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The Voice of Blood. From Nov. 30 until Dec. 6, SHARE Foundation led a delegation to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the martyrdom of Ita Ford, MM, Maura Clark, MM, Dorothy Kazel, OSU, and Jean Donovan at the hands of the Salvadoran National Guard. CMSM was represented by the Justice and Peace Director. Below are the reflections of Marie Dennis, Director of the Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns.
Solidarity for the 21st Century:
Remembering the Martyrs of El
Salvador
We are here to honor the memory of four women martyred 25 years ago and of 75,000 others, including Archbishop Romero, who gave their lives for social justice and for human dignity. When corpses were piled high in the public garbage dumps outside this city— when bishops, generals, the nuncio and government officials demanded neutrality from the Church— these four chose to accompany a people made profoundly vulnerable by war and by repression. They lived the virtue of solidarity, not neutrality. Poor people, they believed, were one place of God's revelation in history— an opening where the God of hope and possibility was discovered in the midst of suffering and fear.
Maura, Ita, Dorothy and Jean lived a solidarity that, even in these very different times would serve us. The Maryknoll Sisters, in the reflection paper they prepared for this conversation, described solidarity as a posture that is rooted in the identity of each person as a creature of God, a creature endowed with immense dignity, a treasure— who is created for interdependence within our human and earth community. They called us to a spirituality of family solidarity, which sets us free to transform our broken world.
These are times very different from the "era of the martyrs in El Salvador, Latin America." These are times defined by globalization with that phenomenon implies; by excessive wealth concentrated in the hands of a small minority in almost every country of the world and intransigent poverty lived by a global majority; by increasingly evident ecological catastrophe; and by a growing awareness of the intrinsic interconnectedness of humans with each other and with the rest of creation.
Three months ago we watched a painful drama unfold in New Orleans that brought to the surface deep frustration and anger— and spectacular beauty. Immediately, there arose across the country— around the world— a gut level sense that life was precious and that everyone had a right to a dignified rescue from that dreadful situation. When it became evident that some people were much more vulnerable to the ravages of nature than others— that poverty (with its roots in racism) was the determining factor in how one fared, people across the country— around the world— were outraged.
Four years earlier, in the midst of the horrific aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the U.S., the same intuition was evident— to honor the sacredness of every life, to save lives— every life possible. Period. Nothing else mattered— color of skin, language spoken, legal status in the US, level of income. Everyone asked immediately how they could help.
We saw with new eyes and our hearts were broken— the beginning of solidarity.
Deep in the human heart, I believe, is an indelible sense of the value of each human life and an instinct for solidarity that accompanies, responds to, needs to shape our conversation around a topic that is too often manipulated for political gain or ideological reasons, yet will be central in many ways to the future of the human community and the integrity of creation.
Inclusive human security, as opposed to national security or personal financial security, guarantees access to food, clean water, healthcare, education and employment for all. It recognizes the right of people to deep democracy— to participate in important political, economic and environmental decisions that affect their lives and it respects the integrity of creation.
This kind of security— inclusive human security— would emerge from a "globalization of solidarity," international cooperation
to meet the basic needs of all people in a manner that nurtures right
relationships within the community of all life— human and beyond.
It is clear now that true, inclusive security has
to be rooted in global community – in the globalization
of solidarity.
At issue is how we define security,
from whose perspective
and through what lens.
And it seems to me that the global groaning we
are now experiencing is about shifting (especially
in
the global
North) from one
definition to
the other:
… from pursuing security by building higher walls and stronger fences, hiring fiercer guards, inventing more powerful weapons systems, or dominating the global economy
… to pursuing security through the adoption of a new— or perhaps a very old— cosmovision that sees and values the whole community of life— and through collaborative attention to ensuring that the basic needs of all human beings everywhere are met.
I believe that the role of the Church— of faith communities and of educational institutions is key in facilitating such a shift.
Religious leaders, pastors, educators and the media have to help us
- grapple with our own fear and insecurity, enabling us to live with vulnerability— even see it as necessary for faithful living in solidarity with the majority of people who are always vulnerable;
- rework our value system from the ground up— reclaiming the positive (exhibited on 9/11 and in response to recent hurricanes) and eliminating rather than orchestrating the violent and destructive;
- reset our priorities from the accumulation of power, wealth and consumer goods to nurturing right relationships with other people and the rest of creation;
- move from individualism to emphasize community— ultimately the global community;
- learn to be present, to listen, to wait— to relinquish our need for instant gratification;
- develop our skills for social, political and economic analysis and historical consciousness that might help us move beyond sound bytes to understand root causes;
- deal with our collective fear of aging and death; and
- re-examine our symbols and myths to strip them of their ability to isolate and blind us— helping us as a people to rethink our way of being in the world, our relationship with the rest of creation.
Let me end with a little story:
In 1986 with about 20 other internationals, I accompanied a group of about 500 Salvadorans back to their own land near Suchitoto, which was then still under intense conflict. Many of them had been living at Calle Real refugee camp in San Salvador for seven years and they were bone tired of being unable to plant crops and care for their families. After a few very difficult days we were arrested— forced by the Salvadoran military to leave the returning families a few heavily mined kilometers from their destination. We and they were not sure they would survive. But they did. They planted their crops and when they reaped their first harvest of beans and corn a few months later, they sent each of us a little packet of black beans and corn kernels. I have treasured them since as powerful symbols of courage and life— and solidarity.
I lost my first cousin in the World Trade Center— he worked at Cantor Fitzgerald and left his wife and two very young children. About a week after the attack I wound my way down to the site of the devastation and planted a few of those seeds from El Salvador in a small park as close as I could get to the destruction. In some ways it was a futile gesture— indicative of my inability to imagine a more practical gesture of support for his family. On the other hand, those seeds carry great weight— the weight of what might blossom were we to open our hearts as a nation to a way of life given to global solidarity.
Over a year later I returned to Ground Zero with my family. After they went on their way, I found my way back to that little park just to see it after the debris had been cleared— there was a tall stalk of corn where I had planted the seed. It was unbelievable, but a powerful sign of hope to me. The seeds of the solidarity that nourished us— North Americans and Central Americans together will bear rich fruit personally, nationally and globally— if we are willing to risk planting them again. [El Salvador, December 3, 2005]
The real siege of Christmas. The following is a press release from the Catholic Alliance for the Common Good:
Spirit of Christmas
under siege
by superficial
commentators
Commentators
Bill O'Reilly,
Sean Hannity
and John
Gibson of
Fox News
and Bill
Donohue of
the Catholic
League for
Religious
and Civil
Rights dishonor
the spirit
of Christmas
by grandstanding
about superficial
issues while
undermining
the true
spirit of
Christmas.
Much like
the Pharisees
of Jesus' day,
their focus
on the language
of retail
advertising,
and shopping
itself, makes
a mockery
of the real
Christmas
message.
Recent attempts
targeting
department
store advertising,
the President's
holiday greeting
card and
the Christmas
tree outside
the Capitol
(yes, we
agree it's
a Christmas
tree) distract
from the
true meaning
of
Christmas:
that Jesus
Christ was
born to bring
good news
to the poor.
"If Jesus entered a department store today, he wouldn't be worried about whether the advertising said "Christmas" or "Holiday." He would care if we were so stressed out about shopping that we didn't have enough time for family and friends. The Catholic social tradition calls us to ask if Wal-mart workers and shoppers are earning a family wage, if they were able to feed their families, and take their kids to the doctor," said Alexia Kelley, Executive Director of the Catholic Alliance for the Common Good.
Just in time for Christmas, Congressional leaders are preparing to deliver tax breaks to the rich and spending cuts to the poor. The budget cuts funding for food stamps, heath care for the needy, and student loans for low and middle class Americans.
"How do you celebrate Christ's birth by balancing the federal budget on the backs of the neediest? It is a bad Christmas story. It is a moral outrage to hurt the poor, our youth and our senior citizens and at the same time pass more tax cuts that benefit the rich and bankrupt our grandchildren's futures," said Sister Simone Campbell SSS, National Coordinator of NETWORK, A Catholic Social Justice Lobby.
So far this Christmas season, O'Reilly, Hannity, Gibson and Donohue have put superficiality ahead of spirituality. We pray that the Christmas season will inspire all of us to direct our anger at true injustices, such as a budget that cuts funding to the poor and gives tax breaks to the rich. That's the real siege on the spirit of Christmas.
The Catholic Alliance for the Common Good supports Catholic organizations committed to honoring Catholic social teaching and the fullness of the Catholic faith. For more information visit www.thecatholicalliance.org.
Your
comments and
suggestions are
always welcome.
How can
the Justice
and Peace
Office help
you get
involved?
Have a Blessed Christmas!
T. Michael McNulty, SJ, editor
mmcnulty@cmsm.org
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