Nationalist Propaganda Radio

Since 9/11, I have found NPR very difficult to listen to. What passes for "enlightened" journalism in this country escapes me. Indeed, these days, I rarely listen to NPR for more than the local weather, Car Talk, and Prairie Home Companion. OK, The Splendid Table and that news quiz (whatever it's called)...

In any event, occasionally, while waiting for the weather, I catch a fleeting glimpse (or sound) of pre-9/11 NPR. This morning was such an occasion.

Julie McCarthy did a piece on the Pope's visit to Brazil. The real story was not the Pope, but the South of the Border theological praxis that is alleged to be working its way through the minds and hearts of the Brazilian populace. Two items leaped out at me, both statements attributed to Leonardo Boff, Brazil's leading liberation theologian:

(1) "The opposite of poverty is not wealth – it is justice. And the objective of liberation theology is to create a more just society, not necessarily a wealthier one. And the great question is, how do we do this?" and

(2) "1 million 'Bible circles' in the world's largest Catholic country regularly meet to discuss the Scriptures from the vantage point of liberation theology."

I hold the first statement to be true by definition and the "great question" he identified to be truly the GREAT QUESTION. I hope and pray that the second statement is no exaggeration.

While all the Washington, D.C. criminals in their coats and their ties continue to get away with murder, Brazil's Catholics may be putting themselves in a position (what one author has termed a "mental matrix") to decide a better fate for the world...