Conservative Catholic Take on Social Justice

I ran across this blurb from an apparently conservative Catholic who was commenting on the Social Justice Teachings of the church. One of the things the author writes is:

To me that means that "social justice" as now understood is a denial of human dignity and a guarantee of tyranny and degradation. It means that men, families and communities don't make their lives, they get made for them by a central authority.

To be quite honest, I was completely unaware (and somewhat shocked, to tell the truth) that there is a strain of conservative Catholicism which interprets the Social Justice teachings of the Catholic Church in this way.

How does one respond to this?

Global Tax on Arms Sales to Fight World Hunger

This is a bit dated, but I was just catching up on my reading of one of my favorite Latin Americanist columnists, Andres Oppenheimer, and came across this little gem in his 9/23/04 column written for The Miami Herald. He opens with the following sentence:

You may never have noticed if you read most U.S. newspapers, or watch American television, but 113 countries -- not including the United States -- teamed up at the United Nations this week to demand a tax on arms sales to fight world hunger.

First, I have to say that I am one of the many who did NOT know about this initiative and about the U.S. government's short-sighted, but typical refusal to join with the majority of the world's nations in an effort that is nothing but good all-around: tax the tools of destruction and killing, and use the proceeds to defeat hunger and save lives. If you want to read this declaration, referred to as the "New York Declaration: Action Against Poverty and Hunger," click here.

Maryknoll Affiliates - New Orleans

Check out the Maryknoll Affiliates - New Orleans website.

Keeping the "Christ" in Christmas.

What does it mean to keep the "Christ" in Christmas? One hears it a lot these days. At the very basic level, I think when folks say this they intend two things: (1) to protest in some way the hyper-commercialization and materialism of the season at the expense of the religious meaning of the holiday; and (2) to attack a perceived "politically correct" attitude that questions whether government promotion of the religious symbolism of the event violates the principle of the separation of church and state.

I've been thinking about this a lot, and I think these two intentions undergirding the phrase are somewhat misplaced -- at least for me. On the one hand, they both seem to come out of a confrontational or reactionary motivation. They're both rather scrooge-like and embittered motivations, if you ask me. They certainly are not celebratory motivations.

For me, the phrase bears a positive, celebratory meaning, as well as a moral challenge. First off, whether the ACLU protests the exhibit of a nativity scene on public property shouldn't have any bearing on whether I am keeping Christ in my Christmas. Keeping the Christ in Christmas means that I need to make sure that what is front-and-center for me during Advent is Christ, and not some distracting preoccupation with what City Hall or the ACLU is doing. And second, if I keep Christ front-and-center in a special way during this Advent season, I should be obligated to keep the "least of my brothers" front-and-center in a special way during this Advent season also.

So, for me, at the end of it all, the phrase "keeping the Christ in Christmas" means that I should strive to exhibit my solidarity with the poor and dispossessed of this world all the more forcefully and to work towards a justice for them worthy of God's becoming flesh in the birth of Jesus and worthy of Jesus' life-long embrace of the marginalized. That's what the phrase "keeping the Christ in Christmas" means for me. What does it mean for you?

Living Wage Resource Center

For a quick, easy online reference source on the Living Wage Movement, visit The Living Wage Resource Center.

Millenium Challenge Account

The Millenium Challenge Account is an ambitious effort on the part of the U.S. Government to increase development assistance to the world's poorest countries. For a quick and concise reference sheet on the goals and specifics of the Millenium Challenge Account from a Catholic Social Justice perspective, check out Catholic Relief Services' "Backgrounder" publication. The big question, though, is will the Millenium Challenge Account be different than other previous US foreign development aid programs? Not much, according to Steve Radelet's in depth assessment in his Spring 2003 article in The Washington Quarterly. The Millenium Challenge Account (MCA) is a goal well-worth pursuing and promoting, but it's got to be done right and with committed follow-through. We must be vigilant and hold our leaders to the commitment they made to the goals enshrined in this program.

Social Justice and Globalization

Sam Gindin has a provocative, though lengthy, article in the June, 2002, volume of the Monthly Review. The title of the article is: "Social Justice and Globalization: Are They Compatible?" It starts out thus:

In a speech in 1999, Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under Presidents Nixon and Ford, candidly remarked that “globalization” is another term for U.S. domination.1 Such clarity tends, in itself, to negatively answer the question posed in the title of this talk. How can anyone argue that U.S. domination—or using the less polite term, “U.S. imperialism”—is compatible with social justice?

Similarly, if we agree that a minimum precondition for any notion of social justice is the extension of people’s democratic ability to shape their lives, that too might reinforce skepticism about globalization’s compatibility with social justice. Especially if we see globalization as being largely about establishing global rules that act as a constitution for investor rights, and which are beyond any parliamentary challenges. And if we went further and defined a socially just world as one that supported the full and mutual development of the potential capacities of every individual, I imagine that many—if not most of us—would judge globalization to be inconsistent with that ideal.

And yet things refuse to stay that simple or clear. Even if Kissinger has helped us see the obvious, aren’t many countries, and citizens of those countries, anxious for U.S. investment? Isn’t it true that the Canadian government, far from being forced into the free trade agreement, begged for that integration into the United States? Is China wrong when it argues that access to U.s. markets, technology, and capital will facilitate its development and that such development is a critical base for social justice? Would we disagree with the World Bank when it argues that countries that have either rejected globalization, or are now being ignored by globalization, do not seem better off for that fact?

Part of the confusion lies in ambiguities about what we mean by globalization and how we think about social justice. But it is more than that: it is also that our sense of social justice is affected by what we believe is possible. In the absence of alternatives to the U.S. Empire, and in the absence of the political capacity to put such alternatives on the agenda, our dreams are trimmed to fit the bed of “reality.” Social justice is made compatible with globalization, not by transforming society, but by shrinking our ideals.

This limiting of hope was perhaps the main measure of the world-wide defeat of the last generation. In spite of the inspiration of Seattle and its aftermath, that sense of defeat is still pervasive. Social justice demands reviving the determination to dream. Its not just that dreaming is essential for maintaining any resistance, but because today, if we do not think big—as big as the globalizers themselves think—we will not even win small.

Good stuff. Take 15 minutes and read the whole thing. It's quite worth it.

A Challenge

To my friends in the Maryknoll Affiliates, the Public Discipleship Group, and the New Orleans Social Justice Network:

I'd like to put a graphic in the blog that symbolizes who we are and what we're all about. But, I'm not the visually creative type. So, if any one of you wants to propose a graphic symbol specifically for this blog, please rise to the challenge and give us some ideas. In the meantime, I wish you Peace!

In Defense of the United Nations

A while back, around United Nations Day, I wrote a piece on the United Nations for my other blog, which I think readers of this blog might find interesting. I repeat it for you here:

Most Americans know of the existence of the United Nations, but very few know much about the organization. For instance, it may come as shocking news to many people that the United States has set aside Oct. 24th as "United Nations Day." If you want to learn about the United Nations more completely, you can visit the UN website by clicking here. But a better site for US Citizens to check out is the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNAUSA). Their website can be accessed here.

The good number of United States citizens express either ambivalence or even outright hostility to the United Nations as an organization. And this comes primarily out of a very limited understanding of the United Nations in its POLITICAL role. We hear about the Security Council and most of us can recognize the name of the UN Secretary General (Kofi Annan). And we have probably also read about or heard about UN peacekeeping operations or, more recently, UN Security Council battles over the situation in Iraq. But this is simply a tiny fraction of what the UN is all about. What I would encourage reflective people to do is to make a distinction between the "politics" of the UN and the "on-the-ground" work of the UN.

The UN is the single most important agency that undertakes massive and coordinated efforts world wide to battle discrimination, poverty, hunger, displacement, health crises and any other daily life issues that affect the world's most marginalized and ignored populations -- a group that, in fact, sadly, makes up a vast majority of the world's people. One quick look at the organizational chart of the United Nations will give you just a surface-level sense of the magnitude, reach, and impact of the United Nations in the world today. Let me list some of the UN agencies whose works are not only critical to the health, happiness, and well-being of many of the world's dispossessed, but also without which there would be no effective protections or help for the poor and marginalized of the world. For example, there are the myriad of agencies strictly dedicated to humanitarian affairs. Among these are the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which protects and provides a living space for those people who have no "home" on the globe. There's also the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children & Armed Conflict and the office of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. Some other critically important UN Agencies include the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESCO), which is the main agency coordinating the UN's impressive Economic and Social Development Programs. Included in this broad umbrella category are institutions like the World Health Organization and the World Food Programme among many, many others.

Needless to say, as you can very well see, the United Nations is not primarily dedicated to issues of war and peace, though certainly this forms an important part of its work. Instead, the United Nations is prinicipally dedicated to helping people, saving lives, and making for a better world for those who live in the most troubled of circumstances.

Many states in the United States have their own particular events and festivities planned in celebration of UN Day on October 24. Please check out the United Nations Association of the United States of America to find out what's going on in your own area. And then join in and become a part of celebrating the good work that the United Nations undertakes.

To look at the United Nations another way, try to envision a world in which the United Nations doesn't exist. How would starvation in Africa be dealt with in the absence of the United Nations? How would the AIDS epidemic worldwide (or the SARS epidemic) be managed without the United Nations? How would peoples displaced by famine or war survive without the United Nations? Who would care about the health and well-being of the world's marginalized and dispossessed if it weren't for the United Nations? We take for granted the presence and the work of the United Nations after almost 60 years of its existence, much like we take for granted the Social Security system of the United States which has saved innumerable lives from destitution and death. In spite of the many failings and weaknesses of the United Nations, the world is undoubtedly in better shape than it would have been without the UN's existence. Anyone concerned with social justice and the fight against global poverty and hunger should embrace the UN, warts and all, as the best chance the global community has of dealing with some of the world's most pernicious problems. I encourage you to do so, and I leave you with a quotation by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to inspire you: "...keep in mind what the UN is, the UN is us. It isn't a separate organization that exists separately from its members. It is a creature of its member states...." (Sec. of State Colin L. Powell, 10/1/04). Indeed. The UN is us. It's successes are ours, as well as its failures. We should do no finger-pointing at the UN unless we're willing to assume responsibility for it ourselves. And we most certainly need to do our part to make the United Nations what we want it to be.

What condition do you imagine the world would be in today without the United Nations? I welcome your comments.

"NO TO WAR"! - Message from Pope John Paul II

As we approach this Christmas season, I think it is important for us to remember the words spoken by Pope John Paul II in his January, 2003 address to the Diplomatic Core at the Vatican. In this speech, Pope John Paul II could not have been more clear about war in general, and specifically about the war in Iraq. Here is what he said:

"NO TO WAR"! War is not always inevitable. It is always a defeat for humanity. International law, honest dialogue, solidarity between States, the noble exercise of diplomacy: these are methods worthy of individuals and nations in resolving their differences. I say this as I think of those who still place their trust in nuclear weapons and of the all-too-numerous conflicts which continue to hold hostage our brothers and sisters in humanity. At Christmas, Bethlehem reminded us of the unresolved crisis in the Middle East, where two peoples, Israeli and Palestinian, are called to live side-by-side, equally free and sovereign, in mutual respect. Without needing to repeat what I said to you last year on this occasion, I will simply add today, faced with the constant degeneration of the crisis in the Middle East, that the solution will never be imposed by recourse to terrorism or armed conflict, as if military victories could be the solution. And what are we to say of the threat of a war which could strike the people of Iraq, the land of the Prophets, a people already sorely tried by more than twelve years of embargo? War is never just another means that one can choose to employ for settling differences between nations. As the Charter of the United Nations Organization and international law itself remind us, war cannot be decided upon, even when it is a matter of ensuring the common good, except as the very last option and in accordance with very strict conditions, without ignoring the consequences for the civilian population both during and after the military operations.

Pay heed and listen!

Orbis Book Club

The Orbis Book Club meets once every three months to discuss and reflect on a book published by Orbis Books. In our most recent meeting, we read and discussed Frederick John Dalton's book: The Moral Vision of César Chávez. This book provides a glimpse into the cause of social justice for migrant farmworkers that moved César Chávez. But more interestingly, the book demonstrates clearly how César Chávez's worldview and social justice mission was shaped by a moral vision conditioned by his Catholic faith and the social justice teachings of the Catholic Church.

At our next meeting, we will be discussing James Hodge and Linda Cooper's new book on Louisiana's own Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois and his efforts to shut down the School of the Americas (currently know as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation - or WHINSEC). This book is titled: Disturbing the Peace: The Story of Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of the Americas.

Many of us are familiar with the work of Fr. Bourgeois regarind the School of the Americas, but this book goes beyond the School of the Americas and takes on the broader U.S. Foreign Policy dynamic that contributes to the continued existence of social injustice throughout the world.

Check out both books and read along with us!

Crisis in Darfur

At our recent Public Discipleship meeting, the current members of the New Orleans Social Justice Network discussed the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan. For background on this situation and for how to take action on behalf of justice for the people of Darfur, please visit the Africa Action website.

Greetings!

Greetings to all our companions who walk the path of Social Justice. The contributors to this blog have their roots in a number of groups and organizations in the Greater New Orleans area. First and foremost, we come out of a Catholic Social Justice education program called "Public Discipleship" which is based out of the National Pastoral Life Center (NPLC). To find out more about the Public Discipleship program, please visit the NPLC's Public Discipleship webpage. But we are not just affiliated with this national diocesan program. We are also strongly influenced by the mission and work of Maryknoll, which is a U.S.-based Catholic mission movement; and many of us are formally linked to Maryknoll through its Affiliates program. While we are affiliated with these organizations and movements, we want to emphasize that this blog and its contents are completely independent of them and reflect only our own personal opinions on the theme of Social Justice.

The contributing members of this blog have been meeting approximately once a month over the past three years to discuss the Social Justice teachings of the Catholic Church and to explore ways of converting these teachings into concrete actions on behalf of Social Justice in our own communities and across the world.

The purpose of this blog is basically to serve as a communications device, an informational clearing-house, and an outreach effort regarding Social Justice. We hope to share with you our personal thoughts about Social Justice, the issues and events taking place across our world that cry out for application of Social Justice teachings, and basically anything we find of interest in contemporary current events that cause us to reflect on the themes and teachings of Social Justice.

In our little group, we often discuss the futility of our own abilities to bring justice to those in our world who so desperately need it. We often discuss the frustration of feeling insignificant and powerless in front of social injustice. But we also believe that even the slightest of our actions - even just meeting and talking - constitutes "mustard seed" work towards the goal of realizing social justice for all. This blog is just another little effort in this "mustard seed" work (hence, it's name "Semillas"); and we welcome anyone who wants to participate and contribute to this effort. We hope you will join us and share your thoughts, ideas, and aspirations for a more socially just world.