One of the heroes of the Vatican II Church was Dom Helder Camara, archbishop from Brazil. He once famously said, “If I feed the poor, they call me a saint. If I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.” Dom Helder became convinced that it was not institutions — nations, political parties, labor unions, even the Church — that were going to change the world but what he called “Abrahamic minorities.” Abraham is considered the father of the faith for western religious traditions. The promise was made to Abraham and his descendants that he would inherit the world through the righteousness that comes from faith. The faith of one man changed the course of history. What Dom Helder observed was that in those various institution there were small groups of faith-filled people who were committed to working for a more just and peaceful world. He was convinced that nurturing these small groups and encouraging others like them would be the seeds that would permeate the field and create a rich harvest of justice.
