Sister Dorthy Stang

Sister Dorothy Stang, SND,  set out on the morning of February 12, 2005 to continue her work in Brazil. Concerned not only by the destruction of the rain forest, but also deeply concerned about the destruction of human lives, she spent 40 years living and working in that part of the world. In her eyes, every tree that was cut down changed the life of a local person living in these remote areas. Their lives were not changed for the better as their homes and livelihoods were destroyed. Sister Dorothy worked to create small base communities where residents would become self-sufficient and where the rainforest could be preserved in spite of the others who wanted the land for their own use.

Her actions inspired the anger of the logging industry and those who cared more for profits than for people, those who were interested in their earnings more than they cared for the earth. Although she had requested protection from the Brazilian government, none came, despite her name being on death lists. Threats, intimidation, and violence were the tools of those in power, intending to frighten anyone who tried to stop them. Her work was

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Mourning in America

If we do not stand firmly against what is evil, if we do not choose a side – and with that I mean the side of what is good, moral, just, ethical, and right – we all bear the weight of guilt. Our country now stands some distance past the junction of good versus evil. Will we direct our way back and make the sharp turn for what is good? We can do that by being very clear that hate, racism, and the notion that one race or people is superior is pure evil. God made us ALL in God’s image. Full stop. Each person is formed in the image and likeness of God, and the dignity of each human person should be fully assured. Full stop.

One of the first things I did on Sunday morning was to look at a few video clips from the movie Judgement at Nuremberg. These two particularly spoke to me…

This first one shows how a woman, the widow of a Nazi war criminal, still believed that no one knew what was going on. The problem was, that kind of “not knowing” can

Random thoughts about labor

“In any case we clearly see, and on this there is general agreement, that some opportune remedy must be found quickly for the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working class: for the ancient workingmen’s guilds were abolished in the last century, and no other protective organization took their place. Public institutions and the laws set aside the ancient religion. Hence, by degrees it has come to pass that working men have been surrendered, isolated and helpless, to the hardheartedness of employers and the greed of unchecked competition. The mischief has been increased by rapacious usury, which, although more than once condemned by the Church, is nevertheless, under a different guise, but with like injustice, still practiced by covetous and grasping men. To this must be added that the hiring of labor and the conduct of trade are concentrated in the hands of comparatively few; so that a small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself.”

These words come from the papal encyclical, Rerum Novarum, promulgated by Pope Leo XIII in 1891. The emphasis on that last sentence is mine. Here we are, 122 years later and things are not so different. As is often said, the more things change, the more they stay the same. By the way, Pope Leo XIII was no firebrand, but he understood this element of justice very well. One hundred years later,  Blessed John Paul II issued the encyclical, Centesiumus Annus, which revisited Rerum Novarum, and updated some of the thoughts. Both documents are worth your time and effort.

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Strangely enough, one of the most powerful statements that I ever heard about the dignity of the worker came from… Cher. Yes – that Cher. Somewhere around 1986 or so, I was watching an interview in which Cher spoke about the loss of dignity of workers and the shame of being poor in a society so bent on improvement. So many years later, I cannot recall her exact words, but I remember snapping to attention when I heard them. It caused me to recall something a college friend had once said, something that his dad had told him, which was basically, “Even if you are a toilet cleaner, be the best ****ing toilet cleaner you can be. Do it well and with pride.”

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In our culture, which often elevates successful (read: financially) work to religion, we seem to have sacrificed success for financial success. Not that that ends up mattering in the bad game of musical chairs.  Workers, even financially successful ones, often go to work worried. “Will this be the day?” they wonder.

Workers in retail and fast food labor under difficult circumstances and wonder the same thing. Due to what would be called “zero hour contracts” in the UK, where many labor on an “on call” basis, jobs can be lost if you are not at the beck and call of the employer. All without any assurance of any hours in the first place.  I don’t think we have a name like zero hour here in the US; we just call it work.

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One of my unemployment “jobs” was some consulting work with a Very Big Outplacement Firm.  As a beneficiary of this very outplacement firm myself, I caught the eye of the person who ran the office. This was in 2008, deep in the heart of “you are screwed” country, the year it all fell apart. I did not see myself in dire straits, but I was not complacent either. Having spent a good deal of time and money on getting certified as a personal and corporate coach, her request to have me come on board to consult was welcomed by me.

That was until I began the work itself. *shudders* I spent time getting trained in the spring of 2008, and by summer I was ready to roll. The work was like nothing I had ever done before, and not in a good way.  On one hand, it seemed a corporal work of mercy to go into countless conference rooms to cheer and cajole the recently terminated, and to help them write their resumes and cover letters, and work on interviewing skills. On the other hand, it was like being in partnership with evil, because while their employer paid for this service, no one really seemed to care about the soon to be unemployed. I always thought that the outplacement assuaged the consciences, such as they were, of the employers. Who knows, maybe I am cynical.

This thought was made more real when I saw the movie Up in the Air with George Clooney in 2009. You will recall that he actually flew around the country working for a similar concern, but he got to do the actual firing. Violence without weapons, as companies madly downsized to beat the band.

It was around this time that the term “rightsizing” made its way into the vernacular. Talk about bloodless violence. How cheery – rightsizing, a term made for the one who was “righting,” and not for the “wronged.” Seeing the movie made me grateful that for whatever reason, Very Big Outplacement Firm seemed to have little work for me, despite the increased layoffs of the era.

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Here we find a new limit on the market: there are collective and qualitative needs which cannot be satisfied by market mechanisms. There are important human needs which escape its logic. There are goods which by their very nature cannot and must not be bought or sold. Certainly the mechanisms of the market offer secure advantages: they help to utilize resources better; they promote the exchange of products; above all they give central place to the person’s desires and preferences, which, in a contract, meet the desires and preferences of another person. Nevertheless, these mechanisms carry the risk of an “idolatry” of the market, an idolatry which ignores the existence of goods which by their nature are not and cannot be mere commodities.

That’s Blessed John Paul II, from the previously mentioned, Centesimus Annus.  His words regarding the “idolatry of the market” are worth noting at a time when business seems to hold more sway than individuals.

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So what is my point today? I’m not sure that I have one other than the idea that there cannot be justice without balance. This is not a new thought, is it?

Whatever your thoughts are this Labor Day, maybe you can do this one thing. Try to see whoever seems like the “enemy” to you – management, the business owner,  the government, the union, or the workers themselves – in a different light today. Put on your justice blindfold and get out the scale. Maybe what you “weigh in” with will surprise you. Or at the very least, maybe we will all be invited to open our hearts and our minds as we go forth.

And when you go out on Labor Day, whether to the grocery store, the movies, or wherever, please thank the people who gave up their holiday as you enjoyed your own.

You Actually Are God’s Gift To the World – The 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

There was once a baker who was so fair, he made sure to measure each item so that everyone got exactly what they ordered. He was thought to be so honest – and he was – and a good baker at that, so he was prosperous. This man was very proud of his reputation as a good baker and as a fair, fair man.

One day a woman came in seeking a dozen cookies and when she did not get a “baker’s dozen” of 13, she left the bakery angry and uttered some prophetic words.

In the story “The Baker’s Dozen“, set here in Albany no less, a theme unfolds. That theme is generosity. Our baker, Van Amsterdam, was so honest that no one was cheated. That said, no one got any extra either and that was something he was to pay a price for as we are to find out.

As the story continues, after this woman leaves his store, his business goes downhill fast. It was not until he had a dream in which he gave out extra that his success and his joy, returned to him. The essence of the tale is that there is always enough, but it is also clear that humility plays a role in generosity.

In our first reading from the book of Sirach, we hear:

My child, conduct your affairs with humility,
and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.
Humble yourself the more, the greater you are,
and you will find favor with God.

Conduct your affairs with humility! Humble yourself the more! These are admonitions that are not exactly in sync with our culture and society. Fairness has an almost excessive value at times… and we see where that got our Albany baker, Van Amsterdam. How do we learn to live this way?

Luke’s Gospel for today really cuts to the chase, when Jesus tells us: 

“When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers
or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.”

That is an example of how fairness can become quid pro quo and anything but justice at that point.

If you listen to today’s Gospel clearly, you might feel challenged. I know that I do! Once again, in statements that are completely antithetical to our contemporary culture and society, we are told to take the lowest place. In fact, we should naturally choose this… which is what we would do if we cooperated with God.

I guess the one name that comes to mind most quickly for me when I ponder this is St. Francis of Assisi. There are many others in the Great Cloud of Witnesses that is our communion and our hope, many of them unnamed. How do we make ourselves low without abandoning who we are?

Which brings me back to our baker friend, Van Amsterdam… He was not to simply lay prostrate before God and neighbor saying “I’m not worthy.” No, he had to use his gifts as baker, given freely by God, in a most generous way. That is humility.

Sadly we tend to think of meekness or humility as some kind of false piety and selflessness. In fact, it is quite the opposite. We are called and loved to be fully who we are, expressing richly all the gifts which God had given to us with such generous love. And when we stand in the place of who we are loved into being, expressing those gifts, with generosity and freedom – then we know we are all actually God’s gift to the world.

That is really the low seat, the last place and we can only progress in our spiritual journey from that very place. At least that is what I am told – this does not come easily to me.

In any event, this week, as you go forth and you think about justice and fairness in regard to who is in and who is out (orthodox versus progressives, liberals versus conseratives), who belongs and who doesn’t (Undocumented workers, LGBT folks or Muslims, who deserves something (the poor, unemployed, uninsured) and who doesn’t, maybe you, like I, will refer to these readings and prayers from this weekend. And when doing so, maybe we can all give out that extra cookie with joy and wild abandon and see what happens.

I think all sides might benefit from giving an extra something to the other, but that we must remember that God always uses the poor, infirm, the marginalized to show us the way. Remember that whole “fairness” thing?

It is the hardest work – to be who we are and to do it without getting in our own way, and without getting in God’s way. It is then and only then that we are God’s gift to the world… and to one another.