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Cláudia Scholl, born and
bread in Santo Ângelo,
is a speech therapist
and mother of two
children. She became a
Spiritist 15 years ago
and is now
vice-president of her
Spiritist Centre. It is
a very active group,
with a number of
interesting activities,
as she explains in this
interview:
When and how did you
become a Spiritist?
I began attending the
Spiritist Group Seara do
Mestre in March 1996, as
I looked for guidance,
stability and answers to
the big questions of
life. I’d
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been previously
to other events,
to hear Spiritist speakers and I
had read a few Spiritist
books. But it was
different then. I joined
the group straight away,
joined study groups and
volunteered to help in
some of their
activities. I came to
realise how valuable the
Spiritist teachings were
in my life and
understood I had found a
deeper meaning to life. |
You can see on the
Spiritist Group’s
website that you offer
many services, with a
busy schedule. Tell us a
bit more about that.
Seara, as we call our
group, is open daily to
the public for a number
of activities, such as
lectures, healing,
counselling, study
groups and religious
lessons for children and
teenagers. We also have
a regular programme of
visiting inpatients in
hospitals, of visiting
inmates in prisons and
we have a special group
dedicated to deal with
alcohol and drug
addiction. We publish a
daily newsletter and we
have a hotline with
encouraging messages
(+55 5533131553). We
also do charity work
with poorer families,
providing basic goods,
Spiritist education,
tutorials for students
and information for
pregnant women. And we
help other Spiritist
Groups that are being
formed with advice and
training.
Your website is widely
accessed and your
newsletter is
distributed to the whole
country. To achieve that
you need a group of
people united towards a
goal. Is that the case?
Union is crucial to grow
and to maintain
standards, to avoid stop
offering some of the
services and letting
people down. To achieve
such a united and
focused group it
requires time. We are
constantly reminding our
volunteers of the
importance of living
according to the
teachings of Spiritism
in every occasion, at
home, at work and in the
Spiritist Group. Our
work groups meet
regularly and reassess
their performance and
their needs. We try to
think through our
decisions and get
everyone involved, to
avoid dissent.
Your work to evangelise
young people has a
reputation across Brazil
and many other Spiritist
Groups have adopted your
method. How did it all
begin?
We have indeed always
prioritised and
encouraged the
evangelisation of
children and teenagers.
We think that is a
crucial step in order to
transform the planet. To
achieve that you need to
change the individual
and start from a very
early age. We invest on
training the volunteers
that work teaching the
young. One day someone
came up with the idea of
setting up a specific
website where the
educators could share
their experiences, their
notes, their class
plans. The site is
organised by us, at
Seara, but has the
contribution of many
people in other parts of
Brazil and abroad.
Your Group has a busy
schedule, with daily
activities. You
obviously had to expand
your working space. How
did you achieve that?
Our facilities are
already too small to
attend our demand, with
more and more people
coming to us. We have a
very dynamic board of
directors and we have
been planning for some
time to build a new
building, with a lot
more room, to host also
regional meetings
gathering fellow
Spiritists in the area.
That is our dream. That
project is actually
underway. We have bought
the plot of land next to
our building. We have
set up a saving fund to
build and we have
carried out a number of
fund raising activities
to achieve our goals.
How far are you from
your dream? Can people
make donations?
With God’s help and the
generosity of many
benefactors, our dream
is beginning to come
true. We are now
building the foundations
for a building that will
have an area of 1,250
square metres. All
donations are welcome.
Our contacts are:
Grupo Espírita Seara do
Mestre – GESM - Av.
Getúlio Vargas, 1325 -
Santo Ângelo- RS, fones
55 3313-2553.
www.searadomestre.com.br
e
www.searadomestre.com.br/evangelizacao/
Is there anything else
you would like to add?
Only that we are going
through a decisive phase
on Earth, that of the
implementation of the
Kingdom of Good (The
Spirits’ Book, question
1019), a very
special moment indeed!
At an individual level,
this is a key
reincarnation to all of
us, the time to make
choices and to achieve
internal reform. There
is no time to lose, this
is the time to work hard
for our redemption,
making a firm commitment
to Christ’s project,
which has been there
waiting for us for so
long. Let us though
value each instant of
this life, dignifying it
through our acts, by
being faithful to our
duties whatever the
circumstances!
