Nahur Fonseca (photo) is our guest this week. He is one of the coordinators of the Retreat, which was held online this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. He was born in the Brazilian city of São Paulo and became a Spiritist at the age of 10. He has lived for many years in Boston, Massachusetts, where he did a Doctorate in Computer Science. He is also an active member of the Allan Kardec Spiritist Society of Massachusetts.

How did you become a Spiritist?

My parents used to take me to Gospel classes at a Spiritist Centre in the city of Belo Horizonte, where from a very early age I helped in social projects and many other tasks. Eventually I got involved in the youth movement. I was always impressed by the determination Spiritists had to read and study the Teachings in depth. I also admired Spiritist art and all the charity work done, including the donation of food and clothes for those in need and visits to children’s hospitals, old people’s homes etc. The social work carried out by the Spiritist Movement in Brazil is amazing.

Now living abroad, how do you assess the development of Spiritism in the United States?

The Spiritist Movement has grown steadily in the past 15 years, thanks to events like the Family Spiritist Retreat and the US Spiritist Symposium, which takes place every year in different US states and gather all Groups affiliated to the American Federation. There’s been progress in other areas in the past 15 years, including the publication of The Spiritist Magazine, in English, the opening of radio and TV channels online and the translation of books by Allan Kardec, Emmanuel and André Luiz.

Are the members of Spiritist Groups in the US all Brazilian? Or do you have people from other nationalities too?

The directors of most Spiritist Centres in the US are Brazilian. Many of them also have American citizenship. But there Spiritist Centres that have been founded by or directed by people born in the United States. Some Groups, such as SSB and SSVA, hold all their activities in English. Others use both English and Portuguese. The Gospel groups for children are all in English, as many children who are born here have English as their first language. Americans who come to our activities are usually introduced to the Teachings by Brazilian friends or find it through social media or other publications.

Tell us about your experience with the Family Spiritist Retreat.

The initial goal was to help educators and other people involved in Spiritist study groups exchange ideas and promote a yearly meeting to gather young people. The idea was based on the youth meetings we have during carnival in Brazil. Because our resources were limited, we decided to meet in park and to organise activities for the whole family. The spiritual ambience is truly from another world, amazing. We can always feel the joyful and welcoming presence of Spirits around us. During the past 17 years, we have been able to see the growth of the Spiritist Youth Movement in the US.

How do you organise the Family Spiritist Retreats every year?

As soon as the latest event is over, we begin organising the next one. Ideas and proposals start to come up and are discussed in the following six months, in online meetings. We ask for people to send in questions that they would like to have answered. We organise workgroups and begin shaping up the programme, allocating a particular task for each Spiritist Centre. About 300 people gather on the day of the event. Each age group is given a T-shirt with a different colour, which makes it easier to identify the groups and also adds joy to the natural colours of the park where we meet.

This year we had a different situation. Because of the pandemic, we decided to hold the meeting online.  

What, in your opinion, have been the main achievements of the Retreats so far?

We have only a limited perspective and only the Spiritual Benefactors would be able to make a proper assessment of the benefits achieved so far in the American Spiritist Movement. I believe, however, that by persevering with a yearly event that welcomes English-speaking families but doesn’t exclude those who speak Portuguese or Spanish, we have helped to create awareness to the need of generating more content and events in the English language.  

How was the interaction between people from other countries in this year’s Retreat?

The response from young people to requests for questions was unprecedented. We received about 80 questions from about people in about 20 different countries. More than that, scholars from several countries also sent us their suggested questions. After the virtual Retreat, which was held last week, young people who attended this year’s event decided to set up a group so they could remain in contact. And they are already making plans to hold a monthly meeting, to discuss other questions that couldn’t be answered during the Retreat. The youth movement in every country is normally small. It seems like the creation a global Spiritist Youth Movement, using the technology now available, could be a viable option to help young people who share the same ideals remain connected.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

We had no idea that an online event would have such a deep impact on the lives of so many families. Testimonies from many people after the event seemed to agree on one aspect: everyone was pleasantly surprised by the level of involvement. The empathy of everyone, who seemed to feel in their hearts what others were feeling, was in my opinion the most remarkable aspect of this year’s Family Spiritist Retreat.