The Golconda Statement by Colombian Priests
Goff, James
CA Catholic Bishop and 48 priests see revolution as the only way to overcome underdevelopment. Bogota, December 25, 1968--Forty- eight priests and the Bishop of Euenaventura, Msgr. Gerardo...
...The document quotes generously from the CELA1I recommendations and may be considered as an effort directed at their implementation...
...A Revolution Is Necessary The priests ask what must be done to liberate the Colombian people from their "real servitude and slavery...
...Against iJistributior...
...The Rejection of Capitalism In a call to action, the docuiient urges priests to "become more and more involved ;ith the various forms of revolutionary action against imperialism and bourgeois neo-colonialisr...
...The chancellor of the Bogota curia, Msgr...
...They pledge their efforts to the makin-, of a socialist state in Colombia: 'We enr.ertically condemn neo-colonial capitalism because it is incapable of solving the acute problems of our people...
...of Surplus Food by Foreigners and Charges for cclesiastical Sacraments In an obvious reference to the Fiood for Peace ro-ran of thie United States, the document says:We are not in accord with foreign organizations becoming distributors of excess agricultural products because,under the pretext of aid, they hida the exploitation which they exercise through the progressive deterioration of mutual exchange, clothing themselves with an aura of generosity and creating in the receivers the spirit of beggars...
...Condemnation of Political Parties and the Defense ud:et The Golconda document sees Colontia's two political parties -- Liberal and Conservative -- as tools of oppressors: ;Se reject as a aiisirve tactic the existence of' the so-callei traditional oolitical parties which divide our peole into to great bands, directed, each one of the., by roups which are equally exploiters of the masses and equally sumissive to and colonized by foreign monopolies...
...The 3,000-word statement is based primarily on the findings of the II General Conference of the Latin American piscopate (CELAM) held in Medellin, Colombia, August 26-September 6, 1968...
...The privileges of this ruling class go back to the Colonial epoch...
...Thne priests must be co1e'.tt.ed to tis world, the temoral world, ana they must "collaborate in the political forriation' of the Colombian people...
...The first meeting was held at a finca named "Golconda" in Viot, Cundinamarca, in July, 1968, and was attended by fifty priests...
...The recent meeting was held in Buenaventura, December 9-13, 1968...
...It is a regime of "exploitation and institutionalized violence" which "perpetuates hunger and misery, sickness on a massive scale, infant mortality, illiteracy and marginality, profound inequalities in income, tension between social classes, outbreaks of violence, and meager participation of the people in the development of the common good...
...Luis Carlos Ferreira, announced that the Golconda document is unworthy of pastors of the Church...
...He is quoted as saying that "No member of the Church may incite to revolution, since the mission of pastors is to announce peace and love for one's neighbor, not to assume belligerent or explosive attitudes...
...evolution and Theology Participation by the Church in the struggle for a just society is linked in the document of creation and to the t'eolegical bases of the Second Vatican CoLcil and tihe i Lati-n inmerican ,-oiscooal Conference (CLEAit...
...The people cannot overcome their underdevelopment simply by * "Rechazo de la Curia al Documento de Rebeldes," El Espectador, December 20, 1968.work-ing harder: -he structures of society must be changed...
...They do not faithfully follow declarations of the Council...
...Gerardo Valencia-Cano, issued a statement this month calling for "a revolution which will overthrow the ruling classes of our country, through whom our foreign dependence is maintained...
...In everything expressed by this small group of persons who declare themselves to be rebels against the world there are contradictions with what the Pope has declared...
...Of the signers, 47 are Colombians, two are Argentines, and one is an Ecuadorian...
...Cur conviction of the necessity of a profounr.c ana urent change in the socio-economic and political structures of the country," they say, "leads us to join, without any discrimination whatsoever, with all those who strive for that change...
...It is not true that this country is dominated by a few privileged people who run things as they please...
...They were strengthened by the LWar of Independence, justified by the national constitution, and sanctified by the Roman Catholic Church "as if they were an unequivocal expression of the will of God...
...It condenms the funds designated for Colombia's Defense h.inistry in the following word;s: Wleo likewise reject the i.ense w-ar budget allocated for the maintenance of forces w.fhich are not oriented to the defense of the national sovereignty, but to the violent re-oression of the popular vindicating struggles of workers, e.lsants and students, in defense of structures which interest the minorities who unlawfully retain economic or political power...
...oe wi l l work for tHe cor.ing of a socialist organization of society which .ill elirinate all forms of e-loitation and will conform to the idiosy-ncracies of the olombiarn eoole...
...The present situation -characterized by (a) a lack of hoavy industry, and (b) industrial roduction which coes not generatee capital because it has no mmrket in the centers of ower - "is Lnossib'2.e to overcome without a true revolution which will produce the overt:romw of ther liml- classes of' our country, throu--h whon our foreign dependence is .mintaind...
...The document was prepared by the second meeting of an association which has come to be known as "The Golconda Priest Group...
...The priests label the present regime as repressive--"violence installed in power...
...The charging of payments by the Church for the administration of the sacraments is also criticized: We believe that the present system of charges made for the sacraments and religious services is contrary to the spirit of poverty which CELAI calls for.the Church to demonstrate . Its financial aspect prevents the gratitude of the grace conferred and signified by the sacrament from being seen...
...The Document (Summary and Excerpts) The Colombian Ruling Class Is the Tool of Foreign Interests and Is Responsible for the Nation's Underdevelojpment "The tragic situation of underdevelopment which our country suffers," say the priests, "is the historical product of the economic, political, cultural and social dependence on foreign centers of power, a dependence exercised through our ruling classes...
...Reaction to the Golconda statement has been strongly negative from the Church and the Establishment...
...iLvanLelisrm, "the awakening of faitl," must deal directly -ith humr-an aspirations and problems...
...Th.e priests reject "the old antimony between the temporal and the eternal" and indicate that when men respond to concrete situations of their existence, they are responding to the revelation of God...
...Faith tus becomes a conmlit+ment to humanity...
Vol. 2 • December 1968 • No. 8
