Mészáros, George
(1991)
The Catholic Church and trade unions in Brazil: a case study of the relationship between the Dioceses of Sao Paulo and Santo Andre and the metalworkers of greater Sao Paulo, 1970 - 1986.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
The thesis is a study of religion and social change seen from the perspective of Brazil's Roman Catholic Church and urban Labour Movement. The relationship between Catholicism and urban trade union struggles is explored within the specific institutional setting of the metalworkers' unions and Roman Catholic dioceses of Greater Sao Paulo during the period 1970-1986. Although the value of the study derives partly from the quantitative significance of the institutions selected (Sao Paulo' archdiocese is the world's largest and the metalworkers' union of the region is the largest in Latin America), it is their qualitative make-up that is of most interest. On the one hand, this is marked by a church firmly committed to liberation theology perspectives; and on the other hand by a deeply divided labour movement which is split into radical and conservative factions. By exploring relations between these respective groupings, the thesis highlights the contradictions and dilemmas faced by a radical church seeking to reconcile traditional catholic themes of unity with its more recent acceptance of the class-divided nature of society and the so-called "preferential option for the poor". The study also discusses in detail the profound historical realignment of relations between radical sectors of the Church and the progressive Labour Movement during the 1970's and early 1980's. It examines the pivotal role of Catholic labour militancy in this process of rapprochement, together with the institutional as well as self-imposed limits to
this process.
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