J&P Alert E-Newsletter/December 2007

December 2007

	A Spirituality of Disruption
	A Universal Children's Day Appeal to End the Detention of Refugee Children
	Connecting our Religious Communities and Care for God's Creation
	Catholic Social Ministries Gathering, Feb. 24-27, 2008
	Climate Change Workshop at Catholic Social Ministry Gathering

	Statement of Most Reverend John Wester on Enforcement-only Immigration Legislation
	Conference on the Future of Catholic Peacebuilding
	Martin McLaughlin - A Life and a Legacy Committed to Justice
	Afro-Colombian Struggle

J/P Alert is the newsletter of the Justice and Peace office of CMSM. It is intended to inform and stimulate discussion and involvement among the members. Its contents do not necessarily represent official positions of CMSM.

A Spirituality of Disruption

By Judith Donovan, CSJ

[Sister Judith Donovan, CSJ, is the lead organizer in the Bay Area for the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). The following article is based on a presentation she gave at the United States Catholic Mission Association meeting in Austin, TX, October 27, 2007.]

In 1992 I came back to the US after serving seven years in Brazil and went to a returned missioners' program. On the first night, the sister sitting to my right at the opening session introduced herself by stating, "Twenty years ago, I was in Kenya." Period. She looked at me, as did the group, and it was my turn. I remember looking back at her, stunned, praying to myself, "Please God, bring me back! Twenty years from now I don't want my experience of Brazil to have been so precious that it never makes room for a new one!"

That said, I introduce myself this afternoon by saying – twenty years ago I was in Brazil!...and, for the last thirteen years, I have been an organizer with the Industrial Areas Foundation, the nation's oldest and largest broad-based organizing effort. We build interfaith organizations of congregations and other non-profits to work for community change. So, how did I manage to 'leave' Brazil? Did I also leave 'mission' when I became an organizer? Is organizing 'mission'? To answer, I'll tell you a story.

I had been in the impoverished interior of the Northeast of Brazil for a couple years already when one dark night there was an unexpected knock at the door. The electricity was out, as was often the case in our little town, and I was home alone as the other sisters were out, as I had been days before, on a two-week pastoral road trip into the isolated sertão. We would go out as a team of a couple sisters, a lay leader or two and a priest into the remote villages of our parish to do a kind of one-stop pastoral visit: we'd marry and bury; baptize and catequise; throw in a little youth group, conflict resolution and medicinal herbs and, well, you know the drill! We had a common biblical theme each year and this year it had been John 10:10, "that you may have life and life to the full." Don Carlos, the patriarch of the village, had gathered his whole community of landless sharecroppers together for several days of learning and liturgy. A young man named Miguel had been part of the Youth Group that had prepared a skit to welcome us.

Now, Miguel was at my door, sweating, dirty and urging me to follow him to the local jail. As I walked down the dark dirt road with him, his story unfolded. The Sunday after our pastoral team had packed up and moved on, Dan Carlos gathered his community together again to discuss how they might act on what they had learned. They thought of a way. Every month they needed to hand over a certain number of bags of the rice they had grown to their landlord in 'rent.' But often, this left them with less than enough to feed their families, especially their young men. Seeing no future for themselves, these teens would go off to the big cities seeking work to send money back to their families. Often, they would fall into vices and/or never be heard from again. Don Carlos and a few of his key leaders came up with a proposal and went to visit their landlord with Bible in hand. They showed him John 10:10, said they wanted to keep an extra couple bags of rice each month, and added that they knew he would understand, he being a Catholic and a father himself.

He did indeed understand. Within a fortnight he sent his thugs to Don Carlos' village where they burnt their crops, confiscated their chickens and pigs, and rounded up nearly all the community, taking to them to the local jail where they awaited us. Miguel had slipped out and ran overnight to our house.

What had I done? I was shocked and stopped in my tracks. On a pastoral level, I was horrified that my actions as part of our team had harmed these already poor and oppressed people. But on a personal faith level, I was also radically shaken: Don Carlos and his community had the audacity to believe us…to take Jesus' words seriously…and to try to act on them. WE had never imagined that they would do that. Even more disturbing, WE had not thought to give them any tools to act on the Word in the world in which they lived. Was I just telling beautiful stories when I taught scripture, dreamy images of the world as it should be, or did I really believe that you could act on the Word in the world as it is?

On that road, my journey was derailed, and, little known to me, a new journey had begun. The actions that took place that night and over the next month – seeing the Church ally with other institutions, create public tension, work together to not only release the imprisoned families but also create a catalyst for agrarian reform – these were my first experiences of the power of the Church and other institutions acting together in the public square.

Five years later, I returned to the US to make my final vows and go to graduate school, but I remained disrupted and called by the experience of church that I had had.

I met many former missioners, but their modeling was not always helpful. Many, having had profound experiences of poverty and ministry, were now tucked away in little "Kenyas" of their own making. Others found the wealth and culture of the US repulsive and incomprehensible and chose to disengage from the Church. Some put their experience of mission neatly behind them as if it had been a movie once watched. How was I going to 'return' without either betraying the experience I had been given or becoming lost in it?

In grad school where I was pursuing an MSW I read about the IAF: a national network of interfaith community organizations that take the church seriously and teach faith institutions how to act together in a systematic, relational and ultimately powerful way. I sought them out and three months after graduating I started my organizing career in El Paso, Texas. Since then I've organized in the Diocese of Brownsville, in Los Angeles County and now in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I was asked to say something about my spirituality of mission. This is a challenge. The only thing I can say that is faithful to the spirituality that has held me over these years is what I would call a spirituality of disruption. It reflects a tough faith for a hard world and the God who consistently meets me on dark roads and in unexpected knocks on the door. It is the only spirituality robust enough to withstand the contradictions and tensions within myself and evident within a faith alive in the world.

In organizing, I have found a way to integrate my story, but also let a new story emerge. The Spirit that led me to Brazil and back has found me again in mentors, colleagues and ordinary people who make extraordinary changes in their communities. They are not afraid of my story, but help me to learn and tell it and, with them, create a new story kindled by Brazil, but now fueled by new experiences of the power of people of faith in action in the world as it is.

A Universal Children's Day Appeal to End the Detention of Refugee Children

"The use of detention should be avoided as far as possible and services in the centers need desperately to be improved. Most of all, children ... should never be detained."
Katrin Camilleri, JRS-Malta Attorney, 2007 Recipient of UNHCR's Nansen Award

November 20th, Universal Children's Day marks the date on which the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989. On this anniversary Jesuit Refugee Service USA celebrates the promise of children across the globe, and renews its commitment to defend and promote the welfare of refugee and migrant children, calling on governments, institutions and individuals to likewise affirm their commitment to the rights and protections that allow children to reach their full potential.

As an organization whose mission is to accompany, serve, and defend the rights of refugees, we continue to be concerned about the effect of detention on refugee and migrant children. Consistent with international legal standards, and widely-held principles of human dignity, governments should refrain from detaining migrant children except under the most unusual circumstances, as a measure of last resort, and for the shortest possible period of time. JRS/USA advocates that unaccompanied children taken into custody for their own safety be held in appropriate residential settings that provide, to the greatest extent possible, not only for their physical security but also for their spiritual and emotional well-being. Such settings must provide necessary services, including health care, counseling, education, pastoral care, and legal assistance. Children should not be kept in isolation, but instead should have the ability to converse and interact positively with peers.

The U.S. should be a model for the international community on the protection of migrant children. Unfortunately, our country falls unacceptably short on this score. The number of children in immigration detention has more than tripled since 1997, rising from 2,375 to 7,746 in 2006. A full 20% of these children are minors between infancy and 14 years of age.

To reform our system and to set an example for the international community, the President and Congress must act now to:

Ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibits the detention of children except as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.
Support and fully fund alternatives to detention programs so that the detention of migrant children and families with children is a measure of last resort and is only used in the most exceptional circumstances.
Ensure that the Department of Homeland Security immediately transfers unaccompanied migrant children to the care of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Ensure that children who must be detained or held in custody are held in the least restrictive setting appropriate for their needs and circumstances.
Ensure that the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency provides timely public information on the number of children in ICE detention and the location of facilities where they are being held.
•Provide children in immigration detention or custody with legal services, including pro bono counsel, and a guardian who will ensure that any decisions made are in the best interests of the child.
Ensure that children in immigration detention or custody receive proper services including education, medical and mental health care, and access to appropriate spiritual care.

Read more about the impact of immigration detention on the JRS/USA website.

For More on Immigrant and Refugee Children in Detention:
Amnesty International
"Unaccompanied Alien Children: Policies and Issues."
(Congressional Research Service)
International Detention Coalition

Connecting our religious communities and care for God's creation

By Steve Herro, O. Praem.

[Bro. Steve Herro, O. Praem., is social action director for the diocese of Green Bay, WI, and justice and peace director for the Norbertines of St. Norbert Abbey, De Pere, WI.]

Due to the influence of men like St. Francis of Assisi, Fr. Thomas Berry, CP; and Fr. John Rausch, GHM, our communities have been green before it was fashionable to be green; indeed, St. Francis predated Al Gore by nearly 800 years.

As vowed religious, one could argue that our commitment to poverty suggests that we live by consuming less natural resources than others. As socially committed Catholic Christians, we cannot underestimate one of the basic principles of Catholic social teaching—caring for God's creation.

We are in a unique position to contribute to the greening of the United States:

Our communities own and operate large office buildings, churches, and residences that consume a lot electricity and heating oil. How energy efficient are these buildings? Can we explore improved efficiency by auditing lighting systems, insulation, windows, water heating, and heating and cooling systems, etc.?
Our members are often scattered throughout wide regions and travel A LOT. Can we implement policies that promote more efficient travel and reduce use of fossil fuels (audio and video conferencing in place of personal travel for meetings; replacing non four cylinder cars with four cylinder cars and hybrids; replacing some car travel with mass transit, bicycling, or walking; etc.)?
Adjust diets at community meals to include more locally grown food and products that require less energy to produce. Beef is particularly energy intensive to produce.
Select office and cleaning products for our institutions that are made from recycled materials (i.e. recycled paper and toner cartridges) or that will not contaminate the atmosphere upon application.
Preach about the necessity of caring for God's creation in our homilies. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has many prayer and liturgy suggestions on its website; see www.usccb.org/sdwp/ejp/climate/wcd.shtml.
Get involved in political advocacy; our communities can take corporate stances. U.S. Congress and numerous state legislatures are considering legislation to combat climate change; see especially the Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org) and League of Conservation Voters (www.lcv.org). Volunteer to serve on committees that are meeting to plan sustainable living in your city or get involved in Earth Week activities in your community; for too long, the faith community has been absent around such planning tables.
Examine your community's financial investment portfolio. The Big Box chains can require more natural resources to accomplish their commercial goals than smaller companies. Which automotive companies are most supportive of products that use smaller amounts of fossil fuels? Which energy and oil companies are advancing research and use of renewable energy?

Changing our corporate and individual life styles to support a more eco-friendly way of life should be a no-brainer, but I have found that our communities are often more likely to make corporate changes related to mechanical systems in our buildings than we are to examine transportation issues and personal behavior. Maybe it is time to increase prophetic behavior toward some American icons: the private car and our cherished personal independence.

Catholic Social Ministries Gathering, Feb. 24-27, 2008

Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001

Registration for the 2008 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering's is up and running! Please visit www.catholicsocialministrygathering.org and click on Registration Now Open!

A great Catholic Social Ministry Gathering is planned, with speakers such as Dr. Norman Francis of Xavier University in New Orleans, Lesley-Anne Knight, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis, and Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez of Honduras (invited) - to name a few. The outstanding political analysis team of Mark Shields and David Brooks from The Newshour on PBS will once again share insights on the latest political developments. Msgr. Ray East will serve as the master of ceremonies, and the multicultural choir from St. Camillus Church will enliven our prayers and liturgies.

The highlight of the gathering will be the opportunities you will have to meet with members of Congress and their staffs to make the case that the vulnerable and the poor should be priorities in policy-making. The more who participate, the more effective we will be!

We have great workshops and strategy sessions planned as well – so register online now to receive the discounted rate. Time is limited--discounted rates end December 21, 2007.

Climate Change Workshop at Catholic Social Ministry Gathering

NCRLC and the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change will conduct a session on Climate Change: Adaptation Strategies for Rural Communities and the Church at the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering this coming February. The workshop session will take place on Saturday, February 23, 2008, at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC. We will outline the causes of climate change, examine the potential impacts on agricultural ecosystems worldwide, including expected impacts for rural U.S. communities, begin to identify adaptation strategies, and consider the role of the faith community in such strategies. Pre-registration is $25 (includes lunch). For more details, check the NCRLC website. Contact ncrlc@mchsi.com to register.

The workshop immediately precedes the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering Feb. 24-27, 2008 to be held at the same location. Learn more at www.catholicsocialministrygathering.org. You will be able to register for the Climate Change workshop at that site.

Statement of Most Reverend John Wester on enforcement-only immigration legislation

[Bishop Wester is Bishop of Salt Lake City, Utah, and Chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration. The statement was given at a November 14, 2007, gathering of Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform on the occasion of the release of their report A House Divided: Why Americans of Faith Are Concerned about Undocumented Immigrants.]

I am happy to be here with other religious leaders to give my thoughts and the thoughts of the U.S. bishops on the current state of the national immigration debate.

The U.S. bishops are disturbed by the rhetoric and vitriol that has permeated the public discourse on the issue of immigration. Since the failure of the immigration reform bill in June, verbal attacks on immigrants have increased, creating an atmosphere of fear in immigrant communities.

Some talk radio and cable television shows have helped contribute to this poisoned atmosphere of division. Sadly, some of our elected officials and presidential candidates have jumped on the bandwagon, viewing the issue of immigration as a means to gain votes at the ballot box, not as a human problem to be addressed.

To compound matters, the failure of Congress to fix our broken immigration system in a humane way has lead to a patchwork of state and local immigration enforcement initiatives across the nation. These incongruent state laws and local ordinances have the effect of driving undocumented immigrants further into the shadows or to other areas of the country. They have pitted communities, cities, and states against each other. And in some cases, they have created unrest and conflict in localities.

It is time for our country to stop demonizing undocumented immigrants and work toward a solution to the problem of illegal immigration. It is clear to us that immigrants provide valuable work in important industries and that our economy needs their labor. It is also clear that there are those who would rather these persons work in the shadows, without rights or the protection of the law.

As a nation, we cannot have it both ways. We cannot accept the toil of immigrants in the service, construction, and agricultural industries while relegating them to a permanent underclass without rights and subject to abuse, exploitation, and even death. The issue of immigration is not simply an economic or social issue, but it is also a humanitarian one which impacts the human rights and dignity of the person.

On behalf of the U.S. Catholic bishops, I urge our elected officials on the federal, state, and local levels to halt enforcement-only initiatives and return to a constructive dialogue on the enactment of comprehensive immigration reform. I urge candidates for office and elected officials to demonstrate leadership and to educate their constituents about the realities of immigration. I finally urge all Americans, especially Catholics, to resist hatred and work together toward a humane solution to our immigration crisis.

[The Maryland Bishops' Conference has issued a pastoral letter on immigration: Where All Find a Home: A Catholic Response to Immigration. Bishop Edward J. Slattery of the Diocese of Tulsa, OK, has also issued a pastoral letter on the subject: The Suffering Faces of the Poor Are the Suffering Face of Christ .]

Conference on the Future of Catholic Peacebuilding

Sunday, April 13 - Tuesday, April 15, 2008
McKenna Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556

This conference on Catholic Peacebuilding is sponsored by the Catholic Peacebuilding Network (CPN). For detailed information regarding this conference--including registration details, the tentative schedule and speakers—please go to the CPN website.

Since the U.S. Catholic Bishops' 1983 peace pastoral, The Challenge of Peace, called for further work on the development of a theology of peace, peacebuilding has received much greater attention in both secular and Church circles. This conference will showcase and contribute to efforts to develop a conceptually coherent, theologically accurate, spiritually enlivening and practically effective approach to Catholic peacebuilding that can begin to match the sophistication of Catholic thinking on the ethics of war and peace.

Twenty-five years after the peace pastoral, scholars and practitioners, at all levels of the Church, will come together to reflect on the theological, ethical and practical dimensions of the Church's work on conflict prevention, conflict management, and post-conflict reconciliation.