Francis, The Holy Father, has written and released his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium - "Joy of the Gospel". There is much to read, analyze and contemplate. There are parts that some will struggle with and parts that will not be accepted by people. I struggle and don't agree with a good deal of it. But the main focus of this document in my view is a long needed, strong and intense battle for the poor, the vulnerable and disenfranchised, as well as a strong statement for peace and justice. It is long overdue and Francis will need to do a lot more to lead the way. Robes and gold will need to take a different place in the Church. Having said that, he needs to be given credit for speaking out strongly on the side of the poor. He raises serious questions about the morality of economic systems based on individual wealth. And he speaks of peace.
The entire document can be found here and should be read and thought about.
To me, the most meaningful and important sections are The Inclusion of The Poor In Society and The Common Good and Peace In Society. From my perspective these are not new or different ideas. These are the teachings of Christ and the Church from its earliest days with an emphasis on the least among us and on peace.
Many of those who are in leadership positions today are Christians, many Catholics. These are leaders who cut Food Stamps to those who are struggling. These are the leaders who promote and fund joystick wars by manipulating drones far away, with little concern for killing or the collateral damage of civilians. These are people who need to read Francis' words on the poor and on peace along with the rest of us.
For those who wonder, the Church left me many years ago. Perhaps she's coming back. Perhaps she can be forgiven. The reality is though that the Church I knew was and has been judgmental about so many in society, and in doing so aligned herself with followers who looked away or worse yet, down on so many segments of society. Francis certainly has a job cut out for him to change all of that but I'm grateful that he's trying.
The reality is though that I and others will continue to struggle with the issues of a church that is so judgmental relative to sexual orientation, the ordination of women, and the ability of people to make choices about contraception and their bodies. These are areas that continue to need clarification and discussion. They are by no means black and white, one shoe fits all types of issues. They are very real and of great importance to those who are impacted and who are looking for an embrace from the Church.
Francis has the right vision of the poor as those who we can all learn from. He voices a respect for them as well as the struggles they engage in. But he does more. He asks everyone else to change their ways and their thinking. We will see. We will see.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
Memories of JFK
Nov. 22, 1963 was a dark day in history for many. It has influenced much of where we are today as a country and as individuals. Here are a few memories and thoughts I have of that time.
John F. Kennedy certainly had his flaws, both personally and politically. Some would argue he was far more conservative on military and social issues then history shows. He was a product of the military industrial complex and of political expediency. His life and family experiences, like all of us, influenced how he thought, who he was and decisions that he made. Beyond all of that, he himself influenced a generation.
I was a sophomore in high school in 1960 when John Kennedy was elected President. That election cycle was my first real involvement or interest in politics. I followed the election closely, watched the debates, read articles and was engrossed in the news reporting and the national conventions held that year. I listened to his speeches and heard a message about governing differently, about social issues, etc. I, like many others, also watched and listened to the debate about his Catholicism. The issue was discussed openly. People were actually talking about discrimination and how being an Irish Catholic wouldn't bode well for this young Congressman from Massachusetts.
My family and I were vacationing on Cape Cod that summer before the election. We along with many others went to Hyannis to watch the Kennedys, Jack and Jackie, drive along a parade route to their family's summer retreat. We were close as they drove by waving, reaching out and smiling to the crowd. It was the first of many times that I would drive by the Kennedy complex in Hyannis, by land and by sea.
In the end he was elected. He began raising a nation's consciousness about social responsibility both here and abroad. He emphasized service for a greater good. He established the Peace Corps and started a process of young people becoming engaged with poor people around the world. He shook hands with common people, including the poor and working class Americans. He created a dream for a better world and a place that each of us could influence through political and/or direct action.
By 1963, I had graduated high school and had entered Maryknoll Seminary in Glen Ellyn Illinois. There had been a Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam appeared as a shadow in the mist and the Civil Rights Movement was unraveling the long standing politics of the South. Martin Luther King, Jr. had delivered his I Have A Dream speech just a few months earlier. Most of the major civil rights legislation didn't exist yet. Things proved not to be so easy for President Kennedy. The world and our country proved to be much more complicated.
And then on Nov. 22, 1963, Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas and for a moment the world stood still. At Maryknoll as at every other place across the country, regular activities and business stopped. Everyone tried to keep up with the unfolding news. People tried to make sense of what had happened. The pictures and news footage tell the story better then I can. It wasn't just for a day either. The mourning, lying in state, the funeral and burial all went on with everyone watching, trying to understand. Where would we go from here.
As I said when I started this, Kennedy certainly had his flaws, both personally and politically. He most likely wasn't as progressive as many remember him. His history included involvement with Sen. Joe McCarthy and his notorious witch-hunt for communists and left leaning American citizens, the Constitution be damned. Even when he knew what was right, many times he chose the path of political expediency. But here's the thing that I learned from Jack Kennedy and his brother Bobby. People can evolve. Their ideas, ideals and beliefs can change. That was one of the greatest things Kennedy had to offer. We watched him change before our very eyes and that gave people hope. On that day in November 50 years ago that was some of my sadness. Some hope was gone. So we memorialize that day and think about the past and the future. But our image of Kennedy is frozen in time. His evolution stopped and all we have is our own and history's conjecture. Would he or wouldn't he have followed the path of every other US leader relative to Vietnam? Would more or less have happened with civil rights? All we have are dreams.
In the end we have what we were left with and that's our reality 50 years later.
John F. Kennedy certainly had his flaws, both personally and politically. Some would argue he was far more conservative on military and social issues then history shows. He was a product of the military industrial complex and of political expediency. His life and family experiences, like all of us, influenced how he thought, who he was and decisions that he made. Beyond all of that, he himself influenced a generation.
I was a sophomore in high school in 1960 when John Kennedy was elected President. That election cycle was my first real involvement or interest in politics. I followed the election closely, watched the debates, read articles and was engrossed in the news reporting and the national conventions held that year. I listened to his speeches and heard a message about governing differently, about social issues, etc. I, like many others, also watched and listened to the debate about his Catholicism. The issue was discussed openly. People were actually talking about discrimination and how being an Irish Catholic wouldn't bode well for this young Congressman from Massachusetts.
My family and I were vacationing on Cape Cod that summer before the election. We along with many others went to Hyannis to watch the Kennedys, Jack and Jackie, drive along a parade route to their family's summer retreat. We were close as they drove by waving, reaching out and smiling to the crowd. It was the first of many times that I would drive by the Kennedy complex in Hyannis, by land and by sea.
In the end he was elected. He began raising a nation's consciousness about social responsibility both here and abroad. He emphasized service for a greater good. He established the Peace Corps and started a process of young people becoming engaged with poor people around the world. He shook hands with common people, including the poor and working class Americans. He created a dream for a better world and a place that each of us could influence through political and/or direct action.
By 1963, I had graduated high school and had entered Maryknoll Seminary in Glen Ellyn Illinois. There had been a Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam appeared as a shadow in the mist and the Civil Rights Movement was unraveling the long standing politics of the South. Martin Luther King, Jr. had delivered his I Have A Dream speech just a few months earlier. Most of the major civil rights legislation didn't exist yet. Things proved not to be so easy for President Kennedy. The world and our country proved to be much more complicated.
And then on Nov. 22, 1963, Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas and for a moment the world stood still. At Maryknoll as at every other place across the country, regular activities and business stopped. Everyone tried to keep up with the unfolding news. People tried to make sense of what had happened. The pictures and news footage tell the story better then I can. It wasn't just for a day either. The mourning, lying in state, the funeral and burial all went on with everyone watching, trying to understand. Where would we go from here.
As I said when I started this, Kennedy certainly had his flaws, both personally and politically. He most likely wasn't as progressive as many remember him. His history included involvement with Sen. Joe McCarthy and his notorious witch-hunt for communists and left leaning American citizens, the Constitution be damned. Even when he knew what was right, many times he chose the path of political expediency. But here's the thing that I learned from Jack Kennedy and his brother Bobby. People can evolve. Their ideas, ideals and beliefs can change. That was one of the greatest things Kennedy had to offer. We watched him change before our very eyes and that gave people hope. On that day in November 50 years ago that was some of my sadness. Some hope was gone. So we memorialize that day and think about the past and the future. But our image of Kennedy is frozen in time. His evolution stopped and all we have is our own and history's conjecture. Would he or wouldn't he have followed the path of every other US leader relative to Vietnam? Would more or less have happened with civil rights? All we have are dreams.
In the end we have what we were left with and that's our reality 50 years later.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
68th Anniversary of Opening Statement at Nuremberg Military Tribunal
Today, Nov. 21, 2013 marks the 68th anniversary of Justice Robert H Jackson's opening statement at Nuremberg. Everyone should spend some time reading Jackson's speech and thinking about how he laid out the case for the prosecution of defendants accused of horrific war crimes. In addition, his words should be viewed as they may relate to wars that have taken place since Nuremberg. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and many other conflicts come to mind.
In this speech Justice Roberts was presenting the case on behalf of the International Military Tribunal. The international community knew it had to speak out and take actions against those who committed so many atrocities. Jackson was pointing out leadership responsibilities and roles. He hadn't yet dealt with the issues of those who were just following orders. That would come later. The speech he gave on Nov. 21, 1945 began the prosecution of many of the principle Nazi criminals and leaders who survived World War ll.
Jackson was aware that some may be critical of the trial as a vengeance trial put on by the 'winners ' of that terrible war. He knew history was being made at the trials but who knows how far he thought through the impact his words may have in the future. Jackson was an interesting figure, a Supreme Court Justice from Jamestown, NY who was asked to be the lead prosecutor at Nuremberg. He brought a history of law and judicial understanding to the process.
Here is the official published text of Justice Johnson's opening statement at Nuremberg. There's a lot more information to be found on Justice Jackson including his continuing role at Nuremberg at the Robert H. Jackson Center. Inc. Homepage.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
The Real Issue With Health Care
Different people have different perspectives and different views on health care and how it should work. That's natural. But the Affordable Health Care Act is what this country currently has and as far as I can tell, no one has offered any real alternative to that legislation. It's certainly a shame that the website that was meant to assist people in signing up has huge problems and needs to be fixed but again if we're honest with ourselves, some of that was manufactured by the fights and arguments that took place right up until the last minute of the roll out.
The bottom line is important though and some people seem to have lost sight of it. Thirty to forty million people are currently without health insurance of any kind. This is in addition to the stresses of unemployment, cuts to Food Stamps and other safety net types of programs. And this thirty-forty million isn't made up of just those traditional 'poor' people who can be such a nuisance and a bother to some of the rest of us. No, this group includes veterans, part time and full time workers, single moms, the elderly, people who have been laid off, people with pre-existing conditions, people who put the care of their families above extremely high premiums. These are all people who need and deserve the security of having some decent health care coverage. Lest we forget, these people are the real issue relative to health care. They need it and they deserve it - up to forty million of them.
It has taken way too long for this country to come up with a solution to the health care crisis in this country. Republicans and Democrats have all had their chances through numerous administrations. They traditionally have failed miserably. What we all need to understand is that everyone pays for it already through increased fees that cover the cost of the uninsured. So if people insist on being critical and finding fault, please provide or offer an alternative. But right now it would be best if folks would just hunker down and fix the one alternative that currently exists.
The bottom line is important though and some people seem to have lost sight of it. Thirty to forty million people are currently without health insurance of any kind. This is in addition to the stresses of unemployment, cuts to Food Stamps and other safety net types of programs. And this thirty-forty million isn't made up of just those traditional 'poor' people who can be such a nuisance and a bother to some of the rest of us. No, this group includes veterans, part time and full time workers, single moms, the elderly, people who have been laid off, people with pre-existing conditions, people who put the care of their families above extremely high premiums. These are all people who need and deserve the security of having some decent health care coverage. Lest we forget, these people are the real issue relative to health care. They need it and they deserve it - up to forty million of them.
It has taken way too long for this country to come up with a solution to the health care crisis in this country. Republicans and Democrats have all had their chances through numerous administrations. They traditionally have failed miserably. What we all need to understand is that everyone pays for it already through increased fees that cover the cost of the uninsured. So if people insist on being critical and finding fault, please provide or offer an alternative. But right now it would be best if folks would just hunker down and fix the one alternative that currently exists.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
48 Years Ago - Dorothy Day's Union Square Speech
November 6, 1965
"When Jesus walked this earth; True God and True man, and was talking to the multitudes, a woman in the crowd cried out, 'Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast that nourished you.' And he answered her, 'Yes, but rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.'
"And the word of God is the new commandment he gave us--to love our enemies, to overcome evil with good, to love others as he loved us--that is, to lay down our lives for our brothers throughout the world, not to take the lives of men, women, and children, young and old, by bombs and napalm and all the other instruments of war.
"Instead he spoke of the instruments of peace, to be practiced by all nations--to feed the hungry of the world,--not to destroy their crops, not to spend billions on defense, which means instruments of destruction. He commanded us to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, to save lives, not to destroy them, these precious lives for whom he willingly sacrificed his own.
"I speak today as one who is old, and who must uphold and endorse the courage of the young who themselves are willing to give up their freedom. I speak as one who is old, and whose whole lifetime has seen the cruelty and hysteria of war in this last half century. But who has also seen, praise God, the emerging nations of Africa and Asia, and Latin America, achieving in many instances their own freedom through non-violent struggles, side by side with violence. Our own country has through tens of thousand of the Negroe people, shown an example to the world of what a non-violent struggle can achieve. This very struggle, begun by students, by the young, by the seemingly helpless, have led the way in vision, in courage, even in a martyrdom, which has been shared by the little children, in the struggle for full freedom and for human dignity which means the right to health, education, and work which is a full development of man's god-given talents.
"We have seen the works of man's genius and vision in the world today, in the conquering of space, in his struggle with plague and famine, and in each and every demonstration such as this one--there is evidence of his struggle against war.
"I wish to place myself beside A. J. Muste speaking, if I am permitted, to show my solidarity of purpose with these young men, and to point out that we too are breaking the law, committing civil disobedience, in advocating and trying to encourage all those who are conscripted, to inform their conscience, to heed the still small voice, and to refuse to participate in the immorality of war. It is the most potent way to end war.
"We too, by law, myself and all who signed the statement of conscience, should be arrested and we would esteem it an honour to share prison penalties with these others. I would like to conclude these few words with a prayer in the words of St. Francis, saint of poverty and peace, 'O Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow love.'"
"When Jesus walked this earth; True God and True man, and was talking to the multitudes, a woman in the crowd cried out, 'Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast that nourished you.' And he answered her, 'Yes, but rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.'"And the word of God is the new commandment he gave us--to love our enemies, to overcome evil with good, to love others as he loved us--that is, to lay down our lives for our brothers throughout the world, not to take the lives of men, women, and children, young and old, by bombs and napalm and all the other instruments of war.
"Instead he spoke of the instruments of peace, to be practiced by all nations--to feed the hungry of the world,--not to destroy their crops, not to spend billions on defense, which means instruments of destruction. He commanded us to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, to save lives, not to destroy them, these precious lives for whom he willingly sacrificed his own.
"I speak today as one who is old, and who must uphold and endorse the courage of the young who themselves are willing to give up their freedom. I speak as one who is old, and whose whole lifetime has seen the cruelty and hysteria of war in this last half century. But who has also seen, praise God, the emerging nations of Africa and Asia, and Latin America, achieving in many instances their own freedom through non-violent struggles, side by side with violence. Our own country has through tens of thousand of the Negroe people, shown an example to the world of what a non-violent struggle can achieve. This very struggle, begun by students, by the young, by the seemingly helpless, have led the way in vision, in courage, even in a martyrdom, which has been shared by the little children, in the struggle for full freedom and for human dignity which means the right to health, education, and work which is a full development of man's god-given talents.
"We have seen the works of man's genius and vision in the world today, in the conquering of space, in his struggle with plague and famine, and in each and every demonstration such as this one--there is evidence of his struggle against war.
"I wish to place myself beside A. J. Muste speaking, if I am permitted, to show my solidarity of purpose with these young men, and to point out that we too are breaking the law, committing civil disobedience, in advocating and trying to encourage all those who are conscripted, to inform their conscience, to heed the still small voice, and to refuse to participate in the immorality of war. It is the most potent way to end war.
"We too, by law, myself and all who signed the statement of conscience, should be arrested and we would esteem it an honour to share prison penalties with these others. I would like to conclude these few words with a prayer in the words of St. Francis, saint of poverty and peace, 'O Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow love.'"
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