I was born in a Roman Catholic family, but I had a Spiritist aunt, Cidinha Del Moro, who has now returned to the Spiritist World, and talked to me about it. My interest also came from the early signs of mediumship I had. And that is how I began attending the Paz e Amor in Americana, when I moved to the city in 1982. 

How many Spiritist Groups are there in the city? 

Americana has now 25 Spiritist Groups and the integration with the São Paulo state and national Spiritist Movement has been growing in recent years. There is also a Spiritist radio programme broadcast on a local radio from 07:30 to 08:30 every day. Every day a different Spiritist Groups from the city does the programme, debating the five basic works of Allan Kardec on air. 

When was the Peace and Love founded? 

It was founded officially on March 1^st 1944, by José Rampazzo. His mother-in-law, Elvira Bengardini, became ill in the 1930s and all attempts by the doctors to cure her filed. She was advised to look for a Spiritist Centre in the nearby city of Limeira. But as she had mobility problems caused by her illness, a group of people interested in Spiritism began holding mediumship meetings in her home. In 1938, José Rampazzo married her daughter, Ilda Bengardini. They lived in São Paulo, but in 1940 the young family, including their first son, moved to Americana. The mediumship meetings were still going on. One day, his son, who had already been walking, stopped walking and began crying. Ilda told him to take the boy to her mother so she could give him healing. The boy calmed down, jumped from the father’s lap and began walking. José Rampazzo was determined then to find out how that had happened. He began attending the meetings and studying the only book available there, The Gospel According to Spiritism. Following the Spiritual Benefactors’ advice, he decided to found the Spiritist Centre in 1944, but the local authorities were Catholic and put many obstacles. He managed to found the centre, which in 1947 began working in his basement. He moved home in 1951 and eventually he donated a plot of land next to his new home, where the Spiritist Centre building was built with donation from Spiritists at the time. The new building was opened on July, 17^th 1965. We are now planning to expand the facilities, despite the fact that we have to work very hard do raise funds to keep our work going.

What is your assessment of the Spiritist Movement in Brazil now? 

I think the Brazilian Spiritist Movement is very active, but some leading figures in the movement and particularly inside some Spiritist Centrs still need to realise that we really don’t own anything. We must understand that we will also go and, therefore, we must give opportunities for others to develop instead of hanging on to posts and positions forever. Also, we need to support the youth movements in Spiritist Centres. 

What are the main lessons drawn from your contact with Spiritist Speakers who travel to Americana? 

Firstly, I would like to highlight the friendship and how much I have learned with them, as each person has a different way of addressing issues and explaining things in their way. We learn at every new talk or seminar. 

What advice would you give to our readers? 

That you must always study and study and carry on studying. That we must carry out an inner reform and adopt the principle of reasoned faith. We must do good deeds and, most of all, do to others what we want others to do to us. And finally, to understand very clearly that we know very little and that we will need to learn a bit more every day. 

Is there anything else you would like to add? 

I am thankful to God, Jesus and to the Spiritual Benefactors for having giving me the opportunity of knowing Spiritism and for being able to put into practice some of what I have learned in The Gospel According to Spiritism.