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March 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.
Making Human Rights Real for Children
By Brother Ernest J. Miller, FSC, Director of Education and Lasallian Mission Formation, Baltimore District (province), Brothers of the Christian Schools
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is one of many national and international organizations that provide information to make us more aware about the world's children. According to UNICEF: "Most of the people living in poverty are children. Poverty denies children their rights. It weakens a child's protective environment, as much abuse and exploitation of children is linked to widespread and deeply entrenched poverty. It blights their lives with ill health, malnutrition, and impaired physical and mental development. No society has ever seen a broad-based reduction in poverty without major and sustained investments in the rights of its people to health, nutrition and basic education." Still, it is safe to say that most Americans are not aware of the realities for so many of the world's children, including more than 13.3 million children (Children's Defense Fund 2008 report) living in poverty in the U.S.
We know that the Christian tradition instructs us that the preservation of human dignity can only be attained if human rights are affirmed and protected. Mark's gospel speaks powerfully of Jesus' attentiveness to children, with his eyes wide open. And besides the rich and complex tradition of Catholic life and thought, we have at our disposal the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the principal international treaty—it belongs to a vaster architecture of human rights—that enunciates children's rights, proffering a global vision of the child with a moral and spiritual dimension.
Setting out to create a legally binding international instrument on children's rights, the International Catholic Child Bureau, or BICE, led a group of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) beginning in 1980 that contributed to the drafting of the CRC. 1989 may have been an unsettling year, with the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Berlin Wall collapse, and the Panama invasion, but it ended on a momentous note, when the Convention, on 20 November, was unanimously approved by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. On 2 September 1990, the treaty was instituted as international law.
Of the 192 United Nations Member States, only two countries have not ratified the Convention: Somalia, a country without a functioning government since 1991, and the United States, despite its active participation in the decade-long drafting process. (In 1995, President Clinton signed the Convention, but the U.S. Senate must give its advice and consent.)
The Convention prioritizes childhood in putting forward four basic standards that individual nations agree to pursue on behalf of children, including providing assistance to parents as they fulfill their childrearing responsibilities. These norms rest on the Convention's four underlying themes:
- the right to Survival;
- the right to Develop to the fullest potential;
- the right to Protection from abuse, neglect, and exploitation; and
- the right to Participate in family, cultural, and social life.
BICE, set up amidst the ruins in the aftermath of the Second World War, with its tragic consequences for children, aims to help build a world of justice and peace in which each child has a future. Reverend Gaston Courtois, imbued with an international vision and a profound passion for children's interests in society, presented the idea of BICE in February 1947, to Pope Pius XII. In January 1948, this project was launched during a founding congress that took place under the auspices of Mgr. Roncalli, who became John XXIII, and Cardinal Suhard of Paris. Representatives from eight European countries and four religious organizations participated: l'Oeuvre pontificale de la Sainte Enfance, the Brothers of the Christian Schools, the Salesians of Don Bosco, and the Jesuit review, Lumen Vitae. Today, BICE, an international NGO recognized by the Holy See, is headquartered in Paris, and its Permanent Representation to international institutions including the United Nations is based in Geneva.
In October 2008, in Brussels, a BICE committee with representatives from 13 countries began drafting an Appeal for a new mobilization for children's rights to commemorate the CRC 20th anniversary. While the Convention has created a new culture for childhood and led to a clearer comprehension of child realities, the global landscape continues showing millions of children deprived of their dignity and their basic human rights. The Appeal, open to signature by non-governmental organizations, churches, educational institutions, youth groups, and other organizations, will be presented in June 2009, in Geneva, during an international symposium on the Convention.
It is difficult not to see that the principles of Catholic Social Teaching finds convergence with the application of the Convention, designed to help better integrate a child and their inner wealth---the process of resilience—into society. To One concrete action towards achieving the goals of the CRC is joining the national effort for the U.S. Senate to ratify the Convention. Recognizing the complex time and place in which we live, the road we must travel is long, but it bends towards justice. In order for children to thrive, childhood needs to be made a national as well as global priority.
Here are 10 Activities through individuals or groups can become engaged to make human rights real for children:
- Join the Campaign for U.S. Ratification of the CRC.
- Continue to educate yourself on the Convention, including its compliance with U.S. law, claims of and responses to the opposition, proposed benefits of ratification, and how the CRC has been used to improve children's welfare around the world.
- Involve others- educate friends, families, colleagues, religious and faith-based groups, community leaders, and parent-teacher associations on the Convention and why they should get involved in the Campaign for U.S. Ratification of the CRC.
- Incorporate the CRC into your organization's advocacy agenda or your course curricula.
- Include information about the CRC in your newsletters and conference workshops and presentations.
- Raise awareness in your community- write Letters to the Editor and Op-eds. in support of the CRC.
- Post a link to the Campaign for U.S. Ratification of the CRC on your Web Site.
- Use the CRC as a tool to evaluate and guide the development of your organization's policies and programs.
- Enact a Local/State CRC Resolution.
- Host a local event, such as an educational presentation. Use the Campaign's PowerPoint Presentation, show a film, or invite an expert from the Speakers Bureau to discuss the CRC with participants.
Catholics Confront Global Poverty
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) today launched the much-anticipated Catholics Confront Global Poverty initiative. Introduced at the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering on Capitol Hill, the two-year nationwide effort calls upon one million Catholics to confront global poverty by defending the life and dignity of people living in poverty throughout the world and to urge our nation to act and advocate.
Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, Chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace at the USCCB, announced the launch of the initiative, followed by Ken Hackett, President of CRS. Both speakers urged Catholics throughout the country to help educate and mobilize their fellow Catholics in confronting the many faces of poverty around the globe."We are part of a worldwide community of faith," said Hackett. "Both CRS and the USCCB listen carefully to the Church in developing countries as we seek to serve the needs of the poorest members of the human family."
The Catholics Confront Global Poverty initiative focuses its efforts on seven key areas that require more attention to effectively confront global poverty: promoting comprehensive foreign assistance reform; completing the debt relief agenda; addressing global climate change; promoting reform of U.S. trade and agriculture policies; supporting transparency, participation and consent of local communities in natural resource development; employing significant resources in peace building; and addressing the root causes of migration.
"Catholics throughout the country can help address these very important issues through prayer, learning, advocacy, education and giving, the five main pillars of action for this initiative," says Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, Chairman of CRS' Board of Directors. "There are countless stories of poor persons and communities all over the world rising above crushing poverty. Our mission as Catholics is to stand in solidarity with them and help them in this fight."
The Catholics Confront Global Poverty initiative was inspired by Pope Benedict XVI's 2009 World Day of Peace Message, Fight Poverty to Build Peace, in which our Holy Father declares: "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."
Background information, sign-up instructions, action alerts, podcasts and other information is all available on the new Catholics Confront Global Poverty website:
www.usccb.org/globalpoverty or www.crs.org/globalpoverty. The new site allows visitors to take action and access real stories of people harmed by global poverty. The site also includes a variety of resources for use by families, parish youth groups, college campuses, religious communities, catechists and other groups that wish to participate in the initiative.
Catholic bishop announces new Catholic campaign for nuclear disarmament
Great Falls, Mont.— Bishop Gabino Zavala, the auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and the Bishop-President of Pax Christi USA, announced yesterday in a major address at the University of Great Falls that "today, we are in a new moment regarding nuclear disarmament."
"Just as I joined my voice with the voices of more than 100 of my fellow bishop members of Pax Christi USA, now more than 10 years ago, I say to you today that nuclear deterrence does not meet the [U.S. Bishop's Peace Pastoral's] criteria, it must be condemned and one day very soon I am sure, the Catholic Church in the United States will echo the words of the Vatican that ‘nuclear weapons are incompatible with the peace we seek for the 21st Century,'" stated Bishop Zavala.
Bishop Zavala used this address to publicly announce a new campaign from Pax Christi USA, "A New Moment for Nuclear Disarmament." He pointed out that Pax Christi USA new campaign is focused on taking advantage of this opportunity to impact future U.S. nuclear policy and undo some of the dangerous decisions made in the recent past.
Citing recent actions like last December's meeting in Paris when one hundred international political, military, business and civil leaders came together to launch a new initiative aimed at eliminating nuclear weapons as well as President Obama's overtures of a U.S. nuclear policy built around the goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons, Bishop Zavala stated his conviction that we stand on the brink of incredible new possibilities.
"So I stand here today with great hope that a very new moment for dramatic and fundamental changes in U.S. nuclear weapons policies is within our reach," Bishop Zavala stated. "In addition to ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, long-sought goals of taking deployed nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert status, negotiating a fissile materials cut-off treaty, and amending the Moscow Treaty to make its proposed cuts in U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals real and irreversible—these are all possible given the new Administration and Senate."
"Each of these important and achievable steps will build the momentum needed to move further toward an international treaty to outlaw nuclear weapons once and for all," he went on to say.
The address in Great Falls was co-sponsored by the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings and the Catholic University of Great Falls.
More information on Pax Christi USA's new campaign can be found here. Bishop Zavala's speech in its entirety can be found here.
For more information, contact John Zokovitch, Pax Christi USA Communications Director: (352) 219-8419 or johnnypcusa@yahoo.com.
Prominent Religious Leaders Call for "Commission of Inquiry" on Torture as Senator Leahy Launches Hearings to Establish "Truth" Commission
Washington, DC – The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) released a statement calling for an impartial, nonpartisan, and independent "Commission of Inquiry" to investigate U.S.-sponsored torture and to ascertain the extent to which Bush administration interrogation practices constituted "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment." The statement has been signed by nearly two dozen prominent religious leaders, representing a broad array of religious denominations. Signatories include Rev. Dr. John H. Thomas, General Minister and President, United Church of Christ; Dr. Ingrid Mattson, President, Islamic Society of North America; Rev. Dr. David Gushee, President, Evangelicals for Human Rights; and Rabbi David Saperstein, Director, Religious Action Center, Union of Reform Judaism.
The statement reads in part:
"The United States must never again engage in torture. Torture is immoral, illegal and counterproductive. It causes profound and lasting harm, especially to its victims but also to its perpetrators. It contradicts our nation's deepest values and corrupts the moral fabric of our society. […] As people of faith, we know that brokenness can be healed – both in individual lives and in the life of the nation. All religions believe that redemption is possible. Learning the truth can set us on a path toward national healing and renewal."
The release of this statement comes as momentum is building for an investigation into the Bush administration's program of "enhanced interrogation." Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), is holding a Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, March 4, to explore establishing a "Truth" Commission, which would carry out a comprehensive investigation into the approval of and use of torture by the U.S. government. The Commission would include significant use of public testimony and would ultimately issue a report on its findings.
NRCAT, which is providing written testimony for Senator Leahy's hearing, strongly supports the establishment of an independent, non-partisan Commission of Inquiry, with the power to subpoena witnesses, to investigate the roles elements of our government played in the torture of detainees.
"The American people have been kept in the dark about this nation's involvement in torture for long enough," said Rev. Richard Killmer, executive director of NRCAT. "If we hope to heal the nation's soul, we must conduct a public inquiry into the actions of the last eight years. This is not a time to hide from our past. We must investigate and report on the torture policies and practices of the past and then develop safeguards to assure that torture never happens again."
For more information about NRCAT's campaign for a Commission of Inquiry, visit www.tortureisamoralissue.org.
The following is the text of the NRCAT statement calling for a Commission of Inquiry to investigate U.S.-sponsored torture (Very Rev. Thomas Picton, CSsR, President of CMSM, is among the endorsers. A list of endorsers can be found here here):
The United States must never again engage in torture. Torture is immoral, illegal and counterproductive. It causes profound and lasting harm, especially to its victims but also to its perpetrators. It contradicts our nation's deepest values and corrupts the moral fabric of our society.
We call for an impartial, nonpartisan, and independent Commission of Inquiry. Its purpose should be to gather all the facts and make recommendations. It should ascertain the extent to which our interrogation practices have constituted torture and "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment". Understanding the causes, nature and scope of U.S.-sponsored torture is essential for preventing it in the future and eliminating it from our system without loopholes. U.S. law will determine the extent of any criminal culpability.
As people of faith, we know that brokenness can be healed – both in individual lives and in the life of the nation. All religions believe that redemption is possible. Learning the truth can set us on a path toward national healing and renewal.
The United States must never again allow itself to be driven by blinding fears and bitter resentments in responding to national tragedy. The use of torture only serves to undermine our security in a dangerous world.
Nothing less than the soul of our nation is at stake in confronting U.S.-sponsored torture and completely renouncing its use. Let the U.S. reaffirm its values by establishing a Commission of Inquiry.
Together with Africa: Celebrating Hope
With all the bad news about U.S. stock markets and unemployment, it might be easy to forget those in need throughout the world. Help call attention to this issue by getting informed and spreading the word via email or by writing to your local editor or television producer.
A good place to look for more information is the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, which is presenting "Together with Africa: Celebrating Hope." This special project encourages the entire Maryknoll world, their friends, supporters and colleagues to pray and act in solidarity with the Church in Africa during 2009 through:
- a monthly prayer based on the theme of the synod, "Justice, peace and reconciliation"
- a weekly Africa update to make Africa more visible, with a focus on the countries where Maryknoll has experience, as well as important trans-regional issues such as ecology, poverty, violent conflict, HIV and AIDS, the impact of U.S. policy on justice, peace and reconciliation
- a weekly story of hope from Africa
- important documents relating to the themes of solidarity, social justice, peace and reconciliation
- a weekly Africa-focused action alert that will encourage prayer, study and action over the course of a month to increase attention to Africa on a regular basis
These items will be posted on Maryknoll's web page "Together with Africa: Celebrating hope," and also shared through a weekly email. To sign up for this weekly email, please click here.
A Catholic Framework for Economic Life
A Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, November 1996
[In 1996 the Catholic Bishops of the United States issued an "after ten years" reconsideration of Economic Justice for All, the 1986 pastoral letter on the U. S. economy. The following are the basic principles of that document. Their relevance for the present-day crisis is evident.]
As followers of Jesus Christ and participants in a powerful economy, Catholics in the United States are called to work for greater economic justice in the face of persistent poverty, growing income-gaps, and increasing discussion of economic issues in the US and around the world. We urge Catholics to use the following ethical framework for economic life as principles for reflection, criteria for judgment and directions for action. These principles are drawn directly from Catholic teaching on economic life.
- The economy exists for the person, not the person for the economy.
- All economic life should be shaped by moral principles. Economic choices and institutions must be judged by how they protect or undermine the life and dignity of the human person, support the family and serve the common good.
- A fundamental moral measure of any economy is how the poor and vulnerable are faring.
- All people have a right to life and to secure the basic necessities of life (e.g., food, clothing, shelter, education, health care, safe environment, economic security.)
- All people have the right to economic initiative, to productive work, to just wages and benefits, to decent working conditions as well as to organize and join unions or other associations.
- All people, to the extent they are able, have a corresponding duty to work, a responsibility to provide the needs of their families and an obligation to contribute to the broader society.
- In economic life, free markets have both clear advantages and limits; government has essential responsibilities and limitations; voluntary groups have irreplaceable roles, but cannot substitute for the proper working of the market and the just policies of the state.
- Society has a moral obligation, including governmental action where necessary, to assure opportunity, meet basic human needs, and pursue justice in economic life.
- Workers, owners, managers, stockholders and consumers are moral agents in economic life. By our choices, initiative, creativity and investment, we enhance or diminish economic opportunity, community life and social justice.
- The global economy has moral dimensions and human consequences. Decisions on investment, trade, aid and development should protect human life and promote human rights, especially for those most in need wherever they might live on this globe.
According to Pope John Paul II, the Catholic tradition calls for a "society of work, enterprise and participation" which "is not directed against the market, but demands that the market be appropriately controlled by the forces of society and by the state to assure that the basic needs of the whole society are satisfied." (Centesimus Annus, 35). All of economic life should recognize the fact that we all are God's children and members of one human family, called to exercise a clear priority for "the least among us."
The sources for this framework include the Catechism of the Catholic Church, recent papal encyclicals, the pastoral letter Economic Justice for All, and other statements of the U.S. Catholic bishops. They reflect the Church's teaching on the dignity, rights, and duties of the human person; the option for the poor; the common good; subsidiarity and solidarity.
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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