May 1st March, an Historical Perspective

   Voces de la Frontera’s annual May 1^st March is for worker rights and focuses on immigration reform while referencing itself to the historic May 1^st marches in the past.

   The story begins in 1886 when the Knights of Labor – a national labor union – campaigned for the eight-hour day.  In Chicago two demonstrations resulted in police violence.  A demonstration of workers, mostly immigrants from Germany, at Chicago’s Haymarket, between Desplaines and Halsted Streets, resulted in several being killed.  Although the workers had a permit for the public meeting, those thought to have organized the meeting were indicted and convicted of murder.  Four were executed by the state of Illinois. Those indicted and convicted are called the Haymarket Martyrs and have been memorialized in May 1^st marches since the 1890’s mostly in Europe and Latin America.

   A few days after the ‘Haymarket,’ a group of Polish workers in Milwaukee gathered at St. Stanislaus Church to march to the Bay View Rolling Mills to demand an eight-hour day.  The marchers were met with gunfire from the Wisconsin National Guard and several workers were killed. This event in labor history is chronicled as the Bay View Massacre.  The Milwaukee confrontation is not well known, but Milwaukee workers remember and so do the immigrant workers of Voces de la Frontera remember as they march on May 1^st for immigration reform and the rights of all workers.

   The above is a brief review of the events that are memorialized in the May 1^st Marches since the 1890’s.  The next postings will provide a more detailed account of the “Haymarket Riot” and the “Bay View Massacre,” starting Tuesday, April 16th and for successive Tuesdays.

  The story is related from the point of view of a trip to England to learn more about Samuel Fielden, an Immigrant from England and one of the “Haymarket Martyrs.” Again, a new posting will be made every Tuesday starting on April 16th .

LINCOLN’S ANSWER TO HIS LABOR PROBLEM

A BRIEF CONSIDERATION OF ‘COMMON SENSE’ AS THE MORAL – POLITICAL GUIDE TO DO THE RIGHT THING

For starters let’s register some opinions and facts -

The U.S. Declaration of Independence states:

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  That to secure these rights Governments are instituted among Men, deriving there just powers from the consent of the governed.

The U.S. Constitution:

We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish the Constitution for the United States of America.

Nature, (synderesis): The human person naturally seeks the ‘Good.’   Evil is chosen because it is perceived as ‘good’ – common sense choices tend to be correct and are morally good.

Human dignity: The human being is specifically different from the rest of nature in that a person can know and know that she/he knows.  The person has the natural right to freely choose - to pursue happiness in community as a fulfillment of the reason for existence.

If the mind cannot know the essence of a being and can only rely on knowledge, that is, a collection of similar individuals, then a statement about the collection is a statement that, at best, is more or less true.  “All men are created equal” can simply mean white male property owners living in the U.S.A.  This limited concept of equality can change if we expand the meaning through new legislation, or the concept is broadened by a court battle.  The ‘dignity of man,’ the right to a labor union,  a voice in the workplace and civil society would be unheard of without well defined power legislation and contentious court battles. “What about the squirrels?”  This is not ‘humanity’ as understood by Julian of Norwich.  The movement of ‘individualism’ dictates the role of government in protecting these human rights; it emphasizes the individual, not the community.   

Common sense: looks to a guide for moral decisions, then makes a judgment.  This guide, the circumstances and the situation are all factors to consider.  Courage and faith to choose the best solution and then to act is key, especially since often there is no certainty that the apparent best solution will work.  (Abraham Lincoln had faith – see John Burt, A Tragic Pragmatism, Harvard Press, 2013)

Common Good: “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or individuals to reach their fulfillment more easily.” (Gaudium et Spes, para. 26.)

Natural Law: Rational by nature, the human person should choose to do that which is reasonable. (From the Epicureans, Stoics, Thomas Aquinas.)

LINCOLN’S LABOR PROBLEM - SLAVERY

   President Lincoln faced the dilemma of the Declaration of Independence stating that “all men are created equal” with a right to the fruits of their labor, yet the Constitution supported slavery.  Slavery, of course, is a labor problem and is still relevant.  For some this was not a dilemma; it was just a fact of life.  Some, because of their situation were not to be considered as persons with rights to be protected.  “All are created equal” is similar to Catholic Social Teaching’s “Dignity of Man” therefore workers have a right to a voice in the workplace – a union.  Lincoln’s understanding of “All are created equal” was different than that of Jefferson or that of John Locke (1632-1704), the Oxford ‘enlightenment’ promoter of common sense. Locke and Jefferson were empiricists, whereas Lincoln was an ‘essentialist’ who understood      humanity in terms of essence as the ancient Greeks, Romans and the realist scholastics of the Middle Ages.  Common sense for Lincoln meant that “All are created equal” and he referred to ‘humanity’ not just as white, male, property owners.  Gary Wills says that Lincoln in the Gettysburg address refers to the Declaration of Independence and presents a new understanding of the phrase “all are created equal.”  Lincoln’s words go beyond Jefferson and they redefine the Republic.  At the funeral oratory of Gettysburg, Lincoln announced a “new birth of freedom.”

   Wills traces Lincoln’s ‘essentialism’ back to the Lincoln/Douglas debates.  Lincoln opposed the Kansas – Nebraska Act which would have allowed the people of these new territories to vote on slavery.  For Lincoln this was not an issue that could be decided by a vote.  For Lincoln slavery was wrong, against the American principle of equality and couldn’t be sanctioned by a positive vote.  Such is the voice of common sense.

    Lincoln’s reasons are those of the Transcendentalists.  As Unitarians with a developed philosophy and theology, they proposed that justice transcends law. Let’s consider one Transcendentalist, George Bancroft.  He wrote the following concerning the Declaration of Independence:  “The bill of rights which it promulgates is of rights that are older than human institutions, and spring from the eternal justice.” (Gary Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg, Simon & Schuster, 1992, p. 104.)

   Consider the words of Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Nature, is the incarnation of thought … the world is mind precipitated.”  (ibid. p. 103)  These comments reflect Lincoln’s realism; he went beyond the empiricism of Jefferson and Locke.

   Epistemological realism also influenced Lincoln’s position on secession.  Lincoln admitted in his first inaugural address that some states have spoken for disunion but not the people, “my rightful masters.”  “Otherwise, ‘The United States (would) be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of a contract (or pact) merely.’” (Ibid. p. 130)  There is opposition to Lincoln’s view to this day, as President Reagan liked to put it, “the federal government hadn’t created the states; the states created the federal government.” But the Constitution states: We the people – not we the states.

Notre Dame professor of law Vincent Rougeau writes: 

Catholicism in particular has long instructed that true individual flourishing can occur only the within the context of a web of human relationships. This culturally, heterogeneous situated understanding of human well being is an accepted part of political philosophies around the world but it has been rejected in the United States in favor of a contractarian understanding of rights…

(Vincent Rougeau, Christians in the American Empire, Oxford, 2008, p. 17.)   

   Lincoln’s realism went beyond that of Aristotle, the Stoics and Thomas Aquinas who supported natural slavery.  It was not the realism of Karl Marx who infused his doctrine of historical materialism into Hegel’s spiritual thrust of history.   It was a realism comparable to that of Bartolomé de las Casas, who eventually opposed slavery in Latin America.  Lincoln added the dimension of democracy as a right and a necessity for humanity. Marx saw the “spirit of history” in matter and came up with historical materialism.  Lincoln saw the “spirit of history” as a creative destiny in the people and in democracy.  People and politics are difficult at best to predict.  Lincoln’s democracy did not have Marx’s certitude of historical materialism or the Calvanist confidence of  Manifest Destiny.   

   Manifest Destiny is an idealistic philosophy and a theology that fueled support for the war with Mexico (1846-1848).  It was a doctrine of expansionism and racism that Lincoln as a U.S congressman opposed.  Michael Hogan cites Mexican scholar Bergoña Arteta as documenting clearly:   “the connection between the invasion of Mexico in 1846 and the doctrines of Calvinism, Manifest Destiny, expansionism, coupled with Anglo Saxon belief in racial superiority …”  (Hogan, Michael, The Irish Soldiers of Mexico, Custom Book Tique, Quebec, Canada, 2011, p.107.)

Such is the Civil War climate that Lincoln faced and that we continue to experience.  For example, the neo-cons ironically are born out of classical thought like Lincoln.  They follow Professor Leo Straus and classical philosophy, but it should be  remembered that Aristotle and St. Thomas supported natural slavery.      

                                                                     

   The common sense meaning of “all men are created equal” is a philosophical problem for epistemology.  John Courtney Murray, S.J. wrote:

   

Every proposition, if it is to be argued, supposes an epistemology of some sort.  The epistemology of the American Proposition was, I think by the Declaration of Independence by the famous phrase, ‘We hold these truths …’ (p. viii)

… What cannot be questioned, however, is that the American Proposition rests on the forthright assertion of a realist epistemology.” (p. viii) 

…In this matter philosophical reflection does not augment the data of common sense.  It merely analyzes, penetrates, and organizes them in their full abstractness; this does not, however, remove them from vital contact with their primitive source in experience. (p.329)

         (John Courtney Murray, We Hold These Truths, Sheed & Ward, New York, 1960)   

  

    John Burt’s book, Lincoln’s Tragic Pragmatism, promises to give a thorough review of Lincoln’s philosophical understanding of common sense.  ‘Tragic Pragmatism’…what is that?  Book reviewer, Steven B. Smith, explains: “Burt argues that Lincoln’s decision to pursue a politics of principle over deal making was an act of faith.”  But where will this mystical destiny take us? (Steven B. Smith, “Book Review – N.Y. Times,” Feb. 17, 2013)

   Could emancipation of the slaves move the nation anywhere but a new freedom?   Samuel Fielden reflected on the results of the U.S. Civil War in his death row autobiography.  Fielden was an immigrant from Todmorden, England who became a labor movement leader in Chicago.  He was caught up in Chicago’s Haymarket Riot in 1886 and sentenced to death. In his reflections he wrote about working in the southern United States after the Civil War and the Negro.

    I worked before my return to the north in the states of Louisiana,         Mississippi and Arkansas, and I took every opportunity I could to learn about the condition of the Negro, and I learned he was as much a bondsman as ever he was, and in many cases worse. 

(Philip S. Forner, end, Autobiographies of the Haymarket Martyrs,  Monad Press, New York, 1969, p.151)

Fielden was pardoned by Illinois Governor John Altged in 1893.

   The story continued and continues, “American democracy remains a work in progress.” (Ibid. p. 14)  Faith in the destiny of democracy and humanity is key.

A COMMENT ON THE ELECTION OF POPE FRANCIS I

    I’m not an anti-clerical Argentinean, but if Newt Gingrich is excited about the new Pope Francis there must be more than something wrong.

   The color, the pageantry, the smoke, the screaming crowds – but – we end up with an old white man carrying the baggage of horrible murders in Argentina as Pope – how depressing. Is this something more to cover-up?   Faith too easily slips into the denial of reality and belief in staged fantasy. But there is the possibility that there is something more.

THE DIGNITY OF MAN – A WORKING CONCEPT FOR WORKERS

   

My dogmatic slumber

  I really thought common sense was sufficient to explain why workers have a basic right to organize into unions. The papal encyclicals point to the “dignity of man” as the core reason.  During a discussion group I mentioned this and expected the usual silent glassy eyed response, but I was immediately and strongly challenged by a university professor of anthropology.   He shouted, “what about the squirrels – don’t they have dignity?”  He went on, “one of those encyclicals says that a living wage means that a worker should have money to get a beer after his shift.”  “Thank God we don’t get that crap at our Church.”  I was stunned; I couldn’t respond except to say, “Let’s get back to common sense.”   Was it simply an upper class academic dismissal of those beneath their status?  But then again, what about women, “dignity of man” is an evolving concept even in the social encyclicals.

   Class conflict is just there, but preaching without using common sense has a long varied history.  A serious challenge to common sense is highlighted by the troubles of Peterless Peter Abelard (1079 - 1142) in the 12^th century. 

   Abelard’s fame in history is mostly related to an illicit affair with his student Eloise.  Pete paid the price for the affair since in the middle ages a simple cover up was not sufficient.  However, Peterless Pete’s important question: was not, as the romantics think, “Eloise what are you doing tonight?” but, as logicians think, “How can we use universals?”  If universals are just of the mind and not reality, they can mean whatever we want them to mean.  Peterless Pete thought he solved the problem, but St. Bernard (1090 - 1153) thought Pete’s logic misinterpreted the Trinity, declared Pete a heretic, and refused to rescue him.   

   Common sense made a comeback in 13^th century with Adequate Tom Aquino (St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225 - 1274).   With help from Jewish and Muslim philosophers (Averoes, 1126 - 1198, Maimonedes, 1135 – 1204), Adequate Tom referred back to the ancient Greeks and restored confidence in human reason.  But in the 14^th century, Wild Bill Ockham (William of Ockham, 1288 - 1347) took his razor to Aristotelian Adequate Tom and severed the “possible” and “agent” faculties from the intellect making it impossible to produce certain conclusions.   Again, is the razor a better answer than the cover up?  But obviously mistakes can be made.

   The “dignity of man,” does the concept have a basis in reality?  Does the concept imply that workers have the right to organize?  President Lincoln faced a similar problem.  The Declaration of Independence states that all are equal yet the institution of slavery was sanctioned by the Constitution.  In the next posting we will consider Lincoln’s reasoning.  Comments and suggestions are appreciated.  Email

wjlange@sbcglobal.net

A DISTANT MIRROR

(A book by Barbara Tuchman comparing the 14^th century to the present time.  Note the last Pope to resign was Gregory XII – 1415.)

   History of philosophy scholar Etienne Gilson, in a series of lectures at Harvard in 1937, claimed the collapse of philosophy in the 14^th century should be attributed to Franciscan Friar William of Ockham.  Ockham’s epistemology led to skepticism - the end to certain knowledge through causes and therefore philosophy itself.  For Gilson, modern philosophy has the same problem.  David Hume is the modern Ockham for Gilson, and philosophy from Gilson’s 1937 Thomistic perspective, once again had reached a low point.  It is implied by Gilson that with philosophy in such a weak state it would be difficult to respond to the arguments presented by Fascism and its founding author G. Gentile.

   Gilson claimed the when philosophy collapses, the only options are mysticism and moralism.  Of course if philosophers believe that reason must be surrendered when mystics, moralists, and pre-modern analysts are evaluated, then philosophy is indeed lost.  Thus Gilson’s tunnel vision missed the restorative work of Julian of Norwich as well as the immense value to humanity of Ockham’s work for politics and science.

(Gilson, Etienne, The Unity of Philosophical Experience, Charles Scribbner’s Sons, New York, 1950, Copyright 1937)

   Might we look into the distant mirror and see ourselves with tunnel vision missing significant work because of the absurd politics of the Roman Catholic Church attempting to impose Church rules on society at large? The 14^th century Avignon Catholic Church may have been more corrupt and hypocritical than the Roman Catholic Church of the present age, but we can’t be far behind. 

   For example, the cover-up of pedophile priests is shocking.   One of the most notable and long time cover-up artists, Cardinal Roger Mahony is allowed to continue to function as a priest and as a Cardinal (He can vote for the next Pope).    Yet 92 year old Jesuit Bill Brennan of Milwaukee is immediately censured for concelebrating a Mass with a woman priest.  He is no longer allowed to publically celebrate Mass or appear in public wearing a Roman collar.  Brennan has served as a missionary in Central America, a high school theology professor, a Catholic Worker chaplain and a parish priest.  The attack on the dignity of a 92 year old priest makes it seem fruitless to look for actions promoting compassion and justice in the Church.

VOCES DE LA FRONTERA

   But wherever we go I accompany Joanne to Sunday Mass.  In San Francisco I picked up a copy of the Archdiocesan newspaper in Spanish – “San Francisco Católico,” 1-27-13.  A headline on page seven caught my attention: “Obispo: Mexico ha cambiado pero quizas no para bein.” (Mexico has changed perhaps not for the better)

   The Bishop was Dominican Raul Vera Lopez, O.P. whom I had met in San Cristobal de las Casas in 1998.  Three of us from Milwaukee went to San Cristobal to accompany a delegation from Michigan to join a pilgrimage planned by Bishop Samuel Ruiz to Mexico City and to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  The purpose was to inform the nation and the world of the atrocities committed in Chiapas (eg. the massacre at Acteal) against the indigenous people by para-militaries and ignored by the Mexican government.  Forty bus loads of campesinos visited four cities and culminated in a symposium and prayer vigil in Mexico City.  Bishop Ruiz led the pilgrimage, and the Michigan and Milwaukee people lent an international presence.  Auxiliary Bishop Vera Lopez prepared us for the trip.  I remember his comments were inspiring and his humor relieved tension.

   Raul Vera Lopez is now Bishop of Saltillo, Mexico.  Saltillo is 190 kilometers south of the U.S. border. The headline in the San Francisco paper referred to comments he made at a celebration of his 25^th anniversary as a Bishop.  The article states that government officials and wealthy business leaders did not attend, but the faithful of the diocese were there.  Also attending was Vera Lopez’ Dominican compatriot, Gustavo Gutierrez, O.P. founder of Liberation Theology.

   Lopez’ comments at his anniversary indicated the rightist government (P.A.N.) was no better than the leftist government that it replaced.  The leftist government (P.R.I.} was in power in ‘98.  The P.R.I. in recent elections returned to power but Don Raul accuses them of buying votes.  Both parties are, “equally rotten, corrupt and inept,” he said.  The Bishop lashed out at the 1994 trade agreement N.A.F.T.A. as a cause of Mexican poverty.  (On New Year’s Day in 1994 the Zapatistas took over several cities in Chiapas in response.) Bishop Vera Lopez stated, “N.A.F.T.A. accelerated income inequality; it made some large business owners wealthy, but it hurt the general population.”

   A companion article notes that Bishop Vera Lopez’ diocese aids people from Central America who are travelling to the U.S.-Mexican border to enter the U.S. illegally.  Most of the travelers are “evangelicos” – Non-Catholic - but Father Pantejo the priest in charge said, “we give them bread freely, the origin of this is love and a social commitment; It is not a debate about faith.”

   A December article in the Huffington Post (HUFFPOST – 12/25/12) states that Bishop Vera Lopez supports a law in his Provence of Coahuila which legitimizes gay unions.  With Don Raul Vera Lopez we have a Bishop who advocates for the basic human rights of people not irrelevant Church law.  Bartolomé de las Casas did the same in the 16 century as he challenged the Church and the Spanish aristocracy. Despite being out of sync with most of the current hierarchy Vera Lopez is part of a strong proud tradition.

THE TRIP TO ENGLAND FOR JACOB’S BAPTISM AND A SEARCH FOR THE LEGACY OF JULIAN OF NORWICH

   “When he broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth animal shout, ‘Come’.  Immediately another horse appeared, deathly pale, and its rider was called Plague, and Hades followed at his heals.” (The New Testament, John, Rev. C. 6, v. 8)  But Julian of Norwich saw that all was created with love and said that all, in all manner is well and will be well. (Julian of Norwich, The Revelations of Divine Love. Showing 13, C. 32)

   Joanne & I traveled to England leaving Christmas Day 2012 to celebrate the baptism of our new grandson Jacob.  The day of the baptism was cloudy and cold.  Television commentators in the U.K. that morning commented on U.S. issues such as gun control and the immanence of going over the financial fiscal cliff.

   The ceremony was brief but meaningful.  Father McCarthy, the lead celebrant, welcomed the radiant and beautiful Jacob Alan Lange into the community and reminded us of our responsibilities in love to Jacob.  Father McCarthy prayed for the support of the ever present “Communion of Saints” including Saints Jacob, Joel, and David.  In my own prayer I added Julian of Norwich.

NORWICH

 

   We arrived in London a week before the ceremony and had time to visit Norwich a city to the east and north of London and close to the North Sea.  The purpose was to discover more about Julian of Norwich, a 14^th century  anchoress.  An anchoress is a female hermit who withdraws from secular life to a sealed room connected to a church for religious reasons. 

   Norwich was second to London in population and commercial importance in 14^th century England.  It was a century of dramatic change similar to our own times.  Increased finished cloth production brought in skilled workers to Norwich from Flanders.  Many foreign workers in Norwich were murdered during the Peasants Revolt in 1381.  (Whittock, Martyn, Life in the Middle Ages, London, 2009, p. 68)  Climate change, constant war with France, the Black Death, a corrupt Catholic Church, which had moved its headquarters from Rome to Avignon, and strong theological dissent, responded to by the inquisition, set the background for the writings of mystic Julian of Norwich.  (see - Tuchman, Barbara W. A Distant Mirror, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1978.)  

      A visit to Norwich can bring history alive.  Several stops during rainy cold days gave us a greater awareness of anchoress Julian.  Let us consider three: the Cathedral, St. Andrew and Black Friar’s Halls and St. Julian’s Church.

THE NORMAN CATHEDRAL AND ABBY

  

    The Norwich Cathedral, Church of the Holy Trinity, which, since Henry VIII, (1491-1541) has been under the control of the English government and the Anglican Church.   The Cathedral was established by Norman Bishop Herbert Losinga and the Benedictines in 1096, and construction was completed in 1499.  The Cathedral has differing architecture since its construction continued during centuries of time.  For example, the lower part is Romanesque and the upper vault is Gothic.

   At least three references to Julian can be found in the Cathedral.  Various chapels line the inside of the Cathedral.  Priests were required to say Mass every day and the BenedictIne Community had many priests and needed many chapels to accommodate.  It was believed the Masses provided the ground of existence for mankind.  One of the chapels, dedicated to the 9^th Army Regiment of Norfolk, has a painted window of “St. Juliana.” It is not known what her real name was, but  she is called Julian because she was an anchoress at St. Julian’s Church. She appears in Benedictine habit with a cat at her feet.  There are doubts as to whether she was really a Benedictine nun, and those who think she was a nun call her – Dame Julian.  She was never officially declared a saint, but her writings cut out the legs supporting Christian theology so official canonization to sainthood would very surprising.  The cat, the only animal allowed to be with an anchoress, was useful in catching mice and rats that might enter the cell.  Also the founder of Christianity in the region of East Anglia was St. Felix, a name often associated with cats.

   Another chapel has a painted glass window depicting notable Benedictine monks.  Julian is at the base of the window wearing a Benedictine habit.   An inscription in Latin, “Ut in omnibus glorificatur Deus” (hence in all God is glorified. - a Benedictine saying, but arguably a summation of Julian’s theology,)  The tour guide called her Mother Julian.  

   An entrance to the Cathedral is flanked by contemporary statues of St. Benedict and Julian.  We had the good fortune to meet the sculptor, David Holgate, at a tea shop, and he told us he did many months of research for the statues.  Julian is carved wearing the typical dress of a 14^th century towns-woman.  She is appropriately holding a book since she was the first woman to write a book in English, Revelations in Divine Love, and to this day she is a teacher.  Julian wrote in a form of English similar to that of Chaucer – a contemporary.  St. Benedict, the founder of monasticism, is shown in his habit with his index finger over his lips to show the importance of silence.  (“Be still and confess that I am God!  I am exalted among the nations – exalted on the earth.  The Lord of Hosts is with us, our stronghold is the God of Jacob.”  Psalm 46, vs. 11 -12.  “Nothing in all creation is so like God as stillness.” Meister Eckhart, Matthew Fox, Original Blessing, Bear & Company, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1983, p. 133.)

BLACKFRIARS & ST. ANDREW’S HALLS

   We visited the St. Andrew’s and Black Friars Halls to get further insights into Julian’s 14^th century.  The Dominicans, Black Friars, arrived in Norwich in 1226.  They took over the priory of St. Andrew’s in 1307, and began constructing the Black Friars Hall in 1345.  The Friars (White Friars – Carmelites, Grey Friars – Franciscans, Black Friars – Dominicans) of Norwich differed from the Benedictine Monks in that the Benedictines would establish an Abby that attracted people to form a productive community with its center at the Abby.  The Benedictine motto is:  laborare est orare (to work is to pray.)  The Abbot or Abbess would be the ultimate community authority.   The friars differed in that they would go out to the people preaching in parishes, establishing community centers. 

   The family of Thomas Erpingham, hero of Agincourt, 1415 - a major victory for the English in the 100 years war with France, donated money for the construction of the Black Friars Hall.  Erpingham’s son was a Dominican; the Erpingham coat of arms is evident in the hall.    Some believe Julian was of the wealthy aristocratic Erpingham family, hence the use of the title – Lady Julian.  The reasoning is that Julian was an educated woman, even though she claimed not to be, and someone had to support her as an anchoress; it could have been the bishop, but this is unlikely.  The Bishop, Henry Despenser, and Thomas Erpingham were enemies.

   A plaque at the Black Friars Hall commemorates two anchoresses that were attached to the hall – Katherine Foster and Katherine Mann.  Did the Dominican charism, “contemplata aliis trader” (giving the fruits of contemplation to others) influence Julian?  The first Dominicans were cloistered nuns.

St. JULIAN  CHURCH

 

   Of course the most important place we went to on our pilgrimage was St. Julian’s Church.  Even in the cold and rain we recognized it as Holy Ground.  This is where Julian lived as an anchoress for probably over 40 years in a room attached to the church.  The room was sealed but she had a window looking into the church so that she might participate in the liturgy and a window to the street so she could be available to console,  council and encourage others. 

   It is a small stone church still in use for prayer.  It is estimated that there has been a church on this site since 950.  The name is probably from Bishop Julian of Le Mans (4^th century).  In 1135 King Stephen gave the Church to the care of the nearby Benedictine Nuns of Carrow.  The Church is close to the river Wensum which connects to the North Sea and facilitated Norwich to be a port of entry for the Normans and people from the low countries.  Julian the anchoress gets her name from the Church.  A replica of the Church was re-constructed in 1953 because of bombing damage suffered during W.W. II.  

   Among the interesting features of the Church is a medieval baptismal front which dates from about 1420.   Several well known saints are carved on the font, but at the base are saints that a Church brochure notes with a question mark.  One is William of Norwich, a boy whose murder was blamed on the Jews.  

   “Unwanted children were often sent into the forest to die, as the

   story of Hansel and Gretel recalls; parents could easily explain their

   disappearance by blaming it on the Jews.  In Norwich Cathedral in

   England, one can see a very apologetic plaque commemorating the

   boy William of Norwich who in the twelfth century was said to have

   been stolen by the Jews and crucified.”  (We did not see the plaque.)      

   “In compensation he was made a saint.”  (Middle Ages, Editors of

   “Horizon Magazine,” American Heritage Publishing Co. Inc. New York,

   1968.  p. 131.)

 The Jews were expelled from England in 1290 by Edward I.

     Not far from the Church was “Lollards Pit” where followers of dissident Oxford Priest and scholar John Wyclif were dumped after execution.  Julian’s showings supported Wyclif; which raises the question – who was Julian’s protector?

THE MARRIAGE OF THE MYSTICAL AND THE ACTIVE

    The profundity of Julian’s book goes much deeper than we are capable considering, but look at the following.  Julian wrote at a time of rampant fear and hatred, but she pointed to all pervasive love as the response.  She saw the “passion” not just as her suffering or Jesus’ suffering but as the suffering of humanity which elicits love – compassion – and justice.  Julian uses the term “humanity” in the “realistic” sense of Benedictine Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury (1033-1109).  Ironically, I believe that 14^th century (c1290 -1349) polar opposite Franciscan “nominalist” William of Ockham would have had no objections to Julian’s work.  

   For Julian, God was the mother of all.    She did not preach a crusade against the Muslims as did 14 century mystic Catherine of Sienna, nor did she march with the flagellants preaching apocalyptic fear and denouncing Jews, as did the defender of Avignon, St. Vincent Ferrer. 

   Julian agreed with Wyclif  as to the equality of the people of God.  Her term was “even Christians.”  Her God was a God of motherly love, not one of wrath that required mediators.

   The connection – the unity of heaven and earth was clear to her.  Humanity was in partnership with the Creator to restore all.  Jacob’s ladder is an appropriate symbol.  Fourteenth century German Dominican theologian Meister Eckhart has an explanation: “down is up and up is down.”  (Fox, Matthew, A Spirituality Named Compassion, Harper, San Francisco, 1979,  p. 40.)     

HOLIDAY ECUMENISM FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE II

           Every December, besides the Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration, the Milwaukee Voces de la Frontera New Sanctuary Movement organizes or participates in a “Posada” liturgy to commemorate the biblical story of Mary and Joseph traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem where Jesus would be born.  The theme is the sacredness of the family.  This year’s event was a cooperative program sponsored by Voces – Sanctuary, Gesu Catholic Church, Ascension Lutheran Church, MICAH (Milwaukee Interfaith Congregations Allied for Hope) and Nativity Jesuit Middle School.  Such cooperation is a result of Vatican II.

          What is the difference in solemnity between the “Posada” and Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrations?  Guadalupe Romero and Eva Gomez, both Mexicans, say that the Guadalupe celebration is done with intense emotion, and it is prayerful.  The “Posada” is prayerful but more festive.   

          The re-enactment of the journey to Bethlehem was a four block trip from Ascension Church to the Nativity Jesuit Middle School with four stops with Mary and Joseph asking for “Posada” – a place of refuge where the baby would be born. The bible story became real.

          The journey began at Ascension Lutheran Church.  All gathered in the Sanctuary for an introduction and an explanation of the “Posada” liturgy. It was raining and cold so two of the four stops of the procession would be in the Ascension Church building.   From the pulpit in the Sanctuary the narrator explained:

“The Posada is a Mexican tradition to commemorate the journey that Joseph and his wife Mary had to make to find a place for her to give birth.  The road was very long, it took many days.  They are the true migrants who looked for the best for their child Jesus.   The story of Mary and Joseph is the story of all humanity: always seeking a better life.  It is the story of all who live in the United States.  It is the story of Francisco and Gabriela from Guatemala.  It is the story of Cecilia who comes from Columbia. It is the story of Jackie’s family who are from Mexico and Ireland.  It is the story of many Mexicans who have crossed the border looking for a better life.  Tonight we live our story as in the story of Mary, Joseph and Jesus.”

The first experience on the journey was at the border.  The dramatic liturgy began with singing and dialogue in Spanish and English. Mary, Joseph and the group with them were confronted by a border patrol agent.  The program prepared by Francisco Martorell of MICAH and Nikki Meinrose of Sanctuary states:

We will now start the journey with Joseph and Mary. Upon leaving their home and town, relatives and friends fill them with well wishes. It is very difficult to be separated from loved ones.

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Narrator: After a journey full of problems, Joseph and Mary finally arrive at the border.

Joseph: Officials, please, see that we have left our land and our family members, our animals and the small corn crop we had. We have taken great risks to come to this country for the well-being of our children. Won’t you let us through?

Officials: Are you crazy? You don’t have any documents. We don’t want you here, get away.

Joseph: Don’t worry, Mary. I know you can get through this. Let’s trust in God.

The Angel, who was leading the procession, slipped by the Guard.  “Let him go,” the border guard said, “we need someone to pick the strawberries.”

The Second Experience: Work – The Palermo Pizza Factory

Narrator:  Migrants often come to this country with just one purpose: to improve their lives, to work in any way to maintain their families and send money back to the grandparents.

Joseph: My job is very hard.  I work in a factory.  They don’t give us breaks and they treat us poorly.  If we are injured, they don’t help us. If we miss a few days for being sick, they fire us. But I have no other option- jobs are hard to get. Some of my co-workers and I are starting the process of forming a union to be our voice and ask for better work conditions. Soon there will be a vote to decide if the majority are in favor of forming the union.  

Employer: I cannot allow them to form a union in my factory. They’re going to demand high salaries and conditions that I don’t want to provide. I want everything to stay how it is.  I will do everything possible to prevent that vote!

Mary: Keep your spirits up, Joseph. Once I give birth I will also look for work and you can look for something different.  God will give us strength.

The Congregation then processed with lighted candels three blocks, in the rain,  to the Nativity Jesuit Middle School.  Ninty-two year old Father Bill Brennan, S.J. also walked.  Father Brennan was recently disciplined by the Roman Catholic Church for concelebrating a Mass with a woman priest.   

Third Experience – at the school: Lodging -housing discrimination.

Narrator: The migrant clashes with the diversity of cultures and customs and often is discriminated against. This almost always happens when they look for a house or apartment.

Joseph: Mary, let’s see if they will rent us a room. (Joseph knocks on door)  

Owner: How can I help you? Who are you looking for?

Mary: We are looking for a place to stay. Look, I am very close to giving birth and I need a roof over my head where I can do so.

Owner:  Where are you from? Are you Mexicans? I’ve heard that Mexicans are dirty and fighters. You better go look for a house somewhere else.

Joseph: Ma’am, my wife is a good woman, loving and hard-working. Sorry to bother you.

Narrator: There’s no place for you here. We don’t know you.

Fourth Experience: The stable:

Narrator: Mary and Joseph are very tired. They are looking for any little spot to settle, where their baby can be born.

Joseph: (Joseph knocks at the door). Good evening. I am Joseph and this is my wife, Mary. We are traveling migrants. We don’t have any money. We don’t know the language. But we have the dream of creating a healthy, strong family that will do good for others.

Mary: I am Mary, a migrant as well. We have walked a lot looking for the best for our child who will soon be born. I have the intuition that this child will do great good and I am willing to give him all of my love and attention so that he will be strong and able to fulfill his mission. Hopefully Joseph will find a good job. I will also get work and supporting each other we will get through this.  I am about to give birth. Would you allow us in just for the night so that I can give birth to my baby? I know that my child will do great good.

Owner: I just have a stable. You will at least feel a little warmth alongside my animals. Do you want to stay there?

Joseph and Mary: Yes, thank you very much.

Owner: OK then, come in.

Narrator: Although migrants face obstacles, discrimination, and hardship, there are many people in the United States who care deeply about their struggle and are waiting with open arms to welcome them and share life together. Good migrants, you are welcome.

 Everyone- in Spanish: Buenos migrantes, sean bienvenidos.

          Let the party begin.  Over two-hundred celebrants participated including kids with lots of energy.  We started with supper and the musicians played and sang traditional Christmas music.  There were plenty of tamales, prepared by the Palermo strikers, tacos and champorrado provided by Nativity Jesuit School parents. 

Before the piñatas were lowered for the kids, we received a sober reminder from the principal of Nativity School.  He noted that although we were celebrating the festival of hope, it was a sad day for all of us because of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents in Newtown, Connecticut.  He prayed for the children and the survivors.  How do we continue?  He cited the Prophet Micah. “Seek Justice, love tenderly, and walk humbly with God.” (Micah 8:3) 

HOLIDAY ECUMANISM FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE

   Shema yisra’el Adonai ‘elohenu Adonai ‘ehad

   Hear O Israel: the lord is our God, the lord is one          

   (Duet. C.6, V.4)  

       

   The Vatican II vision of Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI was to facilitate peace through a worldwide Faith community effort (ecumenical) to promote justice.  In the call for the Vatican II Ecumenical Council, John XXIII stated:

“The bloody wars that have followed one on the other in our times, the spiritual ruins caused by many ideologies, and the fruits of so many bitter experiences have not been without useful teachings.  Scientific progress itself, which gave man the possibility of creating catastrophic instruments for his destruction, has raised questions. It has obliged human beings to become thoughtful, more conscious of their own limitations, desirous of peace and attentive to the importance of spiritual values.  And it has accelerated that progress of closer collaboration …”  (John XXIII, “Humanae Salutatis,” (December 25, 1961)

“Hence we humbly and ardently call for all men to work along with us in building up a MORE JUST and brotherly city in this world.  We call upon our brothers whom we serve as shepherd, but also upon all our brother Christians, and the rest of men of good will whom God ‘wills that they be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.’”(1Tim 2-4) (Council Fathers, Opening Statement, 10-20-62)

  OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE – 

                A RECOGNITION OF THE HUMANITY OF THE INDIGENOUS

   Vatican II is no longer the vision of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, but the “people of God” continue the struggle for peace and justice.  The Milwaukee New Sanctuary Movement of Voces de la Frontera sponsored a celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Ascension Lutheran Church in early December.  Could such a celebration that would include Latino Catholics and Lutherans remembering the story about Our Lady of Guadalupe been possible before Vatican II?

  Lutheran Pastor Walter Baires introduced the program, a Cap Corps volunteer, Kathleen Shea of Peruvian ancestry, played Our Lady of Guadalupe, Ms. Nikki Meirose played the Franciscan Bishop Zamárraga, and Guadalupe Romero was Juan Diego.  Nancy Flores Lopez, New Sanctuary Coordinator, directed the show.  The program included music by the St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church choir from Lake Geneva and a enthusiastic performance by young women Aztec Dancers.  Former Cap Corps volunteer Amy Tutenberg closed the program with an outstanding rendition of Ave Maria.

   Tamales and champorrado were prepared and sold by the Palermo strikers.  The money taken in from the sale went to the strike fund and amounted to about $250.

  

THE MYTH AS IT EXPLAINS FAITH ­– IN HISTORY

   What was the play at Ascension Lutheran all about?  Let us briefly outline the Guadalupe story.  The legend begins with the appearance of the Virgin Mary to a Mexican peasant Juan Diego in 1531.  This is the time of the Spanish “conquista” of Mexico which included a military and attempted cultural takeover. Tepeyak, a hill overlooking the Mexico City, is cited as the place where the Virgin appeared to Juan Diego.  Tepeyak had been a holy place for the indigenous people long before the conquest.  It was the special place for worship of the Aztec goddess Tonantzin. The Virgin Mary appeared pregnant, “en cinta” with a cord around her waist, a belt or “cinteron,” indicating her pregnancy.  She was luminous with sunlight stars around her and the moon at her feet.  She had a dark complection – an Aztec Pacha Mama – a “diosa.”  

  

   Malinche, the translator for Hernando Cortez, asked a Franciscan friar:

“But then, who is that lady with the child in her arms whom you place in the temple?”  The friar responded, “She is the mother of Jesus Christ, who came to save us.”  Malinche became aware, “She was a mother!  The mother of them all, and so she had to be the lady Tonantzin.  …It was sort of a nostalgia for the maternal arms, a longing to feel enveloped, embraced, sustained, and protected by her mother, as at one time she must have been; by her grandmother, as she had definitely had been; by Tonantzin, as she hoped she would be and by a universal mother…” (Esquivel, Laura, Malinche, Simon & Schuster Inc. 2006, P.47)        

                   

   The legend recounts that Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in 1531 at Tepeyak in Mexico, but the story is much older.  At the time of the Muslim conquest of Spain in the 8^th century, a carving of the Blessed Virgin – a black Madonna – supposedly by St. Luke - was buried.  When it was rediscovered near the River Guadalupe in Spain, many years later after the Muslims were pushed out of the region, a shrine was dedicated to the “Virgin of Guadalupe.” Christopher Columbus is said to have visited the Franciscan shrine.

  In 1571 Pope Pius V sent Don Juan of Austria, brother of Phillip II of Spain, into the sea battle of Lepanto against the Muslims with prayers to the Blessed Virgin for victory.  A Genovese admiral placed a picture of the Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe in his flagship command post.   The Christians won a bloody battle with a total of 16,000 killed from both sides. Pius V credited the victory of the Christians to the Blessed Virgin. (See Chesterton’s poem, “Lepanto.”)

   Spanish art depicted Mary – the Immaculate Conception, conceived without original sin, similar to the Mexican image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

(Original Sin is a Christian doctrine.)  The painting of Francisco Zurbaran (1598 – 1664) “La Inmaculada Concepción” one hundred years before the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed by Pius IX (1854) provides a link to our faith understanding of the Virgin Mary.  

“A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” (Book of Revelation, C.12, v.10)

Martin Luther (1483-1546) thought the Immaculate Conception teaching was erroneous.

   And the Prophet said:

   Behold! a woman of Imran said, “O my Lord! I do dedicate to You what is      in my womb for Your special service.  Accept this of me, for you hear and know all things.”  When she was delivered she said, “I am delivered of a female child!” and Allah knew best what she brought forth.  “And nowise is male like female.  I have named her Mary, and I commend her and her offspring to Your protection from the Evil One, the Rejected.”                    (Qur’an 3, 35-37)