An activist livs in hope and trust:

EARLY last year, a dubious distinction attached itself to Tarcísio Feitosa da Silva, director of the Roman Catholic Church’s Pastoral Land Commission here in one of the most conflict-ridden regions of the Amazon. After the American nun Dorothy Stang was shot to death on a jungle road, he replaced her at the top of the death list that loggers, ranchers, miners and land speculators are known to maintain.

It is, of course, a form of recognition that Mr. Feitosa, 35, and his family would prefer he not have. But it testifies to the effectiveness of his work on behalf of Indian tribes, peasant settlers and river-dwellers and to preserve what remains of the endangered rain forest here.

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Still, Mr. Feitosa said, “If they want to do it, they are going to do it. You can’t impede them. I have to trust in God.”

Sister Dorothy also trusted in God, and that, in the end, was not enough to protect her. “She aroused the ire of a lot of people by discovering all those irregularities that were going to damage a lot of big interests,” he acknowledged. Has he also enraged those same interests? “Maybe so,” he replied, “but they are going to have to leave. The forest must be kept alive for the benefit of all, not just a few speculators.”

“I go to Mass every Sunday at 6:30 in the afternoon,” he added with a shrug. “If someone wants to kill me, they already know the route.”