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Peace & Life Connections: December 2013 December 17th, 2013
Holiday Edition
Quotations of the Season
When, therefore, one wishes “A Happy Christmas” without the meaning behind it, it becomes nothing more than an empty formula. And unless one wishes for peace for all life, one cannot wish for peace for oneself. – Mohandas Gandhi
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“Peace on Earth” Means “No More War”
You cannot seriously call yourself a follower of the nonviolent, peacemaking Jesus, whom we celebrate and honor at Christmas, if you own guns, support our wars, defend our nuclear weapons arsenal, tolerate executions and catastrophic climate change, and participate in violence in any form. Anyone who supports warfare, weapons or killing, even if they be a priest, minister or bishop, goes against the nonviolent Jesus. To be a Christian is to be a practitioner of creative nonviolence. To follow the peacemaking Jesus means becoming a peacemaker. – John Dear
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Therefore, welcoming the child . . . means welcoming the poor and destitute, the stranger and the alienated, the disabled and the unborn. Christmas is universal, and is about the exaltation of the human person. We welcome all he welcomes, and are to make room for all he loves, especially the most unwanted, marginalized, burdensome, or inconvenient. If we welcome the baby Jesus, we welcome every baby and we welcome his teaching that every life is sacred, and we live accordingly. – Fr. Frank Pavone
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Postscript to Christmas Village Voice, January 1, 1958
On Christmas Eve, Dorothy Day returned to the Women’s House of Detention where she had spent almost a month this summer. With her were fellow members of the Catholic Worker Movement, pacifists, individualists — several of whom had also gone to jail for refusing, because of their convictions, to take shelter during an air-raid drill. They had come to Village Square to sing carols to the women inside. They stood in the freezing street opposite the towering building, and sang . . . We sang ourselves to tears to a bunch of tough girls we would never see.
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A Dorothy Day Christmas, December 24, 2012
From reader Sue Hayes: “There’s a story . . . that Dorothy, in her seventies, was arrested after a peace protest and they put her in a holding cell. After a bit, they opened the door and shoved in a young woman who was a prostitute and drunk. She cried and swore and said vile things to Dorothy and then fell on the floor at Dorothy’s feet and threw up all over Dorothy’s feet and legs…without a second’s hesitation, Dorothy sank down on the floor and took the young woman’s head gently into her lap and just held her, as a mother would hold her child. . . . It was LOVE which Dorothy clung to and was not afraid to offer to ANYONE, a love so God-partaking in its authority, so steely determined in delivery that “even the gates of Hell could not prevail against it!”
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Past Holiday Editions
In 2010, we showed “It’s a Wonderful Movement” by using the theme of what would happen if the peace movement and the pro-life movement hadn’t arisen. We also had quotes from Scrooge against respect for life and a Martin Luther King Christmas sermon for it.
In 2011, we covered the materialism-reducing “Advent Conspiracy” and offered two pieces of children’s literature: a 1938 anti-war cartoon called “Peace on Earth,” and the anti-war origins of “Horton Hears a Who,” whose tagline – “a person’s a person, no matter how small” – is irresistible to pro-lifers.
In 2012, we had a couple of quotes showing the pro-life aspects of two prominent Christmas tales: A Christmas Carol with Ebenezer Scrooge, and the movie It’s a Wonderful Life. We also quote from John Dear about Jesus as peacemaker (as above) and Rand Paul about the 1914 spontaneous Christmas Truce; he then related it to the culture of life.
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Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Denis Hurley, OMI December 12th, 2013
This story is written by Father Harry Winter, OMI and comes to us courtesy of the OMI US Province website.
The passing of Nelson Mandela on Dec. 5 reminds Oblates that it took three great leaders to accomplish the abolition of apartheid in South Africa: Mandela, Hurley, and the Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Now is a good time to recall what Paddy Kearney wrote in 2009 in his well received biography of Hurley: Guardian of the Light, about Hurley and Mandela working together.
When Hurley was hauled before a court in February, 1985 and threatened with jail for publishing “untrue facts” in relation to action by police (p. 211), Mandela wrote from his prison: “Archbishop Hurley is often in my thoughts, especially now. I would like him to know that” (p. 223).
In 1994, Mandela was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of South Africa. Hurley was a special guest. Kearney writes “He regarded it as the second great highlight of his life, after Vatican II. In a letter to his friend Petal O’Hara, he described the occasion:
The function of the Inauguration was magnificently performed, every person doing his or her part perfectly . . . The mood of the crowd rose to a joyous fever pitch. The final act was the firing of a twenty-one-gun salute and a flyover in tight formation of several SAAF squadrons, the last one consisting of six planes that left trails in the many colours of the South African flag. The crowd was ecstatic. ‘Our air force’, shouted the African citizens . . . Lunch followed, very well organized—plenty of food and drink, easy access to supplies and to tables. And by 3:00 p.m. we were climbing onto buses and heading for the airport full of the joy of having participated in perhaps the greatest day in the history of South Africa.
When Brother Jude Pieterse saw Hurley after the inauguration, he noticed ‘an excitement I had never really associated with him before . . . He was almost . . .bubbling over, you know. Normally he kept his emotions pretty well under control, but [that day] there was a real joy in his whole approach’. “(p. 306).
In 1999, President Mandela conferred on Hurley the Order of Meritorious Service (Class 1) (p. 309). When Hurley died on Feb. 13, 2005, Dominican Sister Marie-Henry Keane, who as a young nun had benefited from his special attention in explaining Vatican II to women religious, called him “the Nelson Mandela of the Church” (p. 325).
Now they are together, rejoicing at the continued growth of justice, truth and opportunity in South Africa.
Dialogue on Life and Mining from Latin America December 10th, 2013
Religious and Lay representatives from Latin America, “moved by the critical situation of our peoples vis-à-vis the extractive industry”, met in Lima in November 2013. Concerned that mining is a source of “constant and serious conflict” in many countries of Latin and Central American countries, the attendees wanted to develop a vigorous and supportive set of local and international networks to help address the destructive impacts of mining. The Missionary Oblates were represented by Fr. Gilberto Pauwels OMI from Bolivia, and Fr. Seamus Finn OMI from the United States and through their participation in VIVAT, a coalition of religious congregations with ECOSOC status at the United Nations.
There are a number of outcomes from the gathering that included reaching out to a larger number of communities affected by mining, engaging with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace at the Vatican and convening a broader consultation on the challenges of extractives in the second half of 2014.
Extractives, mining oil and gas exploration, play an important role across the world while also imposing great intrusion and damage in local communities and on the environment where they operate. The search for a way forward that addresses the most serious of those negative impacts has been taken up by a number of different initiatives in the academic, business, stakeholder and shareholder and NGO sectors. Hopefully gatherings like the meeting in Lima can make a constructive contribution to that process.
Read the statement: Dialogue on Life and Mining: Open letter from religious and lay stewards of the goods of creation in Latin America
Remembering Nelson Mandela December 6th, 2013
We would like to share this tribute to Nelson Mandela from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
Friends,
Today the ICCR community mourns the loss of Nelson Mandela, champion for equality and human rights, peacemaker and icon of hope for reconciliation and justice. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and countrymen.
Forty-three years ago, witnessing the selfless struggle of Mandela and others who rejected the inequality and racism symbolized by the apartheid system, faith-based investors continents away were inspired to partner with the freedom movement by using their collective voice as shareholders to help bring economic pressure to bear against the South African government. It was in seeking the end of apartheid that ICCR first forged its beginning, and helped give birth to the shareholder advocacy movement as recalled in this podcast by one of ICCR’s founders, Paul Neuhauser.
Mandela’s quiet tenacity continues to give promise to the oppressed, enslaved, and exploited the world over and his legendary humility and commitment to genuine reconciliation are at the core of ICCR’s mission and always will be. With an estimated 21 million men, women and children worldwide still enslaved, we are united in our shared responsibility to continue to fight against injustice wherever and whenever we encounter it. This was Mandela’s lifelong message and his passing will not diminish its relevance in our world.
As Mandela said, “After climbing a great hill, one only finds many more to climb.” With his spirit to guide us, we will continue to bear witness, to testify, to advocate and raise our voices for justice…we will continue the climb in his name.
Godspeed!
Laura Berry
Executive Director
On behalf of the grateful members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
Patriarch Bartholomew Calls for “a spiritual worldview” on Climate November 27th, 2013
Patriarch Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, in a message to climate negotiators at the recently concluded conference in Warsaw, urged “prompt, practical results” to address the growing escalation of climate change. The meeting was disappointing in this regard, making his challenge – particularly to people of faith – particularly important.
“The sensitivity with which we handle the natural environment clearly mirrors the sacredness that we reserve for the divine,” the Patriarch stated.
Citing the Gospel of Matthew, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople stated that at the Final Judgment, we will be taken to task not for our “religious observance but on whether we fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, comforted the sick, and cared for captives.” The reckless consumption of world’s resources, he continued, contributes to environmental changes that ultimately affect those who are most vulnerable.
Patriarch Bartholomew expressed the need for “a spiritual worldview” on the subject of climate that will assist in making aware the impact on all creation. The focus should be directed to the planet’s needs rather than the wants of the world.
“In our efforts, to contain global warming, we are ultimately admitting just how prepared we are to sacrifice some of our selfish and greedy lifestyles. When will we learn to say: “Enough!” he stated.
“When will we understand how important it is to leave as light a footprint as possible on this planet for the sake of future generations?”
