In Costa Rica, we took a class about Liberation Theology. For our final project we had to do something creative, so I decided to do a blog post. Below is my reflection on what I have learned over the last four weeks of class.
I'll be honest. I thought I knew a lot about Liberation Theology having taken a trip to El Salvador this past January & learning about Christian Faith, Vocation & Liberation Theology in the class second semester. This, however, was not the case. I knew very little about the complexity of Liberation Theology and how it relates to everything, including the economy & politics.
Let's get the basics!
What is Liberation Theology? I tried to ask this question on the first day so I could get a clear idea of what Liberation Theology consisted of to help decipher where this class was going... instead I got a complicated answer as to what Liberation theology is not.
Are there basics?
No, not in the way that I thought there would be.
Liberation Theology does not have one single, strict definition but yet has many different, adapted definitions depending on the context and theological reflection. I found this "no clear definition thing" annoying, and (I thought) contradictory to what I had learned in El Salvador. After some patience, I realized that since Liberation Theology is SO context-based, there is really not a clear definition but rather a few main "focuses" that Liberation Theology is based around.
In my opinion these are some of the main focuses:
1) the option for the poor (God has an concern for the poor, excluded, lonely, marginalized and oppressed from society)
2) mutual acknowledgment between humans
3) giving a voice to the voiceless
4) maintaining the dignity of the human person
Another important thing to point out is that Liberation Theology doesn't exist without its contextual base or without its theological base. Liberation theology without theology is just a social movement. Liberation theology without context is just theory. Please realize that Liberation theory is a lot more dense than what I am explaining, it also has to do a lot with the economics and politics of capitalism.
Liberation Theology does not have one single, strict definition but yet has many different, adapted definitions depending on the context and theological reflection. I found this "no clear definition thing" annoying, and (I thought) contradictory to what I had learned in El Salvador. After some patience, I realized that since Liberation Theology is SO context-based, there is really not a clear definition but rather a few main "focuses" that Liberation Theology is based around.
In my opinion these are some of the main focuses:
1) the option for the poor (God has an concern for the poor, excluded, lonely, marginalized and oppressed from society)
2) mutual acknowledgment between humans
3) giving a voice to the voiceless
4) maintaining the dignity of the human person
Another important thing to point out is that Liberation Theology doesn't exist without its contextual base or without its theological base. Liberation theology without theology is just a social movement. Liberation theology without context is just theory. Please realize that Liberation theory is a lot more dense than what I am explaining, it also has to do a lot with the economics and politics of capitalism.
Liberation Theology in action : The Community of La Carpio
Through my weeks here in Costa Rica I have been seen two very different exeriences of how Liberation Theology has worked in the community of Longo Mai & in the community of La Carpio.
Context of La Carpio
La Carpio is located between a local garbage dump & a new sewage treatment plant. So the smell of the community is quite strong. The garbage dumb was supposed to closed a couple years ago but hasn't yet. The sewage plant is not supposed to smell or contaminate the rivers, but it does. The community is made up lower socio-economic status families. Most of La Carpio is in the workforce, taking jobs like housework or construction. There are primary schools, but not enough room for every student, so many have to travel outside the community to attend school. |
Immigration
Immigration is a "hot topic" within Costa Rica. We have spent a week or two meeting with different organizations & having conversations with people about people who migrate to Costa Rica. Many of the immigrants are from Nicaragua & have come to Costa Rica in search of work. The media has portrayed a bad image of Nicaraguans causing many people to be bitter, talk bad about & discriminate against the Nicaraguans. La Carpio specifically has about 45% of its people considered immigrants. Many of them have children who were born here & are considered Costa Rican.
Influence of the Church
There are some 80-130 churches within the community of 42,000. There are Pentecostal, Jehovah Witness, Mormon, Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist, etc churches. Here they are given both good and bad names within this community for a number of reasons. Anyone can set up a church. Pull together a few chairs, open your door & call yourself a pastor. Some churches of this community take advantage of the faith & uneducated poor by giving them false hope while collecting the weekly offering. We experienced something different.
On Sunday morning, we went to a small, casual service that is meant for the youth or young people of the community. We were welcomed quickly by the people & played a small "get to know you" game. After a song, we read from the Bible & had two youth share their testimonies.
44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” |
Both youth talked about their past struggles in their life and within their community & how faith had changed their lives. What was powerful about their message was that it didn't have a cliche message about being saved but rather a message about how that faith community had changed their life by giving them hope, strength & support. Evidence of Liberation Theology I witnessed Liberation Theology through the testimonies of the youth that community gave them a chance to share. The community let them find their voice & decide what was best for them. This church community liberated the struggles of the youth, not by making them go away but rather finding an alternative mindset to get through them. |
The media portrays La Carpio as slum with nothing other than gangs, violence & drugs. We frequently got the confused look & response, "Que Feo!" ("How ugly!") from outside members of the community when we told them about where we were going. I am sure people in the US can quickly think of cities or towns that they consider "very dangerous" or "full of gangs, violence & drugs" & have no desire to travel to them out of concern for safety. That's the mentality of some of the Costa Ricans, also. What I can say is that I experienced was the opposite. Yes, there is violence within the community (don't worry I was safely tucked into a house before it got dark/dangerous) BUT there is much more than just violence. There are people & groups that are trying to liberate themselves from the struggles that they face daily. What it took to change our image that the media portrayed was a Come and See! mentality.
Wanna read more?
We had to explore a topic of Liberation Theology. So my group & I chose to study Crime & Imprisonment. So conducted interviews with three different people who know information about Liberation Theology, Jails/Prisons & Prison Ministry in the context of Costa Rica. For our project we decided to create a prayer & reflection service for our classmates. Click on the images below to read or "mini homilies." Worth a read!