Dom Helder Câmara died on August 27 at the age of ninety. He was archbishop of the diocese of Recife, Brazil, and spent his life serving the poor by living as one of them. They called him "the red bishop," but he said: "I have no need of Marxism: the Gospel gives me everything that Marxism could give me... There is no reason to be alarmed. I do not preach hatred; I preach love." He wrote this creed.
I do not believe
in the right of the stronger,
in the language of weapons,
in the power of the powerful.
I choose to believe
in the rights of man,
in the open hand,
in the power of the nonviolent.
I do not believe
in the rule of wealth,
in privilege,
in the established order.
I choose to believe
that all men are men
and that the order of force
and injustice
is disorder.
I do not believe
that I can ignore
what happens far away.
I choose to believe
that the whole world is my home
and the field where I sow,
and that all reap
what all have sown.
I do not believe
that I can fight
oppression there
if I tolerate injustice here.
I choose to believe
that justice is one, here and there,
and that I am not free
while a single man is shut out.
I do not believe
that war and hunger
are inevitable
and peace unreachable.
I choose to believe
in love with empty hands
and in peace on earth.
I do not believe
that all suffering will matter.
I do not believe that man's dream
will remain a dream
and that death will be the end.
No—I dare to believe
in God's own dream:
a new heaven, a new earth
where justice will dwell.