Priest Jonas Abib Leader of a Brazilian charismatic group dies at 85 years old

Father Jonas Abib died on December 12 at the age of 85. He was the leader of Canção Nova (“New Song” in Portuguese), one of the most essential Catholic Charismatic communities in Brazil. Since 2021 he was ill with myeloma, a form of cancer.

Others have criticized Abib for being hostile to indigenous spirituality and for being close to the right-wing government of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. Those who support him say he has a unique talent for organizing and reaching young people.

Salesian Father Abib was one of the first in the South American country to promote Charismatic Catholic Renewal (CCR). In 1978, he founded Canção Nova with the aim of building a community of laity and clergy moved by the Holy Spirit.

Abib was a musician who wrote well-known Catholic songs that were popular all over Brazil. He also worked hard to spread the gospel through the media. In the 1980s, he started a radio station called Canção Nova and a TV station called Canção Nova.

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Today, Canção Nova’s media outlets reach millions of people in Brazil, Portugal and many other countries. A publishing house and a record company are also part of the media group.

The community has groups in Paraguay, Mozambique, Portugal, Italy, France and Israel, as well as some cities in Brazil. Father Dilermando Cozatti, an old friend, said: “He was a humble, simple, holy man who did everything a priest should do.”

Cozatti first met Abib in 1959 when Abib was his teacher at a seminary in Lavrinhas, So Paulo. Over the years they worked together in various ways, mostly with small groups of young Catholics.

“In the late 1960s he had already tried living with other people. said Cozatti Key point that his group thought that living in a community was the best way to be free. He also said it was clear that this movement was the start of something new.

After Canção Nova was made official, Abib had to stay away from the everyday life of the Salesians, but his friends say he never gave up on the ideas of Saint John Bosco. Canção Nova was officially accepted into the Salesian family in 2009, one year after it was recognized by the Pope.

Over time, Canção Nova has also invested in education by building a school and a university. In the early 2000s, the group began its first philosophy class that did not count for college credit. In 2011, the Brazilian government officially recognized the college, which also offered courses in theology and other subjects.

“Father Abib had the goal of forming new men for a new world. Not only communication, but also education was central to him.” confirmed Lino Rampazzo, a professor at the college since its inception.

Rampazzo recalled that Abib always emphasized the importance of having high-quality, challenging courses. “It was part of the Salesian charisma. He dreamed that one day it could become a university.” he added. Catholics in Brazil had a lot to say about Abib’s death. In 2007 he was awarded the title of monsignor.

Monsignor Jonas Abib, a beloved priest of Brazilian Catholics, has passed away. He was a staunch opponent of communism and liberal ideologies. Rest in peace! pic.twitter.com/OctbzzUyZa

— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) December 13, 2022

“Monsignor Jonas Abib is an immortal reference of a man of God in love with Jesus Christ. Through the strength of his testimony of faith, he formed a rich heritage in the missionary journey of the Church, a source of inspiration. confirmed Archbishop Walmor Azevedo de Oliveira of Belo Horizonte, head of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB).

Cardinal Odilo Scherer, the Archbishop of So Paulo, issued a statement talking about how Abib used the media to spread the word about God. He also said that Abib “gave his whole life to the church, which he loved so much and served so much.” On social media, many Catholics shared how sad they were about Abib’s death and how they hoped he would one day be canonized.

“He lived holy. He was a very loyal son of the church, a person who was aware of God’s plan for him, but who never expressed any vanity about it. said Cozatti. However, some in the church don’t like the idea, thinking Abib’s legacy is a bit of a mess.

“He was a versatile man. He was very intelligent, had a great relationship with the people and was a communicator. But he had some magical creeds, he believed he had healing powers. confirmed theologian Fernando Altemeyer Jr., Professor of Religious Studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, referring to “Masses of Healing and Deliverance” and other similar parties.

Altemeyer agrees that Abib has built one of the largest Catholic communities in Brazil in just a few decades, but he also recalls that Abib “Very conservatively spoken and even endorsed [President Jair] Bolsonaro.”

The president, who expressed his grief over Abib’s death on social media, went to Canção Nova headquarters shortly after his election in 2018. Abib gave him a warm welcome and prayed with him.

“It wasn’t people who chose you, it was God. So, Canção Nova welcomes you with open arms and tells you, Mr. President, to do God’s will, which will completely change Brazil,’ Abib then told Bolsonaro.

The current leader, who was defeated by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and will leave office on December 31, had a very controversial tenure, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he tried to play down how serious the disease was. Church leaders criticized him several times for talking about guns and not doing enough to protect the environment, especially the Amazon.

Altemeyer said Abib “was out of sync with the CNBB or Pope Francis” by his “brazen bigotry against non-Christian religions.” Because of this, the request for a speedy canonization process is not fair.

Faustino Teixeira, a retired professor of theology at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora and an expert in interfaith dialogue, thinks Abib’s views on other religions are a major blot on his legacy.

Teixeira talks about the problems Abib’s book Sim, Sim! Nao, Nao! – Reflexões de Cura e Libertação (“Yes, yes! No, no! – Reflections on healing and liberation”) in 2008, when a judge in the state of Bahia ordered the removal of all copies from bookstores because of the alleged “practices and incitement to discrimination or religious prejudice.”

In the book, Abib said that the Brazilian people are Catholic but one “mind strongly marked by spiritualism, both [Allan] Kardec’s Spiritualism […] and the Umbanda, Candomblé and other branches of the African tradition.”

Brazil – Msgr. #JonasAbibfounder of #CançaoNovareaches the Father’s house https://t.co/ZgZ1EMyQsR pic.twitter.com/yalISKJolK

— SalesianiNfoAgency (@infoANS_EN) December 13, 2022

He said this is how the devil shows himself and everything “Spiritual teaching is bad.” “Spiritualism is like an epidemic and must be fought as such: it is a focal point of death.” The lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court, which said even though it was book “intolerant, pedantic and overbearing”, it was part of the “clash of religions” and is protected by religious freedom.

Teixeira said, “This book caused a lot of problems because it made clear how Canção Nova sees other religions, which is very different from the ideas of the Second Vatican Council.” Teixeira said so “The idea of ​​a Catholic centrality that should avoid ecumenism goes against the Second Vatican Council and the papacy of Pope Francis.”

On December 13, he posted an article on social media talking about Abib’s anti-ecumenical ideas and the controversy the book caused. “I had several attacks, especially from younger people”, he complained.

When Father Jonas Abib was a seminarian in the 1970s, Manoel Godoy, who teaches theology at St. Thomas Aquinas Institute in Belo Horizonte, first met him. He also thinks that his and Canção Nova have visions “ecclesiological inconsistencies regarding Vatican II, which opened the Church to the world.”

“Both Monsignor Abib and Canção Nova often deny that they are part of the world and that they need to engage in dialogue with other social segments,” he told Crux. He said the media in Canção Nova “Show only one side of the church and never show that there are other sides.”

“They have a one-sided view of the church and a proselytizing, apologetic attitude,” he argued. He said that Canção Nova’s charismatic practices, such as healing and glossolalia, “bringing the church back to a therapeutic dimension”, which is very similar to the way neo-Pentecostal churches do things.

Fernando Altemeyer Jr. said CNBB released a document many years ago that was critical of CCR, especially the idea of “baptism in the Spirit.”

“Those were his contradictions. He was a paradoxical man. But he left behind a well-organized movement. Canção Nova will certainly continue without his presence’ Altemeyer decided… Just follow us on Lee Daily for more news like this.