The Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) in the Oral Narratives and Memories of Women in the Diocese of the City of Campanha, South of Minas Gerais, between 1980 and 2000

Abstract

This article presents the results of an investigation carried out in the Diocese of the city of Campanha, in southern Minas Gerais, on the work developed by the Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs), that began operating there in the late 1980s and which have as main event the Pilgrimage of Workers. The oral history methodology was used to know the experiences of three women in the bishopric and to understand how the BECs gained meaning in the life of each of them, from the perspective of the history of women. During the research, it was noticed that the main subjects of the BECs, as also shown by Eder Sader (1988), were and remain women, who often remain invisible. Oral history allowed them to talk about their trajectories and the role of the Church in the daily lives of the communities in which they live, in addition to their own identity as a true influenced by Liberation Theology, very strong in Latin America. Through the interviews it was possible to analyse some aspects pointed out by Maria Aparecida, Helena Maria and Maria Lucely, which will be explored throughout the article, such as the issue of gender within the Church, the importance given by them to popular culture in their actions and the relationship between individual memory and collective memory.