Teresa Cristina Rossi:

“Don’t miss out on the opportunity of living
with the youth”

How the work with the Spiritist youth in a small town in the countryside of Minas Gerais managed to produce so much
in the area of study and Spiritist divulgation

Born and raised in the small town of Monte Santo de Minas, in Minas Gerais, Teresa Cristina Rossi (picture) works at TJ-MG and is post-graduated in Civil Law and Civil Process. Spiritist since 1987, she got closer to Spiritism to understand the reasons and questions of her own life. In the city where she lives, she coordinates the Spiritist Youth of the Spiritist Center Love and Charity, which completed its first centenary in the beginning of 2008. Her answers reveal the dynamism of this valuable partner of ideals. O Consolador: Locate the city of Monte Santo de Minas in your state, region, economy and city profile.
Monte Santo de Minas is a small town, located to the southwest of Minas Gerais, with a population of 20,000 inhabitants, most of them still living in a rural area. The staple of economy has always been coffee, with some diversifications like cultivation of cereals, sugar cane, raising cattle. Therefore this is the basis of economy, since there are no industries in the city. Its per capita income is low. City of former colonels, great farmers who also acted in politics.

O Consolador: What about the Spiritist movement, how is it in the city? How many institutions?

The Spiritist movement is respected for the serious job that the three Centers do. The population, though most of them are Catholics, receive from the Spiritist movement effective participation to the caring and social level, as it happens to Center Allan Kardec, which shelters kids ranging from 7 to 14 years old, and Allan Kardec Village, which shelters 70 elderly, and also cultural, since its library offers a great array of Spiritist books at the disposal of the population.

O Consolador: What does it mean for the city the Spiritist Center Love and Charity, which reached its first centenary already?

The Spiritist Center Love and Charity, founded on June 26, 1908, was a landmark in the history of Monte Santo. Imagine that 50 years after the publication of The Spirits’ Book, our city already read The Gospel According to Spiritism at the beginning of meetings. Its founders were European, they came here to work. This description was done by a Spiritist talking about what this Center represents to our city.

O Consolador: Where does the intense youth movement come from?

The Spiritist Youth movement has always been part of the Center, with some interruptions, but the seed had already been planted. Around 1990 we noticed the lack of space for the youth in meetings, and the board of the Center incentivized us to prioritize them, since I was well-identified with this job. From then on we gather information at the Mineira Spiritist Union, we brought the material, started applying it and as time went by we adapted it to our youth’s necessity.

O Consolador: Does it cover other cities too?

The youth movement was getting stronger and we started visiting others in near cities and it worked out well. Jussara and people from Passos held these meetings, which started being called as Regional Meeting of Spiritist Youth, and it happens every year. We are in our tenth edition. The major meeting, lasting two days, usually occurs in October, while the four others in different cities work the central subject, and that’s it.

O Consolador: What is the basic schedule, books and dynamics used?

The basic schedule lies in approaching current subjects upon Spiritism’s reach. It’s important to take out this teacher approach, letting it clear we are always learning and don’t own the truth. We share experiences, that’s why we try to show them the importance of making the right choices, and the great opportunity they are having.

O Consolador: Can you say that the Spiritist youth has a vivid interest for the Spiritist knowledge, despite all world’s appeals? Why such interest?

The youth is curious, they want to know what surrounds them, and they are open to concepts and information with no prejudice. And the Spiritist youth also suffers with the world’s appeals, the only thing is the responsibility of them knowing another reality. For example, their attitude will reflect on their happiness or unhappiness and also those they interact with. We have been living an interesting experience. All wanted to know more about mediumship, we then created a group of theoretical study of mediumship with the handout by Therezinha Oliveira. It was “cool”.

O Consolador: What is their age? Do couples also participate? Are they also integrated to the other activities of the institution?

Our classes are elaborated for people ranging from 14 to 21 years old. This is the age-group, but also other ages attend the Spiritist Youth, including couples, and it doesn’t compromise the activities. The integration of youth in other activities of the Center is still small, but I believe that a new conscience is coming up.

O Consolador: Is there a book club? Have you ever held a book fair?

The Spiritist book is widely accepted in our city, and, as we had said, we have a good library, with books acquired through donations and also book fairs at the disposal of the community daily, such as lending. Here, we still haven’t assembled a book club, but it’s something to be thought of.

O Consolador: Do you consider that internet has exercised any influence to the growth of the Spiritist movement in the city?

For sure, internet is a powerful vehicle, as it’s instantaneous and allows us the direct contact with the best in the Spiritist environment. Of course we need the basis first, to discern what Spiritist Doctrine really is. With the internet we can follow a seminar in Bahia for example, and be updated about books and see Spiritist works all over the world.

O Consolador: Tell us about a curious fact of the Spiritist history of the city.

There was a homeopathic drugstore in our Center, where the population was provided with medicine. The medium worked with the Spirit of a doctor, who was frequently Dr. João Ribeiro, which prescribed medicine that was manipulated in the Center. There is this story in an old paper of the city that during the Influenza epidemics, the Spiritist Center Love and Charity worked a lot to help the infected ones.

O Consolador: Your final words.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity of living with the youth. Whenever you are with them, look into their eyes and you’ll see there life, joy, and spontaneity. Believe in their potential and listen carefully to what they say. They’ll surely surprise you with their wisdom.