Dom Helder Camara Quotes

When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.

When I feed the poor, they call me a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, they call me a communist. Dom Helder Camara – one of the great prophets of Christian "Liberation theology".

When we are dreaming alone it is only a dream. When we are dreaming with others, it is the beginning of reality.

And that’s when things get messy. When people begin moving beyond charity and toward justice and solidarity with the poor and oppressed, as Jesus did, they get in trouble. Once we are actually friends with the folks in struggle, we start to ask why people are poor, which is never as popular as giving to charity. One of my friends has a shirt marked with the words of late Catholic bishop Dom Helder Camara: “When I fed the hungry, they called me a saint. When I asked why people are hungry, they called me a communist.” Charity wins awards and applause but joining the poor gets you killed. People do not get crucified for living out of love that disrupts the social order that calls forth a new world. People are not crucified for helping poor people. People are crucified for joining them.

Without justice and love, peace will always be a great illusion.

Dom Helder Camara, a twentieth-century bishop in Brazil, said, “When I feed the poor, they call me a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, they call me a Communist.

Accept surprises that upset your plans, shatter your dreams, give a completely different turn to your day and who knows? – to your life. Leave the Father free himself to weave the pattern of your days.

When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.