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J/P Alert is the newsletter of the Justice and Peace office of CMSM. It is intended to inform and stimulate discussion and involvement among the members. Its contents do not necessarily represent official positions of CMSM.
Response to the President’s Proposal for a Change of Course in Iraq
[The following statement was issued by a number of Catholic organizations (including CMSM and LCWR) concerned about the present course of American policy in Iraq:]
On January 10, 2007, President Bush announced a change in Iraq policy. We, as organizations of Catholics and as individuals, come together to respond to these new Iraq initiatives.
We respond in the context of Jesus’ call to us in the beatitudes to be people of peace (Matt 5:9), and to love our enemies (Luke 6:27) as well as the November 2006 statement by the President of United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop William S. Skylstad. In that statement, Bishop Skylstad notes that the pain and destruction of the war in Iraq is “measured in lives lost and many more injured, in widespread sectarian strife, civil insurgency and terrorist attacks, and in the daily struggles of Iraqis to build a decent future for their devastated nation.” He noted further that the way forward is bleak and stated that “The Holy See and our Conference now support broad and necessary international engagement to promote stability and reconstruction in Iraq.”
We are keenly aware that the members of the U.S. military and their families are shouldering the heavy burdens of extended service in Iraq. They risk death and injury of both body and spirit. However, it is crucial to recognize that political and economic concerns, not military issues, are fueling the continuing strife. Therefore, only solutions that combine the political, diplomatic, economic and religious issues Iraqis face will effectively resolve the underlying conflict and bring peace to Iraq. As the last three years have demonstrated, increasing the U.S. troop presence in Iraq will neither address the root causes of civil strife nor quell the violence. Increased U.S. military action will needlessly endanger our troops and detract from effective action to achieve a cease-fire and create peace. Therefore, the escalation of military presence in Iraq is detrimental to our men and women in the armed forces.
The escalation of military action is far more harmful to Iraqi citizens who are paying the ultimate price in ever-increasing numbers through violence, hunger and lack of ordinary services. Every day, more and more ordinary Iraqis are fleeing their homes and becoming refugees – either within Iraq or in neighboring countries. This dislocation spreads religious, economic and political instability around the region, making it increasingly difficult to handle the influx of those traumatized by this war. The escalation of military action is detrimental to the Iraqi people and the surrounding region.
United States citizens are keenly aware that the military is not an effective tool for bringing peace to Iraq. U.S. citizens understand that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war that requires the engagement of all parties in a peace process in order to resolve the issues. Military action in this context only brings more violence and bloodshed and no end to this conflict. The escalation of military action is detrimental the desires of people of the United States.
Finally, only those in the military and their families are sacrificing for the sake of this war. There has been no effort to finance this war with taxes or other military offsets and the war has been funded without consideration of its impact on the overall federal budget. This fiscal irresponsibility will hamper future generations as they are forced to pay the bills for this generation’s war. The escalation of military action is detrimental to the economic future of the United States.
Therefore:
- We oppose the proposed escalation of U.S. troops in Iraq noting that prior escalations have not resulted in increased peace and stability. Troop escalations in Baghdad in the late summer and early fall of 2006 resulted in increased violence and death for both U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians.
- We support the President’s call for economic development in Iraq, noting that the current unemployment rate is running at 40 to 50%. Additionally, 60% of the population is under the age of 25 and is in dire need of alternatives to imagine a better future. Any economic development should directly benefit the Iraqi people and their communities, not contractors from other corners of the world.
- We urge the President to engage in diplomatic and political negotiations seeking a comprehensive cease fire by all factions in Iraq and the region. The rejection of a comprehensive diplomatic effort is a short-sighted view of American interests. A surge of diplomacy, not an escalation of troops is what is required.
Simone Campbell, SSS, Executive
Director
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice
Lobby
Carole Shinnick, SSND, Executive Director
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
T. Michael McNulty, SJ, Justice
and Peace Director
Conference of Major Superiors of Men
Alexia Kelley, Executive Director
Catholics in Alliance for the Common
Good
David A. Robinson, Executive
Director
Pax Christi USA
Jim Hug, SJ, President
Center of Concern
Marie Dennis, Director
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Joe Moloney, OSF, President
Franciscan Federation of the United
States
Amy Woolam Echeverria
Columban JPIC Office
Janet Gottschalk, MMS, Director
Medical Mission Sisters'
Alliance for Justice
Frank
McNeirney, National Coordinator
Catholics Against Capital
Punishment (CACP)
Seamus
Finn, OMI, Director,
Missionary Oblates
of Mary Immaculate
Justice, Peace & Integrity
of Creation Office
Mary Waskowiak, RSM,
President
Institute of the
Sisters of Mercy
of the Americas
Catholic Charities USA's new Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America
On January 10, 2007, Catholic Charities USA announced its new Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America and released its 2006 policy paper Poverty in America: A Threat to the Common Good during a briefing on Capitol Hill. The briefing focused on poverty from the lens of Catholic Charities’ agencies and the people they serve. CCUSA also presented their legislative agenda to the 110th Congress.
“Poverty is a moral and social wound on the soul of our country and threatens the health and economic well-being of both families and our nation,” said Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA. “We must marshal the strength and the collective will of our nation to take on this tragedy that affects 37 million people who are living in poverty in one of the wealthiest nations in the world.
“The Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America is about who we are as a nation,” he continued. "We must no longer ignore the injustice of poverty and the extreme inequality in America and instead must seize this opportunity to advocate for changes that promote human dignity and the common good.”
The goal of the Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America is to cut the poverty rate in the United States in half by 2020. Catholic Charities USA is leading a broad effort that will involve partners in social service agencies, the faith community and other groups in a sustained effort to convince government officials of the importance of making systemic changes in government programs to help the poor and most vulnerable in our society.
The campaign will urge Congress and the Administration to improve programs and policies in four key issue areas: health care, affordable housing, nutrition assistance and family economic security for the poor and vulnerable.
Specific policy areas of focus for Congressional action as part of the Campaign to Reduce Poverty include the following:
HEALTH CARE
- Provide adequate funding for health care for our nation’s most vulnerable citizens.
- Maintain the integrity and strength of the Medicaid program.
- Remove new restrictions to Medicaid that create barriers for low-income families.
- Provide adequate funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to expand coverage for all eligible children.
- Reform SCHIP to make it easier for eligible children to apply.
- Support policies that provide integrated mental health and substance abuse treatment.
HOUSING
- Provide adequate funding for federally-subsidized housing programs.
- Support and strengthen programs aimed at increasing homeownership.
- Establish a National Housing Trust Fund.
- Support comprehensive reform of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Program.
HUNGER AND NUTRITION
- Strengthen the Food Stamp Program to better assist the working poor and the elderly.
- Protect funding for critical food programs that serve low-income families, including the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and the Community Food and Nutrition Program.
- Ensure that federal nutrition programs meet the unique needs of rural families.
FAMILY ECONOMIC SECURITY
- Increase the minimum wage and ensure that it is automatically increased to keep pace with inflation.
- Improve the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to benefit more families.
- Promote policies that support and strengthen families, including low-income fathers.
- Expand employment and training opportunities for low-income workers.
- Improve the protection and care of abused, neglected, and abandoned children and youth.
- Provide adequate funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG).
- Ensure access to quality early education for all children.
- Improve the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to be more inclusive for more workers.
- Preserve funding for the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG).
- Support comprehensive immigration reform that protects vulnerable families.
Key components of the campaign will include sustained and comprehensive outreach to the Administration and Congress as well as activities in local communities throughout the country on the need for action to reduce poverty.
Christ the Immigrant
He longed to cross the boundary
between heaven and earth
Without controversy, without fear,
To offer His Gifts, His Joy,
His challenge, His Sacrifice, His Love.
He came without reservation
To seek a home among the human race.
He came because Heaven sent Him
And earth, through a woman, invited Him.
Yet convention, tradition could have
Prevented His welcome into a family
Were it not for the intervention of
An angel in a dream.
Even while in the womb
He was forced to travel
With mother and father
To a place where the only welcome
Was into a dirty stable where animals fed.
Born in poverty, he again was forced
To flee to another country,
Victim of an oppressive government
Fearful of what He might become,
A perceived threat to those in power.
And other parents suffered and children
died
Because of the fear of a Child,
among many children, born of Love.
Reaching adulthood, he traveled as well,
Welcomed by some, rejected by others.
Even his hometown people
Could not accept a migrant preacher
Who preached freedom for all,
Invitation to all, without border or boundary,
To have full citizenship in God’s kingdom.
In his travels, He welcomed fellow travelers,
Inviting them to leave their homes
To migrate with Him to sow the fields
Of the human heart with hope and promise.
With His companions, He mended many
A broken spirit and body, planting seeds
Of new possibilities, new life in
Soil that seemed dry and barren.
In His travels, He shared many a meal
With those who had lost their way
And, in His waiting on them,
Nourished their bodies
with the fruit of the land
and their souls with the sustenance
of forgiveness and new life,
And a formal invitation to join
In the journey to the Promised Land.
In his travels, He preached the
Gospel of the migrant, the Bedouin,
The one who knows that life is
Nothing but a journey;
The Gospel of blessedness
For those who hunger, mourn,
Offer mercy, seek peace,
approach life humbly, brush off
The pain of rejection for doing what’s right.
He is clear about the destination and what
Getting there requires: To provide for any
Migrant who crosses the borders
of our consciousness:
Welcome, Shelter, Clothing, Food,
Drink, Security, Respect,
Companionship, Forgiveness,
Encouragement.
Even in his final hours,
He offered His Body, His Blood
His Sweat, His Tears, for others.
In the end/beginning, He came,
Like all migrants, to a crossroads,
A choice between life for Him and His family,
Or death of the spirit of all He cared about.
And so He chose Life, the travail of
Journeying on behalf of His family,
to an unfamiliar, unwelcoming place,
To offer His gifts, His talents,
His toil, His passion, His heart,
His Spirit, His life, in order to find
a permanent home in our hearts.
Will you allow the Child/Christ
to cross the borders
of your fears, doubts, prejudices
to find a place to be born?
Will you welcome the Mother and Father,
and countless migrant Mothers and Fathers,
who bear His image within them
Seeking to travel the road of Promise?
Will you welcome Him?
_________________________________________
Cristo, el Immigrante
Sonaba en cruzar la frontera
Entre cielo y tierra,
Sin controversia, sin miedo,
Para ofrecer sus Dones, su Alegría,
Su Reto, su Sacrificio, su Amor.
El vino sin reservas
A buscar un hogar entre la raza humana.
Vino porque los cielos le enviaron
Y la tierra, a través de una mujer, le invito.
Lo comun, la tradición
Habría impedido su venida a dentro de una familia
Si no hubiera intervenido
Un Ángel en un sueno.
Todavía en el seno de su Madre
Tuvo que viajar
Con Padre y Madre
A un lugar sonde la única bienvenida
Fue un establo sucio donde pacían animales.
Nacido en la pobreza,
De nuevo tuvo que huir a otra tierra,
Victima de un gobierno opresivo
Que temía lo que El podría llegar a ser,
Miedo de que fuese una amenaza
A los que ejercían el poder
Y otros padres sufrieron, y murieron
niños
Por miedo a un Niño
Entre muchos niños, nacido del Amor.
Al hacerse adulto, viajo también,
Bienvenido por unos, rechazado por otros.
Incluso la gente de su pueblo
No pudieron aceptar a un predicador migrante
Que predicaba libertad para todos
Invitación a todos, sin fronteras ni limites
A gozar una plena ciudadanía en el Reino de Dios.
En sus viajes, dio la bienvenida a otros viajeros
Invitándoles a dejar sus casa
Y emigrar con El para sembrar los campos
Del corazón humano, con promesa y esperanza.
Con sus compañeros, esparciendo semillas
De posibilidades nuevas, vida nueva
En terreno que parecía baldío y estéril.
En sus viajes, compartió más de una comida
Con los que habían perdido su camino
Y, sirviéndolos
Alimento sus cuerpos con la sustancia
De perdón y vida nueva
Y una invitación formal a que se le unieran
En la jornada hacia la tierra prometida.
En sus viajes, El predico
El Evangelio del emigrante, del beduino
Aquel que sabe que la vida es
Nada más que una jornada;
El Evangelio de bendición
Para aquellos que tienen hambre, lloran,
Ofrecen piedad, buscan la paz,
Son humildes ante la vida, ignoran
El dolor del rechazo por hacer lo que es justo.
Tiene clara su meta y
Lo que llegar allí demanda: socorrer
A todo el migrante que cruza las fronteras
De nuestra conciencia:
Bienvenida, Cobijo, Ropa, Comida,
Bebida, Seguridad, Respeto
Compañerismo, Perdón
Animo.
Aun es sus últimas horas,
Ofreció su Cuerpo, Su Sangre
Su sudor, sus Lagrimas, por los demás.
En el fin/principio, El vino
Como todos los emigrantes a una encrucijada.
Una opción entre vida para El y su Familia
O muerte en el espíritu de todo lo que amaba.
Y así, El escogió la Vida, el afán
De caminar en pro de su familia
A un lugar desconocido, hosco
Para ofrecer sus regalos, su talento,
Su labor, su pasión, su corazón
Su espíritu, su vida, para encontrar
Un lugar permanente en nuestro corazón.
Dejaras al Cristo Niño
Que cruce las fronteras
De tus miedos, tus dudas y prejuicios
Para que encuentre un sitio donde poder nacer?
Darás la bienvenida a la Madre y al Padre
Y a incontables Madres y Padres emigrantes
Que llevan dentro de si su imagen
Y buscan seguir el camino a la Promesa?
Le darás la bienvenida?
Fr. Larry Dowling
December 17, 2006
Miniature Earth (webmovie)
The idea of reducing the world’s population to a community of only 100 people is very useful and important. It makes us easily understand the differences in the world.
The text that originated this webmovie was published on May 29, 1990 with the title “State of the Village Report”, and it was written by Donella Meadows, who passed away in February 2000. Nowadays Sustainability Institute, through Donella’s Foundation, carries on her ideas and projects.
Donella Meadows' original "State of the Village Report" may
be found at:
www.sustainer.org/dhm_archive/index.php?display_article=vn338villageed.
The text used in the webmovie has been modified. The statistics have
been updated based on specialized publications, and mainly reports on
the World’s population provided by The UN, PRB and others. You
can find the webmovie at www.miniature-earth.com/.
At a reception honoring Ambassador-at-large John Miller on his retirement as director of the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, CMSM along with other organizations that form the Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking was awarded a certificate recognizing its contribution to combating human trafficking. The certificate can be viewed by clicking here.
Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.
How
can the Justice and Peace Office help you get involved?
T. Michael McNulty, SJ, editor
mmcnulty@cmsm.org
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Tel: 301-588-4030
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