Oblate works of justice, JPIC
Personal and collective conversion towards social transformation
October 11th – Catholic Higher Education: Engaging the Future
In my presentation, I will speak about my own reading of the invitation of St. Eugene for his followers to impact the world for good and finally speak to the role of institutions of higher learning, drawn from that experience.
St. Eugene was not content to preach a sanitized gospel message but one that was transformative of individuals and society. He calls his early Oblates to draw people to first be human, then Christian and then saints. He fought for freedom of religion in a post revolutionary France. He demanded that prisoners be fed wholesome, not rancid bread. He was close to the people whether it be fishmongers or visiting the homes of the poor.
I learned and was convinced early in my ministry that the Church was not the center of Christ preaching but the building of the Kingdom of the Father, a rule of justice and peace among the larger family of humankind. The church could not be just a haven of the saved, who ministry was centered on guaranteeing the salvation of those who belonged to it, but rather the church is the salt, the light, the yeast of society.
I found myself involved in Development and Peace promotion, in whatever Diocese I was missioned. I found myself supporting the small tea farmers in Kenya who were wanting to work together to find a source of water from the mountain. We as Oblates ultimately helped organize 36 different small water projects to work together as Mt Kenya East Water Association. Although we in the Catholic Church sought to get the initial funding through Canadian friends and CIDA, we expected every member to contribute labor and some initial fee. The project was an inclusive community project. No one was excluded on denominational lines. That project serving some 2600 small farms did much to build harmony and respect among communities and different faith groups.
In Vancouver, I worked with many to establish Metro Vancouver Alliance. Metro Vancouver Alliance is a broad-based alliance of community groups, labor, faith and educational institutions working together for the common good.
Broad-based community organizations operate on the principle of ‘power before program’. In other words, they build strong relationships amongst diverse groups in the community. Those groups then come together to listen to their members’ concerns and to agree on issues that can be worked on together. This ensures that the alliances are sustainable over the long term and that members work on those issues that concretely matter most to them. It is not a single issue association. Members develop leadership skills and learn “the art of politics” through active engagement and participation.
MVA organizes through relationships both within and outside of our institutions to learn where people’s passions lie, build power, and remain accountable. Once such a vehicle is formed, it holds the power to make politicians, agencies and corporations more responsive to community needs. Equally important, it enables people to break their crippling isolation from each other, to reshape their mutual values and expectations and rediscover the possibilities of acting collaboratively — the prerequisites of any successful self-help initiative.
In Bolivia, Pope Francis met with “Popular movements” and reminded me of the homily of St. Eugene to the poor in the Church of the Madeleine in Aix en Provence. The Pope said in his talk,
“What can I do, as collector of paper, old clothes or used metal, a recycler, about all these problems if I barely make enough money to put food on the table? What can I do as a craftsman, a street vendor, a trucker, a downtrodden worker, if I do not even enjoy workers’ rights? What can I do, a farmwife, a native woman, a fisher who can hardly fight the domination of the big corporations? What can I do from my little home, my shanty, my hamlet, my settlement, when I daily meet with discrimination and marginalisation? What can be done by those students, those young people, those activists, those missionaries who come to my neighbourhood with their hearts full of hopes and dreams, but without any real solution for my problems? A lot! They can do a lot. You, the lowly, the exploited, the poor and underprivileged, can do, and are doing, a lot. I would even say that the future of humanity is in great measure in your own hands, through your ability to organise and carry out creative alternatives, through your daily efforts to ensure the three ‘L’s’ (labour, lodging, land) and through your proactive participation in the great processes of change on the national, regional and global levels. Don’t lose heart!”
“In conclusion,” Pope Francis said, “I would like to repeat: the future of humanity does not lie solely in the hands of great leaders, the great powers and the elites. It is fundamentally in the hands of peoples and in their ability to organise. It is in their hands, which can guide with humility and conviction this process of change. I am with you.”
Dialogue and working with people of all faiths and “no faith” for the common good pleases our God who is Father of all. Pope Francis in Laudato Si states:
156. Human ecology is inseparable from the notion of the common good, a central and unifying principle of social ethics. The common good is “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfilment” And in his 2015 address to the LITHUNIAN BISHOPS, he clearly argues that dialogue must be broad: “. alongside tireless proclamation of the Gospel and Christian values, you must not forget to maintain constructive dialogue with all, even those who do not belong to the Church or who are distant from religious experience. Ensure that Christian communities are always places of welcome, of open and constructive exchange, a stimulus for society as a whole in the pursuit of the common good”.
It is imperative that we as Christians use every occasion to have our values touch our society. Often, we may feel that society is very secular and there is no opportunity for the salt to flavor the whole, or the light to shed its guidance and direction. I was heartened when a few years ago I read in the Editorial Page of the Vancouver Sun, an article “There’s something for all in Christmas tradition and ritual” Why is that? Because Christ has come to respond to the deepest desire of the human spirit. The article states that “Behind all the secular busyness of Christmas, there remain the inescapable spiritual undercurrents that ripple through western culture because of the pervasive influence of religious belief upon its founding institutions and their underlying philosophical frameworks.” The Christmas story of the divine born of a humble carpenter and his wife, sought by assassins sent by those in power, becoming refugees and fleeing to a foreign land for safety, and returning to save the world is a story that brings hope to humankind. The article goes on to say that this story fashioned enduring values that we continue to want to embrace: “that the humblest deserve the same rights and respect as the powerful; that the wealthy have obligations to the poor; that mercy, forgiveness and generosity are redeeming qualities in individuals, organizations and governments..
Many of the seasonal traditions expressed in secular festivities embraced by non-Christians have their origins in these spiritual beliefs: The giving of gifts; charity towards the poor; the unspoken injunction to be hospitable, even to strangers- perhaps especially to strangers!- are all manifestations of those values.”
The article goes on to say, “They represent not just the shared beliefs of a particular religion, but the common humanity that should bind us into one global family rather than the differences that seek to divide us. Whether Christian or Hindu, Jew or Buddhist, Sikh or Muslim, agnostic, atheist or secular humanist, there is something for everyone in the big tent of Christmas with its principles of good will toward all others, devotion to peace instead of strife, celebration of family and community, generosity in equal measure toward friends and strangers, toward the poor and the lonely and the marginalized.”
Christ’s coming speaks to the deepest hopes for the family of humankind and his home on this earth. People of all faith and no faith get caught up in the Christmas Celebrations no matter how secular we might try to make them. Why? Because truth resonates with the deepest yearning of the human spirit. We see rays of light that penetrate the darkness.
In Vatican City, 21 September 2014 Pope Francis proceeded to the Catholic University “Our Lady of Good Counsel” to meet with the heads of other religions and Christian denominations. Some of his comments might guide the role and place of St. Paul’s University as an institution of higher learning.
He remarked that religious freedom is not a right which can be guaranteed solely by existing legislation, although laws are necessary”, he remarked. “Rather, religious freedom is a shared space, an atmosphere of respect and cooperation that must be built with the participation of all, even those who have no religious convictions”. He went on to outline two attitudes that may be especially useful in promoting this fundamental freedom.
“The first is that of regarding every man and woman, even those of different religious traditions, not as rivals, less still enemies, but rather as brothers and sisters. When a person is secure in his or her own beliefs, there is no need to impose or put pressure on others: there is a conviction that truth has its own power of attraction. … Each religious tradition, from within, must be able to take account of the existence of others”.
The second attitude is “commitment to the common good. Whenever belonging to a specific religious tradition gives rise to service with conviction, generosity and concern for the whole of society without making distinctions, then there too exists an authentic and mature development of religious freedom, which appears not only as a space in which to legitimately defend one’s autonomy, but also as a potential that enriches the human family as it advances”.
Dialogue is a key phrase of Pope Francis. He reminds us, “We must keep a basic principle clear in our minds: it is not possible to enter into dialogue other than from the standpoint of one’s own identity. Without identity dialogue cannot exist. It would be the spectre of a dialogue, a dialogue on air: without purpose. Each one of us has his or her own religious identity and is faithful to it. But the Lord knows how to lead history on. Each one of us starts from his or her own identity, without pretending to have another, because it is not useful … and this is relativism. What we have in common is the path of life, and the good will to start out from one’s own identity for the good of our brothers and sisters. Each one of us offers the witness of his or her own identity to the other, and dialogues with the other. After this, dialogue may proceed on theological questions, but the most important and most beautiful thing is to walk together without betraying one’s own identity, without masking it, without hypocrisy”.
A call of our Oblate General Chapter last year, recognizing that our societies are increasingly multicultural, is to embrace “Interculturality”. To quote our Chapter Document; “Interculturality emphasizes the meeting and exchange between cultures from both sides and where cultures are enriched, mingled, respected, confronted and enter into dialogue. Interculturality is an intentional process of conversion. It is a vision, a path and interculturality demands reciprocity.” Just us each dialogues from ones own identity we also must be faithful to our own culture. We must reject an attitude of the dominant culture that assimilates to learn from one another the richness the stranger can bring to the creation of a new society.
St. Paul’s University must be that institution that soaks us in our Catholic Identity which is truly catholic … universal. Let us end with an invitation to hope in face of every challenge. “It is the joy of every faithful Christian who knows that History is led by Providence, that the forces of evil shall not prevail”. Pope Francis
By Fr. Ken Forster, OMI
