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 details on page 15.
April
13 (Saturday) A Day of Sharing With Dr. Oliva Espin;
April 17 (Wednesday) Regular C.T.A. Board meeting;
April 20 (Saturday)
May 15 (Wednesday) Regular C.T.A. Board meeting;
(Note: The deadline for submission of material for Connections to the editor is the 20th of the month.)
By Richard J. Foster
When Jesus gathered with his disciples for the Last Supper, the disciples were already having trouble over who was the greatest; this was no new issue for them. Whenever there is trouble over who is the greatest, there is trouble over who is the least. That is the crux of the matter, isn’t it? Most of us know that we will never be the greatest; just don’t let us be the least. Gathered for the Passover, the disciples were keenly aware that someone needed to wash their feet. The problem was that the only people who washed feet were “the least”. So, there they sat, feet caked with dirt. It was such a sore point that they were not even going to talk about it. No one wanted to be considered “the least”. Then, Jesus took a towel and a basin of water and redefined greatness. The point is not that we are to do away with all sense of leadership or authority; any sociologist would quickly demonstrate the impossibility of such. Even among Jesus and the disciples, leadership and authority are easily seen. The point is that Jesus completely redefined leadership and rearranged the lines of authority. Jesus said, “ You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you!” Jesus totally and completely rejected the pecking-order systems of his day. How then was it to be among his disciples? “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant”. Therefore, the spiritual authority of which Jesus spoke was an authority not found in position or in title, but in a towel!
(From Celebration of Discipline, Harper & Row [1978]).
By Martin Luther King, Jr.
My study of the writings of Gandhi convinced me that true pacificism is not non-resistance to evil, but non- violent non-resistance to evil. Between the two positions, there is a world of difference. Gandhi resisted evil with as much vigor and power as the violent resister, but he resisted with love instead of hate. True pacificism is not unrealistic submission to evil power. It is rather a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love.
(From
the Friday Fast Letter,
By Robert Blair Kaiser
Well,
the pope seems to be getting it. Even better, he is not loath to share his new
perception with members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
(CDF), Cardinal Josef Ratzinger's office. What do I
mean by "getting it?" In remarks on Jan. 18 addressed to the CDF, the
pope told its members that they haven't been doing a very good job of getting
their message across, and he asked them to try doing better in this regard.
This is a fairly novel idea. In the past, the CDF has leaned strongly on
"pronouncements." Believe what we say or be damned. What did the pope
actually say? He observed that the CDF's work had
encountered "difficulties of reception." What the pope was driving at was this: that
too many folks out there are disagreeing with the CDF's
take on reality, and that members of the CDF would do better if they paid more
attention to their audience. As delicately and as diplomatically as he could,
he also said members the CDF didn't understand the mass media, didn't act as if
they knew what century they were living in, and didn't know how to translate
the Gospel in terms that contemporaries can comprehend. Get this: he was
telling the CDF that they have been pushing doctrine that isn't being received.
And why not received? The pope said the CDF's style
left something to be desired. But the
pope's talk itself was hardly a model of clarity. It was couched in
Vatican-speak, with an over-use of nouns, and few active verbs, so that no one
can tell who's doing what to whom. See if you can understand this: "There
is a problem of assimilation of the contents of the [CDF] documents and of
collaboration in diffusion and in the application of the consequences that
arise from them." These are quotes from an official
(From a report received by email from Michael Higgins)
* * * * *
At Sunday School, the teacher was explaining how God created everything, including human beings. Johnny, a child in kindergarten, seemed especially intent when told about how Eve was created out of one of Adam's ribs. Later, his mother noticed him lying on his side as though he was in pain. When she asked him what was wrong, Johnny responded, "I have a pain in my side. I think I'm going to have a wife!" (Contributed by Ellen Caprio)
By Jim Wallis
I
wonder if the executives at Enron made it to church or synagogue this weekend.
If they made it, what did they hear about their business and political
dealings? Let me be blunt. The behavior of Enron executives is a direct
violation of biblical ethics; the teachings of both Christian and Jewish faiths
would excoriate the greed, selfish-ness, and cheating of Enron's corporate
leaders, and condemn, in the harshest terms, their callous and cruel
mistreatment of employees. Read your Bibles. The strongest media critics of
Enron call it putting self-interest above the public interest; biblical ethics
would just call it a sin. I don't know what the church- or synagogue-going
habits of Enron's top executives are, but if they do attend services, I wonder
if they will hear a word about the practices of arranging huge personal bonuses
and escape hatches while destroying the lives of people who work for you. It's
time for the pulpit to speak - to bring the Word of God to bear on the moral
issues of the
(Received
from SoJoMail, published by Sojourners,
By Lanza del Vasto
Nobody was born nonviolent. No one was born charitable. The first duty of the nonviolent community is help-ing its members work upon themselves and come to conversion. The community provides a system of rules and ways of living that oblige the individual to convert, to turn around, to put the heart inside-out and upside-down.
(del Vasto was the founder of the
* * * * *
Love, I think, is stronger than death, or the fear of death; only by love can life hold together and advance.
(Ivan Turgenev)
By Gregory Tejeda
While
the Roman Catholic Church teaches that both capital punishment and abortion are
wrong because all life is sacred, many Catholics have no problem siding with
life on one issue while opposing it on the other. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, considered a
solid member of the court's conservative faction, is an abortion opponent, but
on capital punishment, Scalia thinks his religion is
misguided. Scalia said that he thinks recent attempts
to make the church and its teachings "more relevant" to contemporary
society have distorted what should be a viewpoint favoring execution of
criminals. In recent decades, the Catholic church has switched from its belief that capital
punishment is an effective way to protect citizens from dangerous people. The
church routinely protests all executions in the
(From
a report published by United Press International,
Fearing old age, we hide our elderly in nursing homes; fearing crime, we protect ourselves with guns and locked doors; fearing people who don’t like us or don’t earn as much, we move into segregated or “gated” communi-ties; fearing other nations, we impose sanction and/or drop bombs. We are even afraid of our own children. (Johann Christoph Arnold)
Condom Ban Kills, Ads Say
By Michael Valpy
A
global campaign against the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to condoms began
in
AIDS. "Because the bishops ban condoms, innocent people die," say the
billboards, paid for by Catholics for a Free Choice, a U.S.-based organization.
The billboards say, "Catholic people care. Do our bishops?" The advertisements will appear for three
months. Ads will appear through February in about a dozen countries with a
significant Catholic population or an HIV/AIDS crisis or both, including
(From
The Toronto Globe & Mail,
By Arthur Jones
Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world are constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel and the mission of the Church for the salvation of humankind. This is so important, because it says that without social mission you don’t have “church”. You can have the best preaching, the best liturgy, the best religious education, but if you don’t have social justice as a mission, you don’t have Church.
(From Catholic Social Teaching 1891-Present, Georgetown University Press [2002} commenting on Justitia in Mundo, from the 1971 Roman Synod.)
* * * * *
Learn this lesson: If you are to do the work of a prophet, what you need is not a scepter but a hoe.
([St] Bernard of Clairvaux).
In
your editorial [in the
Rerum Novarum [Octogesima Adveniens] by Paul VI. In addition, I have unsuccessfully searched the New Testament for evidence that Jesus established some kind of “hierarchy” in the church. Lastly, I remain grateful that N.C.R. continues to publish, as it should, “contrary opinions”.)
(By
Paul Kokoski of
By Anthony R. Stojak
Once
again the
(From
a letter to N.C.R., published
* * * * *
Is not one of our problems today that we have separated ourselves from the poor and the wounded and the suffering? We spend too much time discussing and theorizing; we have lost the yearning for God that comes when we are faced with the sufferings of people. (Jean Varnier)
* * * * *
What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the rest of the world calls “butterfly”. (Richard Bach)
People do not “grow” old; when they stop growing, they become old. (Author unknown)
You do not need any captors to lose your way to God; your hate will be enough.
(Imprisoned Tibetan priest Choje to angry companion in Eliot Pattison’s The Skull Mantra).
By Peter M. Kopkowski
In the February issue of Connections, it was reported that the U.S. Department of Defense required female members of the military stationed in Saudi Arabia to wear a head-to-toe garment (the “abaya”) whenever they left the base. Following the filing of a lawsuit against the Department by Lt. Col. Martha McSally, the policy was changed to “strongly encourage”, rather than “require” such apparel.
(From
“Notes & Quotes” in The Southern Cross,
By Andre Fossion
Eucharist is a lavish gift; it invites us to acknowledge that I am not the source of my own life. It implies an openness to the giving source whom believers call God; it is a God who gives bread, who give life. To recognize Jesus in the Eucharist bread is to be urged to give as one has received, that is, gratuitously and unselfishly. To break the bread, to distribute it, is not only to recognize that Jesus’ gift is meant for everyone, but also to gain personally in the giving. Each person breaks his/her own life in breaking the bread, and identifies with the self-giving of Jesus. The Body of Christ, shared and eaten in table fellowship, establishes a communication in which no one keeps anything for themselves, not even their own lives. The Christian life is a life surrendered, in which the faithful acknowledge each other as members of Christ’s Body. Christ gave his life unreservedly; to share in the Eucharist is to be invited to make the same journey.
(From a review of the above-named book by Charles P. Costello, in Ignatian Lay Volunteer Corps, Fall 2001)
* * * * *
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor; if an elephant has his foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are “neutral”, the mouse will not appreciate your “neutrality”.
(Desmond Tutu)
By Reuben Torrey
To
love a country simply because it is one’s own country and to stand by it no
matter what injustice it is guilty of towards other and weaker nations is
radically and thoroughly un-Christian. The sentiment, “My country, right
or wrong,’ has been quoted until some almost seem to think it a portion of the
Word of God. It is a thoroughly vicious statement. It justifies the most
unjustifiable wars and the most devilish conduct in war. We should love
our country, but we should not love our country at the expense of other
countries. We should not justify our country when it is wrong. We
should not join hands with the multitude of our country to do evil to other
nations. We should seek the peace and prosperity and welfare of other
lands as well as our own. We should not seek to always put the best
construction on our own acts and the worst construction on the acts of other
nations. The law of love should be the law of nations as well as the law
of the individual. The word “Patriotism” is often used as a cloak for the
basest and meanest conduct. In Jesus there is neither
Jew nor Greek, Barbarian, German, Englishman, Russian or American; we
are all one in God.
(As quoted in “Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelation Then and Now,” by
Howard-Brook and Gwyther).
The
German Catholic News Agency KNA reported on Feb. 5 that women in
In
By Stephen Berk
Catholic
policy on most aspects of the reproductive process is wholly abstract, based on
the hierarchy’s own archaic scholasticism, and entirely unrelated to the
day-to-day lives of human beings. For that reason it is deeply
immoral. Many people of conscience who might be attracted to the Catholic
Church for other reasons are rightfully repelled by the inhuman stands on these
issues. I for one do not respect the hierarchy’s Respect for Life campaigns
because they focus almost entirely on the reproductive process, something
priests are not supposed to be involved in, and something that is therefore an
abstraction to them. They spend precious little time decrying war,
especially that made by the superpower, the
people of conscience around the world. But as it is, with their
overemphasis on personal sexual behavior and reproductive decisions, I for one
listen to them less and less.
(From a report forwarded by email by IMWAC).
* * * * *
Let us look at the recent past; what land and sea did not witness warfare? What region was not soaked in blood, most of it Christian. The cruelty of Christians surpasses that of pagans and beasts. We must look for peace by purging the very sources of war, namely false ambitions and evil desires. As long as individuals serve their own personal interests, the common good will suffer. Let us examine the self-evident fact that this world is the home of the entire human race. (Desiderius Erasmus [1571]).
By Howard Zinn
How
can a “war” be just when it involves the killing of civilians, when it causes
thousands of men, women and children to leave their homes to escape the bombs,
and when it will multiply the ranks of people who are angry enough at the
(From “A Just Cause, Not a Just War”, The Progressive, December 2001)
* * * * *
I
can’t bring myself to believe that any “god” has the need to constantly demand
followers to sacrifice life and limb as proof of their loyalty to the
deity. Inferiority complexes and
insecurity are characteristics of people, not of gods. (Roger M. Dumais,
in “Whose god is God?” The
By Wes Howard-Brook
In
all the recent articles on
(From
a letter to N.C.R., published
* * * * *
Charles Dickens had a message that went beyond what we call to mind when we think of “A Christmas Carol”; He preached “we turn away from those less fortunate at our own peril”. If we don’t see the unfortunate children of today, we will feel their bitterness, anger and destruction in days ahead.
(As
noted in an article in The
Forgive Us As WE Forgive
By Kevin Seasoltz, OSB
In
1993, a three-year old child was brutally tortured and killed by
(From Spirituality, January/February 2002)
The
* * * * *
Our
nation is chosen by God and commissioned by history to be a model to the world.
(George W. Bush). [A model for what?
For vengeance, retribution, score-settling? In the minds of terrorists, that is what they
were doing on Sept. 11. For us to
perpetuate it by like actions is to guarantee more violence.] (Colman McCarthy,
“Rejecting All Vengeance” in The
For readers who wish for practical ways to engage in the issues of the day, here is one suggestion: The Lion & Lamb Project offers seminars & training on ways to stop the marketing of violence to children. Now, more than ever, we must stress the point that violence is not fun or entertaining; it is tragic. Children cannot always make this distinction when violence is so prevalent on TV. Interested persons can contact The Lion & lamb Project by email at lionlamb@lionlamb.org or visit their website at www.lionlamb.org .
By Peter M. Kopkowski
Do
you remember just a few short weeks ago that the Bush administration decided to
use “military tribunals” instead of jury trials for accused terrorists? In addition to not providing for an
appeal process, the government said that such tribunals would not be bound by
the Geneva Conventions concerning prisoners of war. The government assured us
that there was no possibility of the military making “an error” in so doing, or
in bringing about anything remotely approaching “an injustice”. Many people concerned about civil liberties
expressed contrary views. However, on Feb. 7, the government acknowledged that
the military had made “an error”. It said that on Jan. 23 the military attacked
a group of people just north of
(Factual items taken from stories by Katharine Q. Seelye, Eric Schmitt and Tohm Shanker of The New York Times News Service, and published in The San Diego Union Tribune on Feb. 7 and Feb. 8)
If the evil-doing of people moves you to indignation and overwhelming distress, and even to a desire for vengeance on the evil-doers, then shun above all things that feeling. Go at once and seek suffering for yourself, as though you were yourself guilty of that wrong. Accept that suffering, and bear it, and your heart will find comfort; you will understand that you, too, are guilty, for you might have been a light to the evil-doers, and your were not. If you had been a light, you would have lit the path for others too, and the evil-doer might have been saved from his sin. If your light is shining, and you see that people are not saved by it, still hold firm to it and doubt not the power of this light of the spirit. Believe that if they were not save yet, they will be saved later; and if they are not saved later, then their children will be.
(Fyodor
Dostoevsky, in The Brothers Karamazov)
The
real roots of freedom of religion in the
(From
“Nonviolence in
By Peter M. Kopkowski
In his new book, “The Parish as Covenant: A Call to Pastoral Partnership”, Jesuit Fr. Thomas P. Sweetser makes some intriguing proposals, one of them being the following: Mass should never be just a feel-good experience; rather, people must be confronted by the demands of the Gospel. And what ARE the “demands of the Gospel’? To attend Mass every Sunday? (No). To never practice birth control? (No). To send your children to Catholic school if possible, or to send them to C.C.D. until they are “confirmed”? (No). To fast and abstain properly during Lent? (No). To never receive communion if you are divorced? (No). If people are to be confronted, they must be reminded that life as a follower of Jesus requires detachment from the world, including detachment from large suburban homes and S.U.V.’s. They must realize that their faith calls them NOT to negatives (i.e., you can’t do this or that), but to positives (i.e., the beatitudes). They are called to be perceptively different from non-Christians. Those who genuinely want to be “confronted” can find adequate challenges in MT. 5: 1-16 and 38-48 as well as the old “favorite”, MT. 25: 31-45.
(Based
on an idea from Robert McClory’s review of the book,
in N.C.R.,
By Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nonviolence in the truest sense is not a strategy that one uses simply because it is expedient at the moment; non-violence is ultimately a way of life that people live by because of the sheer morality of its claim. A second basic fact that characterizes nonviolence is that it does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win their friendship and understanding. Another point concerning nonviolent resistance is that it avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. The nonviolent resister not only refuses to injure the opponent, but also refuses to hate the opponent.
(From “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story”, [Harper, 1958]).
Dear
Peter: I dearly wanted to respond to
each of those who have written to me.
Words cannot convey the gratitude that I have for all the letters, notes,
postcards, and Christmas cards that people sent me from all over. These were so
helpful during my six months in prison for protesting against the S.O.A. The
protest will continue until the school is closed; continue to urge your elected
officials to do that. But friends, success will not come when the S.O.A. is
closed, just as Jesus’ arrest, suffering and death did not close down the
Pharisees or the
(From
a letter of Dave Corcoran dated
By Diana L. Hayes
Difference is not dangerous; it is of God. Difference has been divinely sanctioned in the act of creation. It is our responsibility, as sharers in that creation, to turn away from divisiveness and move toward community, for we are all our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. God has placed upon all of us the responsibility of following in God’s own footsteps, of loving all people as God loves us, of seeking their greater good rather than our own individual success. We can only do this by letting go of the “isms” that plague humanity; we must begin to remove the blinders we have placed on ourselves that restrict our vision and blind us to the light of God shining through the face of all of God’s people. We must come together as one, seeking to build a community of the faithful that rejects a narrow, dualistic, biased perception of life. God, we are your children, lost and wandering in a confusing and confused world, but never abandoned, never forsaken, never alone. We are all your chosen ones, given knowledge to choose life in all of its diversity and to transform this world into your reign. This is our challenge. May we continue to be blessed with the wisdom and love of God in order to reclaim our full life in the spirit and to be thereby transformed.
(From “Spiritual Questions for the 21st Century”, edited by Mary Hembrow Snyder [Orbis Books, 2001]).
By Rebekah Graydon
Since
Sept. 11, the world has grieved with and for the victims of terrorism. We are
burdened by the loss, we are buoyed by the selfless
acts of courage. People have given generously in response to the tragedy. However,
for poor families, every day is an emergency. Even as we hurt for the
families of the victims of the terrorists, millions (yes, millions) of
families live in horrid conditions of substandard shelter. They battle each day
to keep a roof over their children’s head, while fighting illness
&malnutrition, and lacking access to clean water and adequate sanitation
systems. That doesn’t exclude the
(From Habitat World, February/March 2002)
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/
Does Rehabilitation Produce Justice?
By Peter M. Kopkowski
On
Feb. 7, a Federal appeals court struck down two lengthy sentences imposed under
(Factual
data taken from an article by Henry Weinstein in The
By Eileen Alt Powell of the Associated Press
Presidents,
king and moguls wrapped up five days of swanky parties, serious elbow-rubbing
and weighty discussions on how to stop terrorism, resolve long-standing
conflicts and ease grinding poverty. With luxury jets waiting to whisk the
world’s power players back home, the World Economic Forum closed its’
experimental meeting in New York with a warning by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan that the Sept. 11
attacks have exposed the huge gap between the rich and the poor of the world.
He encouraged businesses and governments to give hope to the people struggling
in the developing countries; otherwise their collapse would be a menace to
their neighbors and potentially a threat to global security. Annan urged business leaders to invest in small and poor
countries; he also called on governments to double their foreign aid. (The
(From
“Annan Warns of Big Gap Between
Rich & Poor” in The
By Richard Rohr, OFM
It is a fact that more than 5,000 people die every day in the world of hunger and starvation. Accordingly, in the truly cosmic picture, the scenario of the Sept. 11 tragedy is a common event. It is just that now it struck us; it is just that now it struck us, here; it is just that it now struck us, here, unprepared; it is just that it now struck us, here, unprepared, with everybody watching. This pushed all the buttons of war, terrorism, injustice, death, sadness and tragedy. It was the daily cosmic event distilled and displayed for all of our emotions to feed upon. It is truly sad, but it is also a part of the one sadness that God endures daily. The sadness that most of the world has always known has now reached our own shores. We have been drawn into the Paschal mystery, and it is producing both darkness and light in each of us.
(From “What is Darkness and What is Light?” in Radical Grace, January-March 2002)
By Jim Wallis
When
it comes to terrorism,
(Wallis is editor in chief of Sojourners magazine)
By Peter M. Kopkowski
Did
you read the article in last month’s issue about water? One of the factors that drives
the water shortage is certainly abuse by humans; another factor is the effect
of environmental changes which are also brought about by human abuse. You don’t think that the destruction of the
tropical forests and the
(Weather data from an article by Jocelyn Gecker
of AP, published by The
By Robert J. Wicks
In
a cemetery somewhere in the
(From “Just a Little Kindness is Better Than Dramatic Gestures”, in The Southern Cross.)
Mental health counseling is conducted with the prisoner sitting on a concrete stool in a locked room, handcuffed behind his back and chained to the floor, yelling to a counselor outside the cell. Under any circumstances, such treatment seems degrading and inhumane. It is almost impossible to grasp that prisoners that are in need of mental health care are being treated this way, and it is hard to understand how any mental health professional could consent to practice under such conditions, and how the prison could possibly believe that anyone’s mental health could improve under such conditions.
(From
a letter of Jana Schroeder of American Friends Service Committee, addressed to
the warden at a SuperMax facility in
By James O. Goldsborough
Osama bin Laden didn’t win by destroying the
(From
“Bush may yet give bin Laden the victory”, San Diego Union Tribune,
By Peter M. Kopkowski
A famous Chinese proverb reads: If there is right in the soul, there will be beauty in the person; if there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the home; if there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation; if there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world. Since there is so much absence of peace in the world, one is forced to conclude that things are not “right in the soul” of many persons. The question is: Will we be so judgmental as to assert that “other people” are not “right” in the soul, or will we strive harder to set things “right” in our own souls?
(Suggested
by an item in The Faith Connection,
“There is nothing more admirable than two people who see eye-to-eye, keeping house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.”(See answer below)
By Carl G. Jung
The decisive question for humans is: Are we related to something infinite or not? That is the telling question of our life. Only if we know that the thing that truly matters is the infinite, can we avoid fixing our interest upon futilities and upon all kinds of goals that are not of real importance. We see some who demand that the world grant them recognition for qualities that are regarded as personal possessions: talent or beauty. The more that a person lays stress on false possessions, and the less sensitivity they have for what is essential, the less satisfying will be their life. They feel limited, because they have limited aims, and the result is envy and jealousy. If we understand and feel that here in this life we already have a link with the infinite, our desires and attitudes change. In the final analysis, we count for something only because of the essential that we embody, and if we do not embody that, life is wasted. In an era which has concentrated exclusively upon extension of living space and increase in rational knowledge at all costs, it is a supreme challenge to ask a person to become conscious of their uniqueness and limitations, which are synonymous; without them, no perception of the unlimited is possible, and, consequently, no coming to real consciousness is possible either. Our age has shifted all emphasis to the here and now, and thus brought about a demonization of humans in the world. The phenomenon of dictators, [terrorists] and all the misery that they have wrought springs from the fact that humans have been robbed of transcendence by their short-sightedness. The task of humans is not to fall victim to the unconscious, but is exactly opposite: to become conscious of the contents of each of us that press up from the unconscious. Neither should we stay in the unconscious, but use the knowledge of it to create more and more consciousness. As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence [in this world] is to light a candle in the darkness of “mere being”, [and to share the light]. It may even be assumed that just as our unconscious affects our conscious existence, so the increase in our consciousness affects the unconscious, [to the improvement in both].
(From “Memories, Dreams, Reflections”, [circa 1961].)
By Darren Cushman Wood
As
part of my "network” program for our CTA chapter, I receive information and
action alerts from an anti-pornography organization. This is another outreach
of social ministry of the diocese of
* * * * *
Answer to Quiz above: this quotation is from the 8th century B.C., from the poet Homer.
Liberals note that, since Sept. 11, John Ashcroft has aggressively pursued conservative policies and actions with little or no congressional oversight, including the following: (1) Ashcroft announced that the Federal govern-ment would revoke the licenses of doctors who prescribe controlled substances to patients who want to use them to die. [Note: I’m not particularly in favor of assisted suicide, but I feel very uncomfortable about a large bureaucratic Federal agency deciding such matters.] (2) Ashcroft told Congress that a Justice department review showed “no evidence of racial bias” in the application of the death penalty, even though most of those on death row are minorities! [Note: To make that kind of sweeping statement under oath at a Congressional hearing requires a man who is either blind or a liar, in my opinion.] (3) Ashcroft set up legal teams to negotiate out-of-court settlements of the government’s lawsuits against Microsoft and the tobacco companies. [Note: This is clearly a bias in favor of the companies, who no longer face punitive damages as well as significantly reduced exposure to the private lawsuits that would have followed an adverse court decision.] (4) Ashcroft told the N.R.A. that he believes that the Constitution gives Americans the right to hold arms individually, reversing the position of the Clinton administration, which argued that the Constitution provided such a right for groups, not individuals. Further, Ashcroft unsuccessfully sought to change existing legislation so that the data that the government now compiles during the background check for gun purchasers would be kept on file for only 24 hours, instead of 90 days, the present requirement; the change would have totally eviscerated the existing law. [Note: Can there be any doubt that the N.R.A. is a major influence in our presently-much-in-need-of-reform campaign financing?] Final note: A cursory review of the above seems to show that a person can easily buy a gun with which to commit suicide (item 4) as long as such action is not prescribed by a doctor (item 1).
(Taken partially from “Attacks Shore up Ashcroft’s Policies”, by Dale Reichman of Associated Press, as published in The San Diego Union Tribune, 1/10/02)
There are two possible responses to what occurred on Sept. 11. The first one comes from love, the second from fear. If we come from fear, we may panic and do things, as individuals and as nations, that could cause further damage. If we come from love, we will find refuge and strength, even as we provide it to others. This is the moment of your ministry; this is the time of teaching. What you teach at this time, through your every word and action, will remain as indelible lessons in the minds and hearts of those whose lives you touch, both now, and for years to come. We set the course today for tomorrow. Let us not seek to pinpoint blame, but to pinpoint cause. Unless we take the time to look at the cause of this experience, we will never remove our- selves from the experiences that it creates. Instead, we will forever live in fear of retribution from those within the human family who feel aggrieved, and who likewise seek retribution. To [spiritual thinkers] the reasons are clear; we have not learned the most basic human lessons; we have not been listening to God. Because of this, we watch some among us do ungodly things. The message we hear from all sources of truth is clear: We are all one! That is a message that the human race has largely ignored. Forgetting this truth is the only cause of hatred and war, and the way to remember this truth is simple: Love, now, in this and every moment. If we could love even those who attacked us, and seek to understand why they have done so, what then would be our response?
These are the questions that are placed before the human race today. They are questions that we have failed to answer for many years. Failure to answer them now may eliminate the need to answer them at all. A central teaching in most spiritual traditions is: What you wish to experience, provide for another. Look now to see what it is you wish to experience, in your own life, and in the world. Then, see if there is another person for whom you can be the source of that. If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another; if you wish to know that you are safe, cause others to know that they are safe; if you wish to understand seemingly incompre- hensible things, help another to better understand; if you wish to heal your own sadness or anger, seek to heal the sadness or anger of another. Those “others” are waiting for you, now. They are looking for your guidance, for help, for courage, for strength, for understanding and for assurance. Most of all, they are looking to you for love. My religious belief us very simple; my religious belief is in kindness.
(From PeaceWork, October 2001)
USAS-SDSU is co-hosting a special event: author and film-maker
Michael
Moore, America's favorite thorn in the side, is coming
to
Friday, March 8th at
(Presented
by United Students Against Sweatshops *
(Editor’s note: Prior to receiving notice of the above, I received a forwarded copy of an email letter from Moore, describing in great detail the agony that he went through to publish this book. Publication was in process on 9/11, and after the nation jumped on the Bush military bandwagon, Harper & Row had second (and third) thoughts about publishing the book, even to the point of trying to get Moore to pay the $100,000 cost of the copies already printed [which they would destroy]. Fortunately, word of such “censorship” leaked out, and Harper & Row backed down. The book was published Feb. 19)
By George McGovern
Some global problems, such as human conflict, are as ancient as Cain & Abel, and may be unsolvable. World Hunger is solvable. There are obstacles, such as food supply, distribution, famines and slothful governments, but they can be resolved or transcended. How can the international community help? By expanding a simple yet powerful idea that has proved itself over time in the U.S.: the school lunch program. For more than 50 years, this program has ensured that every child in our nation has at least one good meal a day. What happens when a country introduces a good school lunch program? First, enrollment jumps dramatically; no one has yet invented a more effective way of drawing children to school than a good meal every day. Second, academic performance improves sharply, as does the physical and spiritual health of the child. It is difficult for a hungry child to dwell on improving academics, to say nothing of invigorating athletic endeavor. Third, school lunches can dramatically change the fate of girls in the Third World. Whereas illiterate girls marry as young as 11 and have an average of 6 children, girls in schools with lunch programs marry later, have an average of 3 children, and are more aware of the personal opportunities that life offers. Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said that, dollar for dollar, the greatest return on foreign aid comes from the education of girls.
It does cost money to feed hungry kids; feeding and educating needy children will cost perhaps $6 billion per year beyond what the U.N. currently devotes to this effort. However, the World Bank says that the cost of hunger, in lost productivity, is $8 billion per year! Much of the U.S. share in such a program would be in the form of surplus produce from farms & ranches, and would be a benefit to U.S. agriculture. Better-fed people and improved rural life alone will not end terrorism, but these tools of life and hope can dry up the hunger and despair that serve as recruiting grounds for terrorists. A hungry, illiterate, people is not a good foundation for security, economic development or peace. I believe that nourishing the hungry children will transform life on this planet. We can do it; do we care enough to act decisively?
(McGovern is a former U.S. senator, former director of the Food for Peace program, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Food & Agriculture Organization, and currently U.N. Global Ambassador on Hunger. The above was extracted from his article in Parade Magazine, 12/16/01. To learn more, go to www.friendsofwfp.org .)
Joan
Chittister, Tom Fox and Bob McClory are featured
presenters at the CTAN Conference 2002, April 5 & 6 in Lincoln, NE.
Entitled “Voices of the Spirit”, the conference will be at the Nebraska Center.
Registration, welcome, prayer service and reception on Friday begin at 6:00
P.M. The Saturday program begins at
California
People of Faith Working Against the Death Penalty
plans to deliver 100,000 signatures to Gov. Gray Davis on
By John Pilger
When
the Taliban captured Kabul in 1996, there was no “official” response from the
U.S. government. Why? Because Taliban
leaders were soon on their way to Houston, Texas, to be entertained by
executives of Unocal oil company. With
secret U.S. government approval, the company offered them a generous cut of the
profits of the oil & gas to be pumped through a pipeline that they wanted
to build through Afghanistan. At the time, a U.S. diplomat explained that the
Taliban will probably develop like the Saudis did; Afghanistan would become an
American oil colony, there would be huge profits for the West, there would be
no democracy, and persecu- tion
of women would be legal. “We can live with that”, he said. Although the deal
fell through, it remains an urgent priority of the Bush administration, which
is heavily committed to the oil industry.
Bush’s concealed agenda is to exploit the oil & gas reserves in the
Caspian basin, the greatest source of untapped fossil fuel on earth, and,
according to one estimate, enough to meet America’s voracious energy needs for
a generation. How- ever, the Americans can only hope to
control it if the pipeline runs through
(From
The
As
I reflect on the problems that the church is faced with in many
ministries, I also reflect on the role that Call To
Action is playing (and can play). As a chapter, we have so much to offer
for renewal in the church, with incredibly gifted members. Hopefully, we
can get recommitted; where is the wonderful spirit that filled the chapter when
we started 6 years ago? Our most recent program had “good” attendance, but that
included, sadly, only a handful of actual members. In the meantime, the Social
Ministry Office of the diocese is beginning to have some respect for us, and
that is a tremendous step in the right direction. I think back to the day that
we met for the first time at my house, with 19 people, to organize. And that we
did. Yes, we have grown in paid membership, but participation and
attendance is the key that shows the world that we mean what we say with our
“Call To Action”. I pray that our next program, on
April 13, will be an opportunity for all of us to meet and rededicate ourselves
to solidarity with the fast-growing global movement of "We Are
Church". May the Spirit vitalize us again to move in that direction. Four of our seven-member board will go to the
Regional meeting in April, which is held in conjunction with the annual
conference with the Nebraska CTA chapter. We will report to you at the April
meeting. I hope whole-heartedly that we will have a full house. Please
mark your calendars.(Evi Quinn is past president of
the
On Saturday, April 13, Call To Action will co-sponsor a day of sharing, led by Dr. Oliva Espin of S.D.S.U. She will make a presentation and lead a discussion regarding gender issues in our lives. The program begins at 9:30 A.M. at Christ Lutheran Church, 4731 Cass St. in Pacific Beach. More information will be in the next issue.
By Peter M. Kopkowski
What Happened:
A presentation by Jim Keady and Leslie Kretzu of Educating For Justice. The topic: Nike Corporate Accountability Campaign. More than 75 people attended, including representatives from Call To Action, Corpus, Dignity, WomenChurch, Catholic Worker and S.D.S.U.’s United Students Against Sweatshops.
The Presentation:
Jim and Leslie used slides and
videos to assist in showing us the result of them spending a month living in an
Indonesian village with factory workers who make $1.25 per day making
Nike shoes. The living and working
conditions for the employees are appallingly squalid, to say the least. (It has
been reported elsewhere that the labor cost of a pair of shoes made here is
about $2.00.) There is violent physical
abuse of workers, environmental abuse and psychological abuse, taking advantage
of people who are desperate. In addition, Nike takes advantage of the ignorance
and apathy of Americans. The shoes are, of course, made primarily for the U.S.
market, where 5% of the world’s population consumes 33% of the world’s goods,
and produces 50% of the world’s waste. While carrying the Olympic torch, Leslie
ran barefoot on 12/22/01 in Philadelphia (!), to dramatize the plight of the
shoe workers. (N.C.R., 1/11/02).
Jim was forced to resign his coaching job at a Catholic college because
he would not wear (and promote) Nike products. (U.S.Catholic,
October 2001 and The Village Voice,
What Can You Do?
(1) Ask yourself a question: “Can I, in good conscience as a Catholic, wear and promote sporting equipment for a company that oppresses and exploits people?”
(2) If you can’t, then ask yourself a second question: “Am I willing to live my values?” If the answer is “yes”, choose one or more items from the following activities list.
(3) Get educated on the issue; check out www.nikewages.org .
(4) Help spread the word; bring Educating For Justice to your community or group for a presentation. Tell three friends about the website above.
(5) Become a partner for justice by making a donation towards the Worker’s Resource & Education Center in Indonesia or toward the cost of the documentary process; specific information is on the website above.
(6) Empower athletes and coaches by writing to them about this issue; encourage them to take action in solidarity with the workers.
(7) Let your voice be heard; write to Phil Knight, CEO of Nike, at 1 Bowerman Drive, Beaverton, OR 97005 and ask him to (a) publicly support the workers’ rights to organize; (b) increase wages by U.S. $ 1.00 per day; (c) agree to allow independent monitors into factories; (d) publicly disclose all the factory locations.
(8) Become a “shareholder for justice”; buy one or more Nike shares and either (a) donate them to Educating for Justice, or (b) advise Educating for Justice that you own shares and are willing to vote with them to bring about improvements for the workers.
(9) Get involved in your school, community or church; see who is working on sweatshop issues and give them your support.
(10) Buy a “SLA ERY” t-shirt (the “ ” is the Nike trademark) as a means of spreading the word about
the labor abuses. Send $ 15.00 (plus a few bucks for shipping) to Educating For Justice at 415 Fifth
Avenue, Belmar, NJ 07719. Ask them for the handy 4” by 5” cards that list the main items above, and hand the cards out when people ask you the meaning of the message on your t-shirt.
By Peter M. Kopkowski
On
By Thomas Jordan, O.P.
It is the most human thing in the world to want to hit back at those who hit us: the biblical tradition said, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. But the Old Testament is a pre-Christian book, and, while it has some wonderful teachings, much of it reflects a primitive, evolving culture. The Gospel brings to fulfillment the longings and yearnings of the old tradition. Jesus says, “You have heard it said, ‘An eye for an eye’…but I say…You must be different.” Forgiveness is central to the Gospel teaching. What seems impossible to many (perhaps most?) of us is eminently possible by the grace of God, as many have witnessed. The only route to genuine healing is forgiveness; this reiterates the Gospel.
(Jordan is editor of Spirituality magazine; his remarks above appeared in the January/February 2002 issue)
Don’t Judge Me
They take my kindness for weakness.
They take my silence for speechless.
They consider my uniqueness strange.
They call my language slang.
They see my confidence as conceit.
They see my mistakes as defeat.
They consider my success as accidental.
They minimize my intelligence to potential.