Call to Action of San Diego County
January 2002 issue
Coming Events.
January 9 (Wednesday) Regular C.T.A. Board Meeting; 6:00 P.M. Call Janet (858) 277-0259 for info.
January 19 (Saturday) House Church; 4:30 P.M. Liturgy and pot-luck dinner. Call Al (619) 284-6451 for info.
February 1 (Friday) Interfaith Council on Worker Justice Meeting; 10:00 A.M. at Christ the King church, 29 North 32nd St. Call Rabbi Laurie Coskey (619) 584-5744, X-22 for info.
February 17 (Sunday) Sweatshop Presentation sponsored by C.T.A.; time & place to be announced; see details in article on page 16.
February 23 (Saturday) Global Spirituality in these Times; by Carol Zinn, SSJ, 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.at Blessed Sacrament Church in El Cajon. See details in article on page 7.
(Note: The deadline for submission of material for Connections to the editor is the 20th of the month.)
By Thich Nhat Hanh
All violence is injustice. Responding to violence with violence is injustice, not only to the other person but also to oneself. Responding to violence with violence resolves nothing; it only escalates violence, anger and hatred. It is only with compassion that we can embrace and disintegrate violence. This is true in relationships between individuals as well as in relationships between nations. Many people in America consider Jesus as their Lord, their spiritual ancestor and their teacher. We should heed Jesus’ teachings especially during critical times like the present. Jesus never encourages us to respond to acts of violence with violence. The teachings of Judaism go very much in the same direction. Spiritual leaders of this country are invited to raise their voices, to bring about an awareness of these teachings to the people. What needs to be done now is to recognize the suffering, to embrace it, and to understand it. We need calmness and lucidity so that we can listen deeply to, and understand, our own suffering and that of others. By understanding the nature and causes of the suffering, we will know the right path to follow.
The violence and hatred that we now face has been created by misunderstanding, injustice, discrimination and despair. We are all co-responsible for the making of violence and despair in the world by our way of living, of consuming, and of handling the problems of the world. In understanding why the violence has been created, we will then know what to do and what not to do in order to decrease the level of violence in ourselves and in the world, in order to create and foster understanding, reconciliation and forgiveness. I have the conviction that America possesses enough wisdom and courage to perform an act of forgiveness and compassion, and I know that such an act can bring great relief to America and the world quickly.
(From Buddhist News, 9/20/01, and reprinted in Radical Grace.)
By Mohandas K. Gandhi
A modern nation is only quantitatively less violent in peacetime than in wartime, and unless one non-collaborates with the government in peacetime, one is only salving one’s conscience by non-collaborating in wartime. Why pay taxes in peacetime to make arms for wartime? Why obey the kind of officials in peacetime who will later make a war? Unless you surrender your citizenship or go to jail before the war, you might as well be in the army during the war.
(Quoted by Louis Fischer in The Life of Gandhi)
For Reflection
By Joan Chittister, OSB
Victor Frankl, the Jewish psychiatrist and
survivor of German concentration camps, said that in time of
crisis, people do one of three things: They deny it, they despair, or they
commit themselves to ask
critical questions. Perhaps you and I, being who we are, cannot really do
much, but we can at least give
the gift of Christian discomfort. By knowing enough to say no, we can make it
impossible for anyone to
make war easily, and we can give others the knowledge it takes to do the same.
CONTACT SALVATION ARMY TO PROTEST DOMESTIC
PARTNERSHIP DECISION
In response to strong pressure from anti-gay organizations, the national
office of the Salvation Army overturned the decision of its western division
to offer health benefits to the domestic partners of it employees. The
Salvation Army’s media relations director said, “We’ve been listening to our
internal and external constituencies, and we now confirm adherence to biblical
principles concerning marriage and the family.”
By establishing domestic partner benefits, leaders in the Salvation Army’s
western division stood up for fairness and family diversity. The chief
secretary for the Army’s Western Corporation said, “this
decision reflects our concern for the health of our employees and those
closest to them, and is made on the basis of strong ethical and moral
reasoning that reflects the dramatic changes in family structure in recent
years.” Urge the national office of the Salvation Army to use “ethical and
moral reasoning” in reconsidering its decision to deny employees and their
families equal health benefits. Please write to urge the Salvation Army to
allow its divisions to base their policies on fairness and not anti-gay
extremism. For more information and/or to send an e-mail message, log on to
www.hrc.org/actioncenter and click on the Salvation Army alert. You can
also write Salvation Army’s national headquarters at 605-615
Slaters Lane, Alexandria, VA 22314
CATHOLIC BISHOPS GATHER AMID PROTESTS; CALLS TO HALT
WAR & TO ORDAIN WOMEN PUNTUATE MASS
By Ann Rodgers-Melnick
In a Mass that was repeatedly interrupted by protests against the war in
Afghanistan and in support of women's ordination, members of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops prayed for peace, guidance for world leaders
and protection for armed forces and others in harm's way. The bishops called
for building better relationships with Muslims and offered prayers for victims
and survivors. The first day of the conference's annual
meeting was consumed by Sept. 11 and its aftermath. That theme ran
through addresses from its president and the pope's representative and through
the Mass for peace. It also was reflected in heightened security, including a
police escort for the bishops' convoy to the Mass. There, the longest of many
interruptions came from a woman who began shouting after the singing of Psalm
72. "How dare you sing that song about justice when you won't even ordain
women in your church?" she demanded. Refusing a request from guards to sit
down, she was escorted, screaming, from the basilica. There was a ripple of
applause as an anti-war protester was removed, but it was unclear if the
applause was for him, the guard or another man who yelled for him to "shut
up." Other protesters who shouted once and then sat down were left in peace.
Later, the bishops approved a pastoral message on appropriate political and
spiritual responses to Sept. 11. Their "Pastoral Message on the Aftermath of
September 11" says repeatedly that no motive can ever justify terrorist
attacks. But it says that terrorists exploit real injustices that need to be
addressed in their own right. It calls on the U. S. to push for peace between
Israel and a Palestinian state, to halt the U. N. embargo against Iraq, to
press for an end to war and terrorism in Sudan, to cut off the trade in arms
and weapons of mass destruction and to work for human rights and better
economic opportunities for poor people worldwide.
(From an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11/13/01)
A fitting memorial to the victims of terrorism would be (choose one): (a) a nice statue; (b) more death and destruction; (c) global economic, social and environmental justice.
(From a sign worn by a demonstrator at Government Center in Boston, 10/8/01, reported in PeaceWork, November 2001)
Pope Apologizes to Victims of
Sex Abuse by Clergy
By Philip
Pullella
Pope John Paul II, in his first message sent to the world directly over the
Internet, apologized to victims of
sexual abuse by priests and other clergy. The apology, addressed among others
to nuns in the developing world, was contained in a long and wide-ranging
document issued by the Pope summing up the themes of a synod of bishops from
Oceania that was held in the Vatican in 1998.
(From a Reuters report dated 11/22/01, forward by Stephen Berk of IMWAC, who commented as follows: This is all very nice. But so long as the "celibate" male remains the unnatural norm for the priesthood, together with a patriarchal order that excludes women, as well as married men, these kinds of abuses will continue. They are symptoms. The cause is the Vatican's unrelenting patriarchy and its dysfunctional, even pathological, sexual and gender norms for the priesthood.)
Peace
Through Energy
Bob
Howarth
Are we to the point where war is no longer an acceptable means of resolving differences? Have the conflict resolution advocates been successful enough to prevail at the tables of negotiation? The short answer is no! The longer answer is not yet! In the shadows of the darkening clouds of global warming, toxic runoff invading ground water and endangering aquifers, anthrax-terrorist threats, and (in countries rich enough to afford it) ever-increasing highway congestion and air toxification, we of the Western world push on gamely and, as if oblivious to all of this, try to “make ends meet”. Of course, reassuring to all of us is the admonition from World Trade Organization stalwarts that “the market will adjust” and take care of all. A recent paper from the Worldwatch Institute prompts me to propose a project that I believe would go far toward mitigating the calamitous negative effects and widespread suffering portended by the clouds. We must have another challenge like Kennedy’s “Put a Man On the Moon” project; we need a “Convert To Hydrogen 50-10” project. That is, we want 50% of our fuel needs to be supplied by hydrogen in 10 years. I contend that the effects of this would largely neutralize the darkening clouds, would provide compelling stimulus toward achieving a popular resolution of Mideast Arab-Israeli differences and launch an era of clean, non-toxic, highly efficient engines and energy generators along with thousands of new jobs and business opportunities worldwide. This would be the kind of technology, equipment and job opportunities we Americans could be proud to export. The by-product of hydrogen (H) combustion is water, clean re-usable water. Also, H is “the simplest, lightest, and most abundant element in the universe”, and as far back as 1874 was foreseen as “the coal of the future”. Safety issues are largely resolved: Canada began testing H-powered school buses five years ago, the Germans have been transporting H through a 127-mile-long pipeline since 1939, and we have about 430 miles of it in the U.S. Relevant to transportation uses, H safety is comparable to, or better than, gasoline and natural gas. Furthermore, by 2050, the U.S. automobile fleet of 200 million cars could be replaced and fueled with H by either solar-produced H or by committing to the task 14% of the U.S. wind resources that could be developed. Studies show that global energy demand in 2050 could be met by solar H produced on just 0.5% of the world’s land area. If this is technically possible and economically feasible, what’s stopping it? The biggest impediment is political and vested money interests. The conventional oil-based energy industry so thoroughly permeates world institutions, is subsidized by our laws and taxes, funds our national elections, and is a prime determinant of our foreign policy, that hydrogen’s “coming out” will be delayed for decades, despite what could be done in ten years. This, in spite of the potential for cost savings in health care that is needed less in a cleaner air, less toxic air-water environment in a healthier ecology, and many new jobs and businesses. The conversion to H can be accelerated if informed citizens speak up to demand it, and if we use our purchasing power wisely. Contact your representatives, demand clean H energy and meaningful campaign finance reform so that they can decide issues for our good rather than for corporations’ vested interests; buy a gas-electric hybrid if you’re in the market for a new car. Our leaders will follow when we demand it!
Religion and Ethics Weekly, a P.B.S. program that goes behind the headlines on these topics, maintains a site at www.thirteen.org/religionandethics .
Bishop Matthew Clark, Rochester, NY
Dear Bishop Clark:
I have read your column, entitled “Along the Way”, from the Rochester Catholic Courier, dated November 1, 2001. My letter is not addressed to the specifics of the Spiritus Christi matter. Rather, it is written about what I humbly view as a much more general, if not pervasive, matter. Pope John Paul is certainly worthy of praise and accolades for admitting past errors of the institutional church. It only took about four centuries to acknowledge that Galileo was correct. The current institution seems to insist on total orthodoxy. There are strictures on how we refer to GOD as masculine only. There are requirements that the vernacular translations conform to the usage and phrasing of a language that has not evolved in at least a millenium. The institution imposes litmus tests on its theologians. (Senator McCarthy, have mercy on us.) More and more of the advanced degrees in Catholic theology go to women. But, solely because of their gender, they can not preach a homily at Mass. The institution says that they have to close parishes and reduce frequency of Eucharists because there are not enough celibate male priests. One hundred years ago, the U. S. was engaged in a great, long-term debate as to whether all citizens had the right to vote. Eventually, women’s suffrage became the law. Today, it is accepted fact. The curious thing was that at least forty years before the XX amendment, states and local groups began granting the vote to various groups. Despite the laws and constitutional amendments of the Civil War era, it took a century until the enactment of the civil rights laws under which the poll tax became illegal. Respect for the family and for authority is certainly admirable. But, at a certain point, family members properly raise the issue that there are problems that need to be addressed. (Oops, sorry, we can’t even talk about that one.) Traditions are a lot like poker hands: know when to hold them and when to fold them. Will this one take another four centuries?
Peace, Sincerely, Michael Magee of San Marco, CA
By Elfriede Harth
(The second half of humankind has been “included” and
the divinity of the feminine has been sacramentally
acknowledged.)
Matthew Clark, the bishop of Rochester, expelled the most
vibrant community of his diocese a few years ago, in an effort to tame the
perceived mortal threat that living Jesus' Gospel implies for petrified temple
structures and XX century's Sanhedrins. He now
imposed on his clergy and to all those who work for his diocese a mandatory
abstinence from attending Mary Ramerman's
ordination. Why is the ordination of a woman so frightening and so
threatening? And who is frightened and threatened? And what do they fear? The
faithful in this community have been longing for the experience of a Church
that is a sacrament of fullness, a Church that signifies that God does not
distinguish between lord and slave, between black and white, between male and
female; a Church that signifies that God does not prefer men over women,
straight over gays, celibates over married, only once married over divorced
and remarried, or Catholics over members of other faith communities. The
faithful of this community want to live in the Spirit of Jesus. They want to
be a sacrament to the world, a visible sign of this
Spiritus Christi, an instrument to transform the face of the world and
to make it new, more just and more peaceful. But they are Catholics; they are
attached to the Church universal, to all those who identify themselves as
anointed ones through the sacrament of baptism. They are attached to this
worldwide family, to all those who since the time of the early Church were
united through the bond of the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ. They are
attached to the tradition of the apostles; they are even attached to Rome. Or
how else explain that Mary prayed, in her very first Mass, after consecration,
"with John Paul II, our pope", (as Bishop Peter, who ordained her, had prayed
during the ordination Mass “with John Paul II, bishop of Rome")? Is this
frightening? Will God feel offended by this desire of God’s children to be
part of a larger family that bears the name of the Anointed? Will the
universal Church anywhere else in the world, the universal community of the
faithful, suffer, because God unveils, in a woman priest, God’s divine face to
the world, and the feminine has no longer to be hidden under a Roman Catholic
burkha? It is impossible to evoke the atmosphere
that prevailed in Mary's ordination. The whole community celebrated, because
it was not simply the ordination of one of their members, it was the
ordination of the whole community. It is impossible to evoke the atmosphere of
joy and communion that prevailed in Mary’s ordination, an atmosphere that is
characteristic of this community that spends 15 % of its financial income for
the poor in the world, besides outreaches to the poor in Rochester and sharing
with three communities in Haiti, Mexico and Salvador that are closely linked
to them. It is impossible to describe how people feel concerned for one
another, how they feel empowered and respected, and thus willing to empower
and to respect, how they feel dignified and thus wish to dignify, how they
feel loved and thus need to love.
(From an email message from IMWAC)
By Jordan Green &
Chris Kromm
Father Roy Bourgeois, the Jesuit priest who has, since 1990, led the annual
protest against the U. S. most infamous military training facility, wasn't
sure that the protest would happen this year. In late September he called
around to assess the resolve of the movement. Response was unanimous. "It's
very important that we be here, because at the very core of this issue is
violence," said Bourgeois. "We're going to mourn the thousands killed on
September 11, but we cannot forget the 75,000 in El Salvador who were victims
of terrorists trained at the School of the Americas." Graduates of the school
who are implicated in human rights abuses are legion. Human Rights Watch
reported last year that seven graduates were connected to Colombian
paramilitaries.
This year's protest against the School of the Americas--renamed the Western
Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC)--marked a standoff
between the recently-galvanized peace movement, and the
conti-nuing militarization of U.S. foreign policy. Considering the
current climate, the massing of 10,000 on Nov. 18 at Fort
Benning was a significant statement of informed
dissent. To the veterans of the Central American solida-
rity movement and the recent crop of globalization
activists who want to shut down the facility, the heightened patriotic
rhetoric of the past months has only strengthened their opposition to what
they consider a terrorist training camp. The recent passage of the USA PATRIOT
Act made the protests an important test for exploring the boundaries of
dissent. Despite apprehension on both sides, the protests held to a
traditional model of non-violent civil disobedience, with a funeral procession
in front of the base's closed gate and more than 100 arrests of protesters who
symbolically breached the line. The gate was gradually festooned with wooden
crosses, flowers and photographs as the protesters sang a litany of the names
of the disappeared, each name accom-panied by the
invocation: "Presente." The protesters cut across
a broad constituency embracing liberation theology and militant anarchism,
with all adhering to a tight set of protest ground rules. What are the
prospects for Congressional action to close the Institute? "It's going to be
an uphill battle", admitted Bourgeois. The legislative coalition (last year's
House resolution fell ten votes shy of passage) may not be able to pass a bill
in the next session. But the Jesuit priest is confident that the critical mass
of the movement will soon bear fruit.
(Received by email from Michael Higgins)
For Reflection
By Dorothy Day
What we would like to do is change the world --
make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and
shelter themselves as God intended them to do. And, by fighting for better
conditions, by crying out
unceasingly for the rights of the workers, of the poor, of the destitute --
the rights of the worthy and
unworthy poor in other words -- we can, to a certain extent, change the world;
we can work for the oasis,
the little cell of joy and peace in a harried world. We can throw our pebble
in the pond and be confident in
that its ever-widening circle will reach around the world. We can give away
an onion. We repeat, there
is nothing that we can do but love, and, dear God, please
enlarge our hearts to love each other, to love
our neighbor, to love our enemy as well as our friend.
(From an email of Pax Christi USA)
* * * * *
The idea that defect, shadow, or other misfortune could ever cause the church to stand in need of restoration or renewal is hereby condemned as obviously absurd.
(Pope Gregory XVI, 1832)
Pope John Paul said that people with AIDS should not feel
alone in their suffering, adding that he supported those trying to find a
cure. He also called for greater public awareness of the causes and
consequences of
AIDS. Under John Paul, the Vatican has been unbending in its opposition to all
forms of artificial contraception, including condoms which are seen by many
health experts as a key tool the battle against AIDS. The Vatican says they
block the transmission of life. The Pope says sexual abstinence is the only
way to stop the spread of the disease.
(From a Reuters report forwarded by IMWAC)
By John F. Kavanaugh, S.J.
Here in the U.S., instead of seeking information and self-critique, knees are jerking, both right and left. The National News (right) notes Kofi Annan’s receipt of the “Absurd” Nobel Peace Prize; the Nation (left) gushes that the Nobel Peace Prize committee “got it stunningly right”. So what else is new? There are many people in the U.S. who “religiously” read just one side of political issues every week, and think that they are keeping themselves informed. It is really the confirmation of prejudice.
(From “Informing and Forming Terror”, in America, 11/12/01)
By Elsie Speck
I was dismayed at the U.S. cardinals and bishops rallying around the flag to support a military response to September 11; here again the leaders are taking us down the Vietnam war-path, treating the faithful as if we are “confused”. Haven’t these elder “statesmen” learned truth in all their years of service to Jesus the peace-maker? I thought that God and the kingdom of reconciliation came before country and the false idols of militarism. I see that hypocrisy is alive and well among the church leadership, as we infer with “war approval” that killing, maiming and displacing thousands of impoverished refugees is O.K. God’s law of not killing and of not wor- shipping false idols has once again been abandoned by them, while the faithful struggle for some grain of truth.
(From a letter to N.C.R., published 11/9/01)
By Vaclav Havel
We often hear about the need to restructure the economies of the developing or the poorer countries; but I deem it even more important that we should begin also to think about another restructuring, namely a restructuring of the entire system of values which forms the basis of our civilization today. Given the present state of affairs [with almost all emphasis on economic globalization] we have only one possibility: to search, inside ourselves as well as around us, for a new sense of responsibility for the world. These “new sources” would be (1) respon-
sibility of all nations, large or small, for the world at large; (2) responsibility to institute an ethically-rooted development paradigm; and (3) responsibility of all parts of society, not just governments, to play their role in the direction which the world takes.
(The author is President of the Czech Republic; these remarks are from “Church Social Teaching and Globalization” by Michel Camdessus, former managing director of the I.M.F., in America, 10/15/01)
By Nicholas Kazantzakis
In one memorable interview, made as a young man to various monasteries on Mount Athos, I engaged an old monk who had a reputation for holiness. I asked him, “Do you struggle with the devil?” “Oh, no,” the old man replied. “I used to struggle with him, when I was young, but now I have grown old and tired, and the devil has grown old and tired with me, so we leave each other alone.” “So, it’s easy for you now?” I asked. “Oh, no,” replied the old man; “It’s worse now, far worse! Now I wrestle with God!” “You wrestle with God”, I said with surprise, “and hope to win?” “Oh no,” replied the wise man; “I wrestle with God and I hope to lose!”
(Quoted from the author’s autobiography by Fr. Ron Rolheiser in an article in The Southern Cross, 12/6/01)
By Peter M. Kopkowski
How is it that the U.S. military helps lift the burqa from women in Afghanistan, but imposes the abaya on American women in Saudi Arabia? (the abaya is a long black robe that covers a woman from head to foot) You didn’t know about this? You didn’t know that the objective of the military is “to win”, not “justice”? Ask Lt. Col. Martha McSally, our nation’s highest-ranking female fighter pilot. She is a graduate of the Air Force Academy, a champion triathlete, and the head of search & rescue missions over Iraq. But this counts for nothing according to the agreement between the military and Saudi Arabia. When Martha leaves the base, she is required (by the Air Force) to wear an abaya; she is not allowed to drive a car; she cannot travel without a male escort; and, in fact, she must travel in the back seat of the vehicle. Note: State Department women in Saudi Arabia do not have to wear the abaya. Note # 2: Military MEN are forbidden to wear Saudi garments. These military rules undermine unit cohesion, wreak havoc with the chain of command, and, worst of all, attack the very values that our military, both men and women, are fighting to defend. How important, really, to the U.S. military, is freedom and justice to both men and women?
(Based in part on “A Fight For Freedom in Saudi Arabia” by Ellen Goodman in The Boston Globe, as reprinted in The San Diego Union Tribune, 12/10/01)
We are Catholic Workers and we are still pacifists. We invite you to participate with us in all of our wildest dreams for peace. We invite you to clamber off the wheel of violence. It is the only worthy legacy that we can offer to those who have died. We invite you to join us as we re-examine our consciences, our spiritual paths, our concepts of God, our commitments to a better world. We are Catholic Workers, and we still believe that the only solution is love.
(From a joint statement made by many Catholic Worker communities in the U.S. and Mexico)
By Kenneth Smits, O.F.M. Cap.
I have followed the reports on the just war theory and its application to the present conflict. When I look at the terrible weapons of contemporary war, when I think of the hundreds of thousands of refugees lacking shelter, food & water, subject to disease and death of old & young, all civilians, I cannot stomach any discussion of a “just” war. War may be inevitable; it may even be necessary, but it is always very evil in contemporary times, demanding afterwards repentance and reconciliation on all sides. To link the word “just”, a weighty word indeed, with “war”, is obscene.
(From a letter to America, published 10/29/01)
By St. Ignatius Loyola
A truly spiritual person does not take time out from his or her other activities to spend it on communing with God; rather, such a person takes time out from communing (consciously and explicitly) with God, in order to take care of daily necessities. (The First Principal & Foundation, of the Spiritual Exercises).
(As reported by Edmund F. Kal in a letter to America, published 10/15/01)
Sister Carol Zinn, SSJ, by
popular request, will be returning to San Diego on Saturday, February 23rd,
2002. Her workshop, "Global Spirituality In These
Times" will address the challenge of linking spirituality and solidarity
together since the events of Sept. 11. It is sponsored by La
Providencia, and will be held, as last year, at
Blessed Sacrament Church Hall on El Cajon Blvd. from 9:00am - 3:00pm. We hope
to double the number
of 125 participants from last year. Please share this Good News with all your
friends in your organizations or groups. Thanks. Sisters
Pat & Millie.
By Tom Cordaro
As peacemakers who have spent our lives warning the
nation of the consequences of a foreign policy based
on violence in support of corporate profits, and have argued that true
security lies in the pursuit of justice based on economic, cultural and civil
rights for all peoples, these are days of deep darkness. Into this stunted
future Isaiah sounds a chord of hope, "A shoot shall rise up from the stump of
Jesse." As Walter Brueggemann
tells us, "The stump symbolizes any closed-off historical possibility,
any place in life that has failed and collapsed and ended in despair. It is
like the potted plant, dead, thrown into the compost pile, forgotten,
abandoned. Isaiah imagines that God can and does raise
up new life where none seems possible. Such raising
up of a 'shoot' from a 'stump' is a miracle and it is this miracle that makes
peacemaking possible." We can choose to live our lives as if we already live
on the holy mountain were there will no longer be harm or ruin.
Choosing to live on that
mountain means taking to heart the exhortation of John the Baptist, "Repent
for the reign of heaven is at hand." This is not a time for despair; it
is a time to prepare for the unexpected in God's miracle of hope by producing
the good fruits of justice and charity that prepare the soil for the shoot of
peace.
(From "Mountains of War/Mountains of Peace”; Cordaro
is national chairperson of Pax Christi USA.).
The Department of Defense has just recommended that the
U.S.: (1) abandon all efforts to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty by 2006 or
ever; (2) abandon all efforts to get rid of "dumb" mines by 2003; (3)
eliminate the search for landmines alternatives program; and (4) assert the
need for U.S. mine deployment in Korea and elsewhere!
President Clinton instructed the military to move towards 2006 compliance with
the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which bans the use, stockpile, trade, and production
of the weapon. It looks like the Bush Administration is poised to abandon that
policy altogether. More than 140 countries have signed this treaty, which has
already made great strides in reducing the global landmine threat. We need
improvement, not backtracking on the landmines issue! Anti personnel landmines
maim and kill upwards of 18,000 people each year, mostly children, farmers,
and other innocent civilians. Most of the world's nations, including almost
all of NATO, have joined the Mine Ban Treaty. It is time for the United States
to do so as well. In Afghanistan, there are already 8-10 million landmines on
the ground. U.S. deployment of mines in that country, an option military
leaders say is possible, would only exacerbate the humanitarian crisis and put
U.S. ground troops at risk. Please advocate for our country to give up this
dishonorable weapon, everywhere.
(Received by email from the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines)
A Perspective on “Borders”
We call “barbarians” people living on the other side of the border.
We call “civilized” people living on this side of the border.
We “civilized”, living on this side of the border, are not ashamed to arm ourselves to the teeth to “protect” ourselves against the “barbarians” on the other side of the border.
When the “barbarians” from the other side of the border attack us or threaten us in some way, we do not hesitate to kill them, rather than civilize them.
We, the “civilized” kill the “barbarians”, without any attempt at civilizing them, but we persist in calling ourselves “civilized”.
(Peter Maurin, co-founder of
The Catholic Worker)
* * * * *
Carl Jung said quite plainly that the meaning of Jesus’ example was not that each individual should imitate the life of Jesus blindly and make themselves a pale, insipid copy of what the crucified person had been. The true meaning of Jesus’ life for Jung was that every individual should live out fully their own natural and specific self as truly as Jesus had lived his unto the end to which he had been born; that was possible only if a person was reintegrated with the over all shadow in the despised and rejected aspects of themselves and their time, through the intercession of the universal feminine in them.
(Laurens van der Post, Jung and the Story of Our Time, Vintage Books)
By Rosemary Radford Ruether
In reading reports about Joan
Chittister's decision to speak at the Women's Ordination Worldwide
conference in Dublin after having been forbidden to do so by the Vatican, I
was struck by the long, agonizing struggle that she went through to make this
decision. It was almost as if she and Prioress Christine
Vladimiroff, who declined to give Chittister the Vatican's silencing
order, had to vindicate the seriousness of their decision. They told us of the
long process of discernment they went through, and how they discussed and
prayed over the decision. They surely wanted to present a different model of
how decisions are made in community, in contrast to the top-down orders
of the Vatican. Perhaps they also were resisting the assumptions of male
church leaders that women's decisions are made frivolously or impulsively, by
showing the depths of their process of prayerful consultation and seeking the
guidance of the Spirit and the collective wisdom of the group. All this is
understandable. Much was at stake, personally and as members of their
community; their identities, their livelihoods, their standing in the church.
One fears, however, that the Vatican leaders care not a whit for the
prayerfulness of their decision. It must have been evident immediately that
the Vatican order was so outrageous that it called for some form of
resistance. The only question was how to do so most effectively. In my view,
the Vatican has no right to "agonize" us for one minute. By what prerogative
does this leadership class assume they can tell women and men that they may
not discuss the issue of women's ordination? Is our capacity for ordination
not something that women can discuss? Are the underlying assumptions that
women's humanity lacks the capacity to image God, to represent Christ, to be
priest of the Church not something that women can debate? Are these
assumptions, that only maleness is apt for such
representation of God and femaleness is not, beyond inquiry and questioning?
Perhaps the real issue behind the Vatican's command is the very
untenability of the arguments that exclude women
from ordination. These arguments assume an obsolete anthropology of women's
lack of full humanity, their status as an incomplete human, as a "misbegotten
man," in Thomas Aquinas' language, derived from Aristotle's mistaken theory of
biological reproduction. One has only to discuss these theories to reveal
their absurdity, their lack of credibility. Perhaps it is just this lack of
credibility, the inability to make a convincing argument,
that lies behind the silencing, for to discuss the rationale of the
exclusion of women from ordination is itself to reveal its dubiousness to
people who are accustomed to seeing women achieve the highest levels of
education and leadership today. The Vatican ducks critical examination by
forbidding public debate, but in doing so, it also shifts the issue; instead
of discussion of ordination itself, of the nature of priesthood and of women,
and their compatibility, the issue becomes authority and obedience. The
finality of authority judges what is thinkable, rather than reasonable
thought judging what is authoritative. The Vatican claims to represent
God as ultimate truth and power. Its commands supercede thought. But the
Vatican thereby actually puts itself in deeper jeopardy. To question its
orders is now to question its very claims to represent God. The Vatican backs
up its orders with formidable threats. It claims that it may expel us from our
religious communities, cut us off from communion with God, and deny us the
sacraments. Really? Does it really believe that it
can cut us off from our friends and from friendship with God? The arrogance of
such presumptions is breathtaking. The very exaggeration of the threats throws
the claims of ultimate power into doubt. Such claims excite disgust, contempt.
Surely we can do better than this as Church, as those who seek to be the
People of God. The key sign of being church is commitment to conversion to
that sort of relationship by which we treat each other with respect as fellow
human beings, made in the image of God and called to community with each other
in God's grace. The Vatican discredits its claim to represent God when it
behaves in a way that suggests that it has little understanding of what it
means to enter that process.
(From Conscience Magazine, Autumn
2001, forwarded by IMWAC)
* * * * *
People who ARE the church begin to make it clear that they want their church: open to women; open to homosexuals; open to married priests; open to women priests & preachers; open to lay consultation. In other words, in addition to having roots, they want to have wings! God can part the seas (Exodus) and God can raise the dead to life (Jesus) but God cannot work through a woman? Apparently femaleness is the only substance that renders God impotent!
(From the keynote address by Joan Chittister at the three C.T.A. National conferences).
By Richard Nirschl
The fourth and final presentation by Gary Macy, Medieval
church historian from USD, focused on three areas: church history, how it
relates to theology, and what action should we take knowing that relationship.
Typical of his technique to stimulate audience involvement, he left us with
some notable quotes that support his theses:
"Nothing survives by accident", "There is more than one history, and all
history does not lead me to mine", and "There are three kinds of Christians,
Aesthetic, Moral, and Religious" (Kierkegard). The
first half of the day dealt with examples of how history does not just present
facts, but the documented history reflects the historian, as well as those for
whom it is being documented. Theology, which is defined as the study of our
God, quite often influences and is influenced by history. The latter half of
the day was spent in small groups, and ended in a final “shared discussion”,
dealing with the issue of “now that we’ve heard it, so what?” We Catholic
Workers, Corpus, CTA, Dignity, and WomenChurch, produced the following two
lists regarding, “What action can we take to follow up on this info?” and
“What traditions would we like to pass on to our communities?”
ACTIONS TO CONSIDER:
1. Keep the focus of our activity on social justice, and support those
activities that do that;
2. Use the resources available, such as USD, to reach out to other cultures;
3. Provide a platform for the poor and the voiceless to tell their story; try
to meet them where they are; do activities with them;
4. Help to develop both reform of campaign financing and a reverence for
ecology;
5. Pass good books around (share them with our pastors)
and form study groups;
6. Support or sponsor a Job Fair where socially responsible companies are
present as viable alternatives to the young and jobless;
7. Provide people with techniques to address issues.
TRADITIONS TO PASS ON: (1) Keep the focus on what Jesus taught, namely, to
serve others, particularly the poor; (2) Ensure we are inclusive, in language
and behavior; (3) Encourage people to practice the concept, “Freedom of
Conscience”. (4) Pursue common ground within our diversity.
By Jim Barnett, O.P.
On November 16, 1989, I went to the site where six Jesuit
priests and two laywomen co-workers had been massacred the night before. The
bodies had been removed, but at one place I looked down and saw the stain of
dried blood on the ground. Trying not to be conspicuous, I scooped up the
earth in my handkerchief and put it in my pocket. The blood of martyrs, mixed
with the earth of Our Savior ("El Salvador"). The following year I carried
this soil blessed with blood to the entrance gate of the School of the
Americas (SOA) at Ft. Benning, Georgia. I had
learned that six of the nine Salvadoran soldiers accused of the massacre had
been trained at this School. Ten of us did a water-only fast for 35 days,
believing that such an evil can be dealt with "only by prayer and fasting."
This year I returned to the S.O.A. entrance gate with the small packet of
earth-mixed-with-blood. It was carried by Roy Bourgeois, at the head of a
funeral procession of almost 10,000 people, commemorating
all the victims of the graduates of the S.O.A. Investigations have shown that
nineteen of the twenty-six soldiers involved in murdering the Jesuits
and two women were graduates of the SOA. They were given an amnesty by the
Salvadoran government. The goal of the SOA Vigil and Protest is to close the
school down; the
funeral procession was part of a very moving liturgy, the central event of a
very spiritual protest. The number of people killed directly by men trained at
the SOA is estimated at about 60,000 from every country in Latin America. They
were church workers, teen-agers, children, elderly, religious sisters, married
couples, whole families; they were teachers, campesinos,
union members, artists, human rights workers and some professional people;
they were indigenous, mulattos, Latinos, foreign missionaries; two were
Bishops. Some died after being tortured in prison, 900 died in one massacre of
a whole village; a few that I knew personally were
simply "disappeared" by authorities and never heard of again. Another aspect
that was striking is the very contradiction between the massive "war on
terrorism" of the Bush administration and the fact that our government is
training terrorists at the SOA. The SOA must be shut down. The blood of the
martyrs continues to cry out for justice.
I want to invite you to attend the Founding Conference of The TIKKUN COMMUNITY in New York City, January 19-21. We are trying to create a new national multi-issue organization of progressive Jews yet at the same time be the first major organization of Spiritual Politics for people of every spiritual, religious and ethnic background (not just Jews) which attempts to not only fight for traditional social and economic justice concerns, but also to level a deeper critique of capitalist society based on its fostering of materialism, selfishness, and a narrow utilitarian approach to the universe and to other human beings, an approach which misses (and often cynically negates) the fundamental spiritual dimension of human reality. Our full vision is spelled out in the Founding Statement which you can access at www.TIKKUN.org .
(The above is from a very long email forwarded by CTA national; given the short notice, it is unlikely that many readers will be able to attend; nevertheless, some may wish to follow-up and learn more about this organization, which sounds very progressive.)
By Peter M. Kopkowski
# 1: California Assembly Bill 44, passed by both sections of the legislature, allows recipients of CalWorks and Food Stamps programs to exempt one car with a fair market value of up to $15,000 as long as the recipient is employed or engaged in work-related activities. A recipient who is subject to or at risk for domestic violence or similar abuse may retain a car regardless of its value. Status: VETOED by Gov. Gray Davis.
# 2: California Assembly Bill 767, passed by both sections of the legislature, permits individuals who were convicted of possession or use of a controlled substance to participate in CalWorks and Food Stamp programs if they enroll in and complete a drug treatment program and continue to abstain from using drugs. Status: VETOED by Gov. Gray Davis.
#3: California Senate Bill 380, passed by both sections of the legislature, permits CalWorks recipients enrolled in an approved college education program to count up to 6 hours toward the weekly minimum requirement for welfare-to-work activities, thus encouraging recipients to achieve scholastically and to acquire skills that will keep them out of poverty. Status: VETOED by Gov. Gray Davis.
(From a report issued by Jericho, a social-justice lobbying organization in Sacramento)
By Mike Boone
I have reviewed a copy of the Summer 2001 issue of Fortune News, and I was impressed with your work. However, I see that you need to know much more about Texas prisons. Conditions here are so far below any written about in your publication that we might as well be imprisoned in a third world country. In Texas, you are allowed 5 minutes, every three months, to use the phone, and the call is monitored. Last week a fellow prisoner was denied the opportunity to call his father because of a minor infraction in the previous month. This week, he was informed that his father had died of a heart attack; they also told him, “You won’t have to worry about phone calls anymore”. Welcome to the house that “Dubya” built.
(From a letter in Fortune News, Fall 2001)
By John F. Kavanaugh, S.J.
While the Bush administration demands that the “moderates” of Islam and the Arab world denounce their extremists, as many of them have done, what about our own (American) voices of hate and their incendiary rhetoric? These are not street rabble, or wild fundamentalists, as in other countries; these are people who are given place of honor and influence on our opinion pages, and are exposed to millions of people on TV. Instead, they should be shamed! The administration says, “Eliminate those who harbor and support terrorists”; what does that mean? If it is known that a country has provided opportunity and resources to 1,000 known terrorists, will that count? If so, we will have to bomb ourselves, for that is the number of terrorists that the F.B.I. estimated are currently living in the U.S. This situation exists in spite of billions of dollars spent each year for surveillance and counter-intelligence. And we expect countries like Egypt and Sudan to do better?
(From article in America, 10/15/01)
I wish that people who have anger and hatred and sadness
Will remember about their Heartsongs, and get them back.
Everyone is born with a Heartsong, but as we grow up,
Sometimes we forget about it because we don’t listen to it enough.
(Mattie J. T. Stepanek (age 11) in Journey Through Heartsongs)
The deepest dilemma of Catholicism in America today is the fact that Catholics are very, very comfortable with things just as they are.
(Clarke E. Cochran, “The Pilgrim Community’s Independent Voice”, America, 12/3/01)
The only people on earth who do not see the teachings of Jesus Christ as nonviolent are the Christians.
(Attributed to Mohandas K. Gandhi)
The Works of Mercy: Feed the Hungry;
Clothe the Naked; Give Drink to the
Thirsty; Visit the Imprisoned; Care for
the Sick; Bury the Dead.
The Works of War: Destroy Crops and
Land; Seize Food Supplies; Destroy Homes;
Scatter Families; Contaminate Water;
Imprison Dissenters; Inflict Wounds &
Burns; Kill the Living.
(Reprinted from a card received from the
Orange County Catholic Worker)
On September 11, 2001 36,000 children died, world-wide, of hunger. Where? In poor countries. Number of TV news stories? None. Number of newspaper articles? None. Number of military alerts? None. Number of presidential proclamations? None. Number of Papal messages? None. Number of messages of solidarity? None. Number of minutes of silence? None. Homage paid to these innocent children? None.
(From Sun Magazine, November, 2001)
Military operations never serve the common good of humanity. Violence destroys; it does not build. The wounds that it causes bleed for a long time and, finally, conflicts worsen the already sad situations of the poor and are fueled by new forms of poverty.
(John Paul II, World Youth Day Message [1993] reprinted from “Perspectives on Christian Nonviolence”, published by the Winona Catholic Worker)
Theologian Paul Tillich argues that nationalism is problematic for Christians. This confrontation between nation and faith comes to a head most especially during times of war. Christians are called to love everyone, and since members of the Mystical Body of Christ live in every country of the world, including Afghanistan, Israel, Pakistan and Palestine, shouldn’t our position as Christians be that nationalism, war-making, and flag-waving encourage us to be enemies of those that we are called to love? Shouldn’t we oppose nationalism as a sin that divides the Mystical Body of Christ against itself?
(As noted in Catholic Agitator, November 2001)
By Colman McCarthy
Since the attacks of Sept. 11, and when the
U.S. began bombing people in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, those of us who are
pacifists have been denounced for bystanding in a
time of national peril. We are scorned for not waving flags or supporting the
president and his war council. We are damned for being complicit in evil,
which is what pacifism, to many critics, is. The
script that is followed was written by Hermann Goering,
the Nazi leader: "The people can always be brought to do the bidding of the
leaders; that is easy. All you do is tell them they
are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism."
For 20 years, I've taught pacifism and nonviolence; during those two
decades, U.S. presidents, members of Congress and military leaders have also
been teaching: war and violence. Their classroom has been the national lectern
of Washington from which they have sent American troops to kill or threaten to
kill people in Lebanon in 1982, Grenada in 1983, Libya in 1986, Panama in
1989, the Persian Gulf (1990 to present), Somalia in 1992, Haiti in 1994,
Sudan in 1998, Afghanistan in 1998, Yugoslavia in 1999, and Afghanistan in
2001. A familiar pattern has been followed: glamorize, demonize, victimize,
rationalize. U.S. leaders glamorize their
interventions by naming them Operation Just Cause, Operation Restore Hope,
Operation Desert Storm. They demonize the latest enemy: "a drug kingpin," "a
warlord," "another Hitler," "the evildoer." The U.S. victimizes defenseless
citizens who are trapped in those countries and helpless to escape the
bombing. Finally, it is all
rationalized: Americans are a peace-loving people but, if pushed, will take
action.
Currently, pacifists are asked, often goadingly,
"If you're opposed to violence, what's your solution?"
We have a three-part answer based on political, legal and moral solutions. The
political response would have been to follow the U.S. government's longtime
advice to Israeli and Palestinian leaders and to the factions in Northern
Ireland: talk to each other, negotiate, deal, compromise, stop the killing and
reconcile. If that
advice is fit for those conflicts, why not for ours? The legal response is to
use international law and the world court at the
Hague. The moral response would be to follow the core teachings of the
historical figure who President Bush claimed during his candidacy he most
looked to for guidance, Jesus: forgive the attackers for
their violence, ask them to forgive the U.S. government for its long history
of military and economic violence, and then seek reconciliation through mutual
dialogue, not one-sided monologue.
The ideas and ideals of pacifists are either unknown or casually
dismissed by much of the public.
Only a few schools pay academic heed to alternatives to violence. The rest are
content to graduate peace
illiterates year after year. Rarely are pacifists given space on the nation's
op-ed pages, or airtime on
radio and television programs. My own plan is to keep teaching and writing,
and resisting the urge to blame those who believe that violence is the
solution to conflict, whether among nations or in families and neighborhoods.
I blame only one person for the persistence of violence: myself.
(From an article in N.C.R., 11/16/01)
* * * * *
It is fundamental that the great powers of Congress to
conduct war and to regulate the Nation's foreign relations are subject to the
constitutional requirements of due process. The imperative necessity for
safeguarding these rights to procedural due process under the gravest of
emergencies has existed throughout our constitutional history, for it is then,
under the pressing exigencies of crisis, that there is the greatest temptation
to dispense with fundamental constitutional guarantees which, it is feared,
will inhibit governmental action.
(Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, Kennedy vs. Mendoza-Martinez
[1963])
We confess that we hold our calling too casually in our hands; we do not know how to be present to You as we work, nor do we work in Your presence. We are not one with our work, nor with You; we are neither Mary-Marthas nor Martha-Marys. As we become immersed in our work, we forget You, the author of our work; as we remember You, we neglect the work that You have given us. Help us to know the center that is You, and to make it the center of our work. Help us to make the connection; confirm us in Your service and help us to bear witness to You in the society in which we live. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
(By William Clemmons, who is associated with Northern Baptist Theological Seminary; the above was published in Initiatives, December 2001)
By Peter M. Kopkowski
Approximately 500 years ago, the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church actively supported the Europeans who came to North & South America on the mistaken premise that the native peoples knew no God, had no faith, and needed to be “saved”. Not only was their premise mistaken 500 years ago, but there is little, if any, indication that anything has been learned about this mistaken premise in the last 500 years. In the case of the native peoples of North America, the “support” of the various Christian churches led to the complete conquest of the natives, the theft of their land, and brought them death from exposure to European diseases. To say that this was (and is) an injustice is a gross under-statement; is there any outcry against it, other than by the Native Americans themselves? If so, is it a very small “outcry”, one that gets no press attention and one that generates no concrete actions. Yet, defying 500 years of conquest, the native people manage to survive, and to speak out for their rights and their culture; is anyone listening? Is anyone paying attention? Perhaps the responsibility for initiating corrective action should be assigned to the institution that started the problem: the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church. Do you think anyone reading this will live long enough to see them initiate action to correct this injustice?
(Inspired by “A Fragile Miracle”, by Clara Sue Kidwell, Homer Noley and George E. Tinker, in The Other Side, November & December 2001)
By Eric Greenberg
I would like to see some of the money spent this Christmas going for necessities for the poor rather than luxuries for the rich.
I would like to see the intensity of this nation’s concern for sports activity more appropriately directed toward helping our nation’s homeless and elderly.
I would like to see this nation’s defense dollars depreciated to a value considerably less than the cost of a human life.
(From a letter to The San Diego Union Tribune, published 12/25/01)
By John O’Donohue
Meister Eckhart said that there is nothing in the universe that resembles God so much as silence. You know yourself, when you sit with the person that you love, the purest belonging to their presence is silence. When you pray, the purest way that you inhabit the divine presence is when the silence of your own heart begins to echo inward into the vast, warm silence of the divine. This is a peace that the world cannot give you; a sense of utter belonging that you could never experience otherwise. Silence is vital for the human heart. You see, the human heart cannot live with constant sound or noise. It needs silence in order to heal itself. The only two things that are ultimately required for spiritual homecoming are stillness and silence. If you build into your day some little windows of silence and some little windows of stillness, you will never lose touch with your deepest voice. You will never lose touch with your most secret belonging. Even though you walk and talk and act in the world, you will never leave the inner, tender home of your own soul.
(From an interview, “Anam Cara and the Mirror of Celtic Non-Dualism”, Sounds True Catalog, Winter, 1997)
By Fr. John B. Pesce
I was amazed at President Bush being “amazed” at how much hatred some people have for the U.S. What’s not to be amazed about when 4 percent of the world’s population consumes 40 percent of the world’s resources? What’s not to be amazed about when the same nation’s policies against Iraq account for the death of 5,000 children every month? What’s not to be amazed about when U.S. arms manufacturers account for half of all weapons sold last year, with almost three-quarters being sold to developing nations? What’s not to be amazed about when the U.S. has such a lopsided policy relative to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? The mechanism of denial is alive and well in certain parts of this country.
(From a letter to N.C.R., published 11/16/01)
By Joan Chittister
Am I spending my life on something meaningful enough to give joy to my existence? The masters tell this story: “What good work shall I do to be acceptable to God?” the disciple asked the rabbi. “How should I know?” the rabbi answered. “Abraham practiced hospitality, and God was with him; Elijah loved to pray, and God was with him; David ruled a kingdom, and God was with him; Judith led the people, and God was with her, too.” “Well, the disciple said, “is there some way that I can find my own allotted work?” “Yes”, said the rabbi. “Search for the deepest inclination of your heart, and follow it”. A second question is, whether or not I am doing something that taps the best and most natural gifts in me. Clearly, happiness has something to do with doing something we do well that also gives joy to our own life and meaning to the lives of those around us.
(From The Monastic Way, January 2002)
By Dee Dee Risher
Too many North Americans have never fully opened their hearts to the suffering of the disenfranchised and oppressed in other parts of the world; they believe that those lives are disconnected from their own. We deny the ways that our history, our national policies and our consumerism lend support to their suffering. We fail to consider how our arrogance might push people to levels of outrage, hatred and despair that could one day ignite angrily in our unsuspecting lives as we go to work in the morning. If we have ever vowed nonviolence, or thirsted for justice, or sought to live out the Gospel, the present situation can be a watershed moment. Can we learn from this pain? Can we find the strength to voice our grief, to practice reconciliation, to look for the hard lessons that no one wants to hear, and then dare to speak them? May our broken hearts join us with weeping hearts around the world; may our slow healing emerge from the common cries to God, from the fragile, fibrous roots that interweave our lives in common soil, and from the wrenching pangs that will birth a new wisdom of compassion and peace.
(From “Roots & Branches” in The Other Side, November & December 2001)
By Randall Horton
Let me get this straight: Ashcroft jails 1,100 people for 75 days, yet refuses to release their names because he doesn’t want them “blacklisted”? If he cared about the rights of these prisoners, they would be receiving the speedy trials guaranteed them by the Constitution. As long as most Americans behave like dumb sheep, content with feeling “secure” but caring little for blood-bought freedoms, these abuses will accelerate. Sacrificing apparently insignificant freedoms for the sake of the appearances of security will most certainly result in absolute tyranny.
(From a letter to The San Diego Union Tribune, published 12/15/01)
By Tom Roberts
Call To Action is certainly not the whole church; lots of people fly their spiritual lives below the trajectory of the issues raised by C.T.A., seeking calmer space and ignoring the hierarchy altogether, or seeking “spirituality” instead of religion. However, unless the institution disappears, the questions raised by C.T.A. will remain, and eventually will have to be answered. In the meantime, there are few places, other than C.T.A., where those who raise these issues can appear under one roof; some of them are simply not welcome in many dioceses. In other cases, the topics that they discuss are ones that the Vatican has “forbidden” us to talk about. All of these people raise a healthy challenge to lazy Catholicism and “Christianity Lite”. When those discussions become acceptable in the mainstream church, we will all owe a deep debt of gratitude to the stubborn crowd at C.T.A. who refused to let the dream die.
(From “A nod of gratitude to C.T.A at 25” by the editor of N.C.R., published 11/16/01)
By Steve Lord
Is it just me, or do others sense that San Diego is in a serious state of decline? In social, economic, political and spiritual terms, we can do so much better. Yet, year in and year out, educated-but-apathetic San Diegans suffer the decisions of under-qualified and disingenuous politicians and their appointees, whose loyalties too often lean to the moneyed and/or vocal special interests.
America’s finest city? What’s fine about subsidizing wealthy sports-team owners while the city’s infra- structure crumbles, and its natural resources decay or disappear? What’s fine about public schools that promote literacy by killing off science and the arts, and by alienating the teachers? What’s fine about taxpayers supporting organizations that publicly discriminate against our families, friends and neighbors, while teaching our children that exclusion and prejudice are acceptable?
I read the Union-Tribune editorials and letters to the editor; other than the occasional thoughtful, studied or incisive opinion, I see people recklessly championing or condemning causes about which they obviously know very little. Too many of our vocal citizens and politicians view issues in black and white, and demonstrate little understanding, empathy or respect for others’ concerns or opinions. Questions about SeaWorld, Boy Scout discrimination or new stadiums are not that simple; they never have been.
What is simple is this: If San Diego is to regain its social, economic, political and spiritual health, we’ve got to get off the sofa and get involved. The stewardship of our city and of our future should rest in the hands of a knowledgeable, concerned and actively vocal electorate. Our leaders make the decisions, but we decide who our leaders will be. If, like me, you are unhappy with our city’s direction currently, get involved! Vote, but vote knowledgeably and wisely. Write thoughtfully to the editor and to your elected officials; participate in meetings of the town council, community planning committees, the school board and the city council. We don’t have to suffer poor civic decisions and mediocre results; we can do much better.
(From a letter to The San Diego Union Tribune, published 12/8/01)
(Editor’s note: I heartily agree!!!)
Nike Sweatshop Program, sponsored by C.T.A., is scheduled for Sunday, February 17 at a time and place to be determined. Leslie Kretzu and Jim Keady will be in San Diego to tell their story of immersion in a Nike factory in Indonesia. Their mission is to educate for justice. They immersed themselves for one month, living with Nike's factory workers, living on $1.25 a day in an Indonesian village that was home to many of the workers. By telling their story, they hope to educate the public about the living condition of the factory workers and to educate the workers about their rights and worth in the global marketplace. Through such education, they strive to empower both workers and consumers to take action, with the goal of establishing justice in the workplace.
(Look for additional details in the next issue of Connections, but mark it on your calendar in the meantime.)
* * * * *
Nothing without the bishop; nothing without consulting priest colleagues;
nothing without the consent of the people. (St.
Cyprian of Carthage, bishop, circa 200 AD, quoted
by Joseph Ratzinger in “Democracy in the Church", 1970) (Submitted by email
by the German “We Are Church” organization ).
C.T.A. CONTACTS:
Janet Mansfield (858) 277-0259 ejmans@pacbell.com
Evi Quinn (760) 434-3710 eviq@cs.com
Al Rauckhorst (619) 284-6451 louiser@adnc.com
Peter Kopkowski (editor) (858) 278-8800 ajpmk@san.rr.com
Visit our website: www.dignitypacific.org/ctasandiego/
The God of love is never glorified by human violence. (Thomas Merton)
By Thomas Merton
It is not humility to insist on being someone that you are not. It is as much as saying that you know better than God who you are and who you ought to be. How do you expect to arrive at the end of your own journey if you take the road to someone else’s city? How do you expect to reach your own wholeness by leading someone else’s life? Another person’s sanctity will never be yours; you must have the humility to be yourself, to be nobody but the person that God intends you to be.
(From a publication of Hesed Community in Oakland, CA).
By Peter M. Kopkowski
The problem is that, time and again in U.S. history, it has been moments of “crisis” that have led Americans (often the majority!) to abandon civil liberties in the pursuit of greater security. During the Civil War, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus; during W.W.II, we imprisoned American citizens of Japanese descent; during the Vietnam conflict, our government learned that open press coverage can lead people to question and oppose the hostilities which are the policy & practice of that administration. It was then that the U.S. became a party to one of the oldest truths known to humanity: In time of war, the first casualty is Truth. In 1991, Americans were dazzled by military reports of so-called “smart bombs”, assuring us that only the “correct” targets were being attacked. It was only later that we learned that only 7 % of the bombs were “smart bombs”, and that 70% of ALL bombs missed their intended targets. (1)
Of course, it doesn’t take an incident like the attack on the World Trade Center to set military-minded people in motion toward supressing civil liberties and/or distorting the truth. Bishop Gonzalo Lopez of the province in Ecuador that borders the one in Colombia where the bulk of the coca cultivation is done is no stranger to such matters. Of the U.S. “aid” to Colombia, he says that in fact only 3 % is for human rights and legal reform, only 10 % is for development, and the balance is for the military, including spraying of the coca crops of the poor indigenous peoples. In the meantime, he says that there isn’t even “discussion” of a peace plan or of a development plan. All that is happening is that the rich dig in, the population grows, and the violence continues. (2)
Another example of military abuse is the proposed “secret tribunals”; most of the abuses by them never come to light, because those that are tried in such “courts” do not survive to tell about them. One person who DID survive is Zenaida Huertas of Peru. As a divorced mother of 4 children, she was taken “downtown” for a “half-hour of questioning”; she was released seven years later! She was innocent of any wrong-doing. At her “trial”, she faced 6 hooded military officers; even her government-provided defense counsel wore a hood! At the time (early 1990’s) the U.S. “protested” such actions, but did nothing to stop the flow of military aid to Peru. Now, we are engaging in pure hypocrisy, on the verge of imitating the Peruvian military! (3)
We might be inclined to think that these are extreme examples; however, as previously-secret files become accessible, more and more examples come to light of hiding the truth from the citizenry while totally ignoring the civil liberties of people. Such was the situation with documents that showed that President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger gave Indonesian dictator Suharto the green light in 1975 for the invasion of East Timor, which led to the death of some 200,000 civilians! That incursion led to a bloody occupation that ended only after an international peace-keeping force took charge in 1999, and East Timor became independent. (4)
Hopefully, the lesson for all of us is that any government is an institution, and as such will protect itself and its supporters above ALL other interests, without the least regard for truth. (Or, as it is frequently noted, for such people, “The end does justify the means!”)
(1) Based in part on “The First Casualty of War”, an interview with Steve Rohde, President of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, in Catholic Agitator, December 2001.
(2) Based in part on “Colombia’s Drug War”, by Luis Angel Saavedra in N.C.R., 11/16/01.
(3) Based in part on “Secret Tribunals Help Peru “Defeat” Terrorism, - At a Cost!” by Craig Mauro of the Associated Press, published by the San Diego Union Tribune, 12/26/01.
(4) Based in part on “U.S. Agreed to Indonesia’s Invasion of East Timor”, by Jim Wolf of Reuters, published by the San Diego Union Tribune, 12/20/01.
This year, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion & replace it with trust. Write a love letter. Share some treasure. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word & deed. Keep a promise. Find the time. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Listen. Apologize if you were wrong. Try to understand. Flout envy. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Appreciate. Be kind; be gentle. Laugh a little; laugh a little more. Deserve confidence. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty & wonder of the earth. Speak your love; speak it again; speak it still once again.
(Author unknown; published in La Jolla Village News, 12/26/01)
By Peter M. Kopkowski
Here is a hypothetical question that might become a real one: What will the U.S. government do if Osama bin Laden is located, alive, in one of the countries of the European Union? Request extradition? Of course. However, Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights explicitly prohibits extradition of persons if they could face the death penalty.
(Based on an item in Moratorium News, Fall, 2001)
By Richard Rossi # 50337
Being on Death Row makes you realize that you are merely raw material for a future execution. I cringe every time I read an article or see a TV report in which prison officials or corrections employees discuss their participation in an execution. For the most part, they seek to detach themselves from any complicity in these killings; they proclaim that they are “just doing their jobs”. Those involved say that when they participate in executions, they are upholding the law; many realize their mistake later when they suffer post-traumatic stress, nightmares and mental anguish.
The truth of the matter is that you must request assignment to execution teams; individuals choose to do this. Prison staffs are not forced to participate in killings. It is possible to work at a prison without being directly involved in killings. Choices are available, and conscientious scruples are respected. It is hard to believe that someone would accept being part of the killing process unless it was genuinely desired. I cannot feel sympathy for people who later suffer execution-related stress and depression due to our national obsession with the death penalty. Sometimes prison personnel are challenged by those who remind them that many Nazis on trial after World War II claimed that they were “just doing their jobs”. The prison people say that it is not the same. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminds us not to forget that “Everything that Hitler did was legal”. If we cannot acknowledge our past mistakes and barbarity, we have failed. It is said that “wars will cease when men refuse to fight”, and it follows that “executions will cease when men refuse to kill”.
(From an article in Fortune News, Fall 2001; Mr. Rossi is currently on death row in Florence, AZ)
By Peter M. Kopkowski
A recent analysis revealed that lawsuits against employers by employees who claimed age discrimination, which were typically jury trials, were overwhelmingly won by the plaintiff/employee. However, the same analysis showed that the results of 6 out of every 7 such cases were reversed on appeal, typically by a judge, not a jury. When you think about this, how could it be otherwise? Judges of appeal courts are almost always appointed, not elected. They are appointed by the politicians whom we elect. When we let the election process be dominated by large employer corporations, how could we expect that the judges that are appointed to appeal courts by those elected would not favor employers? It would not be logical to expect otherwise.
(Based in part on an article by Tiffini Theisen of Knight-Ridder News Service, published in the San Diego Union Tribune, 12/24/01)
By Dianne L. Cotton
It seems that the focus of our prayers as a nation after Sept. 11 is on asking God for comfort in our grief and for solace from the heart-rending pain. Is that all we want from God? To make us feel better? I hear both our religious and political leaders ask for comfort, but not for guidance. There is no room in our hearts for God’s love and mercy - except for “us”. We claim to be a God-fearing nation, and we know clearly what our obligation and duty is toward our enemies; somehow, because we are a nation ruled by fear, we call on God’s mercy for ourselves, and we call upon the separation of church and state when it comes to dealing with others.
When it comes right down to it, God, we do not approve of you loving our enemies. We want them to be punished, and we just don’t trust you to get the job done, because we keep hearing about your mercy. We flatly reject the notion that we should love those who hurt us; it takes a lot of time and a lot of prayer for us to forgive this kind of pain, and, frankly, we are not willing to do it. If we label it “weakness”, we can absolve ourselves from even trying, and we can get on with using the violence that we prefer.
It is hypocritical to ask for healing when we do not seem willing to do our part to allow healing to occur. We do not trust peace; we are so afraid that pursuing peace may involve additional suffering that we will not take the chance. We choose the sufferings of war over the sufferings of peace. Peace demands a quality of strength to endure further trials; peace requires trust in God that the laws of love are genuinely God’s will. Peace requires the moral fiber to look honestly at the policies of ours that ignite hatred in others. Does America have what it takes to pursue peace?
(From a letter to N.C.R., published 9/28/01)
By Doreen Virtue
Every individual has a Life Purpose; this is the mission that you agreed to prior to becoming human. There are two parts to your “purpose”: a Personal one and a Global one. Your personal purpose involves one or more particular characteristics to be developed in this life. Your global purpose involves discovering, developing, and using your natural talents and interests to help other people and the planet. Some people have a Purpose that affects just a few others, while some are intended to help thousands of people. However, just like an orchestra, every player is equally important. In the same way, God and the world are counting on you to remember and work on your Life Purpose. Deep down, you know that you are here to make the world a better place. If you feel that you are not doing so, your inner self begins to nudge you, perhaps in the form of anxiety or a sense of urgency. If you ignore the inner nudge, you may begin to feel empty or depressed. If you believe that others are blocking your actions, you may blame them, and feel angry; if you feel unqualified to help the world, you may collapse into low self-esteem. Each person has both a global life purpose and a personal life purpose. The global one is the over-arching, or umbrella-like purpose in which you are engaged. Your personal one is the specific form that your life purpose is to take.
(From “The Care & Feeding of Indigo Children”, in The Light Connection, October 2001)
By Rev. Susan L. Starr
Example # 1: Laura Jackson lost welfare benefits for herself and her three children; she hadn’t reached the two-year limit, and she hadn’t refused a work assignment or missed an appointment. She had broken one rule: she failed to report that she and her kids had a savings account. Total amount in all four accounts? Seventy-three cents. Example # 2: Janet Murphy was doing exactly what welfare reform was designed to help her to do: she started work at a minimum-wage job. Her job didn’t pay enough to support her, so she used her welfare check to supplement her earnings. Her case worker told her that if she earned less than a certain amount, she didn’t have to report it. Her case worker was wrong, and Janet Murphy spent 30 days in jail for “welfare fraud”. Example # 3: Jenny Logan lost her children on laundry day. She had her kids throw all their dirty clothes down to the foot of the stairs, so that she could bag them up and take them to the Laundromat. Her social worker walked in, observed the pile of clothes, and promptly removed the children from this “unfit” home.
(From “Welfare: A Racial Justice Issue That Demands a Religious Response” in PeaceWork, September 2001)
Regular meetings are held at Roetter Hall at Good Samaritan Episcopal Church, 4321 Eastgate Mall at Genesee.
House church is usually held on the third Saturday of each month.
By Marjorie Schier
When it comes to war and other issues of conscience, faith-based publications often do much better than the mainstream media do, but I think that a much better job is needed reporting the suffering that is caused by sanctions against Iraq. Here are three facts that all Americans should know, but don’t: (1) The “war” against Iraq is still being waged, mainly by economic sanctions that were imposed August 6, 1990. (2) Thousands of Iraqi children die every month as a direct result of these sanctions. (3) Our leaders already knew in 1991 that these sanctions were killing children. If sanctions were killing our own children, wouldn’t we get daily reports in every U.S. newspaper? Wouldn’t we expect every faith-based publication to protest, to protest more, and to continue to protest until a great wave of moral outrage finally got the sanctions lifted? Why are we not acting on these facts?
(From a letter to Witness, published November 2001)
By Jeff Dietrich and the L.A.C.W. Community
In response to those who say that my presence in prison [for witnessing to the Gospel] “didn’t change a thing”, and that “you can’t fight the government - it’s too big”, I say, that they are correct. But, as Rabbi Heschel said, “We do not do these things to change the government or the world; we do these things that the world might not change us”. (From the Los Angeles Catholic Worker Christmas card for 2001).
When Mohandas Gandhi returned from South Africa to India, he insisted on confronting the Hindu caste system and on helping to gain proper rights for the lowest class, the Untouchables. Organizers from the Indian National Congress Party chose the Vykom Road to a Hindu Temple, because it was closed to Untouchables and allowed for a campaign with clear objectives to demonstrate the need to end the discriminatory system nationwide. Brahman (high caste) Hindus were split; some led the campaign and some opposed it. In the Spring of 1924, those Untouchable and Brahman Hindus who supported Gandhi’s movement held a non-violent procession along the road. They were attacked and beaten by those Brahmans who opposed them. They persisted in the peaceful procession, and were arrested. Successive groups came, and were arrested, but time and again more came to take their places. Police set up barricades, but the marchers continued to occupy the road for 16 months, even through the monsoon season, when the police were in boats and the marchers were up to their shoulders in water! In April of 1925, Gandhi persuaded the authorities to remove the barricades and to cease arrests, but the campaign continued; the grassroots leadership announced that they would not accept a “political” victory, but demanded the “conversion” of the Brahmans. In the Fall of 1925, the Brahmans declared “We cannot any longer resist the prayers that have been made to us, and we are ready to receive the Untouchables”. Non-violence works!
(From “Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict”, edited by Joan V. Bondurant and published recently by War Resisters League in their 2002 Peace Calendar)