Provoke Radio Continues Story of Dorothy Stang, Eco-martyr

Provoke Radio continues its story this week with a deeper look into the life and death of

Sister Dorothy Stang, an American-born nun brutally murdered in the

rainforests of Brazil because of her attempts to help the poor and protect

the fragile environment of the Brazilian rainforest. She was shot 6 times

by assassins hired by local landowners who objected to her fight against

their illegal burning of the rainforest jungle.

Stang was born in Dayton, Ohio but later moved to Brazil as a member of

the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and became a naturalized citizen.

Beginning in the 1970's Stang worked to protect and aid local

subsidence-farming peasants from the actions of local gangs and landowners

who were trying to take their homes and their farms. In February of 2005

she was gunned down by 2 hired assassins while walking to a meeting in the

jungle. Her assailants (Rayfran das Neves Sales and Vitalmiro Bastos Moura)

were apprehended but after 3 trials Moura was acquitted and Sales was

sentenced to only 28 years in prison for Stang's murder. The full story of

why Stang was murdered was never released.

This week Provoke Radio continues it's series on Stang with an

examination of her groundbreaking work in Brazil and an account of her

tragic death. Her story is one of deep faith, unshakable perseverance, and

unwavering courage in the face of terrible obstacles and dire hardship. The

first parts of this series can be downloaded as Podcasts by going to

http://www.provokeradio.com. The complete Stang series is one part of a larger

"Modern Day Saints and Sinners" series being produced by Provoke Radio

during 2008.

Provoke Radio engages listeners on important contemporary issues from a

faith-based perspective and can be heard both online at

http://www.ProvokeRadio.com and on radio stations throughout the United States.

Its mission is to illustrate how principles of justice and compassion can

be lived out in every day life through stories hosted by Father Stephen

Spahn, SJ a Washington, DC- based Jesuit priest. Provoke Radio is produced

by Claire Hartman, a veteran producer and writer who has previously worked

in the advertising and film industries. "Provoke is not like anything out

there," says Hartman, "We talk about social issues through the lens of

faith and within the context of inter- religious dialogue. It's like we

took religious talk radio and subtracted the preaching, and proselytizing.

We're more interested in people who walk the walk."

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-12-2008/0004811575&EDATE=

Author in Brazil pens biography of Dorothy Stang

Binka Le Breton is a statuesque blonde with fiercely intelligent features and a striking resemblance to Vanessa Redgrave. She looks as if she should be declaiming Shakespeare rather than ranching in a remote corner of Brazil.

But the British-born author has lived in Brazil for the past 18 years — one of several similarities that prompted her to write a biography of Dayton-born Sister Dorothy Stang. "Like Dorothy, I found myself working on new ways of caring for forests and forest people, and like Dorothy, I believe that God is good," Le Breton writes.

On Tuesday night — the third anniversary of the murder of the 73-year-old nun in the Amazon rainforest — Le Breton will appear at 7 p.m. at Books & Co. at The Greene. She'll be speaking about "The Greatest Gift: The Courageous Life and Martyrdom of Sister Dorothy Stang," recently published by Doubleday.

Although both women were deeply involved in the struggle to preserve the Amazon rainforest, they talked on the phone only a few times and never met in person. The town of Anapu, where Stang lived and worked, is several days' rugged travel from Le Breton's home in the Atlantic rainforest in southeastern Brazil. She serves as director of the Iracambi Research Center, which promotes biodiversity conservation, sustainable farming and human rights.

"The book makes no pretense of being a definitive biography," Le Breton writes. The archival material at the Sisters of Notre Dame motherhouse in Cincinnati, she said, would fill several books. She focused instead on Stang's life in the context of the violent land struggles in the Amazon. Readers looking for insights into her early life, however, won't come away disappointed. Chapter Two features a 14-page description of Stang's early life in Dayton, where she was born the fourth of nine children in a devout German Catholic family.

Dorothy's oldest sibling, well-known Dayton Realtor Jim Stang, died last Sunday, at 82, after a long illness. At his funeral, Le Breton's book was proudly displayed along with photos from Stang's service in the Navy during World War II.

The book has garnered enthusiastic praise from the extended Stang family. David Stang of Palmer Lake, Colo., has traveled extensively to Brazil to serve as the family's spokesman. He said the book benefits greatly from Le Breton's mastery of Portuguese, as well as her knowledge of the Brazilian class system and political situation. "She has a real feel for the people of Brazil," Stang said. "She captured the sense of loss that the people felt."

Le Breton has written extensively about human rights violations in Brazil in her previous books, including "A Land to Die For and Trapped: Modern-Day Slavery in the Brazilian Amazon."

"Binka has written about other martyrs," David Stang said. "She understands the pain and suffering of the powerless. That's important, because that's what Dorothy felt every day."

http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/oh/story/opinions/columns/2008/02/09/ddn021008mary.html