Group in Rio Raids Catholic Mass with African Celebration, Insults Blacks

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A mass celebrated on Wednesday, November 20th, in honor of the Black Awareness Day in a church in Glória, south zone of Rio de Janeiro, ended up in the police station.

A group tried to prevent the celebration and attacked the faithful with racist remarks. Even the priest was accused of being a sinner for allowing the celebration. A ghurchgoer who claims to have been slapped by a member of that group registered the case at the Racial Crimes and Intolerance Offenses Police Precinct (DECRADI) on Thursday, November 21st.

The celebration has been held for 15 years in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Benjamin Constant Street, and follows the traditional Catholic rite. The only difference is the inclusion of African songs and dances, with the use of their own musical instruments, such as “atabaques” (conga drums).

According to witnesses, shortly before mass, a group of about 20 people arrived and approached the priest, trying to dissuade him from celebrating the mass, which – according to them – disrespected the Catholic ritual. The men wore suits and the women wore veils and dresses. Their names had not been disclosed by Thursday night.

According to witness reports, the group said they had gone to church on behalf of Cardinal Orani Tempesta, Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, but later it was confirmed that there had been no link or direction from the Cardinal to the demonstrators.

The priest did not comply with the request and began the celebration, during which another priest gave a speech in which he stressed that they were not doing anything wrong by including the African songs and dances in a mass.

Witnesses report that the group then proceeded to recite the rosary in Latin, aloud, in an attempt to disrupt the celebration. At the end of the mass, the demonstrators accused the priest of sinning in allowing the celebration and recommended that he “take care of his black sheep,” in reference to the color of the majority of the faithful who attended mass.

There was rioting and the State Police were called. In the midst of the turmoil, demonstrators accused the church faithful of disparagement (the crime of making false accusations against a person’s dignity or decorum).

On Thursday, Professor Diogo Pinheiro, who is black and father of members of an artistic performance group of African origin, attended the DECRADI precinct to report the case and accuse the demonstrators of crimes of racism and religious intolerance, as well as the infringement of rights.

“He reported having been slapped by someone who had tried to interrupt Mass,” said attorney Rodrigo Mondego, a member of the Commission on Human Rights of the Brazilian Bar Association in Rio de Janeiro (OAB-RJ). Mondego accompanied Pinheiro’s deposition to the detective.

“Other victims will testify in the coming days. It is necessary to punish these racists, a group of religious fundamentalists who could not prevent the celebration and then decided to riot,” he said.

The Catholic Church had not commented on the incident by 9 PM on Thursday. In a note, the state secretariat for Social Development and Human Rights stated that, although it was not sought by any of those involved, it has contacted the parish and is scheduling a meeting to propose a number of debates and talks on religious freedom.

Source: Estadão Conteúdo