I went for the first time at a spiritist centre in 1988. Therefore I only started to go frequently to one four years later, in 1992.

O Consolador: Was there any special moment that lead to this initial contact?

There were two occasions. In 1988 I was dating my wife, who was spiritist. She invited me to go to a lecture at “Our Home”. In 1992 I decided to study spiritism due to my mother’s mediumship. It leaded me to the centre Centro de Estudos Espirituais Vinha de Luz, which was at the time located at Jardim Novo Bandeirantes and managed by Pedro Cândido Romero. (Note. Zoraide Siqueira de Oliveira is the name of the interviewee’s mother and his wife is called Cirlene Teixeira de Oliveira.)

O Consolador: Which of the three aspects of Spiritism (Science, Philosophy and Religion) attracts you the most?

The religious aspect, for sure.

O Consolador: What are the spiritist authors you like the most?

I am very interested by Divaldo Franco’s work.

O Consolador: Which spiritist books would be considered to be essential for any starters in Spiritism?

I would say the book “Our Home” is a great way to start. For those who want to get a better understanding, I would recommend the Gospel According to Spiritism. This is a great book to be read by the whole family.

O Consolador: One of the topics everyone discusses about is in regards Spiritism being a religion. What is your opinion about it?

Even though Kardec used a scientific methodology when writing about Spiritism, I still consider it a religion. In Brazil, it is very hard not to think of Spiritism as a religion.  

O Consolador: Jean Baptiste Roustaing expressed in his book that the incarnation of Spirits was not necessary for evolution. It only happens as a way to punish the spirit. The human being then will need to incarnate in a primitive animal form which would mean metempsychosis. What do you think about these ideas?  

I don’t know much about Roustaing. These principles are against the spiritist evolution. We learned that we were born simple and ignorant. As time goes by, we develop until we reach perfection. If we start to believe certain situations that come to our lives are here to castigate ourselves, we will then fall back to an old dilemma: that God punishes our sins, which is preached in most religions.  In regards to metempsychosis, those who follow Kardec know the Spirit will never go backwards, but forwards on its evolutional process.  

O Consolador: How do you see the level of criminality and violence that seems to increase throughout the country? How can we, spiritist, collaborate to revert this situation? 

I don’t think violence has been increasing as it is been shown on TV. I believe the press is showing more these days. It is up to us spiritist to publicize the doctrine reminding Jesus’ sayings: ‘Love your enemies’ and ‘Forgive one another’. We shall not combat violence with more violence. 

O Consolador: The preparation for the advent of a world of regeneration in our planet already gave its first steps, as we are aware of. How long will it take for Earth to stop being a world of tests and atonements, and become a world of regeneration? 

I believe we need more one or two centuries before reaching this point. But I believe I am optimistic. 

O Consolador: What do you think should be the priority for spiritists’ leaders in regards to the problems society is currently facing in Brazil and worldwide?

We need to publicize Spiritism as a Christian Doctrine, which explains issues such as life after death, reincarnation, and communication with Spirits.

O Consolador: Have you got any projects in mind to publicize Spiritism on radio or TV?

We are in the process of updating our website. We were really happy to find out our site has inspired such a brilliant tool as O Consolador. I also want to publicize our work, courses and events, in the general press. (N.R.: The site of the spiritist centre Centro Espírita Nosso Lar is http://www.cenl.com.br.)

O Consolador: Can you please tell us about your goals in regards to the Spiritist Centre Our Home?

The first task will be to get the chairs in the main room changed. We aim to do that by January 2010. We have a monthly project to bring speakers from different cities for lecturers over the weekend. We also want to bring back our Cine Popcorn, where every month we exhibit movies with spiritist themes. We also want to create a banner where our workers and the general public can publicize their professions, aiming to integrate us all in a synchronised group. We also want to promote more than a meeting every quarter with the coordinators of the public groups. We want our work to be more effective, to listen what they all have to say in order tom make sure we are all walking towards the same goal.