“These numbers are not statistics, but people suffering and wounded in their human dignity.”

If you missed this letter on the economic situation by Cardinal Dolan last fall, take a look in anticipation of this summer’s SASI in Louisville, July 29-Aug. 1 “Called to Transformative Community: Addressing Poverty Today.”

Track II will provide an in-depth look at how to better educate and advocate in our communities in the context of a broken economy, where many continue to suffer. Join us for sessions from USCCB-JPHD, Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities USA & go home inspired & equipped!

See the original posting.

September 15, 2011

Dear Brother Bishops,
The Administrative Committee urged me to write you on an important matter for our Church and nation. During our recent meeting, it was reported that 46 million people (15%) now live in poverty in the United States. This report follows dismal unemployment figures in recent months.  For us as bishops, these numbers are not statistics, but people suffering and wounded in their human dignity.  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.  For us, each of these persons is a child of God with innate human dignity and rights that deserve respect.  These numbers bring home to us the human costs and moral consequences of a broken economy that cannot fully utilize the talents, energy and work of all our  people.  We know the terrible toll the current economic turmoil is taking on families and communities. In our own Catholic dioceses we are struggling to match scarce resources with growing needs and have had to make very difficult financial, personnel and organizational choices.

We discussed how best to respond to this urgent pastoral challenge.  The Administrative Committee wanted something more than a public statement. Instead, they asked me to write to all the bishops and ask you to continue do all you can to lift up the human, moral and spiritual dimensions of the ongoing economic crisis.  Widespread unemployment, underemployment and pervasive poverty are diminishing human lives, undermining human dignity, and hurting children and families.  I hope we can use our opportunities as pastors, teachers, and leaders to focus public attention and priority on the scandal of so much poverty and so many without work in our society. In order to assist you in these ongoing efforts, the Administrative Committee has asked the bishops’ conference to provide you, diocesan staffs and other leaders with resources and materials for preaching, educating the faithful and advocating on behalf of the poor and jobless.  You can already find some materials that can be helpful in these tasks on the “Unemployment and Poverty” page of the USCCB website.  This page will be updated periodically and additional resources will be available shortly.  Please share with the bishops’ conference your own statements, resources or actions that you have taken to address these issues (please email or fax to 202-541-3339).

The best way out of poverty is to work at a living wage.  In the words of Pope Benedict XVI, ‘Being out of work or dependent on public or private assistance for a prolonged period undermines the freedom and creativity of the person and his family and social relationships, causing great psychological and spiritual suffering’ (Caritas in Veritate, no. 25).  The common good will not advance; economic security will not be achieved; and individual initiative will be weakened when so many live without the dignity of work and bear the crushing burden of poverty.  These economic failures have fundamental institutional and systemic elements that have either been ignored or made worse by political and economic behaviors, which have undermined trust and confidence.  However, this is not time to make excuses or place blame.  It is a time for everyone to accept their own personal and institutional responsibility to help create jobs and to overcome poverty, each in accord with their own abilities and opportunities. Individuals and families, faith-based and community groups, businesses and labor, government at every level, all must work together and find effective ways to promote the common good in national and economic life.

Sixteen million of our children (almost one out of four) are growing up poor.  It is especially disheartening that African-Americans and Hispanics live with unemployment and poverty at far higher rates than others. Immigrant workers are especially vulnerable to exploitation and unfair treatment.  These realities contradict our national pledge of “liberty and justice for all.”  They also contradict the consistent teaching of our Church.  Our Catholic tradition begins with respect for the life and dignity of all, requires a priority concern for poor and vulnerable people, reflects the ties and bonds of solidarity, respects the mutual relationships of subsidiarity, and promotes the dignity of work and protection for workers.

As bishops, we lead communities that include many of those who lack sufficient work or resources to live a decent life.  Every day, we serve ‘the least of these’ in our midst. In our Catholic parishes, schools, charities, hospitals and other ministries, the poor, the underemployed and the unemployed are not issues, but people with names and faces.  It is an essential part of our work as Catholics to build a more just society and economy.  We feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, educate the young, welcome refugees and care for the sick and vulnerable.  Our Church serves and stands in solidarity with those who are poor and jobless, helping them break the cycle of poverty and act on behalf of their own families and communities.  Our Conference will continue to urge our leaders to assist and protect the poor and jobless as they seek to promote economic growth and fiscal responsibility.  The Catholic community will strengthen our work with others to address the economic, family, social and other factors which contribute to widespread poverty.

In these tough economic times, we turn to the God who loves us.  We pray for those who need work.  We lift up the poor and suffering.  We ask God’s guidance for our nation.  This is not a time to give into discouragement.  It is a time for faith, hope and love.  Faith offers us moral principles to guide us in the days ahead.  Christian hope gives us strength.  Christ’s love calls us to care for those left behind in this broken economy.

Thank you my brothers for your pastoral leadership in preaching the Gospel and standing strong for the Church’s moral and social teaching in these difficult days.

Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York
President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Information is now available for this year’s Social Action Summer Institute (SASI). Join social action ministers from across the country for a four-day institute: Called to Transfomative Community: Addressing Poverty Today. The SASI will feature many engaging  speakers including David Beckmann, President of Bread for the World; Jack Jezreel and Joe Grant of JustFaith Ministries; Fr. John Rausch, Director of the Catholic Commission on Appalachia;  sessions on international & domestic poverty by staff of Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Relief Services, and USCCB-JPHD; and more.

**Additionally, JustFaith Ministries will host a day of visioning for social justice ministry and transformative learning**

For more program details, visit the SASI webpage. There you can download a flyer to share with your communities and a press release to share with your diocesan newspapers and others.

Join us July 29-Aug 1, 2012 | Bellarmine University | Louisville, KY
Cost information is coming soon. Limited scholarships are available.

Please share this information with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I hope to see you there!

“When you get an award for doing something you love so much, it’s confusing almost… It’s like being commended for eating chocolate.” Jan Benton, 2012 Roundtable Harry A. Fagan Award recipient, opened her address to nearly 100 Roundtable members and friends with a laugh.

Jan opened her talk with a reminder and a challenge to attendees: “[Persons with disabilities] aren’t exceptional or special. They’re just folks who want to live their lives. If you give them that box, you’re setting them aside with sentimentality. Rather than that, you need to be seeing the people behind the disability and appreciating them for who they are. They are people who want to have friends, want to work, and want to live a life of faith.”

“However, they do need protection from exploitation and abuse,” she continued, “and may need services to live independently. That’s where we come in.”

Jan recognized early on and throughout her address how important her community has been to her work. She was supported in person by her husband Martin and team of co-workers, who, Jan said, frequently stretch her to go outside her comfort zone. Joe Dunn, SFO, who entered the Secular Franciscan community with Jan in 1979, also joined her at the table. As she has recognized, and those who know her well can attest, her SFO family and vocation has been instrumental in forming, supporting and guiding her in ministry.

Jan shared her personal story that brought her to ministry and advocacy for and with people with disabilities. When she was in her 20s working in a nursing home, she came face to face with issues of elder abuse among very vulnerable people. Through the course of her work, she became friends with Gail, a woman with cerebral palsy, with whom she became very close. It was through this and other significant relationships that she began to understand her vocation in this work.

Jan also told the story of Debbie, a woman who called Jan to ask if she could volunteer in the CCD program at their parish, and let Jan know she had cerebral palsy. Jan said she was immediately open to Debbie’s participation because she had known Gail. Debbie admitted to Jan that “this was the hardest call [she] ever made,” because she was worried she would be told she couldn’t volunteer.
The story served as a reminder for all Award Banquet attendees to examine our own ministries to ensure they are inclusive as well as inviting for people with disabilities.

Later, Jan encouraged us, “Assume people with disabilities want to be involved in your meetings and events and plan accordingly.” She lifted up the example of the recent Catholic Charities USA Martin Luther King Day awards gathering in which, just days before the event, Jan requested interpretation services for a friend. Without a second’s hesitation, CCUSA staff members agreed to find someone to provide this service.

Jan also presented the many challenges to life and dignity with which we are currently confronted. She shared, “We are fighting for our very lives: the right to be born, the right to needed health care, the right to not be asked to donate our organs prematurely… and to die a natural death without the suggestion that suicide might be the ‘compassionate choice’ … which has been called the ‘ultimate elder abuse.’”
It is clear that we have our work cut out for us in advocating to protect life and promote dignity for all people throughout life, especially those made most vulnerable.

At the root of Jan’s work is Catholic social teaching. “You can’t be in this work without a deep gratitude for Catholic social teaching because it gives us the understanding of the dignity of every human life. At the same time, it’s fighting for justice for dignity for people to live a life, and to have rights and responsibilities,” Jan shared.

She also said that she “grieves over the disconnect between life and justice communities” which represents lost opportunities to witness to our Catholic faith. She also, however, rejoices in the efforts in recent years to bridge this divide through the gift of our Catholic social teaching, and noted that the ministry of the National Catholic Partnership on Disabilities is a “clear bridge” in this work. She also encouraged participants to “imagine the force we can be, as Catholics, when we consistently witness to our beliefs and values.”

Jan offered that the Harry A. Fagan Award is an affirmation of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability and the strong disability advocates who fight each day for their rights and their lives. Jan’s inspiring personal story as well as her humility and steadfast commitment to justice stirred and encouraged the entire Roundtable community present.

Watch video clips from Jan’s address and Roundtable member Jerry Freewalt’s tribute to Jan.

Photos by Tom Hopkins.

We had a great webinar at the end of October to kick-off the Roundtable’s new series of increased Education and Formation opportunities.

We hope you’ll join us again this month on Thursday, December 1 at 10-11am PT / 1-2pm ET, for a webinar on Building Capacity for Social Action, led by your colleague Tony Stieritz, Director of the Catholic Social Action Office of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and Pam Long, Regional Director for the office.
(The date is later because of Thanksgiving).

Building Capacity for Social Action: Sample Diocesan Infrastructures for Engaging More Parishioners

Every diocese has a unique commitment to and staffing for forming Catholics in the Church’s social teaching and for realizing it through concrete efforts of social action. Tony will share what infrastructures his office has used and created locally to prioritize and build advocacy around certain social justice issues, promote the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and Catholic Relief Services, form parishioners in the Church’s teaching, and support parishes in establishing their own social action ministries. To help Roundtable members consider various ways of approaching our similar missions, the presentation will serve as an example of what one diocese is doing, with discussion directed towards what works and what doesn’t in other dioceses.

To receive call-in information for the webinar, please RSVP to coordinator@catholicroundtable.org.
Our conversation will be limited to 25 participants.

By Taylor Kingston, Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, Archdiocese of Santa Fe

I recently attended the 24^th annual Social Action Summer Institute (SASI) at Santa Clara University in San Jose, CA for parish and diocesan social ministry.  The theme for this year’s SASI was Peacebuilding for the 21^st Century. Seven representatives from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe attended including Anne Avellone, Director of Social Justice and Respect Life, Bunny Miller, theology teacher at St. Pius, Susan Tomita from St. Bernadette, Emmet Garrity from Newman Center, Christina Benitez from Holy Rosary and UNM student, Joseph Montiel from Holy Rosary and UNM student, and myself, Taylor Kingston from St. Charles, UNM student and office aide for the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry.

The 4-day conference focused on how Catholic leaders could be peacemakers in these times of conflict in our world and was packed with prayer, workshops, and speakers from around the world.  SASI was a great opportunity to learn about social issues across the globe and how Catholics are called to respond.  I learned about how social justice is rooted in Scripture and about the basics of Catholic social teaching.  I heard about great work being done in parishes, in dioceses and organizations such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Catholic Charities USA, and JustFaith Ministries.

Like many young people, I knew that social justice is about respect for human life, service to the poor, and aiding those who have been through natural disasters.  While these are all important parts of our faith, I learned that social justice is all those things and more!  For instance, one presenter told a story of how young people wanted a skate park in their community so they could have a safe place to skate.  Community organizing members from parishes in this community trained these young people in leadership and gave them the tools to advocate for themselves.  They approached city officials, presented their reasoning for a skate park and in the end received it.  Giving those who do not have a voice the tools to speak for themselves is a part of social justice that I am excited to put into action throughout our diocese.

I also learned new ideas for other ministries in which I am involved.  For example, there was a wonderful workshop Hispanics and Social Ministry: Time for a New Conversation? with Fr. Eduardo Fernandez and Ms. Anne Grycz, Diocese of San Jose.  These speakers talked about how they have been successful with Hispanic Ministry in their diocese, what challenges they faced and how they overcame them.

Another workshop was a panel on the state of social action and included Greg Kepferle, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, Ralph McCloud, USCCB/CCHD, Joan Rosenhauer, CRS, Kath Saile, USCCB/JPHD and others. Panel members were asked various questions about their organizations and about social justice issues.  One question raised was about how young people fit into social justice ministry and what is being done to help these young people stay involved.  Panelists mentioned that young people need to have opportunities to do service for others, that we need to encourage them to ask questions, to reflect on their service and to give them tools to speak for themselves.  In the end the best advocates for young people are in fact young people.

As a first-time attendee, I found SASI very helpful, educational, spiritual and fun.  The Archdiocese of Santa Fe Young Adult Advisory Team is looking to grow in numbers, spiritually, educationally and now in social justice ministry.  Through this conference I learned there are many resources and organizations that will be able to help the young adults implement plans in the area of charity and justice.  I am looking forward to working with others on social justice issues and helping build from the strong social justice communities the Archdiocese of Santa Fe has in place.