São Paulo´s Eparchy, still in 1940, under the orders of Father Elias Coueter. In 1941, the prestigious Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Dom Sebastião Leme, was present at the formal inauguration of the first Melkite Greek Catholic temple in Brazil.
Moving back to the title and main argument of this article, what explains or substantiates the growth of this Catholic Church, in full communion with Rome, but has several differences in terms of its Rite? I personally think the reason of such success and growth lies within two main pillars, which I will try to explain.
Brazil is known worldwide by sociologists, social geography researchers, and historians because of its “cultural adaptability and integration” of its population. As with several other areas within Brazilian society such as culture, sports, and even politics, we see a high degree of what is known in America as the “melting pot” phenomena. Here too, I can only hypothesize from what I have observed: The unique and surely Blessing and harmonic mixture of Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian descendents in Brazil with the older Brazilian population (non-immigrant).
I have observed on both Parishes, in Rio and São Paulo, followers from all kinds of ethnic, economic and social levels, working in a full communion, for the well being of the community and its surroundings. It´s a truly emotional experience to see this “synchrony of minds and souls”, all united, connected in a single temple, in full peace, prayer and Faith. This kind of mystical experience, according to brain researchers and neuro-biologists, creates a vibrant and expanding circle of positive energy. (See studies in American Scientific Magazine)
The second reason I hypothesize for the surge and fast growth of Melkites Greek Catholic communities in Brazil is perhaps a common search, not just by Brazilians, by humanity as a whole, to find answers to a deeper inner spiritual questioning and experience of life itself. I think former Pope John II expressed in two of his famous quotes, this inner search of mankind for the utmost and undeniable desire for real meaning of life: “"Do not be afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.". Admired by peoples of all creeds, races and even agnostics, John Paul II inspired us to uncover the true mission of ourselves. He, as a true Apostle and Disciple of Jesus, wanted us to find authentic freedom, so we could be lead truly happy lives. Melkite Greek Catholic I think,( from what I have personally seen in Brazil), have learned this message quite quickly and cleverly.
The reason may lie both because of the orthodoxy of the Catholic teachings, and also because the worldwide famous “Byzantine Rite”, which is extremely spiritual. The widespread use of incenses, the beautiful Iconography, the enigmatic Entrance procession, and inspiring chants in Greek and Arabic all transports us to the early times of Christianity and therefore possibly explains this unique experience. In fact, Melkite Greek Catholic Church traces its origins to the Christian communities of the Levant and Egypt and holds possibly the oldest rite ( Byzantine Rite) within the Catholic Church, dating back to the 5th century having its core to attributed to Saint John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople.
The other quote of former Pope John II , which also addresses the search of man towards the real truth of life reads as follows: "Faced with today's problems and disappointments, many people will try to escape from their responsibility. Escape in selfishness, escape in sexual pleasure, escape in drugs, escape in violence, escape in indifference and cynical attitudes. I propose to you the option of love, which is the opposite of escape." To finalize, I can only again suppose the above mentioned experiences are the main grounds behind the fast growth of the Melkite Greek Catholics in Brazil. The other “reasons” are surely due to the transcendent power of the supernatural, and Faith most certainly.
While everybody talks about the crisis in Europe and the American employment rates, in Rio de Janeiro we are in the opposite side of a discussion ( and supply and demand law) at least for the niche of furnished apartments in Zona Sul. As we all know, Rio is going through this boom because of the series of mega events, shows, conferences and to find good quality furnished apartment in Zona Sul maybe one of the hardest tasks today, even for the most experienced rental companies in Rio. House hunting became a real “mission impossible” task for many locals and foreigners who need design or nicely done furnished apartments. They simply evaporated and the reason for this phenomenon is the subject of this post in Belavista-Rio Blog.
Below, Leme Executive Apartment Video - A great Option in Zona Sul:
House hunting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil became a nightmare for everyone working with foreigners in Rio: expats agencies, re-location companies, specialized agencies and real estate consultancy companies, not to mention the corporations that are recruiting these foreigners. The reason for this scenario is a product of a combination of simultaneous situations.
1) Law of supply and demand – There are simply much more people looking for apartments in general in Rio than the construction market could supply, in terms of new launch. One of the reasons is obvious: In Zona Sul, there is nowhere else to construct new buildings. The Zona Sul “area” in Rio is literally built between the mountains and Rio´s shoreline / beaches.
2) Because of Rio´s booming oil industry, Brazil is importing executives because of the lack of specialized marine engineers and naval constructors. In the face of this reality, there is a huge influx of foreigners to fill in the gap of these positions. The consequence is you have an added number of searches for these kinds of apartments.
3) Short time rentals. Many apartment owners in Rio, especially in Copacabana prefer to rent their properties for very short periods, which normally deteriorate the apartment. The net result is that the few apartments “left” sometimes are not up to the standards of executives who naturally want clean, design, sophisticated apartments to stay in, especially if they are moving with their families.
4) Many foreign executives prefer to live or experience “an authentic live of a Carioca”, and that normally means the Zona Sul, (South Zone ) area in Rio. With this, Barra neighborhood which indeed has many new buildings, sometimes is not an option, and therefore limits again the “house hunt” to these few refined apartments at Ipanema, Lagoa, Flamengo, Copacabana, Leblon neighborhoods. Many views Barra as a “Miami” experience since you need a car even to buy your fresh bread, so Barra sometimes is not really preferred by some foreigners, especially Europeans. (The theory is not valid obviously if the company in which the executive was hired has its HQ at Barra. )
5) Finally, some Brazilian who indeed have good properties are resistant to see the opportunities (and advantages) of furnishing an apartment for medium length rentals. Some still think people will not treat their property with care and avoid making investment in quality furniture and finishing. Because of this, new comers to this market have to be educated about how effectively the market works, the ROI, until he finally decides to give in, and elegantly decorate his property (and consequently earn much more…)
Below, another Ipanema Apartment for Rent in Rio in video:
So, to conclude, what you may be experiencing in terms of house hunting in Rio is more than true. The fact is that to find “quality apartments” in Rio you have to spend hours and hours of research, with no guarantee of success. In this case, the best option we suggest is a specialized search, which can try to conciliate wishes & desires with what is in fact available, or scheduled to be available. In any case, don´t give up, because Rio is worth the effort! Cheers!
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