should unite with labour groups to mobilize the unemployed, work with unions
and parties, all joined together into base communities, once sanctioned by the
Gospel. Jesus is here a figurehead of activism, through his way of confronting pow-
er during his life, as documented in the Gospels.
Jesus turned to the great prophetic tradition and taught that worship is authentic only
when it is based on profound personal dispositions, on the creation of true brother-
hood among men, and on real commitment to others, especially the most needy (cf.,
for example, Matt 5:23-24; 25:31-45). (Gutiérrez 1973: 228)Central to liberation theology is the act of the breaking of the bread, the act of
sharing that is the point of departure as well as destination of the Christian com-
munity (Gutiérrez 1999: 37). The sharing act within the community represents a
profound communion and it lifts the hope of the participants through collective
action. Not praying for outer intervention, but praying together and of building
strength by sharing between believers and the base communities, not through the
control of the Church. Instead, all praxis activities happen at the level of the base
communities, the networked smooth bottom and avoid engaging with the machin-
ery of the Church.
Indeed, for many the Church has become a stratified machine in itself, and this is a
view shared among many in the grassroots. This is also stated by another of the
central figures of Liberation Theology, the Franciscan priest Leonardo Boff.
Through the latter centuries, the church has acquired an organizational form with a
heavily hierarchical framework and a juridical understanding of relationships among
Christians, thus producing mechanical, reified inequalities and inequities. (Boff 1986:
1)For Boff, the base communities emphasis on small scale and sharing tries to avoid
a structure of hierarchical delegation and control. Their method is to continuously
question authority, as Jesus never utters the word “obedience” (Boff 1972). The aim
is to create a form of religious community not controlled by alienating structures
but instead constituted of direct relationships, reciprocity, deep communion, mu-
tual assistance, equity, and communality of gospel ideals (Boff 1986: 4). This is a
decentralized model of channelling faith, contextually shaped but still in immedi-
ate relation to the gospels and communion. It is an intentional distribution of
contemplatory praxis and diversified ecclesiological functions among the un-
trained believers. However, Boff holds no illusions of a church revolution or a re-
placement of the Vatican and does not want a separation from the Catholic Church.
Instead he sees this as a transition happening within the Church, by renewing and
bending it.
In other words the basic church communities, while signifying the communitarian
aspect of Christianity, and signifying it within the church, cannot pretend to consti-
tute a global alternative to the church as institution. They can only be its ferment for
renewal. (Boff 1986: 6)The base communities and their distributed mode of religious organization should
thus not be seen as a tool for revolutionizing the Catholic Church or tearing down
the Vatican. Rather, it is a complementary mode of worship, communion, exegesis,
and action – guided from below, from the communities themselves. It is a comple-
mentary praxis, opposing dogmatic or orthodox interpretations. Instead, faith is
reclaimed and energized through low scale participation, where community mem-