Abstract:
The research has as its theme the Christian tithe in the perspective of the sustainability of CEBs in the Fragata neighborhood, in Pelotas / RS, at the service of the mission given by God. It seeks to answer the questions: would the fragility experienced by these peripheral communities manage with tithing to become a binding force, generating unity, being formative and triggering a process of supportive solidarity among themselves and even outside of themselves? Would it be able to qualify the community for some partnership with civil and religious entities benefiting teenagers, youth, adults and the elderly in some way in their lives? Could this experience of tithing, which has theological understandings and underlying spiritualities, become an example and someday reach a corresponding theology with a view of gratuity and otherness? To this end, the research aims to reflect on sustainability in the Ecclesial Base Communities in the Fragata neighborhood, based on its tithing celebrated liturgically, autonomously and in solidarity with its implications in the communities, and its internal and external solidarity gestures. Through bibliographic research, documents from CEBs in the Fragata neighborhood, Pelotas / RS, and participant observation, the research is developed in three chapters. The first two chapters are ethnographic supported by primary documentary research, seeking a respectful relationship with sources and participant observation. In the first, there are unsustainable communities that organize a collective effort in the homes of Catholics and invite participation in the Christian faith community by sharing their tithing. In the second, the impacts on the relations between communities that invest in their members, help each other and with a spirit of solidarity open partnerships with the surroundings and in solidarity beyond themselves are reported, giving a new face to them. Finally, through the argument that theology is reflection, a critical attitude, theology is a second act, biblical, theological and liturgical foundations are launched, questioning theologies of a marketing nature present in several churches and, based on the resurrected who gives himself to the Father and to us in the Christian supper for the salvation of all, the spiritualities experienced in the communities that underpin the theology of gratuity and otherness flourishing in Pelotas are described. It appears that sustainability in the Ecclesial Base Communities in Fragata, from its tithing celebrated liturgically, autonomously and solidary, with its implications in the communities, and its internal and external solidarity gestures, is possible and necessary, practically and theologically.
