What is the meaning of Christmas? By Dean Muller, Wauwatosa Presbyterian Church

 

Christmas matters for Christians because it i's about the birth of Jesus.  Why did God send his Son into the world?   I think we all delight in the marvelous story of the birth of Christ.  We enjoy the pageantry and the acting out of this incredible tale.  The angel's appearance to Mary. The Sheppard's in the field- and the Maji with their gifts.  Is this story an accurate record of what happened so many years ago?

Perhaps a better question is the gospel's description of these events- truth or parable? And does it matter? The suggestion is that these events could be coming from Jesus' teachings in which he uses many parables to convene a message. Parables are about meanings; they can be truth-filled even if they are not historically accurate.

The birth of Christ is the beginning of a transformative ministry. Christ was passionate about the kingdom of God, what life would be like on earth if God were king and the rulers and emperors' of the world were not.  A world of justice in which everybody has enough and the system is fair for everyone.

Whenever we recite the Lord's Prayer, we recommit ourselves to this concept- Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  Theologian John Dominic Crossan's one-liner on the subject "Heaven's in great shape, the earth is where the problems are."

As Christians, our calling is to look at issues of today through the lens of faith.  The deeper theological meaning of Christmas is not whether but how Christians should engage with those in need of greater human dignity and justice.

In his poem "I Will Light Candles This Christmas," Howard Thurman envisions a light burning brightly through us-the light that dashes away sadness with joy, replaces fear with courage, and banishes despair with hope.

 The magical story of Christmas challenges us to celebrate the teachings that Christ brought to this earth.  A message of goodwill and peace on earth.  During this time, celebrate and reflect on the teachings of Christmas. But when the Christmas season ends, try not to tucking those teachings back away with the ornaments

A CHRISTMAS REFLECTION ON POPE FRANCIS’ ENCYCLICAL, FRATELLI TUTTI

 

     Why bother trying to make sense of a pronouncement from the ‘Vicar of Christ’ when the Church has been shown to be corrupt from the beginning? Tom Doyle points out the corruption of the church in his review of Dylan Elliot’s new book on the pedophile scandal.[i] Still I would contend that it is worthwhile to attempt to understand the point of view of Pope Francis, a world religious leader.  It is obvious that neither Francis nor his followers see the hypocrisy of advocating a change of political structures when the Church ignores the pedophile issue, the catalyst being its own clerical system.  However, the serious life and death situation we are experiencing worldwide demands we look at every point of view without trivializing any opinion, except the trivial.

          Pope Francis uses the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ as the keystone of his encyclical, Fratelli Tutti. Dr. Amy–Jill Levine offers some hints for understanding a story teller’s point of view in her book, Short Stories by Jesus.[ii] She asks, “What is Jesus saying in the parable of the Good Samaritan?” (Luke 10, 25-37)  Dr. Levine contends that the purpose of a parable in the first century was to make the listeners uncomfortable.  Many commentaries and homilies are standard and listeners yawn and forget the story until next time.  It is conventional for Christian homilists to comment that Priests and Levites are insensitive to the beaten man on the road because of their Jewish beliefs.  Is Luke trying to say that the message of the Christian Jews is better?  Luke, writing forty or more years after Jesus’ death, was in a contentious situation with the Pharisees after the destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans in C.E.70.  Were the Christian Jews to take a leadership role?

          Samaritans were of Jewish heritage and revered the Torah.  Basic to the Torah is the Jewish commandment, “Love God and your neighbor.”  If the source of the story is Jesus and not Luke, then what does the parable mean?  In Jesus’ time the Samaritans were despised by Judean Jews – they were people of another country.  The lawyer in the story asks:  what does love of neighbor mean, who is my neighbor?  The Samaritan tells us by his action; he followed the law of the Torah as advocated by Jesus.  Jesus is telling a story that illustrates what both Judaism and Christianity believe, a cause for both Jesus’ listeners and contemporary believers to be uncomfortable.

          Pope Francis refers to the Good Samaritan in chapter two of  Fratelli Tutti. Francis goes beyond brotherly love. He expands the meaning of charity to charitable political love.  In chapter five Frances writes, “This political charity is born of social awareness that transcends every individualistic mindset.”

          Philia is brotherly love and charity is agape in Greek.  Agape is selfless love, a term used long before Christianity.  Agape is a human trait we strive to achieve, but international political agape?  That’s an ancient consideration and demand for action, like the Samaritan, to a contemporary world under siege.  Is agape the answer?  It’s been suggested before with limited success.

          Marguerite Porete, a Beguine and a mystic who wrote in French, identified the human quality of agape as divine love and stated in her book, The Mirror of Simple Souls[iii], “Such love is a sure guide and more secure than rational morality.”  Marguerite Porete was burned at the stake for heresy in Paris in 1310; William of Paris, O.P., the chief inquisitor, called her pseudo-mulier, a fake woman.  At that time Clement V reigned from Avignon as Pope.

Francis’ solution seems impossible, but it is Christmas time.  Matthew says it was the birth of Emmanuel, God with us.  Can we see the victims of pedophilia, pedophiles, Presidents and Popes in the image of Christ - the Messiah?  For now, perhaps this is the answer.

 

---

[i] Elliot, Dylan, The Corrupter of Boys, University of Pennsylvania Press.       

[ii] Levine, Amy-Jill, Short Stories by Jesus, Harper One, New York, 1989.

[iii] Porete, Marguerite, The Mirror of Simple Souls, Paulist Press, New York, 1993.

The Working Catholic: Advent Surprises by Bill Droel

 

A couple years ago we spent some days after Thanksgiving in Milwaukee. One purpose of the trip was Christmas shopping. Thus we found ourselves in a large shopping mall. I sat on a bench with my coffee while my wife heated-up our credit card. A young Pakistani-American woman and her baby sat down next to me. An older, well-dressed woman approached and presumably mistaking me for the grandfather said: “You are lucky. This child is a great hope to us today.” How did she know that about this baby?

Irony can mean something that is more than expected. This sense of irony is not cynical; it is a surprise. The premise of several TV shows is the lumpy protagonist who ironically turns out to be smarter than the Los Angeles socialites or the high-ranking police officials or the well-paid laboratory researchers. Or there might be a show in which the bachelor gives the rose to a woman who seems to be a duckling. Or there is a show on which the least polished-looking guest wins the contest and goes on to sign a big performance contract.

Over 2000 years ago there was a baby conceived out of wedlock to underemployed political refugees. The baby’s life was in danger and the couple had to spend months away from their home. Yet this child was a great hope to people of that time and even to us today. Many cultures and institutions celebrate his birthday, even in the bleakest circumstance.  

Jesus’ accomplishments were minimal. He did not conquer the Romans nor write outstanding philosophy. He was not even a regional celebrity. When he died, only a handful of admirers were around. If Jesus is a hero, it is in an ironic sense.

So, it wasn’t grand things that Jesus did. It was ordinary things, though they were unexpected. His kindness was unexpected given his cultural environment. His sustained focus was unexpected given the bitterness and arrogance of other holy people of his day.

When the shepherds looked in the stable and the magi visited the home, they had a sense of irony. This baby in this working-class family is a sign of great hope, they said. His circumstances will not limit him from being a savior. His birth is a hint that the rumor of immortality might be true.

This Advent, this Advent in particular, be disposed to the unexpected in people. Look below the surface and believe the great hope that resides in every person. 

Droel edits INITIATIVES (PO Box 291102, Chicago, IL 60629), a print newsletter on faith and work.

Confidence in the Cosmos

 

By the term “cosmology” I mean three things:

A scientific story about the origins of our universe;

A Mysticism that is a psychic response to our being in the universe; 

And art, which translates science and mysticism into images that awaken body, soul and society.

Matthew Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ

The Working Catholic: Farm Workers by Bill Droel

 

            Time is catching up with the founders of the United Farm Workers Union (www.ufw.org). Cesar Chavez (1927-1993) has been dead for 27 years. Rev. Jim Drake (1938-2001) died young. Larry Itliong (1913-1977), who started the famous Delano Grape Strike and National Boycott of September 1965, is gone. Marion Moses (1936-2020), who founded the UFW health care system, died last month. Dolores Huerta is now 90 and Rev. Chris Hartmire is in his late 80s. So too is LeRoy Chatfield.

Chatfield was the administrative assistant to Chavez during the ten crucial years of the UFW. He gives us two recent gifts: The definitive Farm Worker Documentation Project (www.libraries.ucsd.edu/farmworkermovement/archives) and a memoir, To Serve the People: My Life Organizing with Cesar Chavez and the Poor (University of New Mexico [2019]; $27.95).

Chatfield did everything. He walked the first picket line, tended to Chavez during his 25-day fast, was part of the march to Sacramento, managed the operation when Chavez was on the road a month at a time, raised money and spoke at colleges, organized a major legislative labor campaign in California, represented the UFW at the funeral of Robert Kennedy (1925-1968)--all of this after Chavez took on the 31-year old Chatfield to develop farm worker cooperatives, which he also did. Chatfield was on the scene prior to the Delano Grape Strike and played a key role in it. His chapter about it is the best in To Serve the People.

Prior to these defining ten years, Chatfield was for 16 years a member of Christian Brothers of De La Salle (www.delasalle.org). Peter Maurin (1877-1949), a founder of Catholic Worker Movement (www.catholicworker.org), once belonged to the same order, Chatfield reminds us. All through the book he refers to his connections with the Catholic Worker.

He served as a teacher and administrator at Christian Brothers’ schools in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Bakersfield. His social formation occurred as a Christian Brother—sometimes by way of the community, sometimes in spite of it. For example, a Christian Brother recruited Chatfield, then aspiring to the order as high school student, for a cell of a specialized Catholic Action. He was intrigued by social doctrine, though he didn’t understand much of it. However, he memorized and experimented with the Catholic Action method. “I tell you that nothing in my life since age 14 has served me better or landed me in more hot water than those damn principles of observe, judge, act,” he writes.

Just as often Chatfield’s social formation came through his own involvements with student groups and Catholic organizations, including a Catholic Worker house in Oakland and a relationship with Ammon Hennacy (1893-1970). The tale of how he found Chavez indirectly includes the Catholic Worker. At age 29 Chatfield (then known as Bro. Gilbert, FSC) went to Boston to participate at the annual convention of National Catholic Social Action Conference. NCSAC was founded by former Catholic Workers John Cort (1913-2006) and Ed Marciniak (1917-2004). At the Boston conference Chatfield heard “that a man by the name of Cesar Chavez was organizing farm workers in Delano, California.” That was enough for Chatfield.

 In this memoir Chatfield expresses affection for all the people and groups he met. There is no bitterness. He left the Christian Brothers only because he wanted full-time involvement with farm workers and presumably the order was unprepared to assign him to that mission. He likewise left the UFW with abiding affection.

“For nearly ten years, Cesar was my best friend,” says Chatfield. They talked over family matters, their faith, sports, politics and lots more. This autobiography is not in any way a tell-all. But in details here-and-there it gives a glimpse into the tragic flaw of the heroic Chavez. A full picture comes through in the sympathetic biography, The Crusades of Cesar Chavez by Mirian Pawel (Bloomsbury, 2014).

Chatfield came to Chavez out of general desire to help farm workers. Chavez left his job with Community Service Organization out of the same general desire. Chatfield calls this “Cesar’s vision.” There was no clarity, however, about the precise purpose of Chavez’ movement. It was part union focused on gaining collective bargaining status, part social service agency, public relations lobby on behalf of farm workers, and a retreat-style spiritual community.  Chavez was the only one who controlled the game plan. Thus there was arbitrariness about his leadership. It was a vision; something that Chavez did not or could not share in bullet point memo.

As the months went by Chatfield got the message that he would be a fall guy for a defeat during a legislative campaign. There was no showdown; Chatfield simply knew it was time to go. Plus he and his wife Bonnie, whom he met in the movement, had four daughters; a fifth was born subsequently. 

The second part of the book is equally interesting. Again, the Catholic Worker is part of the story. By 1974 Chatfield was a manager in Jerry Brown’s gubernatorial campaign and went on to serve in the administration, including as director of California Conservation Corps. He then spent five years in real estate development and two more years back in school. Meanwhile, Catholic Workers Dan Delany (1935-2015) and Chris Delany were busy founding a comprehensive house for the unemployed and homeless, Loaves and Fishes (www.sacloaves.org). They hired Chatfield to be its first director.  His chapters on these 13 years contain interesting reflections on addiction and on possessions plus a list of tips for managers of non-profits.

Upon retirement Chatfield, wouldn’t you know, returned as a Loaves and Fishes volunteer, developing cottages for the homeless. During retirement Chatfield also returned to producing a journal for high school authors, (www.syndicjournal.us). On Chatfield’s own website, (www.leroychatfield.us), many of his Easy Essays are posted.

Jorge Mariscal put this autobiography together. Its references are up to the minute, but sections of the book are reconstructed from interviews in 1976, from notes in 2002, from several segments written in 2004 and from Chatfield’s diary entries in 1961, 1968-1969 and 1993. There’s a little repetition, but it is not distracting.

Social change movements and their leaders are diminished when they become part of our celebrity culture. True social change requires many energetic and reflective people, most of whom never appear in the news. Chatfield’s account and others like it are an important contribution to understanding how change occurs. Today’s activists are wise to learn from the past; from its positives and negatives.

Droel edits a print newsletter on faith and work, INITIATIVES (PO Box 291102, Chicago, IL 60629).

 

NON-VIOLENT PROTESTS IN 'TAYKANEE,' WISCONSiN

                                    

Seven days a week, in the late afternoon, protestors position themselves at a four corner ‘Taykanee’ intersection and demonstrate against the systematic racism that has plagued the U.S. since its founding.  Some of the protestors kneel for nine minutes in memory of George Floyd.  Others stand.  The four corners are a reminder of the Native American sense of the diversity and unity of the races, White, Black, Red, and Yellow, and their search for the righteous. ‘Taykanee’ is just east of Wauwatosa, and about 30 miles north of Kenosha, Wisconsin towns in the national spotlight for allegations of violence in the protests against systematic racism.                                                          

Non-violence was the tactic and faith belief of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he led the quest for civil rights in the 60’s.  For King, violence was a distraction from the issue of racism.  “This is the evil one seeks to dramatize; anything else distracts from that point and interferes with the confrontation of the primary evil.”  (King, p.64)

King’s disciple, Rev. Jesse Jackson, preached to a large group of African American young men in Chicago after King was martyred in 1968. Rev. Jackson spoke to the crowd about a sniper shooting of a white fireman in Cleveland. He linked the practical with a basic rule of faith. “It was wrong!” he said.  “They have more guns than we do; if we resort to violence, we become like them; and the Bible says ‘thou shalt not kill.’ “

Some of the ‘Taykanee’ protesters don’t have vivid memories of Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King, but they do know the position of   Milwaukee-born Colin Kaepernick.  All the protestors take on a prophetic role insisting that Black lives matter.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., Where Do We Go From Here:  chaos or Community?, Harper & Row, New York, 1967.

A Public Letter to Supreme Court Nominee Amy Barrett by Matthew Fox

 

Dear Ms. Barrett, With the nomination of a new supreme court judge, some are being accused of “anti-catholicism” for posing questions about your religious beliefs.*  I however, think questions like the following are important and I am sure that you are open to discussing them with the American public whose job it is to serve. 1) Since you are a practicing Catholic, have you studied Pope Francis' encyclical on the environment ("Laudato Si")?  What are your positions on environmental justice?  On climate change?  Are you as passionate about them as you are about opposing abortion?  Are you aware that climate change is currently killing more people (who are fully people) than are abortions killing fetuses?  It has killed 200,000 people in the US alone and has maimed tens of thousands more and migrations to come will displace and kill millions more. 2) Have you studied Pope Francis' statements on the "idolatry of money" that dominates so much of our economic system?  Where do you stand on that subject and on unbridled Wall Street power?  And on tax breaks for the very rich vs. for the poor and middle class?  (Revelations on President Trump's non-taxes being very relevant to the question.)   3) Where do you stand on the long-standing teaching of the right for unions to organize that are embedded in papal documents dating all the way back to Pope Leo XIII in the nineteenth century?   4) As for abortion, surely you know the distinction in Catholic philosophy between what makes good law and what makes good morality.  They are not always the same.  Since women are going to have abortions (and not all American women are Catholic, by the way), isn't it preferable to make abortion as safe as possible than to make abortion go underground?   And, as a woman, do you believe it is preferable to turn decision-making about your sacred body over to zealous male law-makers?  Why would you think that? Are you aware that saint and doctor of the church, Thomas Aquinas did not believe the fetus was human until very late in its development?  That only then did the fetus receive a “human soul” (it was first a vegetative soul and then an animal soul according to Aquinas.)  And NOTHING in contemporary science has bothered to disprove this teaching (since contemporary science rarely even uses the word “soul”). 5) Where do you stand on birth control?  Doesn't it seem that the swelling of the human population has much to do with rendering other species extinct, who lose their habitats because of human expansion?  Is it wrong to render God’s creation extinct?  Are you aware that the Dalai Lama, on being asked about birth control, said this.  Traditionally, we have always been conservative about birth control, but look around and see how rising human populations are killing other species so we must change our position on birth control given today’s situation. Do you consider human population explosion a serious problem?  6) How can you, calling yourself a serious Christian (or just a fellow human being), seriously want to end health care for many millions of Americans?  How will you look yourself in the mirror or dare to go to church?   7) Does your version of Christianity support separating children from parents and locking them up in cages?   (See Matthew 25.)  And hiring a white supremacist as an adviser to the president with an office inside the White House? 8) Former US attorney Barb McQuade has informed Americans that in 2016 you argued against filling a Supreme Court vacancy in an election time, specifically when it meant shifting the ideology of the justice bring replaced.  (In this case, Justice Ruth Ginsburg).  “When the court is seen as a political tool, it loses its legitimacy to announce the laws of the land.”  Do you still believe this?   Do you consider hypocrisy of numerous Republican senators who said something similar in 2016 and have reversed themselves in 2020 to be a solid ground for “announcing the laws of the land?”  What about your nomination on a rushed schedule?  Wouldn’t it be better for the court and its legitimacy to await the judgement of the next president?  If you believe your position as stated four years ago above, does accepting this nomination not mark you as a hypocrite also?  How do you balance that with Jesus’ teachings against hypocrisy? 9) Saint Thomas Aquinas, doctor of the church, says that “a mistake about creation results in a mistake about God.”  This is why he spent his whole life bringing the best scientist of his day (Aristotle) into the understanding of the Christian faith.  The church made huge mistakes condemning science in the time of Copernicus and Galileo and we were promised, 500 years later by Pope John Paul II, that it wouldn’t happen again.  And yet it has happened clearly in the discussion of gays and lesbians and their rights.   Over 50 years ago, scientists spoke up to inform us that any given human population will have and 8-11% gay population.  Being gay is perfectly natural for gay people, though it is a sexual minority.  Why, then, would any thoughtful Catholic deny gay and lesbians and transgender people their rights as human beings?  (Including the right to marry, at least civilly?)  Surely you do not want to succumb to old religious tropes that mistake God for a bad understanding of creation, do you? 10)  Our constitution promises a separation of church and state.  Since 80% of the American population is not Catholic but something else—Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, indigenous, atheist and more—you would not foist your particular religious beliefs on to all these others, would you?   11)  Your religion is a bit odd.  It is not Catholicism as such or Catholicism as the Pope practices it, for example, it is a mélange of Protestant and Catholics in a small charismatic community.  Speaking anecdotally, in my interactions with charismatics over the years, I have hardly ever met one who considered the struggle for justice for the poor and oppressed as part of their religious consciousness.  In fact, it was precisely the charismatic groups in South America who were financed to oppose and replace base communities and liberation theologies, while buttressing right wing political fanatics.   My question is this: What does the canonization of Saint Oscar Romero mean to you and your community?  How does his struggle on behalf of the poor resonate with your version of Christianity?   12)  Does the ecumenism which you practice in your small charismatic sect extend to other religions and will you respect them and their values in all your court decisions?  Rights of Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Native Americans, Atheists, and others? Does your ecumenism also extend to members of the Roman Catholic Church who do not share your ideology including presidential candidate Joe Biden?  House minority leader Nancy Pelosi?  Supreme court judge Sonia Sotomayor?  And many other public figures?  Will you come to their defense when certain noisy media pundits accuse Democrats of being “anti-Catholic”? 13) Do the recent revelations of how we ordinary and modest citizens pay far more taxes than millionaire presidents and also how vast international corporations pay no taxes and how the 2017 tax “reform” let many billionaires reduce their taxes affect your religious sensibilities about justice for the poor?   And does a promise that ours is a government “of the people, by the people and for the people?” correspond to the kind of economic system that is currently running our country?  How do you put into practice Pope Francis’ warnings about Wall Street and the idolatry of money?   Thank you for your attention to these questions. Sincerely, Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox *washingtonpost.com {You can read this article online at: https://www.tikkun.org/a-public-letter-to-supreme-court-nominee-amy-barrett} Matthew Fox is a spiritual theologian, and author of 38 books on spirituality and culture.  He was a Dominican priest for 34 years in the Roman Catholic church and is now an Episcopal priest.  His latest books are The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times; and Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic—and Beyond. He is a frequent contributor to Tikkun magazine. Click below to share this article on the platform of your choice! We need your support to bring the kind of analyses and information Tikkun provides. Click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Contact Us Tikkun & the Network of Spiritual Progressives 2342 Shattuck Ave #1200 Berkeley, California 94704 (510) 644-1200 magazine@tikkun.org Unsubscribe

The Working Catholic: Social Doctrine by Bill Droel

Catholic social doctrine comes to us in a series of principles derived from Scripture, from science/reason (including social science) and indispensably from 2,000 years of Christian experience in all manner of social, political and cultural settings. There is no official list of these principles, though several pamphlets and statements provide a starting lineup—usually including innate dignity of each person, solidarity, subsidiarity, dignity of work, common good, social justice and option for the poor. These principles are not optional; a Catholic is expected to prudently apply them within her or his own milieu.

Any one principle can be pulled out for close examination and specific use. It is important to remember, however, that the principles are complementary. For example, the principle of subsidiarity says that decisions are best made as close as possible to those affected by the decision, but subsidiarity cannot be pulled too far away from other principles. Neo-conservatives wrongly use it to say “the government that governs least governs best.” Subsidiarity has to be paired with other principles that affirm government, like solidarity, distributive justice and more.

Each principle builds on the God-given dignity of each person. No employer nor any company procedure nor any policy measure can give a person dignity. Likewise, nothing can take a person’s dignity away. Dignity can be and often is disrespected--sometimes by others, other times by the person. But dignity resides with God.

The principle of dignity of work comes from a proper reading of Genesis: Work is not the punishment for sin. It also comes from a natural law (science/reason) understanding that people are fulfilled through work: Homo Faber. Plus it is this principle that embodies the principle of participation in workplaces.

The dignity of work principle has several corollaries. Among them: The right of employees to vote yes or no on a union without the maternal or paternal interference of their employer. A just strike and the prohibition on Catholics to cross a just picket line are also corollaries.

Not every workplace has to have a union, Catholicism says. Some places can fulfill the principle of participation with a bona fide benefits committee or safety committee and other decision-making entities. However, a healthy, holy society must allow for unions (or guilds). The union movement as a countervailing force is a moral necessity. Catholicism counts on unions (and plenty of other groups) to advance justice and peace throughout society.

The Catholic principle on unions must not drift too far from the other principles like the common good. This turns out to be good sociology. That’s not surprising because Catholic doctrine came in part from a reflection on social science.

Sociology says that people join and participate in voluntary associations to meet two needs: the need to belong and the need to make a difference. Some organizations are mostly about belonging. Others are primarily about making a difference. A sound union does both. It attends to a member’s grievance, it sponsors social events for members and their families and it services existing contracts. Simultaneously union members make a difference as their organization aligns with social improvement organizations, donates material and time to charity efforts, co-sponsors a conference or assists other workers, including those overseas.

All unions, indeed all voluntary groups must aim at the common good, says Catholicism. The common good is the total of desirable things or conditions that no one can singularly obtain. Common goods like clean water or fresh air or the removal of a menacing virus can only be obtained collectively. A just and peaceful neighborhood is a common good. Thus for example, a law enforcement union does not only bargain for the economic and safety interests of its members, it also does its part, along with other groups, to obtain neighborhood peace and justice.

Bill Droel is editor of INITIATIVES (PO Box 291102, Chicago, IL 60629), a newsletter on faith and work.

System Change, Is It Enough?

 The shooting by Kenosha Police of unarmed Jacob Blake has intensified protests around the country concerning systematic racism.  New rules on policing are a top priority.  Some protesters in Kenosha destroyed property.  This was denounced by the Blake family.

Support of Black Lives Matter by the white community lends hope to change.  Data shows that the public supports policy changes in policing.  Of course, there is opposition to change and there is a national administration that is in denial about racism and actually foments violence.  “Milwaukee-area protesters believe their demonstrations have provided the necessary push for several policy changes.”  (MJS, Ricardo Torres, Sunday, September 6, p. 6A)

But is systemic change enough?  Eventually the majority will agree. Those in power will recognize the crucial importance of consumers for mass production products, of the role low level workers, and of the necessity of peace to maintain the capitalist power structure.  But again, is this enough?  How do we affirm the dignity of all human beings?  “All are created in the image and likeness of God.”  The answer lies in looking beyond polling data and a pragmatic approach.  Is there more than opinion data and dogmatizing that what works is good? 

There are other ways.  Let’s attempt to ‘de-mystify’ the mystics, and propose that it’s more than just me and God, and look to gaining salvation and joy with a community response.

Mystics in the 14^th Century, such as Meister Eckert, O.P. and the Beguines, look to four components in the attempt to achieve change with joy and salvation.  The Beguines were lay women in service to the community, such as nurses and theologians, such as Marguerite Porete who was burned at the stake by the Inquisition.  Both Eckert and the Beguines were condemned by Avignon Pope, John XXII. The four components they proposed relate to Aristotle’s four causes of all that is.  These are:  matter, form, efficient cause and final cause.  Since we are beyond polling data and pragmatism we need to avoid reifying myths, but respect the truth revealed by myths.  The four components of the mystics are:

Via negativa, privation, lack of justice, with potential for something new. This would be Aristotle’s ‘matter’. It is community awareness of injustice, and the lack of respect for the dignity of all people.

Via positiva, awareness of justice – the dignity of the person, Aristotle’s ‘form.’

Via creativa, the community political action to produce change, Aristotle’s ‘efficient cause,’

Via transformativa, the goal of change – a just society, salvation and joy, Aristotle’s ‘final cause.’

These four paths are ways to accomplish change and form a society that respects the dignity of the person and affirms that people are created in the image and likeness of God.

The tragic shooting of Jacob Blake took place in a small town in Wisconsin demonstrating that racism is a national issue and not isolated in metropolitan areas.  The city was an important southern port for Wisconsin before the loss of manufacturing in that area. Kenosha is in the process of salvation and restoration.  The name Kenosha is a Native American term for a large Lake Michigan fish – in English called - Pike.  Nature was generous to the community.  The good life was there and it has the potential to be restored in a new form.

What is the history of racism and bigotry in Kenosha?  A friend of mine for many years, an 89 year old woman who grew up in Kenosha, said, “I remember they picked on us when I was a kid in school.  I was called a ‘dago.’ They made fun of our parents. I understand what it’s like. It’s got to stop.  We must have Christian Faith and Hope. We can’t just lie down and quit, otherwise we are nothing.”  

Already there are discussions about racism in Kenosha and they need to continue.  The horror of seeing a young man shot in the back seven times moves everyone.  The negative situation exploded emotions of anger but also compassion. Those most injured reject violence and look for justice.  Ms. Julia Jackson, Jacob Blake’s mother, was quoted in the Sunday paper (M.J.S. Sunday, August 30, 2020, p.4D).

   “To all of the Police officers: I am praying for you and your families. To all of the citizens, my black and brown sisters and brothers: I am praying for you.  I believe that you are intelligent beings just like the rest of us.  Everybody:  Let’s use our hearts, our love and our intelligence to work together, to show the rest of the world how humans are supposed to treat each other.  America is great when we behave greatly.”

Jacob Blake’s mother’s words are prophetic. She looks to a community solution, as opposed to an ‘us vs. them’ negotiation based on power.  We need to listen and heed her words.

For a better understanding of the original meaning of the “FOUR PATHS” see Matthew Fox,

Original Blessing, Bear & Co. Santa Fe, NM, 1983.  Sheer Joy, Harper, San Francisco,1992.

The Tao of St. Thomas Aquinas, Universe, Bloomington, IN, 2020

 

 

 

 

The Working Catholic: Labor Day by Bill Droel

Two Catholic laymen are credited with starting Labor Day: Matthew McGuire (1855-1917) and, no relation, Peter J. McGuire (1852-1906). Matthew McGuire was a machinist from Paterson, NJ who began factory work at age 14. Throughout the 1880s he was involved in the Knights of Labor, the first successful national union in this country.

Peter McGuire was born in New York City. He moved to St. Louis where he was a carpenter. In 1881 he moved to Chicago and formed the United Brotherhood of Carpenters out of 12 small unions. He eventually became the first secretary of the American Federation of Labor.

In 1882 the two men organized a Knights of Labor parade in New York City. It was repeated in 1883 and 1884. The 1884 parade was the first time the day was called Labor Day. Subsequently, the idea of an official Labor Day caught on in Oregon and then in a few other states. The first Saturday of June was the designated holiday. Soon enough the day was changed to the first Monday in September. Finally in 1894 the U.S. Congress voted to make that day a national holiday.

The relationship between organized labor and U.S. Catholicism has been mutually beneficial. Why not? Until recently, the constituencies were the same.

A key incident occurred in 1887 when Pope Leo XIII held a consistory to commission new cardinals. Among his picks was Archbishop James Gibbons (1834-1921) of Baltimore. A bishop in Quebec had just condemned the Knights of Labor, calling it a secret society akin to the Masons. Vatican officials supported the Canadian decree and were prepared to extend it universally. Gibbons used his opportunity in front of the pope to prevent any such thing from applying in the U.S. Of note: Four years after this consistory, Leo XIII issued the first modern social encyclical, On the Condition of Labor.

The relationship between U.S. Catholicism and organized labor is less prominent these days. Catholic institutions get their donations from suburbia and significantly less from urban immigrants, who were once the base for unions. Also, unions have fewer members than in the past, including fewer Catholics. The relationship is so ignored that here-and-there trustees of Catholic institutions violate our doctrine on labor relations with impunity.

How can U.S. Catholics observe Labor Day, September 7, 2020? First, treat it has a Sabbath. Specifically, don’t shop on Labor Day so that as many workers as possible have an easy day of it. Second, read about Catholic labor doctrine. Start with St. John Paul II’s beautiful meditations on work. (See below.) Third, participate in the liturgy despite the Covid-19 alterations. Praying a portion of the liturgy of the hours at home is recommended. It is equally safe to participate at the live stream Mass on www.catholiclabor.org at 1 PM Central, September 7th. (Prior registration is requested.)

A final word on liturgy. Back in the day I was part of a lobby group to change the feast of St. Joseph the Worker from May 1^st to the first Monday in September—in the U.S. only. The proposal got a fair hearing from several bishops, but the liturgy police in Washington, DC squelched it.

The May 1^st feast was instituted to counter the Communist celebration of May Day or Workers’ Day, which is still observed in some European countries. Ironically, the communists picked that day because of the 1886 Haymarket incident here in Chicago. A rally for an Eight Hour work day turned violent—seven police and four workers died. Eight workers were quickly arrested and seven were convicted. A few of us in Chicago honor this history but it is lost on almost all U.S. Catholics, including those who observe May 1^st as the St. Joseph feast. The U.S. origin of May Day is also, I suspect, lost on those who observe the holiday in Europe.

Droel is the editor of John Paul II’s Gospel of Work (National Center for the Laity, PO Box 291102, Chicago, IL 60629; $8).

The Working Catholic: Turning to Politics by Bill Droel

Young adults are forcing our society to deal with several injustices and tensions. The long neglect is no more. Their protest movements are remarkably strong, even though the young adult leaders mobilize amid a deadly pandemic. The movements are now though at a crossroads. Thus, some of those leaders are studying U.S. history to learn what to do and what not to do next. Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), for example, is for some young adults a source for consideration, particularly his 1964 essay, “From Protest to Politics.”

Rustin was a leader on the original 1941 March on Washington and again at the 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom. He was a founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and involved with the Freedom Rides. Later in life he was instrumental in integrating several unions and went on humanitarian missions to assist refugees. Rustin was a gay rights supporter even before the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. Most substantially, Rustin brought the philosophy of non-violent social action to the civil rights efforts of the 1950s-1960s. He spent time in India and elsewhere studying the applied strategies of Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948).

 A protest movement, says Rustin, must take a “turn toward political action.” The movement’s fervor must aggregate people “into power units capable of effecting social change.” To counter police brutality, for example, it might be necessary “to get rid of the local sheriff.” During Rustin’s time and in the South, “that meant political action which in turn meant, and still means, political action within the Democratic Party.” Protesters, in this example, must figure out a way to get inside the party’s decision-making—through voter registration, through campaigning for a candidate, by forming a local caucus and more. The turn to power requires getting allies and making compromises.

Rustin is clear that this turn does not mean moderation, which is usually adjusting to the status quo. It is easy and sometimes convenient for those entities that control the current state of affairs to symbolically endorse the spirit of a protest movement without changing power relationships. Those who march for real change could be fooled when, for example, a major sports league (not individual players) or a major technology company endorses the cause in general terms.

The established system knows that the predictable news coverage of a protest soon fades. Then, says Rustin, those protesters who’ve given insufficient attention to political organizing are left “with no forces prepared to move toward radical solutions. From this they conclude that the only viable strategy is shock; above all, the hypocrisy of white liberals must be exposed… They think they can frighten white people into doing the right thing.” Too often for the apolitical protesters “militancy is a matter of posture and volume and not of effect.”

Instead, Rustin concludes, leaders of a protest movement must find ways to institutionalize power through alliances with like-minded groups, including those whose support comes with tradeoffs. “The leader who shrinks from this task reveals not purity, but lack of political sense.”

Back in the day, the phrase “the powerful 2%” meant that only a minority of idealists were involved in the movement. So it is today, though the protesters of 2020 might be the 4%, 10%, 25%. No matter the percentage, they are powerful because, as Rev. Martin Luther King (1929-1968) preached, “though the arc of the moral universe is long it bends toward justice.” Yet, the power of a demonstration, Rustin and others would say, will be sustained to the extent that the protest aims at specific reforms and will be effective if it grows alongside units of power.

Droel is with National Center for the Laity (PO Box 291102, Chicago, IL 60629)

Time on Two Crosses (Cleis Press; $21.95) is a collection of Rustin’s essays.

 

 

 

THE CREED OF AN ACTIVIST

James Cusack sent a postcard to the director of Voces de la Frontera a few weeks before his death on June 14, 2020.

“Dear Christine and all Voces,

 I see myself in you and VDLF (Voces de la Frontera – Immigrant Workers Organization).  Be not afraid – I am not afraid.  We are asked to walk together, love and take care of one another. – Francis.  Jim” 

Jim grew up on the south side of Chicago he loved to talk about White Sox greats such as Minnie Minoso and Nellie Fox.  He was a working man, a proud member of the Carpenters’ Union.  His dedication to workers rights was unsurpassed.

Jim was not afraid; he was a man of Faith. (Jn. 6:20)  His joy in living the The Word of God was obvious and infectious.  The Irish eyes were always smiling.

He believed that the Justice we hoped for, Justice for immigrants, African Americans and all workers was a secure reality.  (Heb. 11:1-2)

Jim believed that the ‘principalities and powers’ were nothing as a challenge to God’s will.  (Eph. 2:21)

Jim believed that the reign of God was present when:

   We continued the non-violent fight for Justice.

   We love our neighbor including those of a different color or ancestry.

   We humbly accept the will of God. (Lev, 19, Mi, 6:8 )

Thanks Jimmy – Hasta la Victoria