Fr. Edward Fernandes(SVD): The Missionary from Belle to Brazil-Inspired by ‘Liberation Theology’

By Dr. Eugene DSouza, Moodubelle
Bellevision Media Network

 

Udupi, 15 Mar 2015: It is but rare that one comes across a young person in modern times who would not only be willing to join priesthood but choose a faraway country as a field of missionary activity. However, incidentally, I was amazed to know that one priest, a native of Moodubelle has come on holidays from Brazil and wanted to know about him and the country where he has been serving as a missionary. Hence, I made it a point to fix an appointment with Fr.Edward Fernandes and have detailed interaction with him so as to know about his formative years, training as a priest and his missionary service in Brazil.

 

 

Born on 21 December 1969 as the fifth among six sons of late Joseph Fernandes and Lilly Fernades of Kappandakariya, Moodubelle, Edward studied in the Church Aided Higher Primary School and St. Lawrence High School, Moodubelle where he complete SSLC in 1987. As he had already made up his mind to join the SVD Congregation, Edward proceeded to SVD Minor Seminary at Kirem from where he completed PUC studies in Pompeii Junior College, Aikala. Having strengthened in his vocation, Edward went to Indore for Juniorate where he underwent one year of integration of spirituality and study of English grammar and language.

 

 

 

 

When asked about the factors that prompted him to join the religious life in general and SVD Congregation in particular, Fr. Edward without hesitation said that his family had strong roots in prayers. His grandparents and parents were particular about the evening prayers and Rosary and this discipline greatly helped him to choose his vocation. Besides, he was quite inspired and influenced by the then Parish Priest and Principal of St. Lawrence High School, Rev. Fr. Alexander Lobo. Edward was very much  impressed by the interest shown by Fr. Alexander in the studies of the students and the facilities that he had been providing to them so that they could concentrate on their academic performance. Besides, Fr. Alexander’s concern for the poor and downtrodden greatly influenced Edward in joining the religious order and thinking in terms of becoming a missionary working among the poor and deprived sections of the society.

 

Moreover, some of the family members and relatives of Edward have been priests. He mentioned about Fr. Rosario Fernandes, present Parish Priest of Mundkoor, Fr. George Fernandes S.J. presently Provincial of Jamshedpur Jesuit Province, Fr. Paul Fernandes S.J., presently Vice Chancellor of Jesuit University at Bhuvaneshwar, Orissa, Fr. Nicholas Martis SVD, Indore and Fr. Edward D’Mello SVD, Mumbai.

 

Recalling the circumstances that led to his joining the SVD Congregation, Fr. Edward said that while he was studying in the 9th standard, the SVD Vocation promoter, Fr.  Bernard Rodrigues had visited St. Lawrence High School for counselling which inspired Edward to join the Congregation and following his SSLC results he joined the SVD Minor Seminary at Kirem.

 

After completing the Juniorate at Indore, Br. Edward Fernandes proceeded to Bhopal where he did his graduation studies in the Bhopal University between 1990 and 1993 and secured BA degree with Economics, English Literature and Sociology as core subjects. As he was pursuing the graduation studies, he also did the mandatory two years long Philosophy course in preparation for the priesthood.

 

Having graduated and completed the Philosophy course, Br. Edward joined the two years long novitiate along with 31 other candidates at Khurda near Indore. After two years he was deputed to Mhow close to Indore as regent to teach English in Minor Seminary.

 

For three years long Theology Course in preparation for priesthood, Br. Edward Fernandes went to Jnanadeepa Vidya Peeth at Pune. Having completed the Theology studies in 1998, Br. Edward was deputed to Lathur in Maharashtra along with Catholic Hospitals Association of India (CHAI) for providing medical facilities to the surviving earthquake victims. Lathur was devastated by deadly earthquake on 30 September 1993 in which over ten thousand people had lost their lives and more than thirty thousand were injured.  The chief project in which Br. Edward involved was to help the victims to rebuild their lives by providing them livelihood by promoting handicrafts and marketing these products.

 

After working for six months at Lathur, Br. Edward  was deputed to Raya near Madgaon, Goa as deacon  to assist in  church service where he spent three months. On 3 January 1998, Br. Edward Fernandes professed his Final Vows in anticipation of the ordination which took place on 26 April 1999 at Mudarangadi along with five other SVD Deacons.

 

Having ordained a priest, Fr. Edward began preparations to proceed to Brazil as a missionary. Narrating the circumstances that took him to the South American country of Brazil as a missionary, Fr. Edward said that he was quite influenced by the ‘Liberation Theology’ that was prevalent in 1970s especially in the Latin American countries.  Further,  Fr. Edward Fernandes said that while he was in the third and final year of Theology studies, having decided to go abroad as a missionary he had given preference of three South American countries where he would have likeed to work as a missionary, namely, Ecuador, Brazil and Chile.

 

Eventually, the superiors advised Fr. Edward  to choose Brazil.  Before Fr. Edward would proceed to Brazil, he had to undergo 15 days intensive intercultural course. Having completed all the formalities,  on 17 September 1999 Fr. Edward Fernandes landed at Curitiba in Southern Brazil.

 

 

Liberation theology is a movement that attempts to interpret Scripture through the plight of the poor. True followers of Jesus, according to liberation theology, must work toward a just society, bring about social and political change, and align themselves with the working classes. Jesus, who was poor Himself, focused on the poor and downtrodden and any legitimate church will give preference to those who have historically been marginalized or deprived of their rights. All church doctrine should grow out of the perspective of the poor. Defending the rights of the poor is seen as the central aspect of the gospel.

 

Liberation theology has its roots in Latin American Roman Catholicism. Its rise is seen as a response to widespread poverty and the mistreatment of large segments of Latin American society. An influential book promoting liberation theology is Fr. Gustavo Gutiérrez’s “A Theology of Liberation” published in 1971.

 

Critics of liberation theology associate it with Marxism and see it as a religious form of failed socialist policies. Vatican officials, including several Popes, have spoken against liberation theology. The reasons for Catholic opposition involve liberation theology’s emphasis on practice over doctrine and their rejection of church hierarchical structure—liberation theology advocates “base communities” that meet outside the confines of the church, effectively bypassing Catholic clergy.

 

Late Salvadorian Archbishop Oscar Romero has been considered as  the unofficial saint of the Liberation Theology. Incidentally, the present Pope Francis has been sympathetic to the ‘Liberation Theology’ and has even considers the beatification of the late Archbishop. The Pope has said, “For me Romero is a man of God...there are no doctrinal problems and it is very important that the beatification be done quickly.”

 

Curitiba is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. The city’s population is approximately 1,760,500 people as of 2010 census, making it the eighth most populous city in the country and the largest in Brazil’s South Region. Curitiba has been a typically European type of city as majority of the population comprises of the descendants of Germans, Italians, Poles and Ukrainians. The Curitiba Metropolitan area comprises 26 municipalities with a total population of over 3.2 million. Among this population around 70 percent are Catholics.

 

Portuguese being the spoken and official language of Brazil, Fr. Edward had to study that language and had to devote three months in achieving his goal of learning Portuguese language.

 

Having acquired sufficient proficiency in Portuguese, Fr. Edward was sent to the Sacred Heart Church at Rio Azul as assistant priest where Fr. Rodrigo, a Philippine was the parish priest. According to Fr. Edward among the Catholics of Rio Azul parish around 90 percent have been of Polish origin and around 10 percent constitute Ukrainian descendants. The parish of Rio Azul has 32 chapels or substations within its jurisdiction. During his two years tenure as the assistant priest, Fr. Edward used to visit these chapels in turn during weekends for offering mass and administering sacraments. Hence, sometimes it would be once in a month that he could visit each of these chapels. According to Fr. Edward the largest chapel has 280 families where as the smallest has 36 families. The farthest chapel is at a distance of around 50 kilometres from the main church at Rio Azul.
After serving for two years as the assistant priest at Rio Azul, Fr. Edward was transferred to Toledo as the parish priest where he served for two years. Most of the Catholics of Toledo have been German descendants.

 

 

With sufficient experience in parish work, Fr. Edward was asked by his superiors to serve as Vocation Promoter in the Brazil South Province of SVD. During the five years term as the Vocation Promoter, Fr. Edward had to travel over wide regions visiting various schools in three southern states of Brazil-Parana, Mato Gross Do Sul and Santa Catharina. His main objective was to motivate Catholic students to join SVD congregation. As direct appeal to promote vocations in schools was prohibited, Fr. Edward had to motivate the students by delivering value based lectures and conducting camps in each of the states. Though there was considerable response to these camps, the number of candidates joining priesthood was quite negligible.

 

As there has been lack of vocations and required number of priests to carry on religious services, lay deacons and in certain cases even nuns have been chosen to provide certain types of religious services such as administering Baptism, conducting marriages and funeral services.

 

The next important assignment that came in the way of Fr. Edward was that of Mission Animator in the same region. The chief task of this assignment was the formation of lay people in different parishes for future mission by conducting retreats and collecting mission funds. One of the chief projects of the SVD Congregation in Brazil has been to select each year one country usually from Africa for sponsorship through SVD Mission Sunday. Along with this responsibility, Fr. Edward also served as the Provincial Treasurer.

 

 

Having served as Mission Animator and Provincial Treasurer for five years, in 2014  Fr. Edward Fernandes was appointed as the parish priest of St. Peter’s Church in the Metropolitan City of Sao Jose Dos Pinhais with a  mixed Catholic population of 15,000.
According to Fr. Edward Fernandes, in Brazil, there are four SVD Provinces-Amazon Region Province, Northern Province, Central Province and Southern Province. Totally, there are 250 SVD priests and brothers belonging to 20 nationalities including 25 from India serving as missionaries in the whole of Brazil. Among the Indians, seven are from Mangalore and Udupi Diocese. Besides Fr. Edward Fernandes, Fr. Joachim Andrade from Vamana Padav, Fr. Ronald Lobo from Allipade, Fr. Roshan D’Souza from Belman, Fr. Henry Crasta from Taccode, Fr. Henry Mendonca from Pernal and Fr. Maxim  serve in different provinces in Brazil. Among these, Fr. Edward Fernandes, Fr. Joachim Andrade and Fr. Ronald Lobo serve in Southern Province.

 

Once in three years, the SVD missionaries from Brazil can avail two months long leave. I could meet and have this interaction with Fr. Edward as he was on leave and had come to his native village, Moodubelle during the months of January-February.