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Victory for Yemanjá. Instead of merely condemning spiritism, Archbishop Câmara has launched a campaign to expose the charlatanism of the spiritist leaders and to draw their followers into church by holding Masses in honor of their most popular saints, notably St. George and St. Sebastian. After painstaking studies of prestidigitation and stage music, Rio's Marist Brothers put on a series of public shows during the past year to duplicate the tricks by which the spiritist babalaôs hoodwink the gullible. Such sound showmanship has had some success.
But last week Yemanjá scored a clean victory. When Archbishop Camara held an open-air Mass on the beach New Year's Eve to compete with the spiritists, only 600 people showed up.