That is how professor André Ricardo de Souza (photo), our guest today, would like to see the Spiritist Movement acting in Brazil.  

He has a degree in Social Sciences and Master and PhD degrees in Sociology at the University of São Paulo (USP). He also has a Post-Doctorate and is currently a lecturer at the Sociology Department at the São Carlos University, where coordinates the nucleus of Religion, Economy and Politics studies.

He joined the Spiritist Movement in 1999, when he began attending regularly the activities at the Apóstolo Mateus Spiritist Centre (NEEAM) in the city of São Paulo, as he explains in the following interview.

André, please start by explaining briefly how you began your involvement with Spiritism and the Spiritist Movement.

I first became interested in Spiritism in 1998, influenced by my wife, Margareth, who was then my girlfriend. I began attending the Apóstolo Mateus (Matthew, the Apostle) Spiritist Centre the following year and my involvement deepened when my father got ill and began receiving healing there. In 2004, when I was doing my PhD course in Sociology, I was selected for a placement at the ENS school in Paris between September and December. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that the 4^th World Spiritist Congress would take place in Paris in the first week of October, to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Allan Kardec. I was glad that I had the opportunity to take part. On my return to Brazil, I attended the mediumship course and became a volunteer worker at NEEAM. Earlier this year, I began attending a different Spiritist Centre, Núcleo Espírita Coração de Jesus (NECJ), which is only three blocks away from home.

Who are the Spiritist authors you admire the most and why?

In my opinion, after Allan Kardec, the great Spiritist author is Emmanuel, who wrote very important books through the mediumship of Chico Xavier. Not only he wrote great historical novels and books that clarify extracts from the New Testament, but he has also provided key information to help us understand the scientific and historic development of the Earth. I would also like to mention the work of Humberto de Campos and André Luiz, who have also written important books through Chico’s mediumship. The two authors have, with their narrative, introduced us to important aspects of life in the Spirit World, of mediumship, and the life of Jesus Christ and his apostles. The other author who, I believe, has also left us a very relevant contribution is Léon Denis, with his books about the Christian aspect of Spiritism and fraternal socialism.

Your experience at the International Spiritist Congress in Paris must have been unforgettable. I think our readers would like to know a bit more about that event and the impact it had on you.

I really enjoyed taking part in that congress, especially because of the talk of a Belgian speaker who highlighted the importance of embracing within Spiritism people normally seen as different. Among the Brazilian Spiritist speakers there, the one that really left a mark on me was the late doctor, Marlene Nobre, with her humble and moving tone. It was after that event that I decided to commit myself as a volunteer worker at a Spiritist Centre.

I would like you to share some of your considerations on the Spiritist Movement in Brazil, taking into account the ideological and political polarisation the country is going through.

I think the Spiritist Movement in Brazil is marked by many talks and lectures and also by various big and medium size events, which unfortunately low income people can’t afford to attend. At least that is how it was in the pre-coronavirus pandemic world. That congress in Paris, for example, charged a hefty fee from those who wanted to attend. It was organised basically by Brazilians. Gladly I managed to get a discount as I was a student at the time. As Chico Xavier emphasized through the humble way in he lived, and based in many accounts I have heard, Spiritism needs to become more popular. It needs to open up and welcome lower income people and those with lower educational level. It needs to welcome the poor and the meek mentioned by Jesus. I believe that it is essential to combine the charity work we do in silence (and that’s exactly how it should be) with strategies to welcome those in need at our Spiritist Centres. To achieve that, I believe we must to adopt a more straightforward and fraternal language. This humble and charitable Christian approach, of which our unforgettable Chico was a true example, needs to be taken into account when we look at how our society is managed by our political leaders. We must, without exception, reject any violent, authoritarian and socially elitist policies and favour instead coherent proposals aimed at encouraging peace, disarmament, true democracy, social welfare for the poor and regressive taxation to help redistribute the wealth. And, while keeping a strong critical sense, the time has come for everyone to truly seek fraternal union, leaving aside our different political affiliations and ideologies. It is time to put solidarity into practice in our communities, as much as we can, and beyond our communities too, reaching out for those in need. That is especially relevant now, as we go through this pandemic, which has brought us at the same time a crisis in our health and sanitation system, our economy and our civilisation.