Fwd: + CNUA VII - 158
Allwyn Fernandes
From: Asia Catholic News Update <asiaca...@gmail.com>
Date: 21 January 2014 13:51
Subject: + CNUA VII - 158
To: kmsel...@dataone.in
Compiled, Edited and Disseminated by K. M. Selvaraj, Founder Editor, email : cathol...@gmail.com
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ASIA : Peoples’ Manifesto Agenda for the General Election INDIA - 2014 - SAPI - JESA
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CHINA: An Invitation for Jesuits - SJWEB
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COLUMN : The Imperative for Wholeness inside Christ By Ron Rolheiser OMI
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ECUADOR : Women religious, indigenous peoples in solidarity on nature's rights By Elise D. García
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GLOBAL : Holy Father Tweets TWITTER @PONTIFEX - NEWS.VA
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GLOBAL : Google Translate equates Francis to a "better world" By Sr. Raffaele Buscemi
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GUATEMALA : Sisterly solidarity for Planet Earth By Sr. Maureen Fiedler
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INDIA : Reduce the Power or Remove the Tower By John Rose S.J.
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INDIA : Celebrations for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity By Nirmala Carvalho
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MIDDLE EAST : Syria – Iran will attend the International Conference - NEWS.VA
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PHILIPPINES : CBCP precedes plenary assembly with social media seminar - CBCP NEWS
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TESTIMONY : Transformation at Gunpoint By Eli S. McCarthy
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THAILAND : Demands for popular participation rise By Kriangsan Malakul
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VATICAN : "To Discern and To Obey" Mass at Santa Marta - L’Osservatore Romano
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ZIMBABWE : Sharing resources - SJWEB
- Celebrate Life Cheers Compiled by K. M. Selvaraj
ASIA : Peoples’ Manifesto Agenda for the General Election INDIA - 2014 (SAPI - JESA via CNUA) Around 65 members of South Asian Peoples’ Initiatives (SAPI) from all over India gathered at Indian Social Institute, Bangalore, during 9-12, 2014, and brought out the Peoples’ Manifesto in view of the forthcoming general election in May 2014. The People’s Manifesto is the outcome of their deliberations on 8 thematic issues, namely, economic, social, political, educational, health, cultural, environmental, governance and security. Containing proposals and recommendations, the People’s Manifesto has been framed with the objective of making people aware of their legitimate rights and of the responsibility of those who contest the elections. SAPI expects citizens to use the ballot in the interest of all the people. The SAPI members see in the upcoming elections an opportunity to assertively regain what is due to the people of the country, by making the aspiring representatives to provide an assurance that they will remain faithful to the Constitutional mandate. They plan to place the People’s Manifesto before various political parties as people’s agenda for good governance. South Asian Peoples' Initiatives (SAPI) is a civil society network of more than 100 faith-based as well as secular organizations in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. SAPI was floated in 2003, a little before the Mumbai World Social Forum 2004. Facilitated and animated by the Jesuits of South Asia, specifically by their social action wing known as Jesuits in Social Action (JESA), SAPI envisions a democratic, egalitarian, secular, cultural-pluralist society, and strives for its realisation through collective search and action with and on behalf of the marginalized communities: Dalits, Adivasis/ tribals/ indigenous peoples, women, unorganized workers, youth, children, refugees and minorities.
Introduction - At the time of Independence we adopted a democratic political system, with a multi- party system that guaranteed freedom of thought, speech and expression. Thanks to the mixed economic model of development that was more socialist than capitalist, advocated at the time of Independence, economic growth replaced the stagnant economy. India was developing as a self-sufficient economy. In the early 1990s, the decision-makers of the country decided to adopt a neo-liberal model to integrate the national economy with the global economy. India became the second fastest growing economy in the world. In spite of this economic growth, the state failed to deliver on the essential needs of the people, especially those from subaltern and discriminated communities such as tribals, dalits, women, and other disadvantaged classes.
The gap between the rich and the poor has been widening. The major crisis in agriculture has led to thousands of farmers committing suicides due to the unfavourable policies. With the Multinationals and Transnational corporations marching into the country, our natural resources have been looted and plundered for profit at the expense of the people. Land is increasingly transformed into a commercial commodity forcing people out of their traditional habitation and denying them of their pursuit of sustenance and well-being. The inadequate use of the public resources generated by divisive economic growth has not resulted in the expansion of the lagging physical and social infrastructure. There is an inadequacy of social services such as education, food, clothing, and healthcare, as well as physical services such as the provision of housing, safe water, electricity, drainage and sanitation. We have fallen behind many countries - often very poor ones – in the quality of life.
As India prepares for the 16th general elections, we, as concerned citizens, are witnessing multiple kinds of violence – cultural, communal, caste violence, state terror and other socio-economic forms of violence. Largely the victims of violence have been from the marginalized communities. The vicious politics of divisive forces have been attempting to create further polarization contrary to the principles enshrined in the Constitution. The attacks on the basic tenets of the constitution – secularism, socialism and democracy – have placed the nation in jeopardy. The future of the country looks uncertain with scams and scandals by the ruling parties with no concern for the poor and the marginalized communities. Authoritarianism of the state has led to a declining space for dissent leading to silencing the voices for change. Often those who propose to take the side of the subalterns are attacked and violence is frequently inflicted on them. The corporate interests have been responsible for the misuse of natural and human resources. This has led to the exploitation of the country. In the name of the market, people and their interest have been betrayed.
Concerned by the increasing marginalisation, impoverishment, suffering, anxiety and anguish we, the members of the South Asian People’s Initiative (SAPI) with our collaborators and other organisations have come together to present an agenda for governance. Every election is an occasion for citizens to contribute to the re-making of India. In this context, we make the following proposals to our friends and collaborators, members of the civil society and non-governmental organisations with a desire that pressure be exercised on political parties to assure the people to implement the following national concerns.
1. At the level of Economics - More than two decades of Globalisation and Liberalisation has ushered in an era of privatisation of the resources. Profit oriented services and corporatisation of life and governance has led to the degradation of life and living. Straight roads, colourful cars, huge shopping complexes and malls are touted as true economic policies; share markets are made out to be the true benchmarks of the success of these policies. The economic standard seems to be set by the rate of the dollar rather than the value of work and of production. Natural and mineral resources of the people are looted and robbed; in the process, the indigenous communities are forcibly evicted. The policies are dictated by the corporate interests in nexus with the political class. The rise of prices is breaking the back of common men, women and their families; the contract and temporary labour system has increased insecurity. Economic schemes reek of corruption and the people are regularly victimised. Therefore we demand:
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The Country’s tax system must be amended to ensure that the wealthy are taxed in proportion to their wealth. The accumulation of wealth should be moderated by a fair and equitable tax system.
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The economy should be reoriented towards a sustainable local, national economy in the place of the present global and corporate economy.
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Measures have to be taken to check inflation immediately. Hoarders and black-marketers have to be dealt with sternly. A mechanism has to be set to monitor the onslaught of inflation on the common person.
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Control the import of foreign goods that destroy local and national production such as multinational beverages, soft drinks and other luxury goods.
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Manage the economy, exercising control over major public utilities like education, food, communication, electricity, oil, water, natural and critical resources to protect the interests of the people and restore the status of public corporations that have been privatised.
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Enact laws for the return of black money in foreign banks and other financial institutions and to prevent all those responsible for this practice from all public office. Those who violate monetary law need to be appropriately punished.
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Make the right to employment a fundamental right and provide the beneficiaries of MNREGA 200 days of work with a minimum of Rs. 300/- as a daily wage. Pay men and women equally.
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Ensure that child employment is prohibited and punished. All employees should be protected from abuse and guaranteed just working conditions.
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Implement reservation in employment for SCs/STs and OBCs in all private and semi-private sectors.
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Reserve 50% of the workforce to women in all sectors in order to promote gender equality.
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Enact a new Act on land – providing land to the tillers, distributing the land to the landless, restoring Panchami land to the dalits and alienated land to their original and rightful owners.
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Free all welfare schemes in the country from corruption and empower the nationalised banks and insurance companies to effectively get involved in the "Direct Cash Transfer" scheme for the poor.
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Prohibit the entry of foreign companies to manage insurance, banking and other welfare institutions.
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Provide the right to organise trade unions in all sectors of the economy to prevent exploitation of labour.
2. At the Social level - The practices of caste are clearly contrary to the rights of other human beings and deny equal rights to all. It is unfortunate that the state has failed to act against violators of anti-caste laws. It is not too infrequent that the state, instead of acting on the violators, has acted as a party for the violation of the rights of the subaltern communities. Violence against vulnerable communities has been on the increase; dehumanising customs have taken new shape; indigenous communities who had been masters of their lands are forced to become an unorganised labour force; displacement and forced migration are destroying traditional bonds in communities; political parties are using polarising politics for their short-term political gains. Violence on the vulnerable communities is frequent and the ill treatment of women and children is evidence of such a social situation. Concerned at the worsening social situations especially of SCs/STs, peasants and other communities, We therefore recommend the following:
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Prevent and derecognise political parties which polarise communities on the basis of caste, religion, region and ethnicity.
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Use administrative and political measures in stopping violence on the vulnerable communities especially on SCs/STs. Initiate strong legal action against those political parties and their leaders who instigate, and condone violence for reaping political gains.
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Put an end to the oppressive and constitutionally banned customs, such as manual scavenging, bonded labour, untouchability, carrying dead animals and others that degrade that fundamental human dignity. This demands aggressive political will
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Enforce the relevant Constitutional provisions in the governance of Fifth Schedule Areas, especially in protecting the natural resources, communities, customary laws, traditional governance system, regulating administrative machineries, developmental schemes. Show zero tolerance to the violation of Constitutional laws in this matter.
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Enact new legislation for stopping the diversion of budgetary allocation to Special Component Plan (SCP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP).
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Identify and train leaders from the discriminated communities by providing incentives so that these leaders strive to make their communities more participative; enable and empower them to be assertive and solve their problems by collective efforts.
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Protect the rights of peasants, artisans, farmers, agricultural labourers, migrants, domestic workers, brick kiln labourers and other unorganised labourers from physical violence, mental torture and sexual abuse and other slavery-like conditions.
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Pass the Prevention of Communal Violence Bill immediately and protect the rights of victims of conspiratorial violence.
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Enforce stringent legal actions against those who violate the dignity of women and initiate social measures to change patriarchal attitudes towards gender justice.
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Implement RTE and The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, in true spirit to protect children from all exploitation in schools, orphanages, public spaces, hostels, hazardous industries, hotels and other working places.
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Stop viewing the Dalit and tribal communities as extremists, end unwarranted terror through paramilitary operations or forming Salwa Judum-like groups and release all the so called suspected extremists from jails; initiate dialogue to end violence and bring them back to mainstream through special economic packages ending their poverty and alienation.
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Repeal immediately the Armed Forces’ Special Powers Act (AFSPA), and open dialogue with the alienated groups in the North East and Kashmir to protect their communities and culture.
3. At the Political level - Our democratic traditions have withstood the test of time; our electorates have manifested unparalleled political maturity in electing representatives from a multi-party system. The world’s largest democracy has shown the meaning of effective governance in the multicultural world to other countries. We have endeavoured to be as inclusive as possible in our political process. However, in recent times, vote-bank politics has eroded the democratic process; caste, class and wealth are playing a major role in the selection of candidates. Fundamentalist forces are playing on the emotions and the faith of people, dividing the communities for political ends. The era of coalition politics has witnessed scams, instabilities and misuse of political power to retain power. The devolution of power has only partially included the discriminated communities. Often, the Constitutional powers granted to these communities are either ignored, or exercises of these are discouraged by bureaucratic inertia, and pressures by the dominant communities and castes. The federal structure has come under strain due to ideological clashes between the states and the centre over FDI, New tax structures and other economic or foreign policy areas. They often ignore the essential issues of the people. We put forward the following demands:
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Select candidates who are from the local area and supported by the local people. Keep out of the electoral process all those who have been convicted of crimes directed against the interests of the peoples and our Constitutional principles.
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Pass immediately the rules and regulations for the implementation of the Lokpal Act making it a reality to ensure the prevention of corrupt practices.
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Reform the electoral process and grant the right to recall if people are dissatisfied with their performance.
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Explore the possibility of bringing in the principle of double representation for the vulnerable communities by giving them a higher share of representation than their actual percentage in the population in order to obviate the tyranny of the majority as advocated by Dr. Ambedkar.
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Do not delimit constituencies in the Schedule Areas limiting the existing reserved constituencies.
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Remove all political and administrative restrictions in the operationalization of the "Gram Sabhas" and grant power to the Gram Sabhas over the local and natural resources. Acquire no land without the approval of Gram Sabhas.
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Curb corruption in the judicial system, prevent delays and ensure the operation of time-bound case disposal.
4. Education - In the last two decades, the state and the central governments have been paying only lip service to the improvement in quality of education. Standards of education in government schools have declined. Commercialisation and corporatisation of educational services have made education expensive, creating a sharp divide in society. While the rich frequent private schools, the poor are compelled to enrol in institutions where there is hardly any teaching and learning. The government has passed the Right To Education Act. Its implementation has faced problems. The state system of education has suffered due to the appointment of contract teachers, lack of investment in all stages of education from primary to the university, and excessive stress on Central Universities, Navodaya Schools, Indian Institute of Technologies, and Indian Institutes of Management. The Constitutional responsibility for providing universal and quality education has to be brought back to the agenda of the state. There is a lack of political will and the commitment to the implementation of appropriate educational policies.Hence we demand:
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A commitment to manage an educational system that offers quality and universal education to all irrespective of their status or wealth, from the primary to the university. All education from the primary to the university needs to be funded and supported by the State.
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At the primary and secondary schools, teachers should not be made to engage in census activities, midday meal schemes and other activities that prevent them from performing their tasks. These practices need to be given up to ensure that teaching and learning are not interrupted.
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Permission granted to foreign universities to establish their campuses in the country would further erode the contribution made by institutions of higher education. With the finances the corporations possess, these institutions would turn education into commerce, stress form over substance, and provide further impetus to a market culture of consumerism and profits, propagating totally different cultural values. It is in the interest of the country that the permission granted to foreign universities to establish their campuses should be withdrawn.
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Provide recognition and monetary support to all minority institutions to encourage, promote and preserve their cultural values. A separate directorate should be established in each state to promote the educational endeavours of the communities.
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Offer supports for the education of HIV-Aids victims, physically challenged and the transgender communities.
5. With Regard to Health - Offering universal health is one of the mandates of the Constitution. We have witnessed massive privatisation of health services. Health services have become so expensive that they are beyond the means of average citizens. Escalation of the cost of health care has benefited the private pharmaceutical companies, private clinics and large-scale lifestyle health clinics at the expense of the public system. Basic services are plagued by corruption, inefficiencies and lack of adequate facilities. Rural population has been left out of the health care. Increase in the number of tuberculosis and malaria patients is an indication of the worsening health situation. New diseases have caused concern in society due to environmental degradation, pollution, lack of garbage clearance, water contamination and dumping of waste in and around communities. We put forward the following demands:
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Ensure quality and affordable health to all, focusing on rural areas, and on women and children.
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Implement nationally the free ambulance service. Provide care at the local level for cancer patients, the disabled and expectant mothers.
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Re-evaluate the concept of private-public partnership in the health services and strengthen the primary healthcare centres.
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Support and promote the use of generic medicines and regulate the pharmaceutical industries.
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Promote Ayurveda, Siddha, Naturopathy, Horopathy, Homeopathy and other alternative medical systems.
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Provide health insurance scheme to the poor and establish mobile hospitals.
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Appoint civil society representatives to prevent corruption in the services of post-mortem, accident, injury and medical reports.
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Establish a national scheme to create adequate emergency and urgent care facilities with accessibility to the general public, especially near highways and important roadways.
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Ensure that pharmaceuticals are safe and available at minimum cost. Protection against hazardous and unnecessary drugs should be pursued by the government.
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Monitor private hospitals and healthcare facilities to ensure their quality. Exempt them from taxation if they agree to be at the service of the ordinary citizens.
6. At the Cultural level - One of the prime principles of our Constitution is that we are a secular country. Using religious symbols and endorsing religious practices by the government, political parties and fundamentalist groups are clearly contrary to our law. Hate speech is a danger to the unity of India and should be addressed appropriately. Our country lives by the principle of "unity in diversity". We cannot be defined as a mono-cultural country; the multiplicity of cultures requires space for its expression, growth and acknowledgement to make their contribution to nation building. The homogenising tendencies often exhibit their malicious intents through corporate media and the spread of cultural nationalism. We urge all parties to
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Protect diversity and promote the multiple cultures of India;
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Set up a central University to promote the folklore and arts of subaltern and tribal communities in every state Give sufficient space to the development of the culture of religious minorities.
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Ensure that the corporate media follows common guidelines in cultural promotion, news making and in the propagation of culture of consumerism.
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Provide freedom to the people of the country to express themselves freely through cartoons, tweets and face book against the political class without fear of being arrested or intimidated.
7. Regarding the Environment - The fast declining forest covers, the commercialisation of resources, the fast dwindling water tables, and the displaced environmental refugees are major areas of concern. Natural and critical resources are being auctioned off without any compunction or benefit to the local populace. Mining companies are plundering the wealth of the nation; Special Economic Zones are created in the name of investment and the tax reliefs are given to multinationals. There is no compensation to the communities on their loss of livelihood or environmental hazards. There needs to be an end to the rape of the environment to protect the present and future of humanity. Appeal to the Candidates:
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We ask all those contesting the elections to assure citizens that they would Prevent commercialisation of natural resources. Undertake regular forestation and preserve mangrove swamps and other water bodies.
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Stop all new investment in nuclear energy and phase out the old ones; provide sufficient protection to all, the local people around nuclear installations; withdraw the rules and regulations that actually water-down the liability law.
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Invest and offer subsidies to organisations that research, promote and invest on renewable energy.
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Regulate the mining activities and relate these with the development of local communities. Fill in the pits caused by the opencast mining. Follow the "polluter pays" principle so that rightful compensation would be paid to the communities.
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Research on regeneration of the abandoned mines so that the local communities can benefit and the environment can be protected.
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Stop all the concession to the companies in the so called Special Economic Zones; withdraw further plans for more SEZs.
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Appoint special committees to re-evaluate the existing dams and stop further development of hydro-electric dams especially in the North Eastern States. Strengthen the public transport systems and explore the possibility of imposing new taxes on private vehicles.
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Implement the urban regulation on Rain-harvesting at national level.
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Promote the use of wind and solar power and other sustainable environmentally friendly sources of energy where they can serve the needs of the people to obtain needed, cheap but safe energy.
8. With regard to Governance and Security - Democracy ultimately should focus on the welfare of the people and on their effective participation in the decision making process. Trust in the governance of the representatives is the most important requirement in the functioning of democracy. Hence, certain acts that have been put in place to make the democracy very alive to the people are to be guarded. Transparency and accountability are key indicators for the good governance in democracy.
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Therefore we seek assurances to Implement effectively Rights-based acts and ensure people’s Right to Information, Right to Education and Right To Food. Monitor the functioning of Social security Acts of Public Distribution System, Old age Pension, Food Security Acts and other measures.
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Improve the Transport and communication facilities especially in rural areas in order to sustain and improve the livelihoods of the local communities.
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Stop all the intimidations, arrests of the young people who are opposed to forceful land acquisition and dissenters of neo-liberal model of development;
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Initiate a paradigm shift in handling violence that is the result of socio-economic exploitation. Such acts of violence should not be looked upon as issues of law and order as is done now resulting in loss of lives. What is needed is a dialogue with affected communities, and initiation of economic measures to uplift communities by redressing their grievances.
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Remove middlemen from the delivery of the schemes. Use strong measures to have good control over the share markets.
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Use diligently the Disaster Management Act to assist the victims of the various disasters - In the name of making the country secure, more and more people have been made insecure. The insecurity is caused by the speculative markets and the increasing supervision of the state in all aspects of life. The migrants, the unemployed, the beggars, citizens of North East, Jammu and Kashmir, the subaltern communities and the minorities face constant threat, often being abused and denied basic human rights. They are treated as second class citizens. Misuse of various draconian laws has increased insecurity. These laws must be withdrawn consistent with Indian Constitutional principles.
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Find a political solution to the problems of the North East and Jammu and Kashmir that ensures security of the people and protects the rights and interests of the local peoples. Repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act - Register the Unorganised labour and take all actions to protect their life and dignity in the urban setting, both in industry and their homes.
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Ban chit-fund companies which dupe the people of all their earning. Punish all those who have looted the wealth of the people. Act strongly against all the white collar crimes.
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Abolish without delay the unnecessary and ill-used "eminent domain" notion that does not serve the public interests and the needs of the people. Any acquisition of land should be compensated by ‘land for land’ principle and no land should be taken away from indigenous communities without their consent.
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Deal firmly with the communal forces posing a threat to the internal security of the country.
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Abolish the death penalty and laws like seditious laws and other archaic colonial laws that degrade the norms of humanity and our commitment to human rights.
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Better the relationship with our neighbours consistent with human rights principles and the interest of humanity; include the civil society in solidarity. Settle issues like the Tamil fisherman problem, border issues with China, Bangladesh and Pakistan amicably so that friendly relations are developed.
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The long existing Police Act must be reconsidered and modified to be consistent with democratic principles and the commitment to human rights
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Prevent the police and the armed forces from engaging in any form of torture, cruelty or inhuman or degrading treatment. Any abuse contrary to law should be addressed by the state and the police should be appropriately punished.
Conclusion - Our objective in framing these proposals and recommendations is to make people aware of their legitimate rights and the responsibility of those who contest the elections. Citizens are expected to use the ballot in the interest of all the people. The upcoming elections are an opportunity to assert what is due to the people of the country by making representatives to provide an assurance that they will remain faithful to the Constitutional mandate. We have had enough of suffering and hardships due to bad governance, maladministration, scams, scandals and corruption from those who govern us. If we make right choices at the time of the election, we would be able to elect representatives who can govern us with public interest. We need representatives who are interested in the country and the welfare of the people. Democracy is strengthened when we have leaders who are accountable, sensitive and work for the good of the country. It is our purpose to contribute to that process of nation-building that brought us to a collective search and work on this agenda. Jai Hind!
- Forwarded by Fr Sannybhai SJ email : jesa...@gmail.com
CHINA: An Invitation for Jesuits (SJWEB via CNUA) The Chinese Province is offering a 10-day introduction to China for Jesuits interested in learning about the country and the Society's mission there. China is one of the apostolic preferences of the Society of Jesus. The Jesuit Chinese Provincial, Fr John Lee SJ, said that the aim of China Contact Program is to provide young Jesuit priests and scholastics with "a better knowledge and first-hand experience of China." It will also "form better and solid young Jesuits for foreign mission in our Society today, especially for the China mission." "This program is not only about the history of the Catholic Church and the Jesuits in China, but also about the contemporary issues of China in terms of economics, culture, politics," said Fr Thierry Meynard SJ, the director of The Beijing Centre, the Jesuit work at which the program will be based. "It is important that Jesuits learn from China, so they can better understand the impact of China in the world and in their own culture and country. In this way they can also develop educational or cultural exchanges with China." The China Contact Program will be held in Beijing from 2 to 11 August 2014. It will be conducted in English. The program will include lectures, sharing, formative activities, and visits to Jesuit sites, including the old Jesuit Observatory, the old Summer Palace, and the tomb of Matteo Ricci. There will also be opportunities to experience some Jesuit works in nearby areas. The invitation is open to all Jesuits, particularly those aged 40 and under, who are personally mature and firm in their vocation; open to change in their ways of thinking and behaving; open to learning from a new culture; open to cooperating with others for God's Mission; and who have the desire to be sent to a foreign mission. Questions or applications should be directed to scholastic Vincentius, the Chinese Province Curia Assistant, at sec...@gmail.com before January 31, 2014 - http://www.sjweb.info/news/
COLUMN : The Imperative for Wholeness inside Christ By Ron Rolheiser OMI (CNUA) For more than a thousand years, Christians have not had the joy of being one family around Christ. Although there were already tensions within the earliest Christian communities, it was not until the year 1054 that there was a formal split so as to, in effect, establish two formal Christian communities, the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church in the West. Then, with the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, there was a further split within the Western Church and Christianity fragmented still further. Today there are more than a hundred Christian denominations, many of them, sadly, not on friendly terms with each other.
Division and misunderstanding are understandable, inevitable, the price of being human. There are no communities without tension and so it's no great scandal that Christians sometimes cannot get along with each other. The scandal is rather that we have become comfortable, even smug, about not getting along with each other. The scandal is that we no longer hunger for wholeness and that we no longer miss each other inside our separate churches. In virtually all of our churches today there is too little anxiety about those who are not worshipping with us, whether these separated brothers and sisters belong to other denominations or whether they belong to our own. For instance, teaching Roman Catholic seminarians today, I sense a certain indifference to the issue of ecumenism. For many seminarians today this is not an issue that is of particular concern to them. Sad to say, this holds true for most Christians in all denominations.
But this kind of indifference is inherently unchristian. Oneness was close to the heart of Jesus. He wants all his children at the same table, as we see in this parable in the Gospels: A woman had ten coins and lost one. She became extremely anxious and agitated and began to search frantically and relentlessly for the lost coin, lighting lamps, looking under tables, and sweeping all the floors in her house. Eventually she found the coin. She was delirious with joy, called together her neighbors and threw a party whose cost far exceeded the value of the coin she had lost. (Luke 15, 8-9)
Why such anxiety and such joy over the loss and the finding of a coin whose value was that of a dime? The answer lies in the symbolism: In her culture, nine was not a whole number; ten was. Both the woman's anxiety on losing the coin and her joy in finding it had little to do with the value of the coin but with the value of wholeness; an important wholeness in her life had been fractured, a precious set of things was no longer complete. Hence the parable might recast this way:
A woman had ten children. With nine of them, she had a good relationship, but one of her daughters was alienated. Her nine other children came regularly to the family table, but this daughter did not. The woman could not rest in that situation; she needed her alienated daughter to rejoin them. She tried every means to reconcile with her daughter and, one day, miracle of miracles, it worked. Her daughter came back to the family. Her family was whole again, everyone was back at table. The woman was overjoyed, withdrew her modest savings from the bank, and threw a lavish party to celebrate that wholeness.
Christian faith demands that, like that woman, we need to be anxious, diseased, lighting lamps and searching, until the Church is whole again. Nine is not a whole number. Neither is the number of those who are normally inside our respective churches. Roman Catholicism isn't a whole number. Protestantism isn't a whole number. The Evangelical Churches aren't a whole number. The Orthodox Churches aren't a whole number. No one Christian denomination is a whole number. Together we make up a whole number.
Thus we are meant to ask ourselves uncomfortable questions: Who no longer goes to church with us? Who feels uncomfortable worshipping with us? Are we comfortable that so many people can no longer join us in our church?
Sadly, today, too many of us are comfortable in churches that are far, far from whole. Sometimes, in our less reflective moments, we even rejoice in it: "Those others aren't real Christians in any case! We're better off without their kind! There's more peace this way! We are a purer, more faithful, church because of their absence! We're the one true remnant!"
But this lack of a healthy solicitude for wholeness compromises both our maturity and our following of Jesus. We are mature loving people and true followers of Jesus, only when, like Jesus, we remain in tears over those "other sheep that are not of this fold" and when, like the woman who lost one of her coins and would not sleep until every corner of the house was turned upside down in a frantic search for what was lost, we too set out solicitously in search of that lost wholeness. - http://ronrolheiser.com
ECUADOR : Women religious, indigenous peoples in solidarity on nature's rights By Elise D. García (NCR Online via CNUA) At the Global Rights of Nature summit, Vandana Shiva, an internationally renowned physicist and environmental activist, led the ritual Thursday on our last morning in Otavalo, sharing some of India’s poems and hymns to Mother Earth. One began, "Whatever, I dig of you, O Earth, may that grow quickly upon you." "In California we’re seeing a drought of unprecedented proportions," said Linda Sheehan, director of the Earth Law Center, based in Fremont. "In Santa Monica, the people passed an ordinance that recognizes the ‘inalienable rights’ of ecosystems to exist, creating a plan for 100 percent water self-sufficiency by 2020. They’re going to meet and beat that goal." Sheehan spoke of how human rights are "intimately connected with nature’s rights," particularly in the case of water. To underscore the point, the Earth Law Center launched an interactive map of co-violations of human and nature’s rights. The Earth Law Center was founded in 2008 by Adrian Dominican Sr. Patricia Siemen as an offshoot of the Florida-based Center for Earth Jurisprudence -- also founded by Siemen, in 2006 at Barry University School of Law and St. Thomas University. Inspired by Thomas Berry’s understanding of the earth’s need for a new jurisprudence and the urgency of the signs of the time, Siemen is among the first leaders of the global rights of nature movement. "Coming out of a tradition that has done so much harm to Earth and indigenous peoples impels us to claim the sacredness of all creation, and to solidarity with indigenous peoples," Siemen said. "The concept of inherent rights of nature emerges from the continuing tradition of indigenous peoples, who like Earth herself struggle to exist and flourish. "Their cosmovision provides the world with a path forward, yet their communities continue to be targeted for destruction and commodification. The call for women religious to stand in solidarity with indigenous peoples and Earth is ever more urgent -- and needed," she said. The summit concludes Friday in Quito, where a public tribunal will hear seven key rights of nature cases and then model how to resolve such cases in courts. Adrian Dominican Sr. Elise D. García, is the former co-director of Santuario Sisterfarm, an ecology center in the Texas Hill Country dedicated to cultivating cultural and biological diversity. She is attending the Global Rights of Nature summit, and has been blogging updates throughout the week. - http://ncronline.org
GLOBAL : Holy Father Tweets TWITTER @PONTIFEX (News.Va via CNUA)
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It is not enough to say we are Christians. We must live the faith, not only with our words, but with our actions.
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Wars shatter so many lives. I think especially of children robbed of their childhood.
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How powerful prayer is! May we never lose the courage to say: Lord, give us your peace.
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Let us pray for peace, and let us bring it about, starting in our own homes!
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May we always say thank you to God, especially for his patience and mercy.
GUATEMALA : Sisterly solidarity for Planet Earth By Sr. Maureen Fiedler (NCR Online via CNUA) In Guatemala, I am a guest of the Hermanas de la Sagrada Familia (Sisters of the Holy Family). They are a sister community to my Loretto community. These are great Guatemalan women, tracing their community roots to Belgium, and they now have sisters in Africa. On this visit, I was struck by a special sisterly solidarity between us: solidarity in our commitment to save Earth. At our Loretto motherhouse in recent months, we have been protesting the Bluegrass Pipeline, which would carry toxic natural gas wastes from fracking in Pennsylvania and Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico. We have refused to allow The Williams Companies to bring the pipeline across our land, and so have the other religious communities in the area. We have also been organizing folks in Kentucky to oppose it. We do this because we believe we are called to preserve Earth for future generations. On Thursday, I encountered the same love of Earth among our Guatemalan sisters. They drove six of us Lorettos to a camp where ordinary Guatemalan citizens have been protesting the existence and practices of a mine that produces gold and silver for 23 months. Campesinos camp on both sides of a rural road, where they have tried -- sometimes successfully, sometimes not -- to stop mining equipment that attempts to pass by to get to the mine. The local people take 24-hour turns at the camp. This mine is affecting the water supply and crops in the area in serious ways, and the people are trying to save their way of life. At times, they have been harassed by the military and the corporation that owns the mine. But they have stood their ground, an incredible act of courage in a country where there is a long history of violence against such protests. Our Guatemalan sisters have joined the protests from time to time and are in total solidarity with these people. (For the record, the local bishop and some priests have also been vocal and supportive. They have a Mass in the camp once a month to give thanks that they survived another 30 days. Some local evangelicals are also supportive.) The courage of all these people is inspiring. And I am proud to discover yet another dimension of our sisterly relationship with the Hermanas de la Sagrada Familia: solidarity in defense of Earth. - http://ncronline.org
INDIA : Reduce the Power or Remove the Tower By John Rose, S.J. (Year book of the Jesuits - 2014 via CNUA) Xavier Institute of Engineering (XIE) in Mumbai, the first engineering college run by the Jesuits in India, is just 100 meters from the premier Raheja Fortis Hospital that includes the treatment of cancer among its many specialties. Quite a number of our faculty, staff, and students were complaining of fatigue and joint pains, and there seemed to be no cause for this perturbing situation in the immediate environs since enough care was taken to keep them unpolluted. Then someone pointed to the many mobile towers mounted on the Hospital’s terraces and walls, the north and east sides of the college bearing the brunt of their beams, and suspicion led XIE into a very important foray beyond its mere academic goals.
Around this time, two years ago, the Jesuit Community of XIE had received a special report on Ecology, "Healing a Broken World" (Promotio Iustitiae, No 106, 2011/12), and it gave the impetus that something should be done to deal with a frightening ecological and health hazard newly descended on the college.
The touch with various sources in the engineering field quickly led to contact with Professor Girish Kumar of the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and it is he and his team that made the faculty and students conscious of the dangers of mobile tower radiation, and of the lack of political will in the Federal Government that was already well aware of the serious problem caused by at least 5 million powerful towers all over the country. The mere presentation of the various factors related to the problem would be highly technical, and what was required to actually deal with it was a task force of convinced and motivated students, who could use all the resources their expertise were able to handle, to educate people and then spur them on to concrete actions. Nileema Lobo, Sasha Sequeira, Kanica Jain, and Jason Maladeth, the four of them, volunteered to take up the challenge as their final year project under the guidance of Professor Kumar himself who specialized in Electrical Engineering. Their slogan was: "Reduce the Power or Remove the Tower."
Their main mission was to make known the appalling facts: in Mumbai city alone there were 3,700 mobile towers, and these did not include the repeaters or boosters, and around 1,800 of them were allegedly illegal. People living close to the towers suffered from headaches, memory loss, tiredness, and pains of all sorts; and prolonged exposure appeared to increase the risk of neurological disorders, glioma and cancer. What is inexplicable is that while India permits a radiation power of 450 milliwatts per square meter, most of the towers exceed this limit, and the sobering fact is that only 1 milliwatt per squaremeter is considered by medical science as "safe exposure." Besides, the exposure limit to radio frequency fields is extremely steep in India, 9.2 watts per square meter, whereas in Australia, Belgium, China, for example, it is only 2, 1.2, 0.1 respectively. Being exposed to a tower located within 100 meters is like being in a microwave oven for 24 hours.
What was particularly scarifying for XIE was that the nearby Raheja Fortis Hospital had its terraces hosting towers both circular and rectangular, and more of the latter which were more dangerous. The radiation measuring instruments picked up high dosages in the areas where the students and staff labs were located on the third floor, and these labs had to be relocated to safer areas. Help in all the investigations needed to make the changes for safety was provided by Neha, the daughter of Professor Kumar, whose expertise lay in measuring radiation in decibels and watts. She had earlier helped residents of buildings, around the Maharashtra State Chief Minister’s house and guest-house, Varsha and Sayhadri, in the posh Malabar Hill area to agitate, armed with scientific data and with the full backing of a popular actress, Juhi Chawla, against the sudden proliferation of mobile towers all around them. The publicity and hard data, and the intervention of the Chief Minister himself, forced the authorities to reduce them drastically.
Electromagnetic Pollution is one of the problems of modern society all over the world - The students of Xavier Institute Engineering, directed by the Jesuits in Mumbai (India), have successfully led a campaign against the electromagnetic pollution produced by numerous mobile antennas that have been multiplied in the city in the recent years.
The students involved in the task force against mobile towers, that were dangerous to health, also realized the social and economic issues involved. Because of the high usage of cell phones in India, since their bills are relatively cheap compared to those in other countries, people living within meters of mobile towers receive anything between 10 thousand and 10 million times more radiation than is required for the functioning of a cell phone. To keep prices down and have more cell phone users, most high rises have five or six mobile towers, and a Nelson’s eye (an idiom describing the ignoring of undesirable information) is given to all shady deals between telecom operators and secretaries of housing societies to get around Government regulations and the limits already in place about how many towers, if at all, are to be in each building.
It is hence not at all surprising that in India there are 5 million powerful mobile towers for over 900 million subscribers out of the total population of 1.2 billion. Low power transmitters would keep the radiations danger free, but the number of towers and repeaters would have to increase considerably, swelling the cost of the network deployment. A good part of the problem is that, while in most countries there are just two or three telecom operators, in India there are at least twelve of them. There is cut-throat competition among them, which certainly helps to keep the prices down but not keep the dangers to health away. The moral and other complexities of the problem have not, however, deterred the students of the task force from placing the hard facts before the government and the public.
The initiative carried out by the students in Mumbai has attracted considerable press interest. In the picture an article in the ‘"Hindustan Times", one of the most popular newspapers in the city.
The four students have also made the time to get on to blogging, Twitter, and on to Facebook which has a page on "Radiation Zone" which maps the various parts of the city according to areas that are green (safe), yellow (not quite safe), and red (dangerous). They have bombarded the Mumbai Municipal authorities with their findings that they have also shared with the journalists.
Data from the leading hospitals in the city shows an alarming increase in the number of cancer patients, and a nun in charge of one of the four Catholic Hospitals in the city told one of the students: "I do not know the reason for the increase of cancer patients, but we have had to build a big, separate block with beds only for cancer treatment; a few years ago we needed only a few beds for these patients." There is data too that migratory birds steer clear of Mumbai, and the previously ubiquitous sparrows are scarcely seen anywhere in it.
The youth of the Institute of Engineering directed by the Jesuits in Mumbai, India, have taken decisive action against the rotating antennas in buildings near the school and in hospitals in the surrounding area. They have managed to raise awareness among local authorities thanks to widespread information on the issue appearing in newspapers.
For a more judicious use of the cell phone by the general public, the students also gathered these basic bits of information to be put out in their Facebook campaign: one should not use it for more than 25 minutes a day and, as far as possible, it is better to use the landline; alternate the side of the face when using a cell phone, and do not press the phone against your ear; avoid it when the signal is weak since then it uses more power and the energy depositions are more, and also when the hair is wet or when one is wearing metal spectacle frames since both water and metal are good conductors of radio waves; check whether the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) is below 1.6 W/Kg for any new mobile phone bought; and, finally, children ought to have limited access to cell phones since their bones are thin and they have a higher SAR of radio waves.
The students’ findings have been constantly fed to the media and municipal authorities, and their efforts have been acknowledged and credited. This was posted on December 19th, 2012 edition of the Times of India: "Telecom operators in the city have removed 86 cell towers from atop buildings following complaints of their proximity to residents...He [Director General of the Cellular Operators’ Association of India] said the operators have taken corrective actions to reduce radiation from the towers to permissible limits...The action mainly involves bringing down radiation levels pality is about to allow only two towers on any building, and none on schools, colleges and hospitals or near them. It will upload on its website the location in every ward of illegal cell phone towers and the names of their owners. The XIE students share this implicit success of their campaign with some other NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), and they will continue to be involved with them till the Government, to safeguard the health of citizens, comes up with a strict policy and enforces it. And they keep on feeding the Raheja Fortis Hospital with all the data collected from the radiation monitoring machines of the college, and its administrators, flushed with embarrassment, appear now determined not to be the cause of the ills of patients that come to their Hospital. - http://www.sjweb.info/resources/annuario/pdf/Annuario2014_en.pdf
INDIA : Celebrations for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity By Nirmala Carvalho, Mumbai (AsiaNews via CNUA) United in the "common mission to serve the tribal people and create a kingdom of justice, peace and development among these marginalized communities of India. This is the motivation behind an ecumenical meeting during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity ( January 18-25 ) organized by Fr. Lino Fernandes SFX , Pilar missionary, who administers the parish of Blessed Mother Teresa Siadih ( Diocese of Jamshedpur). It is the first time that the state of Jharkhand has ever hosted such an event. The parish priest explains to AsiaNews,"more than 25 people are expected to attend, including evangelicals, catechists, pastors and others. In addition to the Catholics, living in this area there are Lutherans, Anglicans - Church of North India, Baptists and members of the Gossner Evangelic Lutheran Church (GEL). Everyone will come here to pray together, celebrate our shared service among the Mundari tribal and thank Jesus Christ." "The God of Christians - said the missionary - is communion, the communion of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This communion was established by the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. Upon receiving Baptism, Christ dove even further into his mission, the mission that unites all of us today". This ecumenical union is inspired, according to Fr. Fernandes, by Mother Teresa herself : " The patron saint of our parish saw Jesus in the poorest of the poor, the vulnerable, the oppressed, the suffering, the dying. This is the mission that we have in common: to convey the love of Jesus to our people, and alleviate their suffering. Christ continues to seek our undivided attention in their weaknesses". - http://www.asianews.it
MIDDLE EAST : Syria – Iran will attend the International Conference (L’Osservatore Romano via CNUA) Just 48 hours before the international conference on Syria – known as the Geneva 2 – began, Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, invited Iran as well as other internationals subjects including the Holy See to participate in the talks. As reported by various media outlets, the last-minute invitation, which was announced by Ban Ki-moon at a 19 January press conference, has already been accepted. "After a series of intense discussions, I have decided to extend the invitation to Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Greece, the Holy See, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Iran", he said. During those same hours, the Syrian National Coalition, which brings together several groups opposed to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad's government, concluded their meeting in Istanbul, and decided to attend the conference. The Coalition's decision was welcomed by Ban Ki-moon, who called it "a historic and courageous step in the interest of a political solution that will put an end to the three years of suffering of the Syrian people". However, soon after the invitation to Iran was announced, the Coalition announced that if it is not withdrawn their delegation will not be present for the peace talks. - http://www.news.va/en
PHILIPPINES : CBCP precedes plenary assembly with social media seminar (CBCP News via CNUA) A seminar-workshop on media management and social media will precede the annual plenary assembly of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines from January 25 to 27. Seàn-Patrick Lovett, vice president of CREC (Centre for Research and Education in Communication) and Director of Vatican Radio’s English Programme is in town to conduct the seminar-workshop on Jan. 21-23 upon the invitation of Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle. Lovett has been around many countries giving the same seminar to other bishops but he noted that "every bishops’ conference is different because every cultural context is different."
"I would love for the bishops to have a positive experience of media, to be empowered, to understand, to see something that they can do, to see something they want to do, to see something they need to do," said Lovett in an interview. A multi-awarded communicator, Lovett has taught Communications courses at the Pontifical Gregorian University for 25 years. Pope Benedict in 2011 made him a Papal Knight in recognition for his 35 years of service to four Popes, beginning with Paul VI. He was named Catholic Communicator of the Year by the University of Dayton in 2012 and Christendom College awarded him the St. Thomas More Medal for Defence of the Faith.
Basing from his experience and knowing how the new media can be intimidating to some people, Lovett admitted that "it is difficult sometimes to convince bishops to engage in social media." "One of the ways, perhaps they can be convinced, is to remind them that we do need to connect, and that new media, social media allow us to connect to the people," he said.
The three-day seminar is organized following the process of discovering, experiencing and discerning. The first day of the seminar, which will begin in the afternoon of Jan. 21, will explore a more authentic communications approach in the era of Pope Francis by "Putting the ME back into the MEDIA", and refining the skills and techniques needed to manage a media crisis effectively by "Putting the MAN back into MANAGEMENT."
On the second day, bishops will have a hands-on "using social media to interact and inspire, telling old stories in new ways using digital gadgets and technologies, dealing with a media crisis in a fearless and faithful way exercising personality, passion and patience, and responding to pressure from the press and meeting media expectations." A half day session on the topics of "Understanding impact, influence and innuendo" and "Everything you ever wanted to know about Catholic communications… will cap the seminar on Jan. 23.
Lovett said he hopes the seminar-workshop will be of encouragement and inspiration to the bishops to use the new media. "I trust in the power of the Holy Spirit," he said, "my job is just to open the door, and to invite the bishops to come in. It’s the job of the Holy Spirit to inspire them to do so. Paraphrasing the words of Pope Francis, that of the pastor smelling like the sheep, Lovett said: "And if the bishops want to be a true pastor, they really need to smell like a sheep, and if the sheep smell like social media, the bishop should smell like social media too."
Joining Lovett during the three-day seminar workshop is Fr. Jerry Martinson, SJ, an experienced trainer in the field of communications and media and formerly Vice President of the International Catholic Association of Film and Audio Visuals. Some members of the Pauline Family—Society of St. Paul, Daughters of St. Paul and Pious Disciples of the Divine Master—will also participate as facilitators during the workshop. (PB/CBCPNews) - http://www.cbcpnews.com
TESTIMONY : Transformation at Gunpoint By Eli S. McCarthy (America via CNUA) "Antoinette Tuff engaged, defused and offered love to the intruder, saving everyone, including the desperate young man, from harm." As we once again come together as a nation to honor Dr. and Rev. Martin Luther King’s recognition of Jesus’ call to nonviolent peacemaking, I offer this reflection on the Spirit-in-breaking story of Antoinette Tuff.
On August 21, 2013 a heavily armed young man broke into a Georgia elementary school. The children and staff raced outside to avoid the potential shooting as the police and swat teams scrambled feverishly to surround the school. Meanwhile, Antoinette Tuff engaged, defused and offered love to the intruder, saving everyone, including the desperate young man, from harm. Wow! What was Antoinette thinking, responding to a dangerous gunman with the power of nonviolent love? Surely this could never work. This is naive. This is idealistic. The Reign of God is "not yet." It’s a "sinful world." What we need are more "good guys" with guns to get the "bad guys;" or in broader contexts more "military strikes" to deter "bad behavior" by force.
Reality has once more opened up for us a chance to be in awe at a power and love that transcend what too many of us think about the dynamics of violence. In September 2013, key policy leaders, mass media and others were promoting military strikes as the appropriate response to the violence of chemical weapons in Syria. The scale and circumstances are different than a school gunman, but the basic logic and habit of reflexively engaging violence—by sending in more good guys with guns—is quite similar.
In August 2013, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. A few days before this celebration, in Antoinette we received a fresh witness to King's and Jesus’ call for nonviolent love of friends and enemies. But this wasn't just a moment for collective amazement, much less for dismissals of this event as rare and lucky. Rather, this was an instructive, grace-filled moment to learn, model and activate the basic components of this realistic force that scholars call "integrative power." What are some of the elements of these components that we can apply in dealing with conflict on various scales? I've found at least ten:
1. Center yourself - People can do this in various ways from a deep breath, to a mantra, to a memory of someone who has inspired clarity and courage in the past. Tuff "anchored" herself in God and turned to prayer. She realized that "this was bigger than me," and was able to act in accord with her own humanity and dignity.
2. See the other as human rather than a "monster" or irrational - By consciously seeing the other as human even in the midst of their violent behavior, she kept her heart open to the goodness that remained in him and his potential for good. Such a posture allowed her to respond less out of fear toward other, which is too common in western political culture, and more out of hope.
3. Recognize and name that others love this person - She listens to him talk on the phone to a relative and senses by his responses and tone that others love him, and thus, he is not simply human, but also lovable. She explicitly states for him "they love you a lot." By verbally interrupting the interactions of hostility, she turns his attention to the good and the love in his life. This distracts him and opens up the space for him to share that he's "off his medication."
4. Empathize with their suffering and seek their genuine good - In this transforming space of relations, she wondered what he was going through to be on medication and now without it, to "not care for his life." In her capacity to sense his troubles and hurt, she not only prayed, but she specifically sought his genuine good by praying for him and suggesting the police take him to the hospital, rather than shoot him or take him directly to prison.
5. Accompany the other - As she grows in empathy and seeks his good, she shifts her language from a distant "sir" to a more intimate "baby" and offers to go with him to the police so they won't shoot him. He sees Antoinette’s willingness to risk at least her own status—and perhaps even her life—by walking out with, rather than against, an attempted mass murderer.
6. Offer a shared sense of suffering - In this moment of solidarity, she shares her own sufferings, about her divorce and her disabled son. This invites him into seeing someone outside himself as human and even more so as a common traveler on the road of pain and sorrow. Her offer moves his heart to ask her to go on the intercom and "tell the kids he's sorry." His sense of empathy for others has awakened and even more his sense of his own responsibility for their suffering has arisen in a desire to apologize and repent. He goes further and starts letting go of his weapons as he becomes less and less of a threat.
7. Offer a window to restoration - Nevertheless, he may still be struggling with feeling like a "monster" or being condemned by the human community. Would his confession lead to some opportunity to be accepted or even reintegrated into the community? This deeper perhaps even unconscious fear could still drive him to violence. Yet, like Jesus, she refuses to condemn him by saying clearly "we're not going to hate you." Beyond acceptance, she goes on to say that she's "proud" of him for giving up the weapons. This reveals his capacity for good or giftedness, that is, his inherent dignity in the eyes of others.
8. Share your love - Everything that has happened so far is amazing, but Antoinette goes further, saying to the young man, "I love you." Imagine that the person you terrorized offers you love—how could this not transform your heart? This is precisely the fruit and fullness of the challenge and call to "love your enemies."
9. Broaden the solidarity in suffering - As her love pours out, she goes beyond her shared suffering and expands this to the broader human community by saying "we all go through something in life." In the midst of this growing compassion for humanity, she deepens her own vulnerability by revealing the utter darkness of her life and shares her suicide attempt. This reverts back to #6, but at a deeper, more vulnerable level, and thus, more transformative potential. While he previously refused, in this new moment, he finally gives her his name: "Michael Hill." In the shared depth of darkness, he senses being identified as a person again and thus, offers his identity.
10. Build Common Ground and Offer hope - She had been exploring and finding common ground with Michael. Near the end, she continues to build this as she says her mom's name was also Hill, that she saw him play the drums before and that they played "real good." She also said to him multiple times that it was all "going to be ok." In the same way she survived the darkness, there was realistic hope that Michael too could survive and find something to live for.
If you listen to the 911 call, notice the difference in tone between her interaction with him versus when the police finally come in. Even though Antoinette invites the police into the school, there is a flood of chaotic yelling, threatening and hostility by the police officers as they react out of habits likely oriented by intimidating others and fear. Imagine if Antoinette chose a similar logic in her responses. She and many others, children and/or police, would more likely have been harmed if not killed. Antoinette imagined and offered these responses in the context of some "training" from her pastor and role-plays engaging conflict at their church. She also got some form of school training on emergencies. Ongoing training in nonviolent conflict intervention is key to making us better at imagining, choosing and sustaining such practices.
But are there other examples? Yes! On various scales here’s just a few: Angie Gorman faces a man who breaks into her house while she’s alone; David Hartsough faces a knife wielding racist during the civil rights movement; Karen Ridd faces her torturers in jail; Colleen Williams faces a group of a Hells Angels; Loyau-Kennett talks down an armed "terrorist" in London, etc.
To summarize these 10 components: interrupt the hostilities by humanizing the situation through centering yourself and offering resistance through empathy, solidarity, vulnerability, dignity, and even love.This "power" of nonviolent love, i.e. "integrative power," means one chooses to act in accord with human dignity regardless of what the other does, and this draws the parties closer. Does it mean these components will work all the time? Not necessarily, if we limit our sense of "work" to the immediate, visible moment and suggest any suffering or death by those attacked makes the response fruitless. Yes, suffering and death is tragic, but tragedy will be all the greater when we respond with violence, and much less the more we practice the power of nonviolent love. And, as the scientific discoveries about mirror neurons suggest, we physiologically draw the other toward love when we practice this integrative power. In other words, we plant seeds in those involved that gradually grow into transformation in their behavior as they continue to encounter such power, even if noticeable change doesn’t occur immediately. Thus, we know nonviolent love is "working" if we look through a longer-term lens, and we can also improve its "working" in the shorter-term by practicing and strategizing. Let us take the opportunity to enter more deeply into this power in our daily interactions and better prepare ourselves for those rare but intense moments of violent conflict. In this way, personal and social transformation will blossom, while God's grace increasingly shines forth to guide us.
"For this reason, I appeal forcefully to all those who sow violence and death by force of arms: in the person you today see simply as an enemy to be beaten, discover rather your brother or sister, and hold back your hand! Give up the way of arms and go out to meet the other in dialogue, pardon and reconciliation, in order to rebuild justice, trust, and hope around you!" – Pope Francis, World Day of Peace Message, 2014. - http://www.americamagazine.org
THAILAND : Demands for popular participation rise By Kriangsan Malakul Bangkok (AsiaNews via CNUA) Described as of the Asian tigers for its recent fast-paced economic development, Thailand is now experiencing a profound political crisis. Some hope that this crisis is one of democratic and civic growth. The facts are known. In recent years, the politics of the Southeast Asian country has been dominated by an increasingly bitter factional struggle. On the one hand, the ruling party of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is widely supported by the rural population; on the other, the Democrat party whose support is largely urban, especially in the capital Bangkok.
The political fight has now reached a critical point where it is hard to see the parties settle their confrontation and reach a peaceful settlement. Roused and supported by the opposition Democratic Party, led by Suthep Thaugsuban, crowds gather daily at strategic points in the capital, peacefully for now, to protest against the outgoing caretaker government, which is still in power pending new elections. For the opposition, this is not enough. What it wants is a radical change to the country's political structures that would in practice ban the ruling party.
Such radical demands are fuelled by accusations of "total corruption" against the political class that supports the deposed prime minister. With his immense wealth, but mostly through state funds, Thaksin Shinawatra has been accused of building up his personal power and a solid political base within the government and a loyal following among the poor and rural masses.
Although he has been abroad for many years, he is accused of still pulling the strings, practically holding the entire nation hostage. The latest attempt by the government to introduce a general amnesty for all political prisoners of the past ten years explains the recent social unrest. Clearly, this would mark the triumphant return of Thaksin to Thailand. But the direct and visceral reaction against the proposed amnesty also shows how deep the aversion to the current government runs among a substantial part of the population.
In addition to these facts and explanations, other factors explain the current political upheaval. In fact, in the past 40 years, Thailand has experienced strong economic growth and profound social changes, with the emergence of an increasingly influential middle class that is conscious of its political clout. However, these developments have not been accompanied by appropriate changes in government structures, which have remained intrinsically paternalistic, centred on a patron-client model whereby patrons can expect total client loyalty in exchange for benefits.
This kind of relationship has been in place for a long time but has become further entrenched under Thaksin Shinawatra and acolytes, resulting a widespread system of personal favouritism and political corruption. The perception is that politicians, both in government and opposition, looted the country's wealth for their personal gain rather than the common good. Indeed, although the government is currently on the hot seat, the opposition is not innocent. There is a widespread belief that everyone is to blame for the situation.
Hence, the ongoing middle class protests can be seen as a demand for more democratic participation in the decision-making process and as an attempt to overcome the patron-client relationship, which has been a source of increasingly widespread corruption and favouritism.
In short, with Thailand's democracy still in its infancy, Thais are going through the hardships of growth, confusedly seeking a way out. Many of them hope to see the country's various political and social groups find a solution through peaceful dialogue. The alternative would be yet another military intervention that would momentarily silenced complaints but not solve the real problems. - http://www.asianews.it
VATICAN : "To Discern and To Obey" Mass at Santa Marta (L’Osservatore Romano via CNUA) In his homily at Holy Mass on Monday morning, 20 January, Pope Francis commented on the day's Readings from the first Book of Samuel (15:16-23) and the Gospel of St Mark (2:18-22). The Holy Father began by noting that both readings help us "to reflect on the word of God" and "on our attitude towards God's word". Citing Hebrews, the Pope said that the word of God is "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword … discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (4:12-13). Indeed, he said, "the word of God visits us and illumines the state of our heart, of our soul"; it "discerns". Pope Francis noted that the two readings "speak to us about about the disposition we should have in the presence of the word of God"; i.e.,"docility". "Docile to the word of God. The word of God is living. And therefore it comes and says what it wants to say: not what I expect it to say or what I hope it will say or what I want it to say". The word of God "is free" and it comes as "a surprise, since our God is the God of surprises: he comes and always does new things. He is newness. The Gospel is newness. Revelation is newness". "Our God," the Pope continued, "is a God who always does new things. And he asks from us docility to this newness". In the Gospel passage, Pope Francis said, "Jesus is clear about this, he is very clear: new wine in fresh wine skins". Thus, "God must be received with openness to what is new". And this disposition "is called docility".
The Pontiff therefore invited those present to ask themselves these questions: "Am I docile to the word of God, or do I always do what I believe the word of God is? Or do I make the word of God pass through an alembic and in the end it is something quite other than what God wants?". "If I do this," the Pope warned citing the Gospel, "I am like a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment". "And the tear is made worse: if I do this, I become worse". Yet, as the Holy Father explained, "adapting oneself to the word of God to be able to receive it" requires "an ascetic attitude". He gave the example of an electric appliance. If it doesn't work, one sometimes needs an adaptor. The same is true for us: we always need to adapt ourselves, to adjust ourselves to the newness of God's word". Essentially, he said, we need "to be open to new things". In his reflection, the Pope then turned to the passage from the first Book of Samuel. "Saul, God's elect, God's anointed, had forgotten that God is surprise and newness. He had forgotten it. He was enclosed in his thoughts and plans. And so he reasoned in a human way. The Lord said to him: utterly destroy all that they have". However, as the Pope explained, the custom "whenever anyone conquered, was to take the spoils" to divide them; "and a part of the spoils was used to offer sacrifice". Saul had therefore selected several beautiful animals for the Lord: "he reasoned according to his own thoughts, according to his heart, enclosed in his habits. And God, our God, is not a God of habits, he is a God of surprises".
Thus, Saul "did not obey God's word, he was not docile to God's word". We read in the Scripture that Samuel "reproved him" for this, saying: "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?" Samuel "makes him feel that he hasn't obeyed: he has not been a servant, he has been lord. He has set himself up as master of God's word. Indeed, Samuel then also says: "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams". "The word of God continues forward through Samuel," the Pope added: "rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness the sin of idolatry" (v. 23). Samuel's words "make us think about the nature of Christian freedom, about the nature of Christian obedience". "Christian freedom and Christian obedience consist in being docile to the word of God; in having the courage to become fresh skins for this new wine … the courage to discern always, to discern … what the spirit is doing in my heart, what the spirit wants in my heart, where the spirit is leading me in my heart. And to obey."
Pope Francis concluded his homily by repeating the two key words of the day: "to discern and to obey". And he prayed: "Let us ask for the grace of docility to God's word, to this word that is living and active, that discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart". - http://www.news.va/en/news
ZIMBABWE : Sharing resources (SJWEB via CNUA) The wealth of natural and human resources of Zimbabwe must benefit the poor of the country, not simply its elite, according to the Jesuits in Zimbabwe. Their call for a more just distribution of the country's resources has been echoed by Zimbabwe Bishops' Conference in a pastoral letter issued in December. In that letter, they said that three months after the July elections, "there are no visible prospects for improvement in the spheres of life in Zimbabwe that cry for restoration to give people hope for a better life." Writing in the magazine Jesuits and Friends, Fr Roland von Nidda SJ, parish priest of St Peter's Kubatana in Zimbabwe, says that Zimbabwe's wealth of resources includes "the best educated people in Africa, the biggest diamond fields in the world, and the second largest platinum deposits world-wide. But not much of this wealth trickles down to the mass of the poor." In his article, he points out that the poverty rate in Zimbabwe is estimated to be around 70%, unemployment is approximately 80%, and the gap between the rich and poor is among the highest in the world. Zimbabwe was, until 1978, part of the British Province of the Society of Jesus, and Jesuit Missions in Britain continues to support the Jesuits who work in Zimbabwe. In his magazine article, Fr von Nidda details initiatives that the Jesuits in the country have instigated over the past 50 years, in particular "to offer educational opportunities to young Zimbabweans who were financially poor and who otherwise would roam the streets with no chance of a future." Read the full story at www.jesuit.org.uk/latest/131205.htm - http://www.sjweb.info/news/
King Arthur and the witch - Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom. The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur's youth and ideals. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and, if after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death.
The question?....What do women really want? Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man, and to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query. But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch's proposition to have an answer by year's end.
He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the priests, the wise men and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer. Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the answer. But the price would be high; as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged.
The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the witch She agreed to answer the question, but he would have to agree to her price first. The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, the most noble of the Knights of the Round Table and Arthur's closest friend! Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunchbacked and hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc. He had never encountered such a repugnant creature in all his life.
He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden; but Lancelot, learning of the proposal, spoke with Arthur. He said nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life and the preservation of the Round Table.
Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered Arthur's question thus: What a woman really wants, she answered....is to be in charge of her own life! Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth and that Arthur's life would be spared. And so it was, the neighboring monarch granted Arthur his freedom and Lancelot and the witch had a wonderful wedding.
The honeymoon hour approached and Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen lay before him on the bed. The astounded Lancelot asked what had happened.
The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a witch, she would henceforth, be her horrible deformed self only half the time and the beautiful maiden the other half. Which would he prefer? Beautiful during the day...or night?
Lancelot pondered the predicament. During the day, a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch? Or, would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day, but by night, a beautiful woman for him to enjoy wondrous intimate moments?
Noble Lancelot said that he would allow HER to make the choice herself. Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time because he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life. -
My Lord, My God, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be Done, Come Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
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