O Consolador:  Barra Mansa will have in 2009 the 21st edition of the Spiritist Month. Can you please tell us about it?

We used to organise a meeting every day on a different time, and thanks to that our movement has grown stronger in our region. The city of Três Rios has been organising Spiritist Weeks for the last 10 years, but nothing was planned in Barra Mansa.  

Then we organised the 1st Spiritist Week of Barra Mansa at the Spiritist Centre Centro Espírita Filhos da Luz. Later on the Spiritist Union of Barra Mansa continued to organise it. Armando and his Vice-President Soares gave continuity to this project, by contacting speakers through letter by post.  

This was the biggest challenge at the time, since we had to wait a long time for an answer back. We had the following speakers at the time: Deolindo Amorim, Martins Peralva, Gerson Simões, Ranieri, Prof. Ramiro Gama, Newton de Barros, Hermínio Correa de Miranda, Carlos Imbassahy, Terezinha Oliveira, de Campinas, and D. Marciana, de Cachoeira Paulista.  

We felt the need to organise the so called Spiritist Month. This would facilitate a better planning for this important event for our city, with lecturers on Saturdays and seminars on Sundays. We make the most of the presence of excellent speakers, most of them coming from different states. 

O Consolador: What is the pioneer institution of Barra Mansa? When was it founded? How many centres are there today?

The spiritist centre Centro Espírita Filhos da Luz was founded on the 16th June 1945. Barra Mansa has 16 spiritist centres, from which 15 are part of the Spiritist Union Council. 

O Consolador: Can you please tell us some interesting stories involving the city of Barra Mansa and Spiritism? 

I usually say that Barra Mansa and Spiritism have something in common. In 1832, Allan married Amelie-Gabrielle Boudet. In the same year, the Government of Rio de Janeiro created the village of Barra Mansa. In 1857, Allan Kardec published the book The Spiritist’ Book, whereas the village of Barra Mansa was nominated a city. In 1857 the city’s Municipal Council was created where we had the opportunity to celebrate in 2007 150 years of the launch of “The Spiritist' Book".

O Consolador: Are all spiritist institutions taking part of the Spiritist Month?   

Yes, they all take part. The 16th Unification Spiritist Council (CEU), which is part of the Spiritist Council of Rio de Janeiro (CEERJ), gets together every second Friday of each month. In these meetings we plan other events, and discuss any ideas for the Spiritist Month, where we make sure everyone feels and gets involved on this project. 

O Consolador: What is scheduled for 2009? 

The Spiritist Month will happen, once again, over the weekends in August. The opening lecturer will be from Orson Peter Carrara, from Matão (SP) on the 1st August at 8pm. On the next day (Sunday) we will have a seminar from 8:30am to 12am with the same speaker. On the 8th and 9th August, Carlos Augusto Abranches from São Paulo will be speaking. On the 15th and 16th we will have Adeilson Salles, from Guarujá (SP); on the 22nd and 23rd Rogério Coelho, from Muriaé (MG) will be with us. To finish off we will have on the 29th Oswaldo Esteves, from Volta Redonda (Rio de Janeiro), and on the 30th Cristina Delou, from Rio de Janeiro. All lecturers will happen at the centre Centro Espírita Filhos da Luz. Address: Eduardo Junqueira Street – 702, Barra Mansa city centre. 

O Consolador: What are the criteria used for selecting the themes and speakers? 

We usually make the most of commemorative dates, such as in 2007 when various parts of the world celebrated 150 years of the launch of “The Spiritist' Book". As for the speakers, we get names from various contacts. It’s become harder to diarise with speakers since they are on demand in several events as the movement has grown stronger. As soon as The Spiritist Month finishes, we already start contacting the speakers for the next event. These people have the noble task of publicizing the Spiritist Doctrine; Jesus’ Promised Consolator.

O Consolador: Has the proximity to the cities of Volta Redonda and Resende influenced the spiritist movement in your town?  Is there any link with these cities?  

Since the creation of the Spiritist Municipal Union we have realised the 1st Cofraternization by Mr. Macedo in the city of Mendes. From this day onwards, the link has straightened and gotten stronger. Volta Redonda now organised their Spiritist Month in April, whereas Resende does it in September. Other cities have decided to follow this model and now it’s much easier to get more people to participate on these events. Every first Sunday of the month we have the Regional Spiritist Meeting for Union (EREU), which is promoted by the Spiritist Council of Rio de Janeiro (CEERJ). Every year, this event happens in a different city. It happened in Barra Mansa in 2008. 2009 was the time for the city of Valença. This is a long day event which has the objective to unify and exchange experiences and ideas. This year we have chosen the following theme from FEB (Brazilian Spiritist Federation): Work Plan for the Brazilian Spiritist Movement. 

 O Consolador: In regards to the Spiritist Movement in the State, how does Barra Mansa place itself?  

Barra Mansa always takes part on the meetings organised by the Spiritist Council of Rio de Janeiro (CEERJ). We let them know of our difficulties and ask for orientation. We also take part on all seminars organised by CEERJ. 

O Consolador: What are the biggest challenges and achievements of organising the Spiritist Month?  

The biggest difficulty is to be able to get speakers and get time diarised with the. I am a great enthusiast of this event since it gives us the opportunity to know new people and be friends with them. We also notice everyone joins together to work for this event to happen. It reminds us of a message psychographed by Divaldo P. Franco from the spirit of Francisco Thiesen, which was published at the Reformador. It said that when he arrived at the spiritual world, he realised how many people are working for love to become present here, at Earth.

O Consolador: Where are the resources from the Spiritist Month coming from?  

We organise bazaars or dinners parties to raise funds. In 2008 we had a Cocktail party with the presentation of the musician Célia Tomboly, from São Vicente (São Paulo, Brazil). We organised some events at APAE, but always without alcohol beverages.  

O Consolador: What about feedback from the event? Can you please let us know if you get some? 

Feedback is immediate since when each lecture and seminar finishes, we are asked when the next one will be available. Let’s work towards achieving that.

O Consolador: Is there anything else you would like to add?   

Everything we achieve today is done thanks to those who started publicizing the Doctrine. They had the courage to promote spiritist congresses, meeting and seminars, which could have been quite challenging at the time. We need to follow what Dr. Bezerra de Menezes said: “Publicize Spiritism, through all honourable ways possible, is our top priority task” 

O Consolador: Can you please give us your final words? 

I would like dedicate these lines to the spiritist from all states. We would also like to remember those who were born at Barra, leaving us with their examples of love to our Doctrine.