Page 190 - Aesthetic Formations Media, religion, and the Sense

Breath, Technology, Making of Community 175

there, leapfrogging into midair. Thus, even though Padre Jonas would
agree that Liberation Theology was way too caught up in ideology and that
something had to be done to remove its preponderance in Latin American,
he always eschewed overt criticism. On the contrary, despite all the obsta-
cles posed by liberal clerks, he praised Liberation Theology as “a fruit of
8
the will of the spirit” (also implying its gradual decline). He retreated, as
though allowing the circumstances to speak for themselves. By withdraw-
ing from the larger political arena to live with his community of disowned,
Padre Jonas created an aura around himself that caused some to describe as
9
a “prophet in the times of mass media.” By never openly attacking his
“enemies,” he preserved his energy. This is not to say that he remained apa-
thetic. For example, by tracing his spiritual genealogy to Father Rahm, not
to Father Dougherty (as one would expect, considering Padre Jonas’s inter-
est in televangelism), he deflected attention from any links to the latter.
The fact that Father Rahm chose to do social work among the marginal-
ized in Brazil instead of televangelism destabilized the general argument
that Pentecostalism and Catholic conservatives alike do not care for social
matters. By stressing his bond to Father Rahm, Padre Jonas was paving the
road to linking televangelism with social work. Gradually, Padre Jonas
managed to overturn his image in the local mindset toward a possible con-
ciliation between social causes, televangelism, and Brazilian Catholicism,
while distancing himself from Father Dougherty, who was after all, his
close competitor and most powerful rival.
Father Dougherty’s personal ambitions and material funds blinded him
from taking a more unassuming way of going beyond the polarized politi-
cal context of Brazil. Padre Jonas, on the other hand, was able to position
himself as the autochthon whose local insight made him extra sensitive to
the local political environment. He could wisely sense that the sturdy wall
of prejudice against televangelism could only be surmounted, not by going
head-on against it, but by strategic navigation. Unlike his American coun-
terpart, Padre Jonas discerned that freedom of action must not necessarily
be found outside the local political setting but within it. Being a native, he
believed that the paths were already in him. He only needed to unlock
these. And so Padre Jonas thought he might as well use televangelism. Yet,

contrary to Father Dougherty’s evangelical Catholicism, he would not do
so with a particular normative ideological content. His project would
advance by retreating. While the others would go on weakening each oth-
er’s energy, he would await his moment to leap forward with a new vigor.
His was a politics of ecology, of staying in tune with his environment, and
carefully navigating through situations.
There came a moment when Padre Jonas, following Father Dougherty,
contacted the local industries in search of publicity revenues, but in prayer,