This week, Orbis books published Dom Helder Camara: Essential Writings, an anthology of the charismatic Brazilian archbishop's speeches, poems and essays. It's an essential collection for anyone struggling to live in the church in these times, because this little man with an accent thick as gravy paved the way for liberation theology, base communities and contemporary peacemaking, not only for Brazil and Latin America, but the whole church. His lessons and insights are needed more than ever.
For 20 years he campaigned tirelessly against Brazil's military dictatorship, often under death threats, and now and then enduring attempts on his life. The regime banned him from public speaking for 13 years and prohibited newspapers from printing his name. In 1985, the Vatican forced him to retire and dismantled every one of his programs of justice and peace. Still, until his death in 1999 he shined as a symbol of what the church could be, an uncompromised stronghold of hope, justice and love.
One is shocked, too, by the strenuousness of his striving. The book contains many poems and meditations, which he wrote between 2 and 5 every morning, sweet fruit of the prayerful vigil he sustained over his life. (When he died, friends discovered more than seven thousand poem meditations in his room. Only a few have been published.) Behind this massive yield was his claim to be "always seeing the unclouded Christ." From my own time with him, I believe it. - Fr John Dear, National Catholic Reporter (click below for full article)
http://ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/dom-helder-camara-presente