Base Communities in Latin America

Base communities or base ecclesial communities, also known as CEB (abbreviation for comunidades eclesiais de base in Portuguese or comunidades eclesiales de base in Spanish), are groups of lay Catholics, mostly from low-income strata, who get together to celebrate Sunday liturgies, to reflect on the Bible, and to carry out social and political activities. They were named “community” because of their supposed sharing experience, “ecclesial” for being part of the Catholic Church, and “base” as they were formed by those who live at the bottom of the social pyramid: the poor and the oppressed.

CEBs appeared in Catholic discourse after the 1968 Episcopal Conference of Latin America (CELAM) in Medellín. Inspired by the Vatican II Council and also by liberation theology, Latin American bishops affirmed then their “option for the poor” and proposed the reorganization of the Catholic Church into small lay communities. CEBs grew mainly in dioceses whose bishops sympathize with liberation theology. During the following decades, these communities have become internationally known for teaching the Latin American poor about their social and political rights through the Christian faith. Considered by liberation theologians as bearers of the “prophetic mission” of transforming the Catholic Church and also society as a whole, the CEBs became linked to the popular resistance movements of the 1970s and 1980s dictatorships, especially in Brazil, Chile, and Central America. The Sandinista Revolution victory in Nicaragua contributed to overestimation of the CEBs’ degree of politicization and creation of the myth of revolutionary CEBs.

Despite not being revolutionary as some thought them to be, the political role of CEBs should not be underestimated. In Brazil, for example, in addition to being supporters of Worker's Party, which elected the ex-factory worker President Lula, CEBs also created important political leaders such as the environmentalist Chico Mendes, the Minister of the Environment of the Lula government Marina Silva (2002–2006, 2007–), and also leaders of more radical movements such as the landless workers movement, the MST (Movimento dos Sem Terra), among others.

From the 1990s onward, CEBs became less visible and less politically active. Several historical events may explain this political demobilization: the fall of the Latin American military regimes, the crisis of the socialist utopia, and John Paul II's criticism of liberation theology. However, the CEBs are still active in the Catholic Church. Many female CEB leaders perform important roles in everyday church activities. Inter-CEB meetings are held periodically in Brazil, with a growing number of participants. Continent-wide meetings of CEBs were held in 2001 in Argentina and in 2004 in Mexico.