Cláudio Luciano Oliveira Lins: 

“A bigger emphasis on the study of Kardec’s work is needed, because there are a lot of assumptions going around these days” 

The creation of the Portal ‘Garanhuns Espírita’ was made in June 2001 with a unique goal to divulge the Spiritist Doctrine in its triple aspects: science, philosophy and religion. Here he talks to us about his activities and the spiritual movement in his city

Garanhuns Espírita – www.garanhunsespirita.com.br – was born on June 2001 as a site with the idea to divulge all spiritist centres in Garanhuns and publish information about the Spiritist Doctrine in its triple aspect.  

O Consolador: What is the site’s priority? Besides divulging Spiritism, what is the main focus of the site: interviews, news, articles or documentaries? 

With the Portal, we have expanded the site and included several subjects, such as: arts, contributors, Spiritist Doctrine, interviews, events, messages, general news, pearls and curiosities, Spiritist prayers, and GACE – a Support Group to all Spiritist Centres in Garanhuns. We also have surveys, Spiritist Books for download, including Allan Kardec’s work, and more than 200 web links, with addresses for all Spiritist Centres in Garanhuns. 

O Consolador: What kind of repercussion is the site having in terms of access throughout Brazil? 

The number of click-throughs was around 1.100 per day in 2008, whereas in 2007 it was on average 745. This indicates a continuous increase on the number of people accessing the Portal. These statistics show that users from all over Brazil have been accessing the site. We also had lots of hits internationally, since we have been receiving a lot of e-mails from Latin American countries.   

O Consolador: Can you please talk to us about the search for Spiritist Counselling through the site.        

This aspect is worrying me because, as you are aware of, we do not have a big team to maintain the Portal. There is only one person currently working on it. The main objective of FALE CONOSCO is well defined on the access page. Therefore, I have noticed that a lot of people desperate for help go to the net in order to find someone who can help them.  

I have also been receiving unusual messages. Some people have asked me to pray for married couples, for business that are not going well; not only to mention criticism received via e-mail. Once I got an e-mail saying: “Dear webmaster, when will you stop this dirty work?” “You are lost and Chico Xavier must be burning in hell.”  Can you believe it? 

If I feel capable to help the person, I then reply to the e-mail with an answer based on the Gospel, and also on my very own personal experience.  

O Consolador: Please tell us about the main achievements and difficulties of maintaining the site alive.        

The first difficulty is to do with finances. In our case, the cost for maintaining the site is not very high, but when we lost our job, we almost had to close the Portal as there was not enough money to pay for the monthly subscription to the website. It is not very expensive (R$ 22, 80); annually, the registration costs R$ 30, 00. Thank God, one of our spiritist partners today sponsors the Portal.  

The second aspect is the maintenance of the site itself, as the Portal is capable of reaching hundreds of people and it is necessary to keep it up to date. We know the Portal has a lot of content for research available to all users.  

One advantage is that I am a junior webmaster. I am the person who updates the content of the site, as well as the techniques used. I do not need to pay anyone to do this job for me.

In terms of achievements, I can see an increasing number of people registering at the Portal and feel satisfied to inform everyone about the Spiritist Doctrine in a very coherent way.  

O Consolador: What about your theatre activities? Talk to us about it, please.        

I have been an actor since 1994 and, nowadays, besides acting I also work with illumination, co-direction and writing texts. Currently, I have been involved in some short plays, as actor and director. These short plays could approach different subjects, as well as Spiritism.  

I received two best actor prizes in 1999 e 2000, in Mostra de Artes Cênicas de Garanhuns. The first prize when I acted as an interpreter on Édipo Rei (King Edipo) and the second with a text written by Nélson Rodrigues: A Mulher sem Pecado (The Woman Without Sin). 

O Consolador: Please place Garanhuns within Pernambuco State and its position within the spiritist movement in this area.        

My dear loved city nowadays has 130.000 habitants. It is located 842m higher than sea level, reaching almost 1.000m in Alto do Magano. In this area you can find the Christ of Magano, where happens Paixão de Cristo de Garanhuns. This show is a local tradition that has been played within the last 11 years, and talks about Jesus Christ.  

In Garanhuns a project called INTECEPE started. This acronym means the Integration of Spiritist Centres in Pernambuco, which is organized by the Spiritist Federation of Pernambucano. When I started in the Spiritist Doctrine, Garanhuns had only 4 Spiritist Centres. Today it has 9 Centres and 2 radio programmes. Besides that, it was created recently GACE – a Support Group for all Spiritist Centres in the Garanhuns region. Its main objective is to give support to all activities within the Spiritist Centres.  

In 2008 a great majority of the Centres realized the 1st Spiritist Book Fair, through GACE. This Fair was extremely successful. It had around 1.000 spirits books available to the public, as well as DVDs and CDs. We tried to arrange another one 10 years ago, but since it didn’t work this should be still considered the first one.  

O Consolador: As a speaker, have you been travelling through the State? What experiences have you been having so far?        

Lately I haven’t been giving lectures, because I had to give it a break to study for exams. Therefore, in terms of trips, I went several times to Arapiraca and Palmeira dos Índios, at the Alagoas state. When I had time available, I would go to Angelim (PE) in order to give lecturers and courses on healing.  

I could notice that it is necessary to give a bigger emphasis on the study of Kardec’s work because there are a lot of assumptions going around these days. We can’t forget all complementary work done to Kardec’s work as well.  

O Consolador: How have you been seeing the controversy questions raised in our movement? 

I see them as questions that are not getting anywhere. Other day I found in a forum a discussion about Chico Xavier’s sexuality. I do believe we have more important things to do, and one of them is to promote and achieve unification. Not in behaviours, since every brain has a world of its own, but in ideas. Besides, what is the main goal of the Doctrine? Its main goal is to reform mankind in order to transform our world in a better place.  

O Consolador: What about controversy questions about our society? 

The society, which represents the collective being, evolves on the same way as the individual. As soon as the person develops its potentials, he/she will march towards love and perfection. It is natural that when we change our past, if we can not find ground for future due to negligence of others, we will face a clash of principles within our society.