Just less than a year ago, Servant of Justice Award Winner Tom Allio called Roundtable members to be a part of “building a life and dignity movement.” He described a movement that “would create a ‘big tent and large table’ that would put aside partisanship and invite each believer to do what he or she does best. If advocating for the unborn and terminally ill are your callings, you have a role to play and you will be affirmed and supported in these endeavors. If advocating issues that protect low income families and promoting global solidarity are your callings, you have a role to play and you will be affirmed and supported…we must recognize that both callings and many, many others are legitimate expressions of our Catholic faith and indeed mark who we are as a faith community.”

On January 25, the Roundtable hosted a webinar on Building a Life & Dignity Movement, led by your colleague Rob Shelledy, Director of the Social Justice Ministry Office of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and Lydia LoCoco Director of the Nazareth Project for Marriage and Family Formation at the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Barbara Sella, Associate Director for Respect Life and Social Concerns at the Wisconsin Catholic Conference joined Rob and Lydia. They described the work taking place in their own diocese to build such a movement.

Rob began the webinar by saying that he thought it might be better to call such work a “Life OF Dignity Movement.” Rather than joining perceived ‘interest groups’ together, something new and countercultural must be built for today’s polarized world.  Rob acknowledged that we are working in a difficult cultural context, one that is individualistic, and congregationalist (i.e. lots of love for the local priest but less attention to the bishop or pope). Also, as humans, we have a confirmation bias (we tend to be more receptive to ideas which confirm what we already believe) and tend to live among people who think and act as we do.

We also work in a changing generational context. Most people who might currently be faced with the option of abortion have always lived in a society where abortion is legal. These millennials, Lydia shared, do not see the division between respect life and social concerns in the same way that older generations have seen it, and tend to push traditional boundaries on these issues, seeing men as victims of abortion too, for example. Young people, Lydia said, easily see the threat all these issues present to the human person. Working with these young people has been one way for respect life and social concerns staff have come together.

Additionally, Cardinal-designate Dolan has been giving voice and a new vocabulary to respect life and social concerns issues, uniting both in a vision of the dignity of the human person. It is a “vocabulary of faith that people can bring into culture.”

In the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, many parishes host a Holy Hour for Life, leading up to the Respect Life March on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The deacons lead this holy hour vigil before the day of prayer and penance. The prayers of the vigil treat all the life issues, from womb to tomb, and the vigils have been immensely popular. Seven dioceses have asked to borrow the program, which Milwaukee adapted from other dioceses.

At the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, human trafficking has been an issue that has brought together unlikely allies. Millennials have been very engaged in the work, along with the National Council of Catholic Women and women religious around the world. Infant mortality in urban areas and payday lending have also been initiatives that have united people together in working for dignity and justice.

During the discussion portion of the webinar, participants offered other issues around which they have had success in uniting unlikely allies, including the death penalty, torture and indefinite detention, food safety, and care for the environment. When various diocesan offices come together to do this work, it sets an institutional example as a model for this work at various levels. The Diocese of Pittsburgh’s common formation for parish social ministers and respect life coordinators was highlighted as an example. They are in their pilot year of a “Certificate for Human Dignity,” which has served to unite these staff in valuable relationships as well as a holistic understanding of the fullness of Catholic teaching.

Participants also talked about the need to fight against our own confirmation bias and participate in human dignity activities to which we are not as inclined. One participant shared about how powerful it was for him to pray in front of an abortion clinic around the same time he was advocating for the DREAM Act. Another participant noted that birth issues tug more easily at one’s emotions, but when educating about more systemic injustices, it is important to “talk in stories” about the people who are affected by them, in order to demonstrate in a personal way how they are a threat to life and dignity.

Another participant later commented, “Life and dignity of the human person, is after all, our spiritual basis… and [it] resonates with people… One example is where the USCCB and Catholics Coalition on Climate Change praised the EPA rulings on the control of mercury, not as care for the environment, but in terms of its prevention of disease and deformity in children. The President, interestingly, did the same thing in [the State of the Union address]. Locally, we have changed the salutation on our legislative alerts and what used to be social action messages to ‘Dear respect for life and human dignity friends.’”

The presentation and discussion of this webinar provided much food for thought about continuing to educate about the fullness of Catholic teaching regarding a life OF dignity. Roundtable members who missed the webinar and would like to view the recording can login to the Virtual Roundtable to see it and download the presentation slides.

Hope & Help for the Unemployed through Collaborative Efforts

by Kathy Shine, Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Office of Social Justice Ministry

“But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.” – Psalm 39:7

The opening reflection on the importance of hope resonated with me during a recent gathering of the Milwaukee Transitional Jobs Collaborative. Rev. Ellwanger began with one simple statement. “Hope is radical!”

When I think about it, he’s right. There has never been a movement for change for an individual or the common good without hope.  Hope challenges our instinct to give up despite dire conditions and encourages us to keep trying, trusting that something better is forthcoming.

Maybe that’s why I’m so proud to be involved with our ministry. We advocate for training programs and funding to help the unemployed, and oppose political agendas that wound human dignity. But we don’t stop there.

We’ve all heard or read the statistics: over 46 million people in the United States now live in poverty. They are parents who cannot feed their children, families that have lost their homes and jobless workers who have lost not only income, but also a sense of their place in society. The poor, the under-employed and the unemployed are not issues, but people with names and faces. By pooling resources and working with 22 community groups from the collaborative, we’re taking direct and concrete action to offer hope and help for the unemployed.

Our Office of Social Justice Ministry hosted a job fair in October that connected nearly 400 people with more than 20 potential employers offering more than 200 jobs, and lifted the human spirit of those who attended. We scheduled educational presentations that helped people develop their personal networks, communication and leadership skills. Attendees received packets of information on free resume services, on-line job application resources, training programs, career readiness preparation, and job search assistance. We’ve confirmed that over 40 people secured full-time employment as a direct result of our fair, and that more individuals were given interviews. With another job fair scheduled for March 30, we’re continuing our efforts to offer hope to people who see employment as a true gift.

Is your diocese offering support for workers and the unemployed? Share your experiences and best practices with your colleagues at the Roundtable!

“With what attitude should we look to the New Year?” Pope Benedict XVI asks in the introductory paragraph of his 2012 World Day of Peace Message. He recalls the image of Ps 130:6, where the faithful wait for the Lord with hope “more than those who watch for the morning.” The Pope invites us “to look to 2012 with this attitude of confident trust.”

And so, amidst challenges in our work and the many crises that our world currently faces, we look toward the coming year with hope that our Lord, the light of the world, is so very near. This same Lord is calling all of us more deeply into the work of educating and advocating for justice and peace, and building up the Church through strengthening its social mission. What are your hopes for this coming year?

The National Catholic Partnership on Disability is a shining example of the hope offered in our world through creating more inclusive ministries that honor the dignity and gifts of each person.  NCPD carries out its important mission through consultation, resource development and training offered to bishops and their personnel, people with disabilities and their families, and others. You can learn more about NCPD and how your office can partner in their work in this issue of the Roundtable Report. We’re excited to honor executive director Jan Benton in February with the Harry A. Fagan Award!

We hope that you will join us at the 27^th Annual Roundtable Symposium February 11-12 titled The Constitution and Catholic Social Teaching: A Healthy Tension (Thanks be to God!). The 2nd registration deadline for the Symposium as well as the larger Catholic Social Ministry Gathering is January 20. You can register at www.catholicsocialministrygathering.org.

Also with us in February will be Dr. Dan Finn, along with Dr. Maryann Love and Fr. Bryan Hehir as presenters for the 27^th Annual Roundtable Symposium. In December, Dr. Finn published an article in Commonweal Magazine which discusses the morality of derivatives, the Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace’s October statement on the financial crisis, and the gap in social teaching around the morality of self-interest. Read the article here and begin to form your questions for Dr. Finn in February!

In January, throughout our communities and in Washington DC Respect Life activities abound, to mark the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. In order to enhance your work in human life and dignity, we’ve posted the video presentations from the 2011 Social Action Summer Institute. The session included a presentation from John Carr on the USCCB’s work promoting Human Life and Dignity, and a panel sharing the best practices in the formation of the Louisiana Life and Justice Committee.

We hope that you’ll watch these presentations and download the accompanying resource to enhance your own organizing work in this area. To further support this work, we hope you’ll join us on Jan. 25 (note this is a change of date) for a webinar on Building a Life and Dignity Movement. Stay tuned for more information!

The first two webinars of the Roundtable’s new webinar series have been a resounding success. In October, Jude Huntz presented on the Constitution and Catholic Social Teaching, and in November, Tony Stieritz and Pam Long presented on Capacity Building.  If you missed them, check out the articles reporting some of the webinar content, with links to the video recordings.

In February, along with the Symposium and Award Banquet, the Roundtable will host our annual Membership Meeting. At the meeting, you’ll have an opportunity to voice how the Roundtable can serve you better, amidst the greatest needs and challenges you face. The board will take this feedback to the strategic planning they will undergo this summer, so please don’t miss it! Several new board members will also be elected during this meeting; read more about how board members are elected.

Whether or not you can join us in February, we hope you’ll save the dates for the 2012 Social Action Summer Institute, which will take place July 29-Aug 1, 2012 at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. We are delighted that JustFaith Ministries will be a major planning partner for the event. Our theme is international and domestic poverty, and JustFaith Ministries will lead a day on transformation and hope. More information about speakers and schedule will be coming soon.

As always, the Roundtable Roundup offers news of social action office transitions, the good work that you are doing, and upcoming initiatives from the Roundtable’s national partners. Check it out!

In order to continue all of the Roundtable’s work, we depend on your support. I recently sent out a request for 2012 dues from board chair Scott Cooper.

I look forward to seeing many of you in February. And if you’re not able to join us, I hope you’ll stay tuned for the content that we share here after the event.

Grace & Peace,

Jenn Svetlik
Roundtable Coordinator

Diocese of Little Rock Director Featured on PBS
On the weekend of January 13, PBS’s Religion & Ethics News Weekly will feature a story on prison ministry as it relates to re-entry and the racial disparity that exists in incarceration rates. (In Arkansas the population is 77% white, 16% black; Arrested for felonies it’s 65% white, 35% black;  Incarcerated for felonies it’s 48% white, 52% black). Tom Navin’s experiences in prison ministry in Little Rock are featured. You’ll be able to find it online here: http://pbs.org/religion

Tom says, “Our Prison Ministry includes working with those re-entering society and their families, in addition to visiting prisons.”

Diocese of Springfield Hosts Clergy Convocation on Catholics in Public Square
Our clergy convocation in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois was on ‘Catholics in the Public Square’. Topics included today’s culture, racism, abortion and immigration. Persons of color joined our priests to share experiences and to dialogue about action steps. Our Office for Social Concerns was grateful to our Vicar for Priests and Director of Ongoing Formation for Clergy for giving us the opportunity to assist in choosing speakers and in planning these days. We think that awareness was created and our priests did see the connection between Baptism, Eucharist and Solidarity and we hope to continue the education through legislative alerts, etc.

- Submitted by Sister M. Jane Boos, SSND, Director, Office for Social Concerns

Dioceses without Borders Launches Website and Blog:

Visit http://dioceses-without-borders.blogspot.com to learn more about the Dioceses without Borders initiative of Hermosillo, Mexand Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona. The website chronicles the history and work of the initiative and includes resources, media, and postings about their cross-border events.

- Submitted by Joanne Welter, Diocese of Tucson, Office of Human Life and Dignity

Transitions in Diocesan Offices:

Welcome to new diocesan staff in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux!
In late September, Stuart King, MSW, MA, D.Min began serving as Associate Director for Parish Social Ministry at Catholic Charities under Rob Gorman’s leadership. He’s a former priest in the Charismatic Episcopal Church, and a candidate for priestly ordination in the Catholic Church, who hopes to be ordained in the diocese next year.You can reach Stu at sking@htdiocese.org.

Welcome to new staff in the Diocese of Green Bay!
Catherine Zirngibl is the new Catholic Social Justice Coordinator in the Diocese of Green Bay’s Dept. of Evangelization, Living Justice and Worship. Zirngibl attended Marquette University for her BA and MA degrees, and while studying there, further developed her faith and passion for social justice. After graduation, she served as a Spanish teacher then as the Forgiveness and Wellness Program Coordinator at a group home for boys. Although she loved her work, Zirngibl hoped to work in an environment where she could combine her strong faith and passion for service. About her new role at the Diocese of Green Bay she says, “I feel that I have found a home with the Diocese.  I am thrilled to be working alongside so many wonderful men and women that are putting social justice at the forefront of its mission, and I truly look forward to this ministry.” You can reach Catherine at CZirngibl@gbdioc.org.

Welcome to new staff in the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahasse!
Lindsay Rae Myers is the new Parish Social Ministries Coordinator for Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida. She is from Pensacola but has lived all over the U.S. working on the streets of Chicago and the outdoors for the Archdiocese of Seattle summer camps before settling back into her hometown. She graduated from Florida State University in 2006 (with a BA increative writing and religion) and an MA in Theology from Villanova University in 2010. She says, “I am new to this work and excited to learn from others. I deeply believe in the social mission of our faith and am happy to serve in this way.” She can be reached at myersl@cc.ptdiocese.org.

Resources from USCCB-JPHD:

Sacraments and Social Mission Series: Baptism
The sacraments celebrated by the Church help us to recognize Christ’s presence in the community of the body of Christ. This recognition should lead to a stronger awareness of being sent on mission to engage in love-inspired action in the world. In order to help Catholics reflect on this topic, JPHD is offering a series of handouts on the Sacraments and social mission. Their recent handout is on Baptism, the rite of initiation into the Christian community. Please share this series with your colleagues in religious education, RCIA, clergy formation, and others who work in the area of sacramental preparation.

Reminder: Two Feet of Love in Action Revised Model and Facilitator’s Guide
Don’t forget that JPHD recently revised the “two feet” model which was used for years to describe two different, but complementary, ways of putting faith in action: social justice and charitable works. The revisions better reflect the language of Pope Benedict XVI in Deus Caritas Est and Caritas in Veritate and are detailed in

• A brief, 2-page handout of the Two Feet of Love in Action
• A Guide for Facilitators including an extensive session outline

New Video “CCHD: Living Our Faith, Breaking the Cycle of Poverty”
We are pleased to announce a new video to share the good news about the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). CCHD is the domestic, anti-poverty program of the U.S. Catholic bishops. The new video, “CCHD: Living Our Faith, Breaking the Cycle of Poverty,” tells how CCHD helps poor and low-income persons address poverty in their communities. The seven-minute video, which can be found on the CCHD homepage, can be used year-round and is just in time for the CCHD national collection, which is held in most dioceses on the weekend before Thanksgiving. Please help us spread the word!

From Catholic Coalition on Climate Change: Archbishop Dolan Reflects on the “Green Pope”
In his December 1 message to Catholics of the Archdiocese of New York, Archbishop Timothy Dolan (and president of the USCCB) reflects on the legacy of Pope Benedict XVI, dubbed by the media as the “Green Pope.”  He says that Pope Benedict reminds us that just as we disobey nature’s law, by pollution and overuse of earth’s resources, at our peril, so do we disregard the nature inherent in the human person only at grave risk. Archbishop Dolan also highlights the need for personal and “inner” ecology as well: Sadly, at the very time more and more people are realizing that the environment of nature and creation demands respect and protection, fewer and fewer people acknowledge that the ecology inherent in the human person needs reverence as well. Read more of his thought-provoking article here.

Since its inception in 1982, the National Catholic Partnership on Disability (NCPD) has worked diligently on behalf of the 14 million Catholics in the United States who live with physical, intellectual, sensory, mental, or emotional disabilities to achieve the following mission:

Rooted in Gospel values that affirm the dignity of every person, the National Catholic Partnership on Disability (NCPD) works collaboratively to ensure meaningful participation of people with disabilities in all aspects of the life of the Church and society.

NCPD welcomes the opportunity to work with Roundtable members, and encourages members to call with questions or suggestions.  NCPD’s current and past leadership has included two Roundtable members—Jerry Freewalt of Columbus who served as Chair, and NCPD’s current Chair, Susanna Herro of Madison.

NCPD carries out its important mission through consultation, resource development and training offered to bishops and their personnel, people with disabilities and their families, Catholic organizational partners, and other professional organizations.  In fulfilling this role, NCPD is in the forefront of identifying and addressing timely issues impacting the lives of people with disabilities and their families such as prenatal diagnosis of disability and life-threatening conditions and parish outreach to veterans with disabilities and PTSD, and their families.  NCPD utilizes a multifaceted approach to address the myriad of issues faced by persons with disabilities as evidenced by some of its current initiatives highlighted below.

Pro-Life Advocacy – NCPD staff and board members work diligently to uphold the dignity of every human person in collaboration with the efforts of the USCCB Secretariat on Pro-Life Activities, the National Catholic Bioethics Center, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, state Catholic Conferences, and diocesan disability directors, to provide expert testimony, legislative language, and Action Alerts on key legislative initiatives.  NCPD joins with the bishops in seeking to counter state efforts to legalize physician-assisted suicide, affirming the value of every human life, including those living with disabilities or in intense pain and suffering. 

Legislative Advocacy – NCPD staff and Board Committee on Ethics and Public Policy, chaired by Dr. Marie Hilliard of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, workclosely with the USCCB Office of Justice, Peace and Human Development and Secretariat on Pro-Life Activities on a range of issues impacting people with disabilities.  They are also founding steering committee members of the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition, which seeks to mobilize the religious community to speak out and take action on disability policy issues with Congress, the President and Administration, and society at large.

Autism Task Force (ATF) – One of the first acts of the NCPD Autism Task Force, established in 2010, was to conduct a national survey of dioceses and parishes to determine needs and gather information on what resources are currently in use.  The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate analyzed the data and produced a report, which guided the ATF in its first year, including outreach to publishers.   A primary objective of the ATF is to add resources to NCPD’s website for those serving individuals with autism spectrum disorder and to advise the NCPD Board on actions to take to advance resources needed by parishes and Catholic schools to support students and adults with autism and their families.

Ministry Foundations: Disability in Parish Life – The Ministry Foundations Project was initiated to develop basic 1-day training on disability issues and concerns for individuals in pastoral ministry whose work impacts the lives of Catholics with disabilities, but who lack specific knowledge or experience in this area (e.g.., catechists, social justice directors, youth ministers, deacons). After a series of pilots of the materials, the training module is available to be used by diocesan and parish staff to enhance their capacity to minister with and for persons with disabilities.

Nationwide Mental Illness Initiative – In July 2009, NCPD launched this initiative to help parishes meet the needs of persons with severe and persistent mental illness, developing the Welcomed and Valued DVD and Resource Manual for use in parishes, and piloting a one-day awareness workshop to be replicated (with local adaptations)  in parishes throughout the U.S.

A component of the Mental Illness Initiative is the support and growth of a nationwide Catholic Network on Mental Illness (Network).  One of the goals of the Network is to have a means of sharing ideas, ministry tools and insights among ministry leaders, family members and people with mental illness. An outreach of the Network is a free monthly electronic newsletter entitled MI Network News, available to any interested person. Council members likewise offer consultation and support to Network members and others in their local outreach efforts

NCPD E-News - NCPD publishes monthly the latest collection of NCPD, partner and diocesan news, resources, legislation and federal updates, and coming events.  People involved in ministry routinely submit items for consideration and report that they use portions of the E-News in their own newsletters to their constituents.

Webinar series – One of NCPD’s most successful outreach efforts has been conducting periodic webinars on specific disability topics of concern to diocesan directors and other NCPD constituents.  The webinars are live captioned so that Deaf individuals can participate.  They are also archived on NCPD’s website, www.ncpd.org, to enable viewing for one year after the webinar, and available for purchase on DVD. A toolkit of resources is assembled for each webinar and posted to the NCPD website for free download.   Topics that have been addressed in NCPD’s Webinar series include, for example:  (1) Access in Catholic Education: High Schools; (2) Advanced Considerations:  Mental Illness in Youth and Young Adults; and (3) Threats to the Life of People with Disabilities, Part I:  Poor Prenatal Diagnosis of Lethal or Non-lethal Conditions and Disability.

Upcoming Symposium speaker Dr. Daniel Finn, Professor of Economics and Theology at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, MN was featured in the Dec. 2, 2011 issue of Commonweal magazine. (Reprinted with permission).

Lutheran bishop Peter Rogness recently decried our national loss of awareness that government is self-government, and warned that political discourse “to rally people against their own government…is like an immune system run amuck that eats the very body in which it resides.” Yet since the electoral success of Ronald Reagan in 1980, more and more Republicans have run for office “against government.” This has been at the center of the political stalemate in Washington, and certainly creates resistance to the quite reasonable proposals of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (“Note on Financial Reform,” October 26) for such things as stronger international oversight of financial markets and better funding for development through a very small tax on financial transactions, small enough not to alter investment decisions other than highly speculative arbitrage.

Yet separate from the many strengths of the Note (for example, its economic analysis is first-rate) and the many problems in the way it’s been received in this country, it must also be said that there remains a significant hole in official Catholic social teaching on the economy. In addition to appropriately encouraging virtuous action, the church’s teaching proposes systemic solutions to our problems without a systemic ethical analysis of the moral dynamics of daily economic life. That is, it intends to condemn some current financial practices and leave others with implicit support, without offering a way for Catholics to think about how to draw the line between them. To understand that, consider the character of the financial fraud that we now know was quite common prior to the crash of 2008.

In October, Citigroup paid a $285 million fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission for defrauding its own clients. Goldman Sachs earlier paid a $550 million penalty to the SEC for the same crime. The list of finance firms similarly caught defrauding their customers is a long one, including J.P. Morgan, Wachovia Capital, American Home Mortgage, Countrywide, Charles Schwab, Morgan Keegan, Evergreen, TD Ameritrade, Bank of America, and Brookstreet. In one way or another, these firms deliberately kept from clients their corporate assessment of the risk of the financial instruments they were peddling. So far, the SEC has charged thirty-nine corporate officers and forty-two firms, resulting in suspending or barring individuals from participation in the board of directors, the senior management, or in some cases any sort of employment in the securities industry, and nearly $2 billion in settlement penalties, which will go to the injured clients in partial repayment for their losses.

There’s plenty here for us and the Wall Street occupiers to be angry about, but we might come to a better understanding of our moral situation by considering the character of the investments involved and how they grew out of helpful but complex financial instruments susceptible to unethical use.

Derivatives are financial instruments created for sale in order to hedge risk, something like insurance. And what’s insurance? You’ve probably taken out fire insurance on your house. With a monthly payment, you provide the security of knowing that should your house burn down, the insurance company will give you the money to rebuild. People in business often have good reason for a similar insurance policy. Consider an inventor who’s just come up with a great new idea in computer technology. He’s quite confident that his idea will work and is willing to borrow the $10 million necessary to get it started, but he has one big worry. If the computer industry tanks while he’s working on this, he’ll lose this investment. So he wants to take out an insurance policy to cover that possible calamity.

The inventor goes to a firm like American International Group (AIG) and works out a deal, typically called a credit default swap. Put simply, he agrees to pay the firm, say, $100,000 per year and in return the firm will pay him $10 million if the computer industry tanks. Of course, they need a clearer definition of what it means to “tank” and they might agree that the trigger for the payment will be the day that a highly respected computer firm—say, Intel—sees it stock price drop to 50 percent of what it is on the day the inventor signs the insurance contract. So in a sense, he is here betting against Intel, but in doing so he is “hedging” his own $10 million bet on his new invention.

One big difference between your fire insurance and the inventor’s credit default swap is that insurance regulation forbids me from also buying fire insurance on your home. The reason our government does this is what economists artfully call “moral hazard.” If I had fire insurance on your home, I might then be tempted to visit your home with a match and some gasoline while you were away on vacation. No such restrictions exist on credit default swaps. Anyone can take out this bet against Intel, or any other firm or business deal, in effect hoping that it will fail. (Of course, the inability of firms like AIG to pay off these insurance policies is what deepened the financial crisis, but that’s another story.)

Once hedge funds got used to making such bets against firms and business deals they projected to fail, some of them learned it would be helpful to watch the finance houses that were creating those instruments in order to learn about the riskiest deals even before they were sold. The finance firms creating these bundles of mortgages gained their usual percentage commission from the sale and garnered more business with the hedge funds by offering them advance notice. Court records now show that the hedge funds planning to bet against a package were at times even part of the discussion as to how to structure the package itself, to increase the likelihood of failure or sweeten the payoff should failure occur. This is the most serious of the SEC charges against the big finance firms: they deliberately kept their own clients in the dark about the risks those clients were about to take on.

To translate this into our fire-insurance example: not only were people taking out fire insurance on others’ homes, they were also working with the builder to design a home likely to catch fire due to bad wiring. The builder then sold the home without mentioning the fire hazard to the buyers. Of course, we have building codes to prevent such dangers, but there were no such rules for financial derivatives. The investment houses typically say that all their clients are big investors that bear the usual risks of market uncertainty. Gone completely is the trust that clients once presumed they would have in their investment broker.

Beyond the problem of fraud, the systemic threat caused by the very size of the finance industry calls for the kind of oversight recommended in the Vatican’s Note. The Financial Times estimated that, prior to the crisis, there were between $3 trillion and $5 trillion of loans in the world with hard assets behind them (assets like land, buildings, etc., that would be lost if the lender defaulted).* They estimated that the derivatives markets (where there’s nothing behind the instrument besides another firm’s pledge to pay as required) was more than ten times that large. Industry groups have since estimated that figure to be $75 trillion. (Recall the total GDP of the United States was about $14 trillion at the time; the world’s about $55 trillion.) The potential for instability was great and has not been much reduced since. Yet the finance industry continues to resist regulation.

When the pontifical council calls for stronger international oversight of the financial system, it speaks from common sense. Still, while the council can identify fraud as immoral, it hasn’t tried to say anything about where one should draw the line between immoral excess and moral profit-seeking in the finance industry. And it can’t. For it has no analysis of the moral exercise of self-interest in markets. Nor do the social encyclicals from Leo XIII’s Rerum novarum in 1891 to Benedict XVI’s Caritas in veritate in 2009.

The problem is clear: The founder of Christianity preached love of neighbor and told us that the greatest love was to lay down one’s life for another; self-interest wasn’t among the virtues Jesus encouraged. Thomas Aquinas was suspicious of the merchant, whose work so often led to greed (and of course he relied on both Aristotle and Jesus here).

But the moral defense of the market is based on the systemic effect of self-interest, which within the proper institutional and cultural conditions can conduce to the well-being of even the poor. This is the more adequate depiction of Adam Smith’s argument about markets, and a far cry from that preached by the pseudo-Smithians who assert that his “invisible hand” means that just about any form of self-interest in any situation will generate good for all.

A systemic moral defense of markets dates from Bernard Mandeville’s 1705 “Fable of the Bees” and has been proposed in more subtle and theologically more careful ways by neoconservative Catholics since Michael Novak’s 1982 The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism. But Novak does little better than the Vatican in providing an adequate moral account of the exercise of self-interest in markets; his argument is driven by a determination to endorse markets, cherry-picking the Catholic tradition for theological support.

Interestingly, the same problem that keeps the pontifical council from drawing a line at what we might call “the top end” of the market between moral and immoral financial transactions explains why Pope Benedict’s Caritas in veritate endorses “hybrid” firms (that give a sizeable portion of their profits to public purposes) and yet is eerily quiet about the 99.9 percent of firms that don’t. He, too, lacked the ethical resources to draw a line at “the bottom end” of the market between endorsable exercise of self-interest and the morally objectionable sort.

But let us not forget how difficult this line-drawing task is. Ask yourself where, on the spectrum from fire insurance for your home to derivatives designed to fail, you would draw the line of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. And before you answer too quickly, recall that, historically, fire insurance has its own dark side. It replaced local mutuality that led members of a community to pitch in and help rebuild a neighbor’s burned-out home. Fire insurance meant you didn’t have to depend on your neighbors, and was both a cause and an effect of the slow withering of neighborly cooperation (dare we say “love of neighbor”) that has characterized so much of U.S. history.

In 1902, economist Thorsten Veblen presciently warned that, even in his day, the production of goods and services was “carried on for the sake of business, and not conversely…. The pecuniary interests of the business men…may come to them from a given disturbance of the system, whether it makes for heightened facility or for widespread hardship.”

Today, the church has publicly responded to the problem of the dangerous power of finance, and has done a creditable job of policy analysis. Three centuries after Mandeville, it’s high time that the church develop an ethical analysis that will integrate proposals for systemic change for financial markets with an ethical analysis of daily economic life. Conservative Catholic columnist and commentator George Weigel is certainly wrong in calling the pontifical council’s note “rubbish, rubbish, rubbish”—and in his confidence that Pope Benedict disagrees with its contents—but the rift between left and right in Catholic social thought on the economy won’t be closed without Rome’s careful attention to the criteria for a moral assertion of self-interest.

In January, throughout our communities and in Washington DC Respect Life activities abound, to mark the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. In order to enhance diocesan directors work in human life and dignity, we’ve posted the video presentations from the 2011 Social Action Summer Institute. The Promoting Human Life and Dignity: Messages, Strategies and Common Action session was one of the most well-received.
The session was presented by John Carr, Director of the Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, along with Susan Stevenot Sullivan and Donna Grimes, also staff at USCCB-JPHD, and a panel of leaders of the Louisiana Life and Justice Committee.

In the videos that follow, the panel shares their process and best practices in planning a retreat dialogue that brought together Respect Life and Social Action leaders. John Carr shares about the USCCB’s current work to promote life and dignity.

Each year at the Annual Membership Meeting during the Roundtable Symposium, the membership elects new board members via majority vote through verbal affirmation. Roundtable members who have nominated themselves or been nominated by a fellow Roundtable member and agreed to put their name forward are listed on an informational sheet, although nominations from the floor during the Membership Meeting are also accepted.

According the Roundtable’s bylaws, the board consists of up to 15 directors who are elected by the regular members. Efforts are made to maintain appropriate representation on the board of members from large and small dioceses, different genders, and from different geographical regions.

Board members, who are diocesan social action directors, serve a three-year term, with the opportunity to be re-elected for another three-year term (though this is by no means mandatory). Board members attend two board meetings each year (in Washington DC in February and at the location of the Social Action Summer Institute in July), participate in 1-2 committee working groups, do annual outreach calls to 10 Roundtable members in their region, and provide support for projects of the Roundtable. For more information, please see the attached document (which new board members receive when they join).

Benefits of being a board member include being able to influence and shape the present organization and vision for it’s future, be part of a community of diverse and highly-skilled diocesan directors, and come together for great fellowship and group work (board meetings are always a lot of fun!).

If you would like to consider nominating yourself or someone else for consideration for the Roundtable board in February 2012, please contact me, or a current board member, to talk more about it. Thanks for your consideration!

On the first of December, 25 Roundtable members participated in a webinar on building capacity. As diocesan directors seek to develop infrastructures within their dioceses and assist parishes in building their own capacity for social action work, the topic was particularly relevant, given that in many dioceses, offices are facing the challenges of smaller staffs and budgets.

The model that Tony Stieritz and Pam Long in the Catholic Social Action office of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati offered was comprehensive and inspiring. They began the webinar by stressing that building capacity meant capacity not only for their office but increasing capacity for all parishioners of the diocese to take part in the church’s social mission. Tony and Pam’s capacity building strategy includes formation to build new leadership, organizing regional infrastructure, and organizing diocesan level ministries.

In the area of formation, Tony and Pam shared that programs like JustFaith and Journey to Justice have been powerful in transforming parishioners into social action leaders, and school in-services have helped teachers empower youth and take Catholic social teaching to heart. Tony noted that the 2012 World Day of Peace message will be Educating Young People for Justice and Peace. The office also provides a five-week course based on the Communities of Salt and Light document course for parishes looking to start a social action committees. They have created a parish assessment tool for broadly integrating Catholic social teaching into parish life and seeing that every parishioner understands the church’s social mission to be their own.

Tony and Pam shared the regional infrastructures which reflect the unique needs, geographic features, and interests of various parts of the diocese. Cincinnati and Dayton both have networks where parish social justice commissions or other advocates come together across the city to discern which social teachings and issues they will work on that year, and develop educational resources and provide or support opportunities for legislative advocacy according to USCCB or OH State Conference priorities.

A unique feature of the Advocates for Justice: Greater Cincinnati Parish Collaborative is the Annual Issue Discernment Congress, at which any parish delegation can submit an issue submit an issue and offer a presentation on how it:  relates to Catholic social teaching and the Bishops’ teachings, has current actionable items, and meets current Archdiocesan priorities. Delegates vote and taskforces are created around the issues that emerge.

In the more rural deaneries of the dioceses, two rural life conferences exist, because the two rural areas of the Archdiocese have their own distinct charisms. These conferences host an annual farm mass, rural life plunges for youth which connect them to their food and to caring for God’s creation. One conference has created a registry for Catholic farming families who have been farming the same land for 100 years.

In order to organize diocesan level ministries, the Catholic Social Action Commission is divided into task forces for CCHD, CRS, and special issues (currently climate change and racism). The CRS Committee assists in hosting the largest annual Fair Trade sale in the U.S. (outside of what SERV does at conferences). A CRS Capacity Building Grant has allowed the office to create a CCHD-CRS parish promoter network. Promoters receive updates just before the CRS and CCHD collections, including guest speakers representing those organizations and opportunities to engage with CCHD-funded groups. Being transparent and inviting about CCHD-funded groups has meant that parishioners have been very enthusiastic about contributing to the collection.

Tony and Pam completed their presentation by offering a number of challenges their office faces, including a lack of time and capacity for needed ongoing deeper formation, the number of meetings to attend given such an elaborate infrastructure, and parish and commission leaders sometimes wanting to go faster than the Archdiocese in their planning.

Participants had a number of specific questions for Tony and Pam, including how they publicize opportunities to be involved in the structures they have set up, how they communicate electronically with their teams, how pastors are involved in their work, and how Operation Rice Bowl funds are allocated in their diocese, for example.

The conversation is just beginning; please join us on the Virtual Roundtable as we continue to explore ways to build diocesan capacity and creatively meet the challenges we face in that process.
Tony and Pam ask: Where have you found long-term ways to empower parish leaders to own CST and move into action? What are your challenges in moving forward?

If you’re a Roundtable member, you can access a recording of webinar and Tony and Pam’s slides on the Virtual Roundtable, along with the parish assessment tool they have created.

In late October, nearly 30 Roundtable members along with 10 of their social ministry associates  joined the Roundtable for a webinar on Catholic Social Teaching and the Constitution – the Roundtable’s biggest virtual conference ever! The popularity of the webinar speaks to Roundtable members’ interest  in educating about Catholic social teaching in a way that is relevant to and goes beyond current political rhetoric, highlighting a just vision for our nation, oriented to the common good.

Jude Huntz of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph led the webinar. He opened by mentioning how the current Congress made a point at the beginning of the session to recite the Constitution. Taking ideas  from Dr. Maryann Cusimano Love’s article The Constitution, By Heart, participants discussed the notion of a “more perfect union” and how it relates to the Catholic notion of the common good. The idea of a more perfect union demonstrates the need for continued development both in the country’s Constitution as well as Catholic social teaching, responding to the challenges of the day.

Jude talked about Gaudium et Spes and the notion of communion within the church and its implications for communion in society. Participants examined the lack of communion in society today, and expressed challenges related to society’s polarization and an inability for “reasonable people of goodwill to disagree respectfully.”

During the webinar, participants also looked at the places where Catholic Social Teaching goes beyond the protections of the Constitution, calling for universal access to health care and education, for example, as well as the abolition of the death penalty. Roundtable members shared the successes and challenges they face in educating around Catholic social teaching, and specifically the death penalty. Members cited their work in collaboration with Offices for Respect Life, Family Life, African American Catholics, and State Catholic Conferences in educating about CST and doing advocacy for death penalty abolition. Members shared the need for doing basic catechesis around Jesus’ call to love our enemies, as well as for effectively sharing facts on the costs of death penalty and the number of people sentenced to death whose guilt is in question. Generally, members felt there has been an increase in understanding of Church teaching on the death penalty in recent years.

The culture of American individualism was also brought up as a challenge, both to the idea of a perfect union and the communion to which our faith calls.  This individualism leads to distinct crises like the epidemic of homelessness, for example, and a deterioration of society’s social fabric. Transformation, however, is possible. Two members shared experiences of public officials undergoing conversion and as a result making politically difficult choices in line with Catholic teaching, after being in relationships with Catholic leaders and receiving letters from Catholic parishioners.

We live in a tension, Jude reminded participants, of knowing that the Reign of God is breaking in, both now and not yet fully. While Catholics are not to be assimilated into this culture, we are called to engage with it. Roundtable members are called to provide tools to those in our dioceses so that they are able to form their own consciences. These well formed consciences, Roundtable members shared, will allow Catholics to grapple with the challenges in the world now as we know it, while working to create a world more in line with the vision of the Reign of God.

There was a high level of engagement during the webinar, which highlights how important these issues are to the work of Roundtable members. The conversation is just beginning; please join us on the Virtual Roundtable as we continue to explore ways to educate about the Church’s social teaching while being in dialogue with our society.

If you’re a Roundtable member, you can access a recording of webinar and Jude’s slides on the Virtual Roundtable.