Coming Events.
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
4 (Monday) I.C.W.J. Visioning Day;
February 16 (Saturday)
February 17 (Sunday) Sweatshop Presentation co-sponsored by
C.T.A.;
February 20 (Wednesday) Regular C.T.A. Board meeting;
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 page 9.
March 16 (Saturday)
March 20 (Wednesday) Regular C.T.A. Board meeting;
March 25 (Monday) World Day of Prayer for Women’s Ordination; For information packet, contact www.womensordination.org
April 5 & 6 (Friday & Saturday) C.T.A. Nebraska conference; see page 10.
(Note: The deadline for submission of material for Connections to the editor is the 20th of the month.)
“As God needs no service, I promise to serve humanity in the name of God. I promise to refrain from violence and from taking revenge. I promise to forgive those who oppress me or treat me with cruelty. I promise to refrain from taking part in feuds and quarrels, and from creating enmity. I promise to treat everyone as my brother or sister, and as a friend. I promise to refrain from antisocial customs and practices. I promise to live a simple life, to practice virtue and to refrain from evil. I promise to practice good manners and good behavior, and not to lead a life of idleness. I promise to devote at least two hours a day to social work”.
(The
Oath of the Khudia Khidmatagars,
a forgotten Muslim peace movement, as noted by Bill Pease, and published in The
San Diego Catholic Worker,
By bishop Desmond Tutu
God does not give up on anyone, for God looks on each of us as a masterpiece in the making. God took an incredible risk in creating us not to be automatons but to be decision-making creatures with the freedom to choose to obey or to not obey God, to love or to not love God. We have an instinct for goodness; our hearts thrill in the presence of goodness, for God has made us for God and our hearts are restless until they find rest in God. We are a glorious paradox, the finite made for the infinite. Within this context, I would say to Osama bin Laden, “Remember, you are a child of God, and behave like one”. And I would say to George W. Bush, “Remember, you are a child of God, and behave like one”. Let us all remember that ultimately there is no future without forgiveness.
(From an interview by Anne A. Simpkinson, in The Mount, Christmas 2001)
By Elfriede Harth
Pope
John Paul indicated that the
(From a Reuters report forwarded by email from IMWAC)
Diocese
of
Mr. Michael W. Magee
Dear Mike:
Thank you for your recent letter expressing your views on the current institutional Church. As I stated in my column in the Catholic Courier “this rift is not about justice, nor is it a question of who has the brighter ideas or the greater degree of courage. It is about being family, sharing faith, continually striving to know and live that faith, being as open as we can to deeper conversation to which our God continually calls us. Spiritus Christi has chosen to leave our family. I regret that decision. It is not easy to say goodbye to family. I am also sorry that they have cut themselves off from a tradition that allows us to grow and change, to struggle with tough questions, to engage in family quarrels and still hang together for the long journey.” Please pray with me that, one day, we will welcome back Spiritus Christi to our family of faith; and that even in the experience of division, we may find new life and growth in love for one another. My prayers and best wishes for a blessed Advent season, I remain, yours in Christ,
Matthew H.
Clark, Bishop of
By John F. Kavanaugh, S.J.
Jerome
Mallett was 26 years old when he killed a police
officer; Jerome himself was killed in July 2001, after 16 years in prison. Although repentant and regretful, Jerome saw
no other way out at the time he killed a man; he was executed by the state of
(From
“Ethics Notebook”, in
* * * * *
How about the discrepancy between posture and word in the liturgy? During Eucharistic Prayer II, most Americans kneel, against the grain of the universal Roman Catholic church. They listen to the priest thank God “for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you”.
(From
a letter of Stephen R. Honeygosky, O.S.B., to N.C.R.,
published
ACTION
SUGGESTION: GIVE THE GIFT OF PEACE
If we consider what would be the most precious gift we
could give to the world, PEACE seems like a good choice. Representative
Dennis Kucinich of
Dear __________________
We
all hope for a peaceful end to the current conflict and for the prevention of
future conflicts. To ensure these outcomes, the
By Andrew Hsiao
Polls
show overwhelming satisfaction with the “war”, with Attorney General John
Ashcroft suggesting that critics of his domestic crackdown on civil liberties
“only aid terrorists,” state prosecutors saying they will seek 10-year
sentences for peace marchers in Connecticut, and school administrators
suspending a 15-year-old West Virginia girl for trying to start an “anarchy club”
and sporting a T-shirt that said “Against Bush, Against bin Laden,” officialdom
and its mainstream media group have made great strides
toward stamping out dissent. Hawks inside and outside the Capitol are pressing
for a war that, as Dick Cheney put it, could embroil “40 or 50 countries,” and
“may not end in our lifetimes,” while under military camouflage, the corporate
pals of the government are enjoying an orgy of war profiteering. It becomes
clearer every day that for the Bushies, war is global
corporate politics by other means. Nation magazine’s Christopher Hitchens’s conclusion two weeks ago that there has been “no
serious loss of civilian life” became a bit harder to swallow following a
report last week by Marc Herold at the
(From an article in The Village Voice)
By Gila Svirsky
(Received by email from the Coalition of Women for a Just Peace: www.coalitionofwomen4peace.org)
Can you put yourself in the shoes of bishop Thomas Gumleton for a minute or two? He made an impassioned plea to his brother bishops to change the thrust of their pastoral letter on terrorism, from one that allows military retaliation to one that calls for a nonviolent response. Afterward, the bishops voted on the matter; the vote was 167 to 4 against Gumbleton’s views.
(From an article by Patricia Lefevere in N.C.R.) (See also the following item)
By Tim Coyle
It should be no surprise that the bishops voted 167 to 4 giving their assent to war; if you believe in a violent deity, approval of war is quite rational. However, this position is untenable when one encounters the nonviolent words and actions of Jesus. What is the point in the bishops asking anyone to respect life while they endorse extermination of human beings? With the bishops’ approval of war, one can only wonder if these shepherds are truly Christians.
(From
a letter to N.C.R., published
* * * * *
Consider
this: For years, the state of
|
|
|
|
“Peace comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship to and their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells God, and that this center is really everywhere; it is within each of us.” (Black Elk of the Oglala Sioux) |
|
|
|
By Julie A. Wortman
I find myself feeling wary each day, because, while “God Bless America” may be intended by some as a prayer for every citizen, if we are honest with ourselves, we suspect that it is at heart an exclusivist declaration that the Judeo-Christian God favors an Anglocentric, capitalistic U.S. above all other nations, and further, if you have a problem with that, the U.S. has problems with you.
(From “Editorial Notes, in The Witness, December 2001)
Since
1973, a total of 96 people on death row were found to be wrongfully convicted,
and released. In June 2001, a
(From
an article related to the cover story in N.C.R.,
By Gwyn Green
Should
we fight terrorism with “police action”? It hasn’t worked before. Should we
address the political and economic grievances that stoke terrorism? Well that has always been an option.
It is also an option for us all to become fundamentalist Muslims, and, of
course, we can do away with all of our freedoms and look forward to the
(From
a letter to N.C.R., published
By John R. Koller
(Addressed to Fr. John Dear, S.J.): I applaud you for your very considerable pastoral care in ministering to grieving family members and others in the aftermath of Sept. 11; in an ideal, more perfect world, your opposition to all wars and your compassionate, peaceful solutions to the world’s problems would very likely be feasible and appropriate. But, sadly and realistically, most of your ideas are simply impractical and potentially dangerous. I recognize your sincere good intentions, but I urge you to rethink your views of the precarious situation confronting our country, and to revise those views to conform to reality and common sense. We should all thank God for President Bush and the excellent, well-qualified leaders that he has chosen to carry out this vital crusade against Satan and his agents of destruction and murder.
(From
a letter to N.C.R.,
* * * * *
There would be no universal church without the local church and there could be no connectivity between the local churches without the universal church. Each needs the other, simultaneously and equally, all the time, from moment to moment. There is no primacy, because without one, the other could not exist. We are all the church, both local and universal, simultaneously, at all times and from moment to moment. We need the primacy of both at each moment. We need each other in just the same way. The only mystery is why, after 2,000 years, the hierarchy have yet to figure this out.
(From
a letter of Gerald C. Jebaily to N.C.R., published
* * * * *
It has always been a mystery to me how people can feel honored by the humiliation of their fellow human beings. (Mohandas K. Gandhi (1893) as quoted by Richard Attenborough in “The Words of Gandhi”, [New Market Press, 1982]).
The grace of God is free, but it is not cheap. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in “The Cost of Discipleship”). [i.e., God’s grace is given to all freely, at all times, but it is the work of a lifetime to reach the point where one is able to use it appropriately] .
By Tim Bruening
On
November 26, President Bush widened his definition of terrorism to include the
development of weapons of mass destruction that can “terrorize” nations. Since it has been
(From a letter sent by Bruening, of Abolition 2000, to PeaceWork, published Dec. 2001/Jan. 2002)
By Peter M. Kopkowski
Are
we seeing the lack of reform of campaign financing turn all politicians toward
favoring the well-to-do? Remember Clinton, a member of the Democratic party? When he wasn’t
fighting allegations of immoral behavior, he helped push into law what is known
as N.A.F.T.A. The results of this can be shown by just one example: (1) In excess
of 100,000 industrial workers, primarily in the Midwest, lose their jobs,
which, including medical insurance, pensions and other benefits, cost their
employers between $30,000 and $40,000 each per year. (They are now pursuing
jobs beginning at the minimum-wage level, with little or no benefits, and/or
relocating to other parts of the country). (2) Their former employers now have
their work done in
(Dollar-figure
data extracted from an article by Ed Mendel, The
By Mary K. Lund
This “war” is nothing more than a glorified vigilante posse; there is little concern for evidence of guilt for innocent people injured by our violence. In our bloodlust, we just want a head on a platter! Rationalizers of “just war” admit that they might become concerned if the hostilities enter the “Phase II” that Rumsfeld has promised, but how can they justify the current violence against the Afghan people, none of whom took part in the Sept.11 events? Think of the precedents being set: scapegoating; warfare by a nation against an individual; violation of civil liberties and due process; callous disregard for national sovereignty; etc. If George W. Bush were truly a leader, he would have taken the people in the direction of respect for law; instead, we are watching our freedom and liberties implode, like the twin towers.
(From
a letter to N.C.R., published
When
President Wilson proposed to get involved in W.W.I., to “make the world safe
for democracy”, the slogan sounded hollow to
(From “Nonviolent America: History Through the Eyes of Peace”, edited by Louise Hawley and James C. Juhnke and published as part of the 2002 Peace Calendar of The War Resisters League).
By Gregory A. Gross
Operation Gatekeeper is an ongoing drive by the Immigration & Naturalization Service to discourage the illegal crossing of our border. It uses a massive influx of agents, an extended solid steel fence and high tech detection systems. Joseph Nevins takes us behind the official jargon and the politically-charged buzz words to get at some of the basic and (baser) elements of it. Nevins says that all the recent hue and cry about “out-of-control” borders has its roots in the American tendency to look with suspicion and disdain on anyone whose cultural roots are not European. In his view, we fear and/or loathe anyone perceived to be different from “us”. Our country has developed as an entity that defines itself not only by who it contains, but whom it excludes, and why. At the same time, other, more complex, factors are involved, including labor, capital and economics; when we combine these with “attitude”, we have a private sector that entices people to enter the county illegally to work, and a public sector that treats them as criminals if they try. Nevins joins the Operation Gatekeeper critics in pointing out that it has led to a huge increase in one form of border crime, by driving illegal immigrants increasingly into the arms of migrant smugglers, whose groups have grown in size, sophistication and profitability.
(From
a review of Joseph Nevins’, “Operation Gatekeeper” in
The San Diego Union Tribune,
By Uri Avnery
This
victory by the
were bought with money and changed sides; opposition was shattered by dropping
enormous bombs. At no time in history has any state had such untrammeled power.
The
(Received by email from Gush Shalom website)
* * * * *
When we attend to the need of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.
([Pope] St. Gregory the Great)
It's
a New Year! A new spirit! A new chance for Congress to Close the SOA! On
support to the bill to close the WHISC. Ask him/her to co-sponsor the bill. One
year has passed, and
nothing has changed. Now is the time to close the WHISC! We ask you to write to
her/him at the US Capitol; a sample message can be found at: <http://www.soaw.org/legalert.html#letter>
If you choose to communicate via email, be sure to
include your name and full address in the letter. The MOC wants to know that
you are a constituent, and have the power to vote her/him out of office. You
can get infor- mation about
your MOC, including email address and phone numbers, and background information
at <http://www.congress.org>. Our
legislative page, http://www.soaw.org/leg.html>,
has some good data about the history of our legislative work, a copy of the
bill, and list of current co-sponsors.
(Received by email from Pax Christi USA) (Editor’s
note: In a letter to me dated
By Peter M. Kopkowski
What? You don’t believe that headline? Check it out for yourself by comparing the known behavior of the Bush administration with the following quotations from the Charter: Article 2, Section 3: All members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace, security and justice are not endangered. Article 2, Section 4: All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any other state. Article 33, Section 1: The parties to any dispute, the continuance of which is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace, shall first seek a solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies, or other peaceful means of their choice.
(Text of United Nations Charter taken from PeaceWork, Dec. 2001/Jan. 2002, page 21)
Pope John Paul II called for an urgent overhaul in political and economic relations between countries, coupled with “radical personal and social renewal”. World leaders today must work “more than ever and in a more intense way, through dialogue and international cooperation, for the eradication of all that is a source of conflict and tensions between peoples and nations”. Handling the immediate “emergency” should not distract world leaders from crucial long-term steps to prevent violence, which includes disinterested development aid to poor countries and defense of the sacredness of human life, he said.
(From
a Catholic News Service report reprinted in
The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they can no longer remain strong.
(Attributed to Winston Churchill [during W.W.II], as quoted by David M. Kennedy in “My Word”, Modern Maturity, Jan./Feb. 2002)
Sister
Carol Zinn, SSJ will return to
Joan
Chittister, Tom Fox and Bob McClory are the featured
presenters at the CTAN Conference 2002, to be held April 5 & 6 in Lincoln,
NE. Entitled “Voices of the Spirit”, the conference
will be held at the
By Peter M. Kopkowski
In
the Winter, 2001 issue of Voices of Nebraska Catholics, John Krejci notes that recently, in the weekly column that
bishop Fabian Bruskewitz writes, the bishop cited the
Battle of Lepanto in 1570 as a reason to distrust the
religion of Islam; I have heard of a few “stretches” in my day, but this one is
close to the top of the list. On the
other hand, in the same issue, in a separate article, Marilyn Seiker notes that the bishop recently (and publicly)
changed his stance on the death penalty.
In a series of 5 columns, he reviewed the past, the facts, and the
conclusions of various parties. He then
renounced his prior position and joined the other
By Wendy Schwartz
I
have frequently sensed that the views of pacifists on nonviolent alternatives
to war are rejected as irrelevant to a serious debate on foreign policy;
similarly, our conviction that nationalism is a destructive force is considered
naïve, and our support for sharing the bounty of this rich country is
considered communistic. Such beliefs are under even greater attack after the
Sept. 11 attacks, which give a patina of legitimacy to a military response and
to the curtailment of civil liberties; all questions are ignored which ask
about the sudden availability of large funds for our response, while the poor
remain hungry. The flag is everywhere, turning the entire country into an
oversized V.F.W. post; for some people, it is an arrogant assertion that the
(From an article in The Nonviolent Activist, November-December 2001)
By Gary Macy
Dr.
Shawn Copeland will be speaking at
* * * * *
The well-fed person and the hungry person do not see the same thing when they look upon a loaf of bread.
(Rumi)
By Roberto J. Gonzalez
George
Orwell once noted that, in free societies, censorship is more sophisticated and
thorough than in dictatorships, because “unpopular ideas can be silenced, and
inconvenient facts kept in the dark, without any need for an official
ban”. But keeping Americans in the dark
about “inconvenient” facts in
(From
an article in The San Diego Union Tribune,
Amnesty International (AI) said that it was deeply troubled by the executive order of President Bush that allows trials of non-citizens by special military commissions. AI has called for persons suspected of terrorism to be brought to justice in accordance with international standards for fair trials. AI is particularly concerned that the order: (1) discriminates by setting a lower standard of justice for foreign nationals than for U.S. citizens; (2) gives unfettered and unchallengeable discretionary power to the executive branch of the government to decide who will be prosecuted and under what rules, thus usurping the normal prerogative of the judicial branch; (3) expressly bypasses the normal principle of law and rules of evidence applied in trials of people charged with criminal offenses in U.S. courts; (4) provides no right of appeal against conviction or sentence to a higher court, or access to redress for any human rights violations that may occur during arrest, detention or conviction. AI believes that the order violates fundamental principles of justice in any circumstances, including times of “war”.
(From Amnesty Now, Winter 2001-2002)
For
several weeks, the conflict between
the international community, effectively support a peaceful resolution to this
conflict? The issue matters globally now, because: (1) Militant Muslim groups
including al-Queda use Israeli abuses of power and
U.S. aid to Israel as a rallying cry to gain support for their terrorist
agendas; (2) The U.S. is a major financial backer of both parties, particularly
Israel, which positions the U.S. to play a uniquely important role in
addressing this conflict if it so chooses; (3) Human Rights Watch and other
organizations have noted serious human rights abuses by both the Israeli
Military and the Palestinian Authority. If we speak out on this important
issue, what should we say? Please join the discussion at:
http://www.actionforum.com/forum/index.html?forum_id=221 To learn more, check out our Bulletin, Reviving
the Middle East Peace Process, at: http://www.9-
11peace.org/bulletin.php3#now
By Ched Myers
The
morning creeps in gray and melancholy, muting the green hills behind our
house. I am contemplating Polish poet Adam Zagajewski's
invitation to praise the mutilated world: “You've seen the refugees heading
nowhere; you've heard the executioners sing joyfully. You should praise the
mutilated world. Remember the moments when we were together in a white room and
the curtains fluttered. Return in thought to the concert where music flared.
You gathered acorns in the park in autumn. And leaves eddied over the earth's
scars.” I become increasingly emotional. Sadness is welling up from a deep
place. Finally, I put down the poem and cry. These tears were a long time
in coming. They have lain there quietly like some abandoned boxcar on a
side spur while the freight train of history, loaded with bodies and rubble,
roared relentlessly by. Relieved to finally be back in touch with my emotions,
it seems important to take time to write about what we've just been through.
In the immediate aftermath of the September 11th attacks, we in
peace and justice circles, numbed by the carnage and dreading the inevitable
that proper mourning, and the therapeutic truth it can surely teach us, would
just as surely be short-circuited by the move to vengeance. Wherever I was
invited to speak, I warned that if the dark and difficult psychic terrain of
national introspection was driven underground by the narcotic effect of violent
national reaction, a precious opportunity would be lost, and we would all be
worse off. But I knew there was no chance that the spiral of violence
would not spike, as it did in less than a month's time. How do you mourn
when the killing continues? I heard about the start of the
process that might have been unfolding was aborted. The majority was
transfigured by war fever,
the manic fix of self-righteous militarism serving to inoculate against the
pain of loss. The steady slide back into denial culminated in
Bush's subsequent exhortation to return to business as usual (the perfect
capitalist politics: shopping as a patriotic duty.)
For us in the faith-based peace movement,
however, mourning was eclipsed by a different if not less pressing
responsibility: to find a language and practice of opposition that was mindful
of the new precedents while also knowing that "their" rubble would be
rendered invisible. For many this was their first experience of having to
stand on sheer pacifist principle against a moralizing majority, the sort of
worst-case, “what-would-you-do-if” scenario that caused more than a few to flee
back into the welcoming arms of just war rationalizations. "Now we
know what it was like to be a Quaker in the world wars," I told
friends. "Let's face it; in the eyes of the culture, we're all
Mennonites now." But the sheer struggle not to be psychically numbed
by all the sanitized violence and daily doublespeak has been exhausting. And we
have yet to finish mourning.
(From the Friday Fast [email] Newsletter,
* * * * *
We
in
(Dee Akers, director of WorldLink, a U.S.D. program that brings together high school students to discuss peace and justice, as quoted in “How Have We Been Changed?” in U.S.D. Magazine, Winter 2002)
"Look, I don't know, maybe I haven't made myself completely clear, so for the record, here it is again," said God, with a face betraying visible emotion. "Not only do I not want anybody to kill anyone, but I specifically commanded you not to, in really simple terms that anybody ought to be able to understand." Worshipped by Christians, Jews, Hindus and Muslims alike, God noted that God’s name has been invoked countless times over the centuries as a reason to kill in "an unending cycle of violence." God said that the decision to speak out on this subject was motivated by the deep sense of shock, outrage, and sorrow over the Sept. 11 violence, and over its dire potential ramifications around the globe. "Humans don't seem to need religion or God as an excuse to kill each other; they've been doing that since they were apes! The whole point of believing in God is to have a higher standard of behavior. I'm talking to all of you, here!" continued God, with voice rising to a shout. "Do you hear Me? I don't want you to kill any body. I'm against it, across the board. How many times do I have to say it? Don't kill each other anymore ever! I'm #@!+?* %& serious!" Upon completing this outburst, God fell silent, standing quietly at the podium for several moments. Then, witnesses reported, God's shoulders began to shake, and God wept.
(Reported
by Ched Myers as having been published in exclusive
coverage by The Onion,
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 sole purpose of life is to serve humanity.
(Leon Tolstoy)
* * * * *
If we can awaken a social conscience, and get people to feel connected to others all over the world, the Institute will have served its purpose.
(Joan B. Kroc, speaking at the dedication conference of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice)
* * * * *
While the Bush administration seeks huge increases in military spending, the U.S. Conference of Mayors reports sharp increases in hunger. In 25 of the 27 largest cities surveyed, there was an average increase of 23 % in requests for emergency food assistance.
(From
a report released
By [Former President] James E. Carter
The “root cause” of the many armed conflicts currently being fought in the world is the growing disparity between the rich and the poor. For example, the average American household income is about $50,000 per year, yet 1.2 billion people (almost 20% of the world total) live on less than a dollar a day. Yet, such is the mood of the affluent Americans that attempting to increase foreign aid is political suicide for members of Congress. There is this feeling in this country that we are so wealthy, and so blessed, and that we deserve it. There is need of a groundswell of change from our citizens in order for our country’s priorities to be changed.
(Excerpted from remarks made at the dedication conference of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, as reported in “Welcoming the World” by Timothy McKernan in U.S.D. Magazine, Winter 2002)
(Editor’s note: This report is sobering)
Commodification of
the World’s Water Supply
By Maude Barlow
We'd like to believe there's an infinite supply of fresh water on the planet, but the assumption is tragically false. Available fresh water amounts to less than one half of one percent of all the water on Earth. The rest is sea- water, or is frozen polar ice. Fresh water is renewable only by rainfall. Global consumption of water is doubling every 20 years, more than twice the rate of human population growth. According to the U.N., more than one billion people already lack access to fresh drinking water. If current trends persist, by 2025 the demand for fresh water will be 50 percent more than is currently available. As the water crisis intensifies, governments around the world - under pressure from multinational corporations - are advo- cating a radical solution: the commodification and mass transport of water. Proponents of commodifi-cation, and subsequent privatization, say that such a system is the only way to distribute water to the world's thirsty. But, in fact, experience shows that selling water on the open market does not address the needs of poor. On the contrary, privatized water is delivered to those who can pay for it, such as wealthy cities and individuals and water intensive industries such as agriculture and high-tech. As one resident observed after his community's water was diverted for use by the high-tech industry: "Water flows uphill to money." The push to commodify water comes at a time when the social, political and economic impacts of water scarcity are rapidly becoming a destabilizing force, with water-related conflicts springing up around the globe. Meanwhile, the future of one of the earth's most vital resources is being determined by those who profit from its overuse and abuse. At the annual World Economic Development Congress, corporations and financial institutions met with government representatives to attend panels on such subjects as “Overcoming Obstacles to Water Investment" and "Navigating Transparency and Banking Regulation in Emerging Capital Markets." The agenda was clear: water should be treated like any other tradable good, with its use determined by market principles. At the same time, governments are signing away their control over domestic water supplies by participating in trade treaties such as NAFTA; these agreements effectively give transnational corporations the unprecedented right to the water of signatory countries. Selling water to the highest bidder will only exacerbate the worst impacts of the world water crisis, and bring about further social inequity, disease, food insecurity and environmental destruction. Georg Wurmitzer states: "It is a sacred duty to help someone who is suffering from thirst. However, it is a sin to transfer water just so that people can flush their toilets and wash their cars in dry areas. It makes no sense and is ecological and economic madness." We believe that the following ten principles will help to protect water: (1) Water belongs to the earth and to all species; (2) Water should be left where it is wherever possible; (3) Water must be conserved for all time; (4) Polluted water must be reclaimed; (5) Water is best protected in natural watersheds; (6) Water is a public trust to be guarded at all levels of government; (7) An adequate supply of clean water is a basic human right; (8)The best advocates for water are local communities and citizens; (9)The public must participate as an equal partner with government to protect water; (10) Economic globalization policies are not water sustainable.
(From a report received by email indirectly from the International Forum on Globalization,
Committee on the Globalization of Water)
Everyone
is invited to attend the next ICWJ Visioning Day on
By Peter M. Kopkowski
What’s
wrong with this picture? Under the
Constitution, the legislative branch makes the laws, the executive branch
enforces the laws, and the judiciary branch sees that the making of the laws
and their enforcement are in accordance with the Constitution. But what happens if the executive branch
doesn’t “enforce” the laws? Or if the executive branch “violates” the laws? Representative John Conyers, Jr., Democrat of
Michigan, notes the following: (1) The Attorney
General (John Ashcroft) has detained over 1,000 immigrants since Sept. 11 for
undisclosed reasons. [The 6th Amendment states, in part: “the
accused shall enjoy the right to be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation”.] (2) The Attorney General issued regulations permitting the
Department of Justice to unilaterally intercept attorney-client phone calls.
[The 4th Amendment states, in part: the right of the people to be
secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects shall not be violated”.]
(3) The administration announced a policy of ethnic profiling by which it would
discriminate in granting visas to people from Middle Eastern countries and
would target 5000 Arab visitors for intensive questioning. [The 16th
Amendment states, in part: “ the
(From an article in PeaceWork, December 2001/January 2002)
In
a statement released
(From
a Catholic News Service report published by N.C.R.,
By Mohandas K. Gandhi
The
golden rule is resolutely to refuse to have that which millions of others
cannot have. This ability to refuse will
not descend upon us instantly. Rather,
the first thing is to cultivate the mental attitude that will not have the
possessions or facilities that are denied to millions of others; the next thing
is to rearrange our lives as fast as possible in accordance with that
mentality. In
(From “The Words of Gandhi”, selected by Richard Attenborough, Newmarket Press [1982])
By Carl G. Jung
There is no doubt about the fact that humans are, as a whole, less good than they imagine themselves to be, or want to be. Everyone carries a shadow, and unless it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. If one is conscious of some defect, one always has a chance to correct it. It is constantly in contact with other interests, so that it is steadily subjected to modifications. But if the defect is repressed and isolated from consciousness, it never gets corrected.
(From Psychology and Religion, [1940]).
By Peter M. Kopkowski
In
1990, leaders of CORPUS (National Association for a Married Priesthood)
formally met with a
(From a letter of Terry Dosh published in C.T.A. News, Dec. 2001-Jan. 2002)
The Beguines were a group of pious women trying to live their faith in the Middle Ages. In an era when noble women could choose only between an arranged marriage or the cloister, they dared to live independently; they developed businesses that competed with powerful guilds, worked to uplift the poor and powerless, were not canonically responsible to church authority, wrote in the vernacular, celebrated an intimate relationship with Jesus, and produced some of the most profound mystics of the times. After two centuries of growth, they were seen as “dangerous to society” and the Council of Vienna declared “They are afflicted by a kind of madness; their way of life is to be completely forbidden”.
(From
a presentation given by Edwina Gateley at the C.T.A.
National conference in
* * * * *
“If you want Peace, work for Justice” (Paul IV)
“There is no Peace without Justice, and no Justice without Forgiveness” (John Paul II)
* * * * *
By Martin Luther King, Jr.
Probably no admonition made by Jesus has been more difficult to follow than the command to “love your enemies”. Some people have sincerely felt that its actual practice is not possible; Jesus, they say, was an impractical idealist. (From Strength to Love, Harper, 1963). But somehow we must be able to stand up before our most bitter opponents and say: “We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you”. (From The Trumpet of Conscience, Harper, 1968).
By Bridget Mary Meehan
Where do I see the face of God? As I listen and reflect on the needs of the people who call me to minister each day, one of their greatest hungers is to encounter a God who loves tenderly, a compassionate healer who forgives failure and heals wounds. We need a God who sets us free, a source of strength who helps us to accomplish far more than we can imagine. The people that I meet long to belong to a community where they are accepted and loved, where they can share openly and honestly their questions and issues, where they can be nurtured and find their gifts appreciated. If we believe , as Vatican II taught, that the community is the celebrant of the Eucharist and it is the faith of the gathered assembly that makes Eucharist happen, then why do we need a priest to celebrate Eucharist? As theologian Bernard Cooke points out, it is the community that does the Eucharist, not the presider alone. However, the way contemporary Catholicism celebrates liturgy requires an ordained priestly presence. We need to ask ourselves: Is this true to our tradition? Historical scholarship supports the community as the celebrant of Eucharist. Gary Macy concludes that in the understanding of the medieval mind, regardless of who spoke the words of consecration - man or woman, ordained or community - the presence of Christ became a reality in the midst of the assembly. In the community, there is an alternate way; people in small faith communities can experience themselves as celebrants of the Eucharist, and can find the face of God.
(Meehan is President of The Federation of Christian Ministries; the above is excerpted from her address to its annual conference in 2001, as published by CORPUS Reports, January/February 2002).
I want to do something about the “pew potatoes” who just show up for Sunday Mass but won’t take ownership of any part of parish life.
(An anonymous woman, in dialogue with Christine Schenk at C.T.A.
National conference in
By Peter M. Kopkowski
(Should
we care?) (1) The government, although
nominally a democracy, is controlled by the military;
the government also supports para-military forces
paid for by the wealthy minority. (2) For over 10 years, primarily in
southeastern
(Statistical
data extracted from “The Long War in
By George Bryjak
As
(From
an article published in N.C.R.,
By Rev. Joseph Rogers
The Christian concept of love is hard to accept by those who have suffered loss such as in the Sept. 11 attack. But love prompted Jesus to offer his life so that we might share in God’s love. This love can permeate our lives when we allow it to become part of our thoughts and actions. Then we are enabled to love our enemies and, as Jesus said, “do good to those who hate you”. Imagine that we were to help people in another country to substantially raise their standard of living by relieving hunger, sickness, and lack of education and employment. Of course, this would require that we lower our own standard of living, which Americans would not accept enthusiastically. We would live more simply, so that more others could simply live. Jesus noted that, “the measure that you measure with will be measured back to you”; he also said, “with God, all things are possible”.
(From a letter to
By Jennie McBee Sheeks
The
path to God, I find, is illuminated in unexpected moments, many of which are
possible only because of the risk and vulnerability of my activism. One such
moment unfolded in the aftermath of the protests at the April 2000 meeting of
the I.M.F. in
(From an article in The Other Side, January & February 2002).
By Anajean “A.J.” Kopkowski
When
I saw Conrad’s cartoon in the last issue of Connections, I was reminded
of Katy Quan whom I introduced at CTA’s National
Conference in
A “Sabbath” Year
Here is a provocative and profoundly challenging idea: What if we spent the next year without acquiring anything new, or newer, or better? What kind of message would that send to the people around us, who see us flagrantly NOT being materialistic? What kind of message do we need to receive in order to consider doing this?
(From “Our Sabbath Year”, By Sue Klassen, in The Other Side, January & February 2002)
By Wendell Berry
The aim and result of war is by necessity not “peace”, but “Victory”, and any victory won by violence by necessity justifies the violence that won it, and leads to still further violence. If we are serious about innovation (and there is some doubt that we are) must we not conclude that we need something new to replace our perpetual “war to end war”?