Catholic Church - Instituto Brasileiro de Comunicação Cristã (Inbrac)

INBRAC – Brazilian Institute for Christian Communication was founded in 1992 by catholic laymen and clergy, specifically to maintain the later created Rede Vida, which began broadcasting after the acquisition of TV Independente de Barretos’ concession. Its management is formed by councils composed of laymen and clergy, such as the Superior Council for Orientation and Administration, the Consulting Council formed by benefactor members, the Fiscal Council, formed by contributors and an Executive Director’s Board composed by hired directors.

Unlike other communication vehicles’ managing associoations in Brazil, INBRAC isn’t officially recognized by the Vatican, although they maintain relations for the transmission of events. In Brazil, they maintain partnerships with numerous dioceses for news production.

In their early years, INBRAC raised funds from different entities connected to the Catholic Church, such as the Salesian Society, the Society of the Divine Word, the Dominicans, the Orionine Fathers, the Holy Ghost Fathers, the Missionaries of Charity, the Holy Ghost Missionaries, the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco and the Borromean Congregation of Missionaries. They also collaborate with the promotion of catholic projects and institutions, such as Aid to the Church in Need and Fazenda Esperança.

Since the acquisition of TV Independente de Barretos’ concession in 1990 until the formation of the national network Rede Vida, the group relied on the articulation between lay businesspeople, politicians and clergymen. The project was an initiative by a catholic layman, journalist João Monteiro de Barros Filho, owner, along with his two sons, of Grupo Monteiro de Barros Comunicação, based in Barretos (São Paulo state). The businessman received support from the then Bishop of Botucatu (São Paulo state), Don Antônio Maria Mucciolo and of the then Archbishop of Mariana (Minas Gerais state), Don Luciano Mendes de Almeida, to acquire the TV concession.

The concession was obtained in March, 1990, at the end of José Sarney’s presidency (PMDB 1985-1990), with the aid of Augusto Marzagão, a personal friend of Monteiro de Barros Filho who had been the personal secretary for the President. In 1992, after the foundation of INBRAC, the owners gave away the concession to the association for the creation of Rede Vida. As Placeres (2015) explains: “Rede Vida is owned by INBRAC and the institute hires TV Independente services, owned by GMB, who in turn generates the signal for Rede Vida”. The operation was advised by the lawyer Ives Gandra da Silva Martins, a university professor and member of the Opus Dei, a conservative catholic organization with great autonomy within the church’s structure, and by Celso Neves, lawyer and professor.

To start the enterprise, Monteiro de Barros Filho and the franciscan brother Hans Stapel (who coordinates the Fazenda Esperança project), travelled to get to know other catholic communication projects in other countries and managed to get a 3 million dollar loan in Germany; they also received an anticipated investment from the broadcaster’s first sponsor: the former Banco Bamerindus. In Brazil, they asked for the technical support of professors from the Communication Processes Management course in the Arts and Communication Department of the University of São Paulo (USP). The network’s expansion relied on the articulation of clergy and politicians, as in the meeting between Don Luciano Mendes de Almeida, then president of the CNBB (Brazilian National Bishops Conference) and the President of the Republic Itamar Franco (PMDB) in 1994.

During its 15 years anniversary in 2010, Rede Vida received an apreciation in the Federal Senate, presided by José Sarney (PMDB), after the request of senator Arthur Virgílio (PSDB-Amazonas state); in the following year it received another homage requested by senator Randolfe Rodrigues (then PSOL – Amapa state). Elpídio Amanajas, corporate and institutional relations advisor for Rede Vida, used to work with Sarney at the Federal Senate’s Communication Council.