For many, this is an Easter of solitude lived amid the sorrow and hardship that the pandemic is causing, from physical suffering to economic difficulties…. In these weeks, the lives of millions of people have suddenly changed.
For many, remaining at home has been an opportunity to reflect, to withdraw from the frenetic pace of life, stay with loved ones and enjoy their company. For many, though, this is also a time of worry about an uncertain future, about jobs that are at risk and about other consequences of the current crisis.
I encourage political leaders to work actively for the common good, to provide the means and resources needed to enable everyone to lead a dignified life and, when circumstances allow, to assist them in resuming their normal daily activities. This is not a time for indifference, because the whole world is suffering and needs to be united in facing the pandemic.
May the risen Jesus grant hope to all the poor, to those living on the peripheries, to refugees and the homeless.
May these, the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters living in the cities and peripheries of every part of the world, not be abandoned.
Let us ensure that they do not lack basic necessities all the more difficult to find now that many businesses are closed such as medicine and especially the possibility of adequate health care…. This is not a time for self-centredness, because the challenge we are facing is shared by all, without distinguishing between persons.
Among the many areas of the world affected by the coronavirus, I think in a special way of Europe. After the Second World War, this continent was able to rise again, thanks to a concrete spirit of solidarity that enabled it to overcome the rivalries of the past. It is more urgent than ever, especially in the present circumstances, that these rivalries do not regain force, but that all recognize themselves as part of a single family and support one another….
Indifference, self-centredness, division and forgetfulness are not words we want to hear at this time. We want to ban these words for ever! They seem to prevail when fear and death overwhelm us, that is, when we do not let the Lord Jesus triumph in our hearts and lives. May Christ, who has already defeated death and opened for us the way to eternal salvation, dispel the darkness of our suffering humanity and lead us into the light of his glorious day, a day that knows no end.
James Keenan, SJ, invites us to consider sin less in terms of breaking rules and more in terms of what we fail to see, think, feel, say, and do. Looking at our southern border, it is clear that far too many of us are failing to bother to love.
The migrant caravan is not a national security crisis but a peaceful march of people — more than half of whom are women and children — uprooted from their homes by gang violence, economic deprivation, and political instability. These are people fleeing crisis, not trying to attack our border or organizing an assault on our country , as the President has falsely claimed. It is also dangerous for all immigrants , regardless of their nation of origin.
Christians cannot abide this kind of discourse, and certainly not the kinds of policies that separate children from parents some of whom may have been ripped apart permanently , detain families indefinitely , or use tear-gas, which is a weapon of war even though it is not unprecedented in its use at the border. It is immoral that companies are making huge profits in what is now a billion dollar industry of detaining migrant families along our southern border.
It is unconscionable to profit from the misery of such vulnerable people , but this is what happens when people of faith remain silent. This is about a deep-rooted fear of the other , a xenophobia that has haunted America for years.
It is linked to white supremacy , a fundamental distrust of black and brown bodies , a presumption of guilt against them, and legitimizing violence against them. The president has no problem calling himself a nationalist , even while it so often connotes such virulent racism and anti-black violence , which seems to be emboldening hate groups , generating more anti-Semitism and hate crimes.
Embracing fear is easier than understanding the root causes of why people are being forced to flee — especially when so many of those root causes point to US involvement in Central and South America. US demand for illegal drugs gives power to the cartels that inflict violence and practice routine extortion in many villages. US trade policies make it cheaper to buy US products than those made in Latin America, driving unemployment in places like Guatemala.
US political involvement has destabilized countries like Honduras. The list goes on. The populist nationalist understanding of American exceptionalism thrives on amnesia of our past abuses, sins of commission and omission.
AmericaFirst — ignoring our obligations to other peoples and nations — repeats a shameful history of turning our backs on people fleeing persecution and violence. It too easily becomes isolation, which does not result in peace and security. Not for us, not for others. Moreover, it is a failure of solidarity, the logical extension of the great commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.
There are no non-neighbors as Luke illustrates; Christians are commanded to love even enemies — see Luke — so no exceptions apply. American Christians are called to a kinship that reaches across borders. No more exploitation! Our citizenship is in heaven, Saint Paul reminds us Phil.
Our allegiance is first to Christ and the reign of God, not America. This is not to suggest all American Christians are xenophobic, anti-immigrant, or failing to bother to love. But these service trips risk becoming an ego trip for social media , a resume-builder , or a guise of the white savior complex , if they are not motivated by a sense of solidarity and respect for the dignity of all.
Too often, they are more focused on broadening the horizons of those who go than offering meaningful assistance to those being served. Not only does that paternalistically make the poor pawns in the learning experience of American youth , but it creates a vicious cycle of dependence, a toxic form of charity. Love requires freedom, which means creating the conditions for the poor to be agents of their own future.
Above I distinguished work from a job or employment. I did this for an important reason. We do important work outside of our jobs or employment. I have been told countless times by married couples that marriage takes work!
Raising children takes work. Tending the frail elderly or chronically ill family members takes work. The work that we do during this pandemic certainly requires a transition, a shift in perspective, in focus.
In our families, we are called to tend to our family members — to work on building those relationships that are so important to us! In this pandemic when we must be physically separate from others, we are called to reach out to them in perhaps new and creative ways: a phone call to a neighbor, a relative or a parishioner living alone; a virtual chat with loved ones or fellow parishioners can go a long way in dispelling the isolation that plagues us in this pandemic.
The Spiritual Works of Mercy involve instructing, advising, consoling and comforting, as well as forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. As one who grew up in a household of eight siblings, the spiritual works of mercy sound like a summary of family life! One of the Corporal Works of Mercy is to visit the imprisoned. Can we pay a virtual visit to them? A phone call? Run errands, drop off food, tend the yard? Many in our communities have volunteered with Catholic Charities in the weekly distribution of food at several of our parishes.
Some of our youth groups have organized to provide grocery shopping for the elderly in their community. What a magnificent witness! Feeding the hungry is another Corporal Work of Mercy. Others volunteer in firefighting. How grateful we are to them during the wildfire season in California! Others are helping to provide shelter to those evacuated from the fires.
Providing shelter: another Corporal Work of Mercy. Many in our fields, food processing plants, and grocery stores have been infected by the Coronavirus. We urge our churches to devote time and energy to confront the evils of domination, and discrimination. We call upon our churches to monitor church structures and practices so that all forms of exclusion are eradicated.
Let our initiatives include:. We recognize that there are a number of ethical and theological issues such as the ordination of women, abortion, divorce and human sexuality in all of its diversity that have implications for participation and are difficult to address in the church community. During the Decade, human sexuality in all of its diversity emerged with particular significance. We condemn the violence perpetuated due to the differences on this matter. We wrestled with the issue, aware of the anguish we all endure because of the potential to create further divisions.
We acknowledge that there is divided opinion as women and men on this particular issue. In fact, for some women and men in our midst, the issue has no legitimacy. We seek the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit that we may continue the conversation in order that justice may prevail.
And we declare our readiness to confront any attempts to excuse, cover-up or justify violence. We declare, as Festival women and men, that its presence in the church is an offence against God, humanity and the earth.
In order to be accountable to God and ourselves, we recommend that the Assembly's theme, Turn to God: Rejoice in Hope, be taken as an opportunity for repentance for the church's participation in this violence, and for renewal of our theologies, traditions and practices for justice and peace among women, men and children in our homes and communities.
The 9th Assembly should be used to hold ourselves -- our churches and the WCC -- accountable for our work on this issue. WE HOLD FIRMLY to a vision of a world of economic justice, where poverty is neither tolerated nor justified, where the peoples of the south and east flourish with the peoples of the north and west, where a balance of power and wealth is restored, and where women and children no longer endure enforced and debilitating labour.
We urge our churches at this 8th Jubilee Assembly to declare poverty and all its dehumanizing consequences a scandal against God. We implore our churches to do everything within our God-given power and accountability to unmask the economic forces of death and destruction, to name the oppressive global economy, the liberalization of markets and the accompanying cut-backs in social and welfare services as enemies of God, and to fulfill God's creative intention for accountable stewardship of the earth.
We urge our churches to raise our voices together against all vestiges of colonialism and all forms of neo-colonialism, and the unjust and unwelcome intrusion by states and other powerful actors in the affairs of other nations. And we urge our churches to call upon the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to halt immediately all Structural Adjustment Programmes that hurt the most vulnerable, especially women and children.
We, the women and men of the Festival, declare that fullness of life in Christ and Christ's prayer for unity require women's participation, the elimination of violence against women and that the image of God in women be valued and recognized. Further, we declare that fullness of life in Christ and Christ's prayer for unity require that no race be valued over another, that churches in the name of Christ challenge all acts of ethnic cleansing, caste atrocities, xenophobia and genocide. We declare that racism and ethnocentrism are against the will of God and have no place in God's household.
The WCC and its member churches must maintain a strong commitment to eradicate racism in all contexts. In the spirit of the Living Letters, we direct a special word to you as church leaders at the Assembly. We recognize that you have been entrusted with gifts of power and authority, delegated to you by God and the church community.
In a world of increasing abuse of power, arrogant assumption of authority and mis-use of position, we are reminded of Jesus' words "that it shall not be so among you". Decade visits demonstrated, however, that such abuses take place in many church circles. We, as women have been, and are the victims of this abuse. We make it clear that we shall not tolerate its presence anymore. We call upon all church leaders to be examples of God's authority in Christ, exercising power not over but with God's people for the enhancement of all.
TO THIS END, we call upon you to initiate actions to correct the gender imbalances that exist in your midst, and make all levels of administration in churches and ecumenical organizations accessible and just for women. We urge you to encourage more women to take up leadership roles and support them so that they can offer new understandings of and ways of using power.
We, the women of the Festival, invite you to join us in the vision and commitment of this letter.
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