J&P Alert E-Newsletter/January 2009

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.

Fighting Poverty to Build Peace: Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace, 1 January 2009 [excerpts]

.... Poverty is often a contributory factor or a compounding element in conflicts, including armed ones. In turn, these conflicts fuel further tragic situations of poverty…. In this context, fighting poverty requires attentive consideration of the complex phenomenon of globalization. This is important from a methodological standpoint, because it suggests drawing upon the fruits of economic and sociological research into the many different aspects of poverty. Yet the reference to globalization should also alert us to the spiritual and moral implications of the question, urging us, in our dealings with the poor, to set out from the clear recognition that we all share in a single divine plan: we are called to form one family in which all – individuals, peoples and nations – model their behavior according to the principles of fraternity and responsibility….

One of the most important ways of building peace is through a form of globalization directed towards the interests of the whole human family. In order to govern globalization, however, there needs to be a strong sense of global solidarity between rich and poor countries, as well as within individual countries, including affluent ones. A "common code of ethics" is also needed, consisting of norms based not upon mere consensus, but rooted in the natural law inscribed by the Creator on the conscience of every human being (cf. Rom 2:14-15). Does not every one of us sense deep within his or her conscience a call to make a personal contribution to the common good and to peace in society? Globalization eliminates certain barriers, but is still able to build new ones; it brings peoples together, but spatial and temporal proximity does not of itself create the conditions for true communion and authentic peace. Effective means to redress the marginalization of the world's poor through globalization will only be found if people everywhere feel personally outraged by the injustices in the world and by the concomitant violations of human rights. The Church, which is the "sign and instrument of communion with God and of the unity of the entire human race" will continue to offer her contribution so that injustices and misunderstandings may be resolved, leading to a world of greater peace and solidarity….

If the poor are to be given priority, then there has to be enough room for an ethical approach to economics on the part of those active in the international market, an ethical approach to politics on the part of those in public office, and an ethical approach to participation capable of harnessing the contributions of civil society at local and international levels. International agencies themselves have come to recognize the value and advantage of economic initiatives taken by civil society or local administrations to promote the emancipation and social inclusion of those sectors of the population that often fall below the threshold of extreme poverty and yet are not easily reached by official aid. The history of twentieth-century economic development teaches us that good development policies depend for their effectiveness on responsible implementation by human agents and on the creation of positive partnerships between markets, civil society and States. Civil society in particular plays a key part in every process of development, since development is essentially a cultural phenomenon, and culture is born and develops in the civil sphere….

In the Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, John Paul II warned of the need to "abandon a mentality in which the poor – as individuals and as peoples – are considered a burden, as irksome intruders trying to consume what others have produced." The poor, he wrote, "ask for the right to share in enjoying material goods and to make good use of their capacity for work, thus creating a world that is more just and prosperous for all." In today's globalized world, it is increasingly evident that peace can be built only if everyone is assured the possibility of reasonable growth: sooner or later, the distortions produced by unjust systems have to be paid for by everyone. It is utterly foolish to build a luxury home in the midst of desert or decay. Globalization on its own is incapable of building peace, and in many cases, it actually creates divisions and conflicts. If anything it points to a need: to be oriented towards a goal of profound solidarity that seeks the good of each and all. In this sense, globalization should be seen as a good opportunity to achieve something important in the fight against poverty, and to place at the disposal of justice and peace resources which were scarcely conceivable previously.

The Church's social teaching has always been concerned with the poor. At the time of the Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum, the poor were identified mainly as the workers in the new industrial society; in the social Magisterium of Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II, new forms of poverty were gradually explored, as the scope of the social question widened to reach global proportions. This expansion of the social question to the worldwide scale has to be considered not just as a quantitative extension, but also as a qualitative growth in the understanding of man and the needs of the human family. For this reason, while attentively following the current phenomena of globalization and their impact on human poverty, the Church points out the new aspects of the social question, not only in their breadth but also in their depth, insofar as they concern man's identity and his relationship with God. These principles of social teaching tend to clarify the links between poverty and globalization and they help to guide action towards the building of peace. Among these principles, it is timely to recall in particular the "preferential love for the poor," in the light of the primacy of charity, which is attested throughout Christian tradition, beginning with that of the early Church (cf. Acts 4:32-36; 1 Cor 16:1; 2 Cor 8-9; Gal 2:10).

"Everyone should put his hand to the work which falls to his share, at once and immediately," wrote Leo XIII in 1891, and he added: "In regard to the Church, her cooperation will never be wanting, be the time or the occasion what it may." It is in the same spirit that the Church to this day carries out her work for the poor, in whom she sees Christ, and she constantly hears echoing in her heart the command of the Prince of Peace to his Apostles: "Vos date illis manducare – Give them something to eat yourselves" (Lk 9:13). Faithful to this summons from the Lord, the Christian community will never fail, then, to assure the entire human family of her support through gestures of creative solidarity, not only by "giving from one's surplus," but above all by "a change of life- styles, of models of production and consumption, and of the established structures of power which today govern societies." At the start of the New Year, then, I extend to every disciple of Christ and to every person of good will a warm invitation to expand their hearts to meet the needs of the poor and to take whatever practical steps are possible in order to help them. The truth of the axiom cannot be refuted: "to fight poverty is to build peace."

[Resources are now available for use with the Holy Father's 2009 World Day of Peace statement, "Fighting Poverty to Build Peace." The resources include:

These materials and others can be found on the Catholic Campaign against Global Poverty website at: http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/globalpoverty/. Building upon the Holy Father's message on poverty, a full re-launch of this campaign and website is planned for February 23, 2009 at the Catholic Social Ministry Gathering.]

A Statement on the Situation in Gaza

From Brother Robert Smith, FSC, Vice Chancellor of Bethlehem University
31 December 2008

The Bethlehem University community is deeply saddened over the events of the past several days in Gaza – and we are especially concerned for the hundreds of our graduates and their families who live there. On 28 December Pope Benedict XVI called for an end to the violence in the Holy Land and asked the international community to do everything possible to help the Israelis and Palestinians find a solution to the current conflict. The Pope stated that he is "profoundly saddened by the deaths, the wounded, the material damage, the suffering, and the tears of the peoples [who are] victim to this tragic recurrence of attacks and reprisals."

The extraordinary and disproportionate amount of bombing carried out by Israel and the vast number of innocent Palestinian dead and injured, not to mention the physical destruction wrought upon the already-oppressed people of Gaza, makes us cry to Heaven for an immediate ceasefire, that leads to a lasting peace built on justice.

Violence only begets violence, and no one wins. Such a cycle of conflict only brings deeper and more prolonged suffering to all those involved.

Our voices, and our prayers, join with Pope Benedict XVI and all people of good will who demand that this senseless violence end and that every effort be exhausted to resolve the underlying issues that led to this point.

On December 29, 2008 CMEP issued a letter to President Bush and an action alert urging prompt U.S. efforts to secure an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and southern Israel.

[From CACP News Notes, newsletter of Catholics Against Capital Punishment, Dec. 5, 2008.]

In a message transmitted to a September 29 conference in Rome, Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, termed the death penalty "contrary to the great Christian values which sustain the universal rights of man," and said he looked forward to the day when the practice is "definitively eliminated."

His remarks were echoed in an address at the meeting by Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Refugees, who said support for the death penalty is a denial of the basic Christian belief that God can turn any person from a life of sin.

The event, titled "From Moratorium to Abolition of Capital Punishment: No Justice Without Life," was sponsored by the Rome-based Sant'Egidio Community and attracted justice ministers, judges and legislators from 13 African countries as well as Mexico, the Philippines and Kazakhstan.

According to a report by Catholic News Service, Marchetto said the United Nations' 2007 resolution urging a moratorium on the use of the death penalty was the "first necessary step" to abolishing capital punishment completely.

Such a moratorium, he said, should give countries who still have death penalty laws time to "adopt appropriate instruments of law" to ensure the most serious criminals are not a threat to society and to increase the foundations of "a culture of life," paving the way for the abolition of the death penalty.

"Despite everything, the church has always and will always defend the sacredness of human life from conception to natural death as a universal value," the archbishop said.

If one accepts that respect for human life reflects the reality that God created people in his image and likeness, he said, then "the death penalty increasingly appears to be an unacceptable instrument even more than being a useless and dangerous one.

"As Christians, how can we accept that someone be denied the hope of redemption?" Marchetto asked. "A man or woman who made a mistake, who committed a crime, no matter how brutal, must have the possibility of being forgiven - while serving a tough sentence - and of living in hope."

Martino pleas for end to South Korea's death penalty: During a recent visit to South Korea, Cardinal Martino asked the country's prime minister, a Catholic, to abolish the country's death penalty.

"The premier replied that he would consider it," said Martino, in an October 31 lecture in Seoul to members of the Committee for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, according to a report by the UCAN news agency.

Martino had been invited to visit the country by Prime Minister Daniel Han Seung-soo, and had met with Han earlier in the day in the prime minister's office.

The two had become acquainted when Han was appointed president of the 56th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2001. At that time, Martino headed the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the UN.

At their October 31 meeting, they discussed the death penalty in South Korea, along with other topics such as North Korea's human rights record, food shortages and nuclear weapons, according to the prime minister's office.

Commenting on the cardinal's remarks, Fr. Hugo Park Jung-woo, secretary of the CBCK Committee for Justice and Peace, noted that the Korean Catholic Church has been "sending appropriate messages to society on such issues as violation of human rights, respect for life and abolition of the death penalty."

In November 2004, more than half the lawmakers in South Korea's National Assembly introduced a bill to abolish the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without parole or commutation. Conservative lawmakers, however, have kept the bill from coming to a floor vote, and it lapsed when the term of the 17th Assembly ended last May.

We the members of the National Association of Hispanic Priests (ANSH), at our annual convention in Colorado Springs, October 13-17, 2008, issue this statement in support of meeting the needs of immigrants among us. As leaders in the Catholic Church in the U.S. we promote equality among all people regardless of race, color, gender, language, way of life, or nationality.

We support comprehensive immigration reform as outlined in the "Justice for Immigrants Campaign" of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops. We invite our members to support legislation which provides assistance for immigrants. We also promote comprehensive immigration reform which respects and cultivates the human dignity of all who immigrate into this country.

ANSH issues this statement as an expression of our solidarity with our brothers and sisters whose journey of faith we share in our pastoral duties as ministers.

Nosotros, los miembros de la Asociación de Sacerdotes Hispanos (ANSH), reunidos en Colorado Springs durante nuestra convención anual en los días 13 al 17 del mes de octubre del 2008, proclamamos nuestro compromiso frente a las necesidades de nuestros hermanos y hermanas inmigrantes. Como líderes de la Iglesia Católica en los Estados Unidos promovemos la igualdad de todo ser humano con respecto a la raza, color, género, lengua, condición y nacionalidad.

Apoyamos una reforma migratoria comprensiva según se detalla en el documento "La Campaña de Justica para los Inmigrantes" de la Conferencia Católica Episcopal de los Estados Unidos. Invitamos a nuestros miembros a que apoyen legislaciones a favor del inmigrante. Promovemos una reforma migratoria comprensiva mediante la cual se respete y se cultive la dignidad humana de quienes llegan a nuestro país.

La Asociación Nacional de Sacerdotes Hispanos en los Estados Unidos hacemos esta declaración expresando nuestra solidaridad con nuestros hermanos y hermanas a quienes acompañamos en nuestra labor pastoral.

As our diverse faith traditions teach us to welcome our brothers and sisters with love and compassion— regardless of their place of birth— we call on the new Administration and 111th Congress to enact humane and equitable immigration reform in 2009.

We call for immigration reform because each day in our congregations, service programs, health-care facilities, and schools we witness the human consequences of a broken and outdated system. We see the exploitation of undocumented workers and the plight of separated families, as well as the escalation of community fear due to indiscriminate raids and local police acting as federal immigration agents. Humane immigration reform would help put an end to this suffering, which offends the dignity of all human beings.

The Hebrew Bible tells us: "The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Leviticus 19:33-34). In the New Testament, Jesus tells us to welcome the stranger, for "what you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto me" (Matthew 25:40). The Qur'an tells us that we should "do good to…those in need, neighbors who are near, neighbors who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer that you meet" (4:36). The Hindu Taitiriya Upanishad tells us: "The guest is a representative of God" (1.11.2).

Recognizing the importance of families to the creation of healthy individuals and strong communities, we call on the new Administration and Congress to 1) expeditiously reunite immigrant families separated due to lengthy visa backlogs; 2) revise family preference categories and per-country caps to prioritize family unity; and 3) remove bars to reentry and adjustment of status for individuals seeking to reunite with their family members. Attempts to devalue the family, such as denying birthright citizenship to the children of immigrants or placing family-based and employment-based visa applicants in competition with each other on a point-based or other system, must be rejected in order to maintain and promote family unity.

Create a process for undocumented immigrants to earn their legal status and eventual citizenship

We urge the Administration and Congress to enact immigration reform that allows undocumented immigrants and their families to earn lawful permanent residency upon the satisfaction of reasonable criteria, with a pathway to citizenship. The workability of such a program should not be hindered by overly punitive criteria, such as mandating that immigrants leave the country or pay exorbitant fees, or by making the process conditional upon the implementation of enforcement measures. Communities and congregations around the country are prepared to provide legal services to those eligible, as people of faith are committed to an effective and humane system that keeps families together and values the dignity of our friends and neighbors.

We call for an expansion of legal avenues for workers who seek to migrate to the United States to work in a safe, legal, and orderly manner. Their rights must be fully protected, including the ability to bring their families with them, travel as needed, change their place of employment, and apply for lawful permanent residency and eventually citizenship. As currently structured, electronic employment verification programs have proven detrimental to both employers and employees due to increased discrimination and unfair hiring and firing practices. All workers benefit, however, from the enforcement of health, safety, wage, and hour laws, as well as the right to peacefully organize.

Many immigrants desire to naturalize but lack the necessary tools. The U.S. immigration system should empower them to this end by providing financial support to state and local governments and community organizations that offer language and civics education, outreach, and naturalization application assistance. Citizenship should be made more affordable by reducing naturalization fees and making fee waivers more easily accessible. Moreover, the processing of application backlogs and security checks should be streamlined to reduce waiting times. Counterproductive laws prohibiting immigrants from accessing social services and mandating that local police act as immigration officials should be revoked. These barriers to integration decrease community safety and discourage immigrants from pursuing education and community involvement. Faith based organizations and congregations around the country will continue to assist in integration efforts by providing social services and helping immigrants learn English, find jobs, and thrive in the United States.

Immigration policies should respect human rights and ensure due process for all persons. We have witnessed how indiscriminate immigration raids have caused trauma and hardship for thousands of individuals. Such raids separate families, destroy communities, and threaten the basic rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens alike. The suffering caused by the increase and severity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in homes and workplaces underscores the problems with current U.S. immigration policies and the urgent need for reform. Many faith organizations administer services to those impacted by raids, as well as to immigrants in detention facilities. Witnessing the toll of incarceration on detainees, their families and our communities, we urge the new Administration and Congress to reduce the use of detention for immigrants and improve detention conditions by enacting clear, enforceable reforms that include rigorous medical treatment standards and increased access to pastoral care, legal counsel and legal orientation programs. Furthermore, the government should expedite the release of individuals who pose no risk to the community and expand the use of community-based alternatives to detention, which are more humane and cost effective.

For the past twenty years, the federal government has dramatically increased fence construction, border patrol presence, and the deportation of immigrants, which have proven ineffective at decreasing undocumented immigration. During this time, we have witnessed the desecration of sacred sites and the violation of environmental and religious freedom laws, as well as the unnecessary suffering of community members whose loved ones have suffered or died seeking entry into the United States. Currently, vast resources are being used for fence construction and the mass arrests, detention, and deportation of immigrants who contribute to the U.S. economy and culture. To truly decrease undocumented immigration, the United States should improve access to the legal immigration system by increasing the number of ports of entry, expanding visa availability, and eliminating application backlogs to increase processing efficiency. Border policies must be consistent with humanitarian values and with the need to treat all individuals with respect, while allowing the United States to implement its immigration laws and identify and prevent the entry of persons who commit dangerous crimes. All immigration laws must respect the dignity of all persons, prioritize the cohesiveness of families and communities, recognize the economic contributions of immigrants, and uphold our moral obligations to provide refuge and welcome the stranger.

As people of faith, we call attention to the moral dimensions of public policy and recommend reforms that uphold the God-given dignity and rights of every person, each of whom are made in the image of God. We are dedicated to immigration reform because we value family unity, justice, equity, compassion, love, and the humane treatment of all persons. It is our collective prayer that the new Administration and 111th Congress enact just immigration reform based on these tenets.

There are just over two months before the 7th annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days gathering begins! Don't miss your chance to register at the regular conference rate of $160, which will raise to $175 on February 13, 2009. The hotel rate of $109 (plus tax) will last until February 6, 2009.

Registration Information: Conference fee: $160 including two lunches and Sunday reception. Registration after February 13th will be $175. Click here to Register Now.

Housing Information: All sessions Friday through Sunday will be held at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center. The Hilton Alexandria Mark Center is located across the Potomac River from Washington, DC, in Alexandria, Virginia. The hotel provides a free shuttle to and from Reagan National Airport, Pentagon City and King Street Metro Stations.

Make your reservation under the name "Ecumenical Advocacy Days" for the special $109 (plus tax) per night room rate. This rate will last until February 6 or the block is sold-out, whichever comes first. Reservations: Call (877) 783-8258 or (800) 445-8667, or register online.

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.
How can the Justice and Peace Office help you get involved?

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