TOBIN ARCHIVES
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‘It’s midyear, who advocates for the people?’
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
July 23, 2010
Two wars are still ongoing. Planes carrying bodies of American troops in military caskets still land at Dover AFB. Afghanistan slogs on. The government there is horribly corrupt. What is the point? It’s time to leave, to end the longest war in our history.
Iraq. It is time to give them their country back, it’s time to work out reconstruction arrangements, and it’s time to get the troops out. Terrorism is not a war, it is a tactic. We know how to deal with that without the phony fear and greed.
This oil spill is overwhelming. Marshes, wetlands, oyster beds, crabbing, shrimping, an entire culture going back centuries around fishing, are all at risk of destruction.
Just look at this. Centuries ago people were driven from their land in Acad ia to settle among the French in Louisiana. They built a culture around fishing, shrimping, oystering, and all of that. The Cajuns, the African Americans, the Creoles, the Vietnamese maintain a unique piece of Americana.
People come to the coast to experience a culture like nowhere else. Their ships are tied to docks. Businesses over a hundred years old at risk of going broke. People are bonded to the land and region. This cannot be allowed to disappear.
We’ve had enough of the big banks getting rich again. Where are the jobs? How does an auto industry bailed out by the tax payers get away with closing plants and outsourcing jobs? Where is justice for American workers? Who advocates for the people?
Congressmen on national TV whine for the corporations. Attempts at reform are blocked at every turn. What about the people?
If you can’t solve problems you pick on somebody to blame. You name the scapegoats. Today it’s the immigrants. Suddenly these invisible people doing backbreaking labor intensive jobs for a pittance are stealing jobs from Americans.
Aha, they overstayed their visa, they are, what? Illegal. Suddenly washing dishes is illegal. Picking melons is illegal. And so on.
A fabricated threat is ginned up because white people discovered they are the new minority. Suddenly differences are a threat. Foreign languages are corrupting the culture.
In most of the civilized world people study foreign languages and use them. This isolated, insulated fear makes America a laughing stock. When times are bad Americans go back to those old time hatreds, racism, xenophobia, religious bigotry and so on.
Haiti still suffers. Agonizingly slow is the pace of recovery. Volunteers still come from the United States and other countries.
Recently when I flew up North I met a young man from a church in Byram going for his second tour of duty in the reconstruction of Haiti. He radiated hope and purpose.
Yet a worse than normal hurricane season is predicted. The people fear what could come. The Miami Herald reported the experience of the Lafortune family fleeing Gonaives, Haiti, for the safety of Port au Prince, but what now with so much in ruins?
Christeldine Lafortune, 23, the oldest of eight siblings said recently, “I am always asking what does God want to do with us?” telling how the cascading waters of tropical storm Jeanne in 2004 and tropical storm Hanna in 2008 sent her family to a rooftop as Gonaives became buried in a rising sea of mud and water. The worst is yet to come.
We are in mid-year and we are surrounded with all of these situations and more. Problem solving is getting hopelessly mired in politics. I won’t even venture a suggestion. I just want to stop and think about the people. Like the big, rich, chairman of the board of BP, “I am sorry for the little people.” How arrogant! He describes the people as if describing medieval serfs, expendable commodities.
We are talking about Americans not little people. We are talking about families whose skills created a culture and way of life. We are talking about people nurturing a natural resource, the first line of defense from hurricanes.
Little people, indeed.
Many of us who read this paper came from such little people as these. Many of our families were driven here by oppression only to face the same know nothing xenophobia immigrants face today. The recovery of our country has to begin by recovering its soul.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
‘What a year this has been’
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
June 25, 2010
It is June already! The year is almost half over. You know you are growing older when the years seem to fly by. For some of our younger readers the months seem to drag on. “When will school be over?” Well, here it is. Summer is on, heat and all. But what a year this has been.
Horrible catastrophic tornadoes tore up over a dozen counties. The slow, painful part of rebuilding will drop off the news, but it still goes on. Then the oil spill. It is too painful to predict the future.
They say opposites attract. Growing up in a big city, the only thing like major water I encountered was Lake Michigan. I found the deep bayous, swamps, fisheries, the languages, cultures, and, of course, the cuisine of the Gulf Coast a magnet.
Traveling down in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, along the coast is a world all by itself. There is nothing like it anywhere else in the country. Oh, I suppose San Francisco’s waterfront with memories of Jack London scribbling short stories on the backs of envelopes inside a ship a hundred years ago might be some competition.
But the Cajun and Creole going back and forth, and Vietnamese fishermen shouting to one another, plying their skills like they did back home on the other side of the world, evokes mysteries and histories begging to be explored.
There was Pierre who could shuck oysters like a surgeon … I can go on.
This is why I and countless others live with a growing helplessness as the weeks turn to months. The oil 50 miles out in the Gulf has invaded this pristine, never to be duplicated, region. The people, the culture, the cuisine are one thing, but I haven’t spoken of the wildlife, the nesting grounds, the precious marshlands that do so much. The thought of this all being destroyed forever is too painful to dwell on.
What makes it worse, this is all man-made! Investigations go on and on, but 11 people lost their lives. Their tragedy is covered over by the ecological disaster unfolding before our eyes in prime time!
The memorial service recently held in the Jackson Convention Complex put some closure on it, at least some balance. This oil rig blowing up, with all the attendant disasters will leave scars that will last the rest of the century. This happens to the same region recovering from Katrina and Rita. Then they say this approaching hurricane season (Welcome to June!) could be very severe.
I am tempted to go into a speech on conservation, protecting the environment, alternate forms of energy. As important as all that is, right now I cannot get away from the human tragedy unfolding.
I’ve been reading the Washington Post, the New York Times, both on-line, in order to get a bigger picture about what is happening. All the media seem to say one thing, “Do Something!!” then there is the repetitive, “This has never been tried….” or “At this depth, no one is sure….”
The current “top kill method” percentages of success swung from 80 percent to 60 percent depending on what you read. As the tragedy unfolds, it is becoming fodder for political distortions and mud slinging.
Watching the disasters, man-made and otherwise, since this century began, I am appalled at the crass selfishness that gets in the way of serious concern for what is happening. Is there anything that can bring Americans together for the betterment of the country without appealing to ideology?
The truth is this is a first. The more we learn, the more frustration grows. As people get more frustrated, they want to blame somebody. BP Oil is a fat target. The criticism is well founded. At some point, however, we have to focus on the human and natural damage that this will leave behind.
I want to go down to the bayous and marshes, and see the birds, and watch the fishing boats sail out to sea, one more time.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Social justice advocates, demonstrates, reaches out
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
May 14, 2010
May 1 is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. He has been the patron of workers worldwide. It is also the International Day of Labor. Throughout the world it is the day to honor labor. April 28 is Worker Memorial Day. We honor workers who have been killed or maimed on the job.
These three days focus on workers, especially unseen workers, workers low on the food chain that do the heavy lifting. We take them for granted, but if they disappeared our world would not run. They haul garbage. They clean offices. They wash dishes. They mine coal.
We remember West Virginia. Specifically we honor those miners and their families, victims of a disaster that should not have happened. Safety of workers must always take top priority.
This past year, in many industries, workers have paid with their lives. We mourn the 11 lost in the recent oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Day after day the news gets worse. We join with the coastal fishermen in their struggle to save one of the most precious resources of our country.
We demand reforms to prevent this from happening again. People are more important than profits.
We denounce laws that mock the basic rights available to all in this country. We oppose a Nazi mentality in Arizona’s “Show me your papers” law. We demand fair and just immigration reform, not more of the same that continues exploiting workers and killing those struggling out of desperation to find work.
Social justice is at the heart of Catholicism. We look at the recent devastating damages from tornadoes and floods throughout our state — the loss of life, the loss of homes, dreams and aspirations of people.
In the midst of this we applaud the heroic efforts of Catholic Charities throughout Mississippi. From Yazoo City in Yazoo County, to Ebenezer in Holmes County, to Weir in Attala County, Catholic Charities sent out trauma teams and disaster response teams based in these regions. Despite the economy, Catholic Charities is on the ground actively engaged in the whole range of recovery. I could mention names, but I’d leave somebody out, and get an e-mail reminder. I refer everyone to the Parish Social Ministries Newsletter sent out by Catholic Charities.
With all the disasters around us it is a breath of hope. In a region with a miniscule Catholic population we see Catholic Charities and churches reaching out to help everyone in need. There is an ecumenical coming together in Christian love that transcends differences.
We just read things like, “They will know you are my disciples if you love one another.” Can’t say it plainer than that. We are in for a long period of recovery. We are in a long struggle for worker justice and human dignity. We have what it takes. “Though I walk through the valley of death, you are at my side.”
Social justice is not just advocating or demonstrating or raising consciousness. In its most powerful form, it is reaching out and helping those in need.
The Catholic Church has been suspect and historically maligned in our state’s history, but the most powerful weapon to dispel hatred, has been the unconditional outreach by Catholics to everyone.
Hardly a week goes by when a Protestant friend will tell me how Catholic Charities is always there when you need them. The two biggest forces to dispel hatred and create an atmosphere of love and respect are Catholic Charities and Catholic schools.
Yes, we want fair and just immigration reform. Yes, we want stronger laws to ensure safety for workers on the job. Yes, we want regulations to prevent what is happening right now in the Gulf of Mexico.
At the same time we witness by our actions to those who are suffering from all these disasters. Whether it is running emergency shelters or speaking out for human rights it is all the same message.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Judgment depends on how poor treated
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
April 9, 2010
Social justice is based on the principle that all persons are entitled to “basic human needs,” regardless of “superficial” differences such as economic disparity, class, gender, race, ethnicity, citizenship, religion, age, sexual orientation, disability, or health.
This includes the human right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the eradication of poverty and illiteracy, the establishment of sound environmental policy, equality of opportunity for healthy personal and social development ....
This definition, a rather comprehensive definition of social justice, is one place to begin. Pope Paul VI famous quote, “If you seek peace, work for justice,” boils it down to even less, but captures the essence.
The Second Vatican Council committed the church firmly behind social justice. Modern biblical scholarship clearly demonstrates the Bible is on the side of the poor.
Jesus, himself, was a staunch advocate of social justice. Judgment depends upon how the poor are treated. Concepts like fundamental option for the poor are so commonplace as to need no explanation. Simply put, policy is good or bad depending on its impact on the poor.
Catholic commitment to social justice goes back much farther than Vatican II. It can be said social justice is at the heart of Catholic Christianity.
Hate groups are at an all-time high. The Southern Poverty Law Center monitors such activity. Right now there is a radical right populism that is dangerous. Recently nine members of a militia were arrested by the FBI. They intended to kill police officers, even disrupt the funeral in order to kill more. Groups like these see the government as the enemy. Then there was Timothy McVeigh blowing up the Oklahoma City Federal Building. We do not have to go to the extreme to see this.
This same Southern Poverty Law Center report pointed out the patriot groups, tea partiers, and similar groups are shot through with anti-government paranoia, racism, and fear.
The so-called mainstream media gives extremists a bullhorn to air their views. Recently Glenn Beck, conservative radio and television host, stated if you belong to a church that teaches social justice, leave the church. The church is infected with Marxism. Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine fame took up the challenge of Glenn Beck’s twisted view of religion.
We Catholics influenced by Vatican II and the heroic efforts of many of us to implement social justice as a direct response to the Gospel should speak out on this.
Many of us have died witnessing to social justice. We recently commemorated the martyrdom of Bishop Oscar Romero, the eight Jesuits and their housekeeper, and Sister Dorothy Stang. The list goes on.
Throughout the world Catholics have witnessed to social justice as Jesus taught in the Gospels. For almost 50 years the Catholic Church in the United States witnessed unambiguously to social justice in various issues and causes, and still does today.
Rather than review all that, or even give a brief explanation of Catholic teaching on social justice, which has been so well presented over the years in this diocese, especially through the work of Catholic Charities, I issue a warning.
There is a virulent right-wing populism that opposes what we Catholics preach and demonstrate about social justice. There is an attempt to rewrite history of the last 50 years that not only distorts the truth, but attempts to fight old battles already lost.
Just a week ago in Memphis, Father Maurice Nutt, CSSR, celebrated the 20th anniversary of Sister Thea Bowman’s death at a Mass at her grave in Elmwood Cemetery. She lived and breathed social justice. Her witness and the impact of African American culture and spirituality in the Catholic Church in the United States are witness to social justice.
Both internally and externally the Catholic Church through its many agencies and prophetic people remains at the cutting edge of social justice.
Something called “religion” that attacks social justice and ferments hate is not religion. It is something to be denounced and repudiated. The so-called main stream media should present a more accurate and balanced view than being the sounding board for bigotry and hatred.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Haitian people hope Lord hears their cry
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
March 12, 2010
It is now two months to the day, March 12, that the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the Western hemisphere devastated the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere.
Then came the earthquake in Chile, 8.8, breaking a new record, this time striking the wealthiest country in Latin America, a country used to earthquakes. It has the strictest building codes and was as prepared as it could be to meet this catastrophe. It is home to world renowned seismologists and earthquake experts.
Rich or poor, people are homeless. The numbers of the dead keep climbing as time goes on. The media, always looking for a new story angle, immediately began to make comparisons. There is something ghoulish about comparing and rating other people’s misery. Chile will bounce back and make even greater safety precautions than Haiti will.
More than ever, with each passing month, we cannot forget Haiti. The generous responders to Haiti were right there when Chile needed them. As the stories get cleaned up for accuracy, better assessments can be made. Haiti will still be in “intensive care” long after Chile is well on the mend.
In the Feb. 26 issue of Mississippi Catholic, Bishop Joseph Latino wrote, “I thank you from the depth of my heart.” He reported as of “Feb. 19, over $203,000 has been collected in our diocese and distributed to Catholic Relief Services (CRS) for direct aid to the Haitian people who are struggling to survive, once again, from a catastrophic act of nature.”
He goes on to note Mississippi, the poorest state in the Union, is the most generous in helping the afflicted in times of crisis. He pointed out CRS, by far, is one of the most effective responders and utilizes resources directly to the afflicted of any agency. We are where we ought to be.
I want to imagine the scene, a year from now. In what condition will Haiti be? Long term, we already have heard good things, like nations canceling Haiti’s debt.
Haiti did not become the poorest nation in the hemisphere by accident. Some people remember the infamous Duvalier family, “Pappa Doc” and “Baby Doc” who bled the country as much as they could, running it like thugs.
The infamous Tonton Macoute were their feared enforcers. They kept the people in fear. All that was just a blip, just another symptom in a history designed to keep the nation at the bottom.
The loss of Haiti, France’s 19th century cash cow, wrecked the national economy. Napoleon sold off France’s southern colonies to the United States, President Thomas Jefferson, in order to pay his bills.
France was the strongest ally of the new United States. The two countries collaborated to punish Haiti for posing a major threat to the “labor pool” in the South and the Caribbean. Slavery made the economy run. So it was a race to the bottom, with all the attendant corruption that followed.
Colonialism succeeded the slave driven economy, and sealed Haiti in a bubble of poverty ever since.
This “mother of all earthquakes” may have hit a new level of conscious awareness in the international community. Many of us pray and hope it did.
Out of immense catastrophe, good can come about. One way to help in this is to learn about Haiti, its history, its culture, its struggle. As poor as it is, Haiti and its liberators were heroes to the rest of the Caribbean in its struggle to free itself from slavery.
It was also hero to other parts of the world locked into colonialism. It is time the international community helps Haiti to take its rightful place as a prosperous nation in the Caribbean.
Our rich Catholic tradition of social justice lends a theological and philosophical rationale to engage all we can in order to restore Haiti.
The Gospels in Lent lean in this direction, and so, too, the readings, especially from the Prophets. Several times Jesus castigates “this generation whose ancestors killed the prophets.” Tradition has it that most were killed for speaking out.
Reading them they become a collective voice for the oppressed, and those struggling for freedom. We find this in the Psalms as well. Psalm 72, “The Lord hears the cry of the poor” is the prayer of faith of the Haitian people.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Let’s walk long walk of recovery with Haiti
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
February 12, 2010
The year is barely a month old. Already a disaster of epic proportions has befallen the poorest nation in our hemisphere. As Catholics, our brothers and sisters in the faith are suffering unspeakably. Our generosity has been magnificent. All of our Catholic agencies and foundations are responding well. We responded with a special collection to aid relief.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan, chair of Catholic Relief Services, presided at the funeral of Haiti’s archbishop, surrounded by Haitian bishops, clergy, and large numbers of people. Their Catholic roots go as deep as ours.
The history of Haiti is intertwined with the history of the United States. Haiti is a land of proud people, very resourceful and strong people. They know their history. It gives them strength.
They were the first people of African descent to throw off the yoke of slavery since Europeans first colonized this hemisphere. They beat the superpower of the 19th century. They beat Napoleon. They were instrumental in Napoleon selling the French colonies to Thomas Jefferson. Thirteen states were carved out of all that.
The Haitian people were an inspiration to those in the United States struggling to abolish slavery and achieve true citizenship and human rights. Throughout much of the world the witness of Haiti is encouragement to oppressed people everywhere.
All this the Haitian ambassador to the United Nations said shortly after the earthquake. Haiti has given much to the United States.
Haiti suffered dearly for their independence for the next two centuries by policies of the United States and France. Despite it they survived. Poor as they are they gave the world writers, artists, poets and musicians. Good news. Today we hear leaders of the United States, France, Britain acknowledge Haiti’s history, and say out loud that we owe Haiti.
Britain has announced it will cancel Haiti’s debt. We need to look at our policies and do more.
Disasters can be a wakeup call for people to reexamine themselves. Countries all over the world have responded to Haiti’s calamity.
Turkey, for example, was one of the early responders. I thought to myself, what inspired this land of the Sultans, the pinnacle of the Islamic world for centuries, to reach out so quickly to this small island nation, so far away, to a poor Christian nation.
In time of major crises, beyond what people can control, we see our common interdependence. We recall the common teachings of compassion, forgiveness and mercy that are so much a part of Christianity and Islam. In times of crises sometimes the best in humanity surfaces. This gives hope.
We are connected in a special way to Haiti through our common faith. I served a church with a large Haitian population. They express an intimacy with the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus that only a people who have experienced suffering, death and rebirth can.
In 2007 I had the opportunity of speaking words of encouragement to Haitian youth moving on from our Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program of Catholic Charities.
Part of what I said can be said again to all of them here and in Haiti. I adapt it here.
“Your strength comes from within. The power and richness of your culture, the best of it, not the nightmare you fled, but the Haiti that first brought freedom to our hemisphere. The great ones like Toussaint and Desalines. Your writers and poets who continue to speak out for human rights throughout the world.”
This is the strength of the Haitian people. The horrors and pain today are gargantuan. Sen. John Kerry in his foreign relations committee speaks of an immensity hard to get our heads around.
Our commitment must be for the long haul. Not only to rebuild the country, but enable the Haitian people to remake the country in the way their founders envisioned — a place of freedom and prosperity. Haitian people have overcome worse.
Now is the time we respond to Haiti. We respond in every way that is right and just. Now is the time the international community discovers the best in itself, and walks the long walk of recovery with Haiti.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
There’s hope for new decade
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
January 8, 2010
January 2010. No, this is not a standard “New Year column.” This is not a standard New Year. This column has been titled “Millennial Reflections” since we left 19 and went to 20. Remember Y-2K? What a fizzle.
The last 20 years have brought so much technology we don’t understand it. The first deanery meeting of Deanery 1 held yesterday at St. Richard was about technology. Some of us “senior clergy” still can’t give a definition of I-pod or pod-cast.
I was at a meeting in Chicago a few years ago, and we were trying to remember the contents of a document. Somebody with the new I-phone started reading it, all 20 pages, from her cell-phone. OK, I still am stuck in the 20th century. Being the unreconstructed optimist that I am, I can only anticipate the new techno wonders that are coming, more than that, the simplification of their use.
I am old enough to remember television, those little round Zenith screens, remember? I remember adjusting rabbit ear antennas to get a more or less clear black and white picture. Ten years into the New Millennium we have made amazing advances.
You can read, hear, see, all over the place about the new wonders to keep us busy. Would that we made as much advance in social progress as we have in technology.
I wrote in 2000 about leaving the hatreds, discrimination, oppression, scapegoating, racism, sexism, classism, etc., back in the last century. Start the millennium based upon the wisdom we acquired.
The Second Vatican Council reengaged the church with the world. There was dialogue. The Civil Rights Movement brought people together in ways that redefined the social fabric of the country.
Cultural diversity continues to grow. Today’s youth are not nearly as hung up as people were in the last century. There is much hope for the future.
Would that it were so. The country broke another barrier from the past in the election of the first black president in history. The country still remains polarized. It has reached a new decibel level.
Terrorism has become a part of our world. We have suffered grievously. Rather than unite us, criticism turns political. What we were achieving in the last century, has crumbled. Intelligent conversation has given way to bitter slogans and denunciations.
Columnists continue to explain it. Many write the discord is affecting the way we look at ourselves and govern ourselves. Then the greed machine needs no comment. Unemployment lines, home foreclosures, tell it in human terms.
The list goes on, but we must look forward. Life has no reverse gear. From the moment we enter the world, it is all forward, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, but it goes on. Historians and sociologists can explain it after the fact.
For the first time in history we have the power to destroy all life on the planet. Global warming is a fact. The effects of pollution are facts. However we want to argue about it, the results are dismal. There are enough weapons in the world to wipe us all out. The planet is smaller, in ways that compel us to get along or perish.
As religious people we need to rediscover the purpose of religion. Regardless of nationality or culture, there are values of respect and decency that are universal among all religions. We do not need to turn religion into weapons of mass destruction.
Those of us who lived through the horrors of the 20th century pray that we do not repeat it in the 21st century. People who never lived through it all chirp slogans and labels, but they do not really understand the horror. We need to build upon our strengths and wisdom that we learned.
2009 began with great promise and great hope. What we heard articulated touched many of us and gave us hope. Those ideals may take another hundred years to realize.
We need to unite around our leaders. We have the blessing to actually select our leaders. Many people do not. We need to take ownership and responsibility, and do our part to make our world a better place.
The saying that we get what we deserve has truth to it. It is never about me, it is always about us, every one of us. Our religion does teach us that we are our brother’s keeper.
This little blue and white orb in space is all we got. God loved it so much, he entered it, became one of us. “God so loved the world…” (Jn 3:16)
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Make us one as you are one
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
December 11, 2009
December is here. It’s one of the busiest months on so many levels. In Mississippi it is the month before the annual legislative session. This year with revenue shortfalls that increase by the week and unemployment at Depression levels, it is imperative we be the voice for those who have no voice. Organizations and coalitions have begun to meet.
Throughout our 65 county diocese, parishes are preparing for Christmas. Reconciliation services are planned, and we ask God’s pardon for failing to measure up to Jesus’ teachings.
In Mississippi and throughout the country efforts intensify to forge unity among groups often pitted against each other for the purpose of exploitation. In Jackson this month we concluded the 4th Annual Unity Conference: Building Bridges through Diversity: One Goal, One Vision, United Power.
“Jobs, education and workers rights are among the issues that should bind rather than divide immigrants and the African American community,” say the organizers of this three-day conference that concluded last week. This year a greater number of Asians and Middle Eastern people also participated. Throughout the world there is a growing thirst for unity.
I am not going to report on the conference, rather I am going to write about unity. Did you know that a central feature of our Eucharist is praying for and expressing unity? The very name Communion speaks of a most profound degree of unity.
We have entered a season of expectation and anticipation. As the gray skies of autumn move toward winter, and that bite in 40 degree weather whips at us, we need to look up, to see the light in the darkness.
All around us there is that frantic shopping season some call Christmastime, but Christmas is but a glittery backdrop. We, church people, see the blues and purples of Advent, and need to rekindle hope and, even childlike anticipation.
The Scriptures we read are some of the most powerful of the year. They speak of wars and devastation, of exile and captivity, of bombed-out cities and “the dead lying in the fields.”
Was Jeremiah writing about the war in Iraq? Baruch just told Jerusalem to stop mourning. “God will show the earth your splendor.” Jeremiah had it right, “We have sinned and we know it.” There is a powerful need for forgiveness. Before that there is the need for reconciliation.
Reconciliation, what is that? I read recently the government of Peru apologized to Afro-Peruvians for 500 years of oppression. Think Martin de Porres. Over 500 years of oppression! Today Afro-Colombians are being robbed of the ancient lands they have held for 500 years, for corporations to profit.
I also read that Connecticut, I believe, apologized for stealing the land of a tribe of Indians 400 years ago. Someone said after so many centuries does it mean anything? Another said the symbolic value is powerful. Symbols can reach people in ways other things cannot.
Reconciliation is first acknowledging the parties offended. It is first giving respect. Feelings matter. It is above and beyond blame. Blame cannot undo offenses. It is saying “I hurt.” The other says, “I know, I understand.” So what is next? A number of things, among which is coming together. This coming together is the beginning of unity.
Our country, our church, our world struggles to come together in unity. To respect differences, to listen, to understand.
I have not done this, but it would be interesting to go through the text of a typical Mass and see references to “one” to “unity” to “communion” and to “catholic.” The ones that come to mind articulate a lifetime challenge. The coming together-respect-listen-understand-etc. are just the beginning. When we pray for unity, we are not talking uniformity. Nobody would take gumbo, run it through a food processor until it came out puree or broth. It would no longer be gumbo. That’s uniformity.
Parts are just cogs in the whole. Unity is each one and everyone. It is diverse, it is similar. One reflects the many, the many reflect the one. What is our national motto? From many one. We are a long way from that. We keep struggling.
“A voice of one crying out in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low.” This is what happens when we anticipate the coming of the Prince of Peace. We look to God and pray, “Lord make us one as you are one.”
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Let my little light shine
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
November 13, 2009
For four days Father Clarence Williams, CPPS, Brother Ted Dausch, CFC, Director of Hispanic Ministries, and Father Anthony Bozeman, SSJ, of St. Raymond and St. Leo Churches in New Orleans preached to the Catholic Community of West Jackson also known as St. Mary Church and Christ the King Church near the Jackson State University campus.
The theme was building bridges, forging unity in diversity, understanding the common struggle of African Americans and Hispanic Americans.
Father Williams described the 500 year history of slavery, colonization, segregation in the Western Hemisphere. He described the culture of racism so all pervasive that no one is immune from it. Some may be unconscious of it, but it colors an all pervasive world view of the society we live in.
This piece will not develop that, but merely refer the readers to the many books of Father Williams who now works in Washington, D.C., with Catholic Charities USA. His famous book is “Racial Sobriety: A Journey from Hurts to Healing,” using the addiction model to both understand and free people from racism.
Both Father Williams and Brother Dausch saw St. Martin De Porres as a prime example and model to understand this. This fell on his feast day, and was a major feast at the Priory of St. Moses the Black.
The son of a Spanish viceroy and a black mother, Martin had to struggle with the church to enter the Dominicans. Even with that he could not be a priest; blacks were not allowed. As a lay brother he used his pharmaceutical skills and humility to heal people and bring them together. It all boils down to reconciliation, understanding and unity.
Father Bozeman, together with the Jackson State University Gospel Choir, energized the youth and raised the spirits of a large congregation at Christ the King Church on historic JR Lynch Street Wednesday night.
He emphasized everyone must recognize the call of God as Samuel did. He saw the role of mentor in Eli the priest of Beth El. He stressed, that saying yes to Jesus means change in behavior. This is our Catholic and Christian call.
Toward the end, during statements of witness and dedication, several in the choir joined parishioners thanking God for his wonderful blessings. It was an ecumenical sacrifice of praise giving God the glory! We need spiritual power right now.
The world today is more divided than ever. Even religion is extreme and polarized. Differences are touted as ladders of superiority. We need to hear messages of reconciliation and coming together now more than ever. Unity is not an option, it is a necessity. The stakes are too high. No place on the globe is spared. Civil wars in African and in Muslim countries drown the land in innocent blood.
As a nation we need to reassess our priorities. Yes, this is a time of change. We need to hear the call of God. As church, we stand for the preferential option for the poor.
Corporate greed continues to exploit people of color and the gap between rich and poor is greater than the 1960s. There is no united movement strong enough to push back against this.
Three preachers on three nights woke us up and sensitized us to our situation in the 21st century. We have the faith, the hope, and the love to unite us to meet the challenges.
There is hope. As Catholic Christians, there is always hope. Father Williams reminded us “catholic” means universal.
In the Creed we pray for “one, holy….” The oneness always eludes us, but it is just right there. We have the faith that grounds our hope. “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for, and evidence of things not seen. (Heb 11:1)
Young people today are energized to reshape the world. There is a healthy, growing movement among young people to push harder for justice, to articulate the cause of the marginalized.
We see them at conferences. We see them at meetings around social issues. We do our best to hand on the legacy of our heroes of justice, but know they will move us forward.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Lord, make us instruments of peace
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
October 9, 2009
Since the beginning of the year there has been a steadily growing drumbeat of inappropriate, noisy, hate-filled rhetoric. Civil discourse gave way to lies, distortions of truth, slogans, even death-threats against the president of the United States.
Not since the early ‘60s have I seen such a toxic atmosphere. What is different today is technology. The Internet, the television, talk radio, even print media magnify this outrageous, un-American behavior. This goes beyond politics or whatever your position on any given issue is. This is very dangerous.
Those of us who lived in the day when hate ruled and violence and riots were the result should be most aware of the danger that threatens our country.
Look at some of this. There is a rabid fundamentalist, literal religion that is militant and demanding. Some crave world catastrophe in order to be the gateway to the second coming of Christ. At the other extreme are the atheists, “A world without religion. The tyranny of religion is the problem.”
Then there are the personal attacks on the president of the United States. This goes beyond criticism. It is blatant racism. At the same time they blabber on about a post-racial America. On and on it goes. Where it stops nobody…. This is scary, folks!
This is not 1964. This is the 21st century. Much has been learned on both sides between then and now. Unfortunately the battle lines are the same, and the same players are in the game.
The G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh gave us a glimpse at the new day if marches and demonstrations took place. This, too, is scary.
I am trying my best not to sound partisan, liberal, or whatever. I am trying to raise concern for what is truly un-American and a genuine threat to our democracy.
I know people who have lived under tyranny. They have an appreciation for American freedoms that we take for granted. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, the right to express grievances, the Bill of Rights. This is what makes America, America.
Abusing the First Amendment is un-American. To have an intelligent, respectful dialogue, and a resolution of issues is a right. Do not be fooled.
More than that, I will say, from my Catholic, Christian tradition, that all this is totally against the Gospel, and what authentic Christianity teaches. Turning religion into a hate machine is raping religion. Racism, in every form is grossly immoral, is an assault against humanity. This is neither liberal nor conservative. It is Catholic.
After the seismic social changes we lived through during the last 50 years, is change such a threat today, that the crazies rule? They contradict themselves. They make no sense. It is like trying to dialogue with a mad man. This is orchestrated, planned and deliberate.
Where is the response from sane, balanced, sensible people? Also, where are the genuine calls to take this seriously and stop it? The media plays for ratings and profits for their invisible owners. They treat this stuff as if it was something credible, not for what it is.
Where are journalists of the caliber of Jerry Mitchell or Bill Moyers or Christiane Amanpour dismantling this and shredding it in public?
I believe there really is a sensible, enlightened, silent majority who work to better the world, and not let this affect them. There is a belief system the majority has that says everything will be OK. We are beyond our violent past.
However, more and more evidence turns up to tell us our present is indeed as violent as ever. Ammunition factories cannot meet the demand for private gun owners. Laws allowing people to carry concealed weapons are popping up all over. To get up today and preach that non-violent resistance will affect positive change is greeted with looks of disgust.
Remember this? “Lord make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is discord, union. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy.”
Francis wrote this 800 years ago. Have we made progress?
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Gospels challenge us to eliminate poverty
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
September 11, 2009
The end of August found me glued to the TV set watching Ted Kennedy’s funeral. It made me proud to be a Catholic, not in any arrogant way, but it showed the great compassion of our church, and displayed our solidarity with the poor. For all his faults, and we all have our own, he stood in solidarity for the poor and discriminated.
September is here. School has been in session a few weeks now. We just celebrated Labor Day, for many of us the unofficial end of summer.
I recently dug up some articles on the situation between the wealthy and the poor in these United States. Whenever we do things like that the complete data lags a couple years. The latest figures are for 2007.
Add to these increased income gaps, isolation of the poor is now exacerbated by the economic crisis of the past year. David Hunkar on Aug. 14 reported the latest poverty data available from the census bureau is for 2007. The official poverty rate was 12.5 percent.
Say it another way, 37.3 million people were living in poverty, up from 36.5 million the previous year. Income inequality is at an all time high, surpassing levels seen in the Great Depression, according to Emmanuel Saez, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
Reports like these go on describing the widening gulf between rich and poor, the latter growing exponentially, wealth gravitating to a smaller number. This is very unhealthy, to say the least. So called safety nets for the lower income Americans have been systematically shredded over the last 25 years or so.
Vast numbers of these have no health insurance, thus posing risk for everyone. There is much here that poses concern for our democracy. People locked out of upward mobility become frustrated, apathetic, angry, and engage in greater criminal behavior.
As Catholics we need to pay attention to the poor. So much of our national culture blames them for their plight, but the Bible is much more merciful. While not minimizing personal responsibility and personal sin, Scripture urges compassion and help. The ending of that passage in James, “Religion pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction.” This clearly recognizes that their poverty is caused by or increased by things bigger than they are.
When I read that, the refugee camps in Chad, filled with women and children from Sudan came before my eyes. Then there are so many passages in the Gospels and elsewhere urging us to pay attention to and help the poor. This is more than charity, it challenges us to eliminate poverty at home and abroad.
Everything we teach about social justice tells us poverty must be taken seriously as a social disease that must be eradicated. Blaming the victim is not an option.
Advocating for those who have no voice is always risky. Those who defend the poor, become targets. Today, like no other time in recent memory, those who are weak are especially vulnerable. The gap between the haves and have nots are wider than any time in our life time. The bishops cry out against this great gap, and denounce the theory that the free market will make everything level out.
The pope just wrote an encyclical making the same criticisms. “Profit is useful if it serves as a means toward an end,” Pope Benedict wrote. “Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty.” (“Caritas in Veritate”/“Charity in Truth”)
“The leader of the world’s 1 billion Catholics is reminding us there is a moral and ethical dimension to every dollar spent. It isn’t the economic system that matters as much as hearts inclined to hear the entreaties of the poor.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 11, 2009)
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
School days give 21st century, a challenge
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
August 7, 2009
August, the dog days of summer. Days seem to crawl by. However, go in the grocery stores. Displays are set up with the book lists, supply lists of school districts everywhere. I could not count the packages of loose leaf filler paper, boxes of crayons, pencils and pens, and on and on, that one lady had in the checkout line.
School is here with a thud. Just seemed like yesterday that schools let out for the summer. Soon parents won’t have to hear the “What can I do today, Ma?” Child boredom will vanish with new teachers telling them precisely what they will do today.
The beginning of a new school term always brings back memories to grownups, but I resist the temptation to nostalgia. People I know very well who have a passion for education and expanding the minds of young people are hard at work. From all over the state they came, from the Delta and the Hills, the Piney Woods, and the Gulf Coast.
For them and their constituents school is a lot more than classrooms, teachers and homework. School is a key to freedom. It is the gateway to independence and success, a step up and out of, you name it.
I spent a day and a half with dedicated people of all ages from all over the state drawing support from one another. They came with a laundry list of issues, all good, but issues that will take a long time to resolve. That deters no one.
It quickly becomes apparent there is a huge imbalance in resources in the school districts across out state. In many places families have no option but to deal with whatever their school district can provide. Other places have more resources than they know what to do with. So it goes.
The conference dealt with the educational needs of children, their parents and teachers’ rolls in this, not adversarial, but as a holistic partnership. Unfortunately in many places this is not happening, and local policies violate the most basic concepts of human rights. Much time was devoted to strategies to address these issues.
This is bigger than schools.
I am no economist, but a friend of mine is reading a book he finds fascinating. It is called “Small is Beautiful” by E.F. Schumacher. It attempts to deal with greed and envy and incorporating wisdom into our economic system. The book makes the point that no system or economic doctrine stands on its own, but is built on a metaphysical foundation, that is man’s basic outlook on life. It speaks of the idol worship of material possessions. The more people consume the more the standard of living increases.
Remember Pac Man? The disembodied mouth gobbling up everything in sight. TV commercials depict us as nothing but consumption machines that rob us of our dignity and self worth, play on addictive mentalities, and do what? Make the rich richer. They flaunt their wealth and tell us it is good for us.
Another view would say that consumption is merely a means to human well being. The goal should be maximum well being with minimum consumption. The less toil there is the more time and strength left for artistic creativity. The book goes on to develop an eco-friendly economic system. He calls it putting wisdom into developing economic systems.
Thinking about this and the various conferences I participate in, we have to step back and see the big picture. Scrabbling for resources, where wealth is gathered in small pockets, and vast areas are awash in poverty, people are exposed daily to what they will never afford.
Every year when school begins the struggle of low income families, as well as policies of the various school districts, make the whole enterprise morph from one of creating a nurturing, creative atmosphere for children to grow, to the annual struggle for fairness and basic human rights.
Our Catholic social justice tradition, based on human rights, the Gospel, and papal teachings, demands we all become familiar with this educational imbalance. We must recognize all children are our children. Wealth is not a measure of moral perfection any more than poverty is a measure of moral imperfection.
We see the sins of the wealthy as well as the poor paraded before us. Our future depends on how we address these issues.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Now is time for immigration reform
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
July 10, 2009
Welcome to July. We began by celebrating the Fourth of July, our nation’s independence, fireworks, barbecues, flags and all the rest.
Got me to thinking about who makes up this nation. Some friends of mine just returned from Europe, visiting a dozen countries, and pointed out to me that every one of them had a restaurant or a neighborhood somewhere in the USA.
Except for the Native Americans, the ancestors of everyone else in the country came from somewhere else. It is true, we are a nation of immigrants.
I stayed inside, trying to beat the heat and logged on to several articles about immigration. I have been reading Sr. Jean Juliano on immigration reform in Mississippi Catholic. I have written about it myself.
The bishops at their June meeting called for immigration reform. The current situation is unjust and inhumane.
At conferences and meetings that I attend I hear much about fair and just immigration reform. One part of this debate is the activity of all sorts of hate groups throughout the country.
They spread their lies and fake statistics and climb on a hypocritical high horse spewing hatred and venom. They are nativist and xenophobic and violate every principle of the Gospel.
We need reform, and we need it now. Call it whatever you want, but justice demands that those who have lived and worked here, and lived as good citizens, be granted a fair means to legalize their status, and move toward citizenship.
The hate groups go nuts when someone mentions this. Regardless of their arguments their hatred of the other comes through. Immigrants only strengthen the American culture as diverse as it is. They should be welcomed not persecuted.
The legal quotas are so low they only encourage exploitation and pander to racism. We need to fix this now.
Some argue for “guest workers.” This only ensures a legally protected underclass to be exploited at will.
David Bacon, a photojournalist and labor organizer from California, has written the history of guest workers from the 19th century onward. He documented this in his best seller, “Illegal People.”
Guest workers work at the will of employers, they cannot transfer to a better job, are poorly paid and exploited. The United States of America does not need a permanent underclass to exploit for cheap labor. We tried that with slavery, and we saw where that got us.
As Cristina Jimenez points out, guest workers’ vulnerability in the workplace weakens conditions and lowers wages for all workers. Any kind of guest worker program will hurt foreign-born and native-born workers.
Every principle of Catholic social justice cries out for justice for immigrants. Every time I pick up a package of chicken or pork I think of nameless immigrants, working for a pittance, making companies rich, and consumers paying low prices, but at what price?
Some readers will say, “There goes another bleeding heart liberal” and righteously appeal to current immigration law as if that settles anything.
Laws are just or unjust. Unjust laws need to be changed. The entire civil rights movement was about changing unjust laws.
It is no accident that the very hate groups that opposed civil rights have repackaged themselves to go after immigrants.
Most Americans want everyone to get a fair deal. Americans’ generosity toward the poor and vulnerable is legendary. They respect people working honest jobs.
Our nation’s story is built upon immigrants contributing and enhancing our culture. This continues. We do not need a system that forces people to be outside the law and victims of exploitation. That is not the American way.
Yes, our immigration system is unjust and unfair, and must be changed. Our bishops urge it.
Don’t buy the propaganda. It is false. Now is the time for fair and just immigration reform.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
‘Let’s celebrate, give thanks to God’
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
June 12, 2009
Writing this column I am looking out the window into the woods at a beautiful sunny day. The humidity is low, the temperature is perfect. Great day to take a hike and be outdoors. Five months have gone by, and we are at the door of summer. Days like these need to be treasured. Somebody will say that hurricane season has arrived, and my pleasant reverie will be gone.
This time of year we celebrate so many things: graduations, anniversaries, milestones of one sort or another. Life is too short to worry about what we cannot control. Let’s celebrate the good things and give thanks to God.
This month I want to share with you something special to the Norbertines. The present buildings of the abbey in Wisconsin, that sustains our efforts here, are 50 years old this year. Ancient communities like ours that go back centuries are rooted in places which draw people to step away from the busy world of commerce and activity.
Some of our ancient monasteries had towns that grew up around them, and whose lands crossed borders of the countries that came later in time. Abbeys have a charm all about them. No two are alike. Each has a history as old and complicated as you can imagine.
They all have something in common. They are places for prayer and reflection. People get all involved with them, just like their parish. Norbertine abbeys engage people to get involved in all manner of activities from retreats to days of reflection, from hosting events for the larger community, to participating in the liturgies of praise that go on throughout the day and week.
Our current abbey in De Pere, Wis., was built in the late fifties, in what a friend of mine would call “fifties gothic.” Clean lines, soaring towers, high ceilings, marble, lots of marble.
Our abbey church is quite unique for 1959. It has a free standing altar. The choir stalls were on one side curving toward the center where the throne was located, the nave on the other side. Our ancient rite required lots of space for medieval ceremonies. The acoustics are great for Gregorian chant. The old Norbertine liturgy was something to experience.
Some of us were so taken by this gleaming monastery, on what was then a flat field in Wisconsin, that when we came we never left. Fifty years later we celebrate jubilees and give thanks for all that God made happen.
There will be big celebrations this June. The feast of the dedication of the abbey church will be June 16. I believe we also celebrate the dedication of the “Cathedral Church” in Jackson on the same day. Like I say, there is so much to celebrate and give thanks for.
The Second Vatican Council was a second Pentecost, and the abbey became a center of renewal and missionary work especially in Peru. Our renewed constitutions were called just that, “Day of Pentecost.”
Like the upper room in the Acts of the Apostles, the spirit fills the community and we responded to the needs of the church. The spirit of Pope John is guiding us still, and the best is yet to come.
In the last 50 years we saw our oldest foundation become an abbey in its own right. Located in Paoli, Pa., it has become a focus of retreats, pastoral work, reconciliation ministries. It is a center of renewal for its region. We celebrate 50 years of the current abbey buildings in De Pere, symbols of stability and outreach, contemplation and action.
We were blessed to begin two more foundations in New Mexico and Mississippi. They follow the same pattern of becoming places of prayer and renewal, of outreach and ministry to meet the needs of the local church.
Remember us in your prayers this June. We will be in and out of the priory celebrating the jubilee year of our abbey. Pray that the spirit and legacy we bring bears rich fruit in Mississippi. Already we see good things happening, and everybody is blessed.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
‘This is Resurrection time – sweet smell of life, hope’
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
May 8, 2009
May, spring in full bloom. You can feel the energy, the hope. All this month we celebrate Easter time, Jesus’ resurrection and promise of our resurrection.
Construction after destruction. Here we can appreciate this in so many ways after Katrina, Rita, Ivan, Gustav. People who survive hurricanes and tornadoes and floods know the meaning of resurrection. There is a new spirit in the air this spring.
People ordinarily getting the short end of the stick are acquiring a new voice to get their message out. They feel hope that their concerns will be heard in the White House and Congress this year.
May First is the International Day of the Worker. Countries throughout the world (except the USA) celebrate the gains of the international labor movement. We take the 8 hour day, paid vacation, off on weekends for granted.
In the 1880s mainly in Chicago, activists paid with their blood, some executions were held at the old city jail on Hubbard Street. The name Haymarket calls up that struggle that opened the door to a better life for all of us.
It gave life to a movement that is international in scope. Today there is a beautiful bronze monument to the effect at Randolph and Desplaines streets. All over the world the struggle for worker justice is celebrated. Our church celebrates the feast of St. Joseph the Worker and all who work for the good of workers.
Speaking of struggle and achieving a better life for all Americans, the NAACP Jackson Chapter celebrated its annual banquet at the Marriott Hotel commemorating 100 years of fighting for justice, equality and human rights.
Like in other years on this day, immigrants, from all nations, demonstrated throughout the country to get their message out. This year the mood was even festive. Their demands are the same: End the raids, reform immigration laws, give a path to legalization, pass the Dream (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act.
Sister Jean Juliano, last week, gave a fine piece, in this paper, urging us to support this legislation. It is about our children and our future. It is about making America stronger and respected throughout the world.
Many people from many nations expressed their concerns. Organizations like the South Asian Alliance, the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities raised other issues around refugees, worker rights, and human rights. All this says loud and clear, our immigration laws and system needs a huge overhaul.
We have the ability, and now maybe the will to fix what is clearly broken. Individual states do not confer citizenship. Put the federal government where it ought to be in this area. We are not citizens of states, but of the United States.
We have the same chorus of haters, racists and xenophobes as we have had in the past. Many of these are the same folks with new clothes. We know where we stand.
Our church continues to preach a social justice doctrine that reflects the Gospel. We speak out for human rights. We have a doctrine that says humanity, and all creation is holy, because God said that it was good. It was very good.
We celebrate this Easter season with renewed hope, with greater concern for the vulnerable among us. We welcome the stranger among us, for we were strangers once. Tune out the hate racket and tune in to the smooth sounds of peace, praise and thanksgiving.
This is Resurrection time. Jesus conquered it all, even death. People face persecution even death knowing that they will overcome. This is what made us survive all manner of persecution and prejudice. Knowing our own history as Catholics in these United States, should make us support those who struggle as we once did.
We look to spring. We plant gardens. We feel new energy. As we see new life burst all around us, never give up hope. Grounded in faith that keeps us focused, hope that gives us energy, and love that unites us, we shall see a better day for everyone.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Easter says, ‘there is hope for everyone’
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
April 10, 2009
April, spring, busiest month of the year. The “Big Heat” isn’t here yet, so everybody can be busy about so many things.
During spring break two weeks ago students and others came from all over the country to meet with the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement and learn what Mississippi contributed to the furthering of justice in our country, and now the world.
Generations mingled, eyes were opened. People learned from one another and hope filled everyone. Michelle Obama and the Queen made history, warmth and affection replaced yelling and denunciations. Hope springs eternal.
Spring is the season of hope. New growth bursts through old dead stuff. The newness of everything just makes you feel good. Easter was the old Anglo-Saxon spring goddess.
Easter for us is overcoming even death to life that springs eternal. Newly minted Catholics throughout Mississippi join us sharing the One Bread and the One Cup and experience the unity of Jesus living in each of us.
We are one Body, Jesus, here and now like the yeast in that dough to make the Kingdom come, to spread love in the world.
O, you will all hear fine sermons on Easter Day, don’t need another one here. Spring is the year starting over again. The Romans began their calendar in spring. It is second chance time for us.
Give thanks to God for getting us this far. The economy is hurting everyone, and we have to be even more compassionate with one another. We will get through this. Lets not take it out on the weakest among us.
I just received an international magazine our order puts out. So many exciting things going on all over the world: awareness of the environment, a dedicated missionary after many years in the jungle being buried with his adopted people.
Unity takes so many shapes. Thinking about unity quickly makes us think of community. Our tradition sees community in some way sharing the life of the Trinity, Father-Son-Holy Spirit, always together. A piece in that issue tells how we work that out in our far flung diocese.
The Chrism Mass is not just about priests, but about all of us, as one, entering into the mysteries of deliverance during the holy three days. The oils symbolize our oneness, our reconciliation, our healing, and our sanctification.
Our symbols preach a powerful message, just like preachers opening up the Scripture. They are ways our physical selves can engage the holy, making our total selves lost in the wonder of God. That’s the joy of a “sacramental church.” Sacraments are the ways we physically and spiritually can be united with God.
There is a message to love and respect the earth. In the candlelight of the vigil we listen to the story of the creation of the world, how God made it all. It was good. It was holy.
Water, now becoming a crisis throughout the world. Even here, a company wants to tap into the Colorado Aquifer, that supplies water to places like Denver. Most of that state is very dry. They want to bottle and sell it.
We listen to the blessing of gallons of water, how God breathed upon the waters, how water binds us to Jesus Christ forever. The things we use, the places we live demand respect. They are holy because God is holy.
From the total destruction of the cross to the empty tomb and resurrection is the story of cosmic, gargantuan evil beyond all evil being forgiven for all eternity.
Easter says there is hope for everyone. Easter is the call to all humanity to thank God who gives all life.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Lent sets people free
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
March 13, 2009
We have just entered Lent. Thinking about what to share with you this month, I am pulled between social justice, coming from the readings in this season, and a more contemplative, prayerful focus. There is the desert as well as the criticism of the religiosity of the Pharisees.
Dom Virgil Michel, monk of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., who among other things founded The Liturgical Press, was a giant in the liturgical movement in the 1940s and onward. He said the response to a liturgical life is a passion to work for social justice. This was to be realized at the Second Vatican Council.
On Ash Wednesday at Lauds, the Morning Praise Office (Liturgy of the Hours), at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, the reader read from Isaiah 58: 5-7. This passage will appear again in the readings of Lent, whether in the Mass or the Office.
This has both a contemplative and active dimension. “This is the fasting I seek, release those bound unjustly, untie the thongs of the yoke, set free the oppressed, break every yoke, share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, clothe the naked, when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own.”
The contemplative part is to reflect on how we measure up or do not. The active part of that is, to work to eliminate oppression, discrimination, poverty; promote equality, understanding and dialogue.
This is superior to external practices that can make people feel good. However, to reach out to the oppressed, the hungry, the alienated, those under oppression puts one open to criticism and judgment, but this is conversion and brings justice that God seeks.
At a deanery meeting recently we heard of the experiences of youth doing volunteer work in Saltillo, Mexico, and how that exposed them to another world they did not know exists.
The huge gap between the region’s poverty and the opportunities just a few miles north of the border stood out in stark contrast. They began to see why people, who love their country and their culture, are driven north, at great personal risk, to find work just to feed their families.
The huge gap between Scripture texts like the one above or Leviticus 19: 33-34, or Matthew 25: 31-45, and the way we treat the poor or the undocumented immigrants is a challenge. Our policies are unjust and need to be changed.
The purpose of fasting is conversion. The physical expressions can be superficial, but accomplish little, but changing attitudes and principles is the beginning of conversion. Become aware of the discrepancies that oppress people, not justify them. These differences should not be explained away, but confronted honestly.
The oppressed and the poor read these texts and see Lent differently. As a result of the immigration raids, the Latino community began a practice they have in their countries called a vigilia, literally a vigil.
They have these on Saturday evenings. They have a band, they sing, they pray, they reflect on the Scriptures. They affirm their faith.
Recently I heard a magnificent reflection on the faith of the woman with a hemorrhage, who touched Jesus cloak, how faith should touch our hearts with confidence. The people come in large numbers to pray for forgiveness and recommitment, for justice and relief from oppression. The next day, the same group is at Mass, actively participating.
We know that in the days of Jim Crow, it was prayer and the Scriptures that filled people with confidence and strength, to know that change would come, because their faith is strong.
Oppressed people express their faith in ways more affluent people do not. It is the kind of faith that does not blink at the sight of death. The kind of faith that is strengthened because, Jesus overcame death, they, too, will overcome both death and oppression.
The journey of Lent means we open our eyes and unplug our ears to the Good News that sets the people free.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
‘Illegal People’ basic to understanding immigrants
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
February 13 , 2009
A new beginning, old issues. The Legislature is in session. Recently the Congregations for Children, headed up by the three bishops of the Catholic, United Methodist and Episcopal churches, spoke out for the vulnerable: children and immigrants, urging an end to oppressive laws.
David Bacon’s “Illegal People” is a “must read” book in order to truly understand the immigration problem in the United States. Bacon is a photo-journalist and former union organizer from California.
For too long the migrant labor issues in this country have been covered over with divisive racism and xenophobia pitting disadvantaged groups against each other, and planting fear in a gullible public.
This is no accident. Bacon describes a systemic plan that forces groups to attack one another, even if they are aware they are being used.
All of them are desperate for work. As Bacon says, “Anti-immigrant hysteria has always preached that the interests of immigrants and the native-born are in conflict, that one group can only gain at the expense of the other.
“In fact, the opposite is true. To raise wages generally, the low price of immigrant labor has to rise, which means that immigrant workers have to organize effectively…. Since it is easier for immigrants to organize if they have permanent legal status, a real legalization program would benefit a broad range of working people, far beyond the immigrants themselves.” (pg. 258-259)
Immigrants become the fall guys in order to break unions and destroy the labor movement that created the American middle class and standard of living over the last century and a quarter. This is corporations’ demand for the cheapest possible labor for maximum profit.
This is an international phenomenon in which governments, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other entities, collaborate for the benefit of multi-national global corporations to the detriment of immigrants and poor nations everywhere. To break the trade union movement throughout the world is their long range goal. To truly solve the immigration problem must be an international undertaking with a common resolve.
Bacon begins by looking at the word “illegal.” As he says, “illegal has become a one word mantra in the United States political debate.” He chronicles how the government labeled Asian immigrants, barred them from citizenship acquiescing to the demand of corporations for cheap labor.
Chinese, Filipinos, Latinos, and others were and are routinely exploited, in the 19th and 20th centuries. Their non-legal status made it possible, with government cooperation, to circumvent all the anti-discrimination laws won by blacks in the 1960s, thus beginning to drive a wedge between them.
This laid the seeds of seasonal migration by “braceros” who were vulnerable to all manner of exploitation. Bacon weaves his exposition with powerful stories of people who experienced these and similar abuses.
His fast forwarding to the plight of H-1 visa workers, guest workers, make clear they are equally exploited. They cannot organize unions if they cannot stay. Their vulnerability creates huge profits, in violation of every human right.
Migration is a systemic way to thwart the growth of unions. Bacon chronicles a long history of this. The struggle today is little different. The bracero program, now reinvented as guest workers, is at the root of oppression and crushes effective organizing.
This is precisely the motive behind contemporary guest worker schemes promoted by the previous administrations and the corporate community. This is a global initiative, not merely south of the border, but world wide, with massive violations of human rights against the international conventions many of these nations signed.
Every major raid this past year was at plants attempting to unionize. Laurel was no exception.
The struggle of Mexicans, Guatemalans and others in Mississippi are part of an international worker exploitation program packaged as globalization. Everybody gets exploited.
Corporations have off shore headquarters and pay no taxes. They exploit immigrant workers, and in complicity with government and international trade policies, leave their home countries dependent on the immigrants income. It just keeps getting worse.
This book is basic to understanding the dynamics of immigration in the United States with a direction on how to solve it.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Change lies within each of us
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
January 23, 2009
Looking back at 2008 is like looking back at a wild careening ride with twists and turns and frequent gasps of, “I don’t believe it!” or “Awesome!” Skilled writers could not have come up with narratives like we have lived through this year.
In the new century financial experts whisper about another Great Depression. Pillars of American finance and industry are shaking to their foundations, coming to the government to bail them out. The housing crisis, foreclosures…. O the list goes on.
Then the Middle East is blowing up. The rain forests are savagely being destroyed for beautiful furniture. They are crucial to the planet’s ecosystem. There are so many issues.
Then we had a presidential election like no other. A barrier was broken, and “Yes we can!” became “Yes we did!” And the younger generation is getting galvanized, the likes of which we have not seen in years.
People, home and abroad, are responding to a message of hope, and a new vision and idealism that brings back stirring memories of another time to the older generation. The rocking, shouting, chants for change spread to the Caribbean and Europe and around the world.
At the same time, the world’s economy is still shaking, the outcome of which is the New Year’s challenge. So many challenges there are.
In the dead of winter we hear similar messages of hope and deliverance in church. “Darkness covers the earth, and clouds cover the nations.” (Is 60: 2) Then we hear, “A people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” (Is 9:1)
John writes: “Through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race... The true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world.” (Jn 1:4, 9) When things are bleak, we need to hear words like these.
It is no accident that we celebrate the light coming to dispel the darkness, and the truth to set us free in the dead of winter.
When they wrote all these things down, so long ago, the world was a torn up place, but the light chased away the darkness, the people changed. For each age in history, God visits his people giving strength to the weak, enlightenment to those who seek, and he raises up leaders, from every generation, to move things a little bit forward.
Christianity came to an empire that ruled with an iron hand. They were weak and they were poor. They saw the light and could walk straight. They were the yeast in the dough. A lot happened in 2000 years, but there are those still energized to make the world a better place, if only in their neighborhood.
With all that has happened this past year, and we are still living through it, the message I get is that all of us are called to do our part to make the world a better place.
The new legislative session has just begun. It is not about, “Well, let them do it.” No, it is about all of us speaking out what is needed, what the people need. It is about speaking justice for the vulnerable, who always bear the brunt when times are hard.
All of this is putting our faith in action. We also need to pray fervently for those who suffer, and for those who lead.
Each new year we have the illusion of, “This time we will get it right.” We are like Charlie Brown kicking the football, and Lucy grabbing it away. No, we drag the past along on a chain. Remember Faulkner?
This time let’s not just drag it, but be accountable, and change it. The change we can believe in lies within each of us. In 2009 we roll up our sleeves and take charge of our world.
Happy and blessed New Year to everyone!
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
‘Love doesn’t cost anything’
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
December 12, 2008
Recently, on the day after Thanksgiving, “Black Friday” they call it because retailers can end in the black even make their projections for the year, people wait all night or are up before dawn, camping out at stores, in malls to be the first to get inside.
This year was different. The drumbeat to go out and shop till you drop, run yourself into debt, marketers creating demand with no scruple, is really ironic.
We anticipate and celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace, born in a slum, to poor people in order to save humanity from itself. We call it Redemption. Think about that.
This year it hit a new low. A man working for a Wal- Mart was trampled to death as shoppers forced the door open 5 minutes before time. Trampled, do you hear me? “Trampled”!
We all do our weekly shopping, has anybody seen anybody trampled? Tell this column and I’ll write about it. I have read several pieces since this incident. Some reflect on mob psychology, others take a moral higher level. The customary lawsuit was filed by his family.
Wal-Mart gave an apology promising better security. Now, really! The biggest retailer in the world and they could not have planned better? Sorry, I am digressing. When I first heard this a feeling of shock and sadness settled over me. Sort of, “Have we now sunk so low...”
The economy is at a record level since the Great Depression, Income gaps between rich and poor wider than ever in our life time.
One of our priests at the priory remembers the Depression well. He’s been quoting Roosevelt and looking for similarities on the nightly news. He has that unconscious thriftiness people have who lived through those times. I grew up in the post World War II boom. Generations have forgotten those hard times. Now we have sunk so low, that workers get trampled during a sale season.
We need, each of us, to have a private dialogue with ourselves about what do we really value. A custom of exchanging gifts at Christmas to show love for one another, has it morphed into some kind of monster?
I won’t answer the question. I think of that man and his family at Christmas time, every year...
“God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son...” (Jn. 3/16) I see that, or just the citation on T-shirts worn by kids everywhere.
It’s another reason I enjoy living in the Bible belt as a Catholic. It makes me remember Scripture citations and their accompanying texts. Our Protestant friends have something there that we can learn from.
The pope is encouraging us to read and become familiar with the Bible. The Bible has always been the classic Catholic prayer book down the ages. That’s another column.
“God so loved the world.” You have to be God to do that. Think of what would happen if we loved everybody in Mississippi? I mean everybody. We talk with them. We share with them. We are talking about a little over 2.5 million people if that.
Think about it. In some places everybody is related to everybody else. I mean black and white, anyway you want to parse it.
I find it a joy in small towns where I see this happening. “Sorry Father, half the church is at Mary Sue’s wedding.” The church people are all kinfolk and stay connected.
Then I discover it extends across denominational lines into the town and countryside.
I know I am overly idealistic, but I can dream of just one geographic location where everybody loved everybody else. Differences were celebrated not feared. Languages were learned, even fractured in the attempt, and people discovered wonderful things about each other.
Guess what? This doesn’t cost a dime. Nobody has any money anyway. But love doesn’t cost anything. The more you give it away, the more you get.
This is what Christmas giving is really about. You mothers and grandmothers know this. Remember the homemade Christmas cards your kids brought home from school? These say a lot more than anything out of Macy’s.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem, lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Election begins new day, new beginning
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
November 14, 2008
I have been going over countless emails, reading publications on line from all over the world, and am getting back to whatever normal is, after living through another historic, defining moment.
The events of the recent election and Barak Obama becoming the 44th president of the United States, bring to mind other events I have lived through. All of them tell me, in spite of ourselves, we are a blessed people. Another thing all of these events I have lived through tell me is just how much the entire world looks to America for hope.
I have traveled to other countries, and everybody I met speaks freely about cities and towns in our country as if they have been there. Remote villagers can talk about Indiana or California, Wisconsin or New York, in ways that make me wonder does everybody out there have relatives in the USA?
People overseas have a familiarity with our country, our people, our customs in ways many of us here do not. Many would be hard pressed to find their country on a map, and most of them would obligingly point it out with a smile.
Everywhere I traveled people made a clear distinction about us as a people and the policies of our government. In many a conversation I discovered common ideas and an open mind can not only bring people together, but give us a sense we belong to a community bigger than our nationality, race or ethnicity.
This election was something different. People around the world sensed it coming. I remember Obama’s speech in Berlin. A hundred thousand people looked like a crowd in Yankee Stadium. Not one of them could vote, but who cares. He gave a message that resonated with the world.
People crave hope. People are sick and tired of fear. I felt it personally, Barak Obama, from my hometown, my old neighborhood, an African American I am proud to call “Mr. President” because he makes me proud to be an American. His eloquence reflects an American universality regardless of your skin color, your ethnicity, your education, whatever. We need to feel that these days.
I logged on to newspapers around the world, especially Africa and South America. The celebrations and the accounts were inspiring and funny. All night prayer vigils complete with dancing and feasting. Babies around the world are being named “Barak” or “Michelle.”
Schools in remote regions are dedicated to “Obama.” People kept saying, “The American president looks like us!” and beamed with pride. In Portuguese, in Spanish, in French, in Luo and Kikuyu, in Yoruba and Ibo, in English, in Icelandic, in Creole, in German, Arabic and Turkish, in Polish and Russian, however they said it, they rejoiced hope has come back. This new century can begin to blossom.
The world looks at us in ways we are not aware of. We have a responsibility to live up to our ideals. We as a people are made up of every nation in the world. We need to give example.
We need to encourage and affirm. This century is the century of the world. No leader does this. Leaders only encourage all of us to do it. Each of us makes all of us what we are to become.
All this reminds me of Paul to the Galatians. You know the famous quote, “Neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female, neither slave nor free, but all one in Christ Jesus.”
It is the experience of being one, of unity, the world hungers for, our country hungers for. We need to get there, at least closer than we have been. We owe it to our children and grandchildren. They deserve better than what we have done so far.
I am tired of nightly news saying we are on the brink of something awful. We are aware of the power out there to destroy the world. We look for solutions, for resolutions.
We see the light on the mountaintop, and have that optimism that fills the letters of Paul. A new day is dawning. Put on the armor of justice, the hope and compassion of Jesus. It is possible. Yes we can!
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem, lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Paul’s essay describes Catholic Charities’ workers
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
October 10, 2008
At the weekday Mass, recently, we read the great 13th chapter of the First Letter to the Corinthians. In this “Year of Paul,” my experience has been this passage is so well known, even by those whose closest experience of a church is at a funeral home. It is one of the favorite texts for weddings.
Why is this so? This reaches out and touches core humanity. It is one of those basic prophetic tests that transcend religion. It speaks to unity, to the oneness between the creature and God. It speaks about the one thing that unites humanity, whether the family unit or the entire community. Without love there is chaos.
The evening before an era ended and a torch was passed. We honored Linda Raff for 29 years with Catholic Charities, 14 of which she guided it to a new level of compassion in an ever more polarized world.
We heard inspiring tributes from Mary Sims-Johnson, director of Our House Shelter, from Bishop Joseph Latino and from Msgr. Elvin Sunds, her predecessor. He brought her on board and shared an inspiring history of gospel service to all the people of Mississippi.
As walls were broken down, Catholic Charities spread love and incredible skill in rebuilding broken people and fractured families.
During most of that time, I was working at Catholic Charities in Chicago. A different scene, but the same broken people and families. A different slogan, “Compassion in Action” but the same work.
Paul’s essay on love describes anybody who works for Catholic Charities anywhere. Among the staff there is love. It is so apparent that even the drug addicts and homeless people feel it. If nothing else they feel they are somebody, not refuse or a problem. They see the staff respect and support one another, encourage one another.
The first time I met Linda was in the early ’90s. It would be a few more years before I would call Mississippi home. We were chatting in her office, then on President Street. She was fascinated and curious to hear about my experiences in Chicago.
Looking back now the two places are so vastly different, yet curiously similar. Poverty is poverty, and broken families are broken families. Whether on concrete or in a field, the task of Charities is putting people back together.
That, and maybe our similar background in social work, only increased my desire to eventually come to Mississippi to help my community and use my talents to make a difference among poor people.
Linda is so alive and excited about what she does, even moving on, her concern for people will find new ways to bring hope to many others. Under her direction, our Catholic Charities expanded and reached out to new populations of people in need.
It became multi-lingual and legally savvy, in reaching out to immigrants, with or without papers, to help them adjust and make a home in Mississippi. When international chaos reached new proportions, under Linda’s guidance, Charities opened its arms to unaccompanied refugee minors.
As a social worker, I could see these challenges are huge on so many levels. Yet she was able to bring in a thoroughly multicultural staff, and sensitive people, to reach out to the community and recruit caring, excited foster families who not only made a home for these young people, but became excited about their cultures and gifts they bring.
They may come with the clothes on their back, but when they emancipate out of the program, they leave with a sense that they contributed to our own cultural heritage, right here in Mississippi.
I only mentioned two programs that flourished under Linda’s guidance. Remembering that conversation in her office long ago, I am so impressed with her, and with the breath and the scope of what we do here. Our Catholic Charities reaching into 65 counties, among so many different populations and local regions, is the premier social service agency in our state. Linda made it happen. She did it with an army of volunteers, board members, staff, concerned people of every religious persuasion.
Catholic Charities, here and across the country, is a major force in ecumenism and breaking barriers of all manner of discord. Thank you Linda! You will be missed.
Greg Patin (say Chopin then Patin) brings a big heart, a warm smile and immense talent. Linda passed the torch to capable hands. We thank her for all she did, and our support and prayers are with Greg as he leads our Catholic Charities, in its 65 – county area, to meet new challenges, to attract more volunteers and keep the message of Jesus alive and well to all people everywhere who need help.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Wind blew, rains came, they were ready
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
September 12, 2008
Perspective can mean everything. Where you are can determine a lot. On a recent phone call, with someone up in Wisconsin, they commented this was the driest August they had in years. “The ground in my yard is splitting it is so dry.”
For us, the last week or so was soggy beyond words. They keep saying that “Gustav was no Katrina” as if that is some sort of consolation. Tell that to someone who after three years after Katrina finally refurbished his house, then Gustav ripped off the roof and flooded it.
Our world includes hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and a lot of other things. Our friends and relatives on the coast and in Louisiana are tough, courageous and resourceful people. They made the coast the beautiful place that it is. It is a tourist magnet for people out of state. They deserve our support and gratitude. They deserve a lot more than they get when hurricanes drop off page one.
Much has been written about, and there are active groups still working toward relief from Katrina. The series, “Katrina Recovery,” runs on and on in the Clarion Ledger. Then there are the insurance company stories. Will it ever end?
Catastrophes, to the unscrupulous, are opportunities to make money. Today something popped up, “Gas $3.99 in Baton Rouge.” Then, the insurance lobby is squeezing as much as they can get. Ask anybody you know who lived through Katrina, Rita and now Gustav. They will tell you.
As church, we have a different set of values. We reach out, no questions asked, and help those in need. The Gospel is crystal clear about how we will be judged. The Acts of the Apostles gives us a view of how our ancestors in the faith lived. They were folks like us.
For all we preach about “community” as church, it seems rugged individualism is the only thing praised out there. Well, we know that isn’t right. First of all, people are recovering with a lot of help from those who reach out.
Almost within hours of Gustav, a group from Kalamazoo, Mich., drove a thousand miles with supplies and were on the scene helping people. That is community. Never mind that Michigan folks can carry on about 15 foot blizzards and being socked in for months. They were right there learning about hurricanes from those who know.
As stories are shared people come together. They give, they share, and something resembling the lifestyle in the Acts of the Apostles happens.
We can share stories about the groups from up North that stayed at the priory, often the same group time after time. They would head for the coast, places like Chalmette, Bay St. Louis or Waveland. Others would go to New Orleans. They would do hard work helping people have a life again.
They would come back through, and tell stories about new friends and a beautiful, but battered, part of the country. That was Katrina. Now it is Gustav. People are already responding.
Hannah, Ike and Josephine are on the way. These are not the grandkids coming to visit. We know what to expect. We will be ready. These monsters are making people discover one another.
It is not just rugged individualism, which often is rugged selfishness, uncaring for others, especially the vulnerable, that gets rewarded. No, it is people coming together that make things happen.
The attitude, “Me against the world,” often the stuff of the Westerns some of us were raised on, is false. It ignores or, worse, blames the needy. It is not Christian, although there are churches that preach the “Gospel of Prosperity” and gullible people buy it.
Natural disasters, and there will be many, should be opportunities for us to demonstrate our high ideals and the true Christian values we live by. Our support and prayers go out to the internally displaced people by Gustav. We wish them a speedy return and a quick recovery. As church, we are there for them.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Food connects us to each other, to God
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
August 8 , 2008
Summer time. Everybody takes vacations. Some of our churches, you know, the ones with three families and their relatives, lose half their congregation on a given Sunday when a family goes north to a family reunion. Even the priests take off trying to find a cooler spot as Mississippi rises to summer boil.
Well, your humble correspondent did just that. Two weeks, 800 miles away gives a fresh look at the familiar through the lens of the different. Reading different newspapers, eating different food, more creative traffic jams that seem to last days not hours are all part of summer migrations.
When I’m away I think of people I know here more clearly. Anything I run into that reminds me of some of them I take note of. I remember Lebanese families in Jackson while eating in a Mediterranean restaurant with flat bread and this tender lamb in a yogurt stew with onions and spices only the Middle East can conjure up.
The music in the background and the people around me reflect a Middle East without war, about a way of life they had to flee. Now they adjust in this Midwestern city with its harsh winters, alien to the cedars of Lebanon.
Food connects me to people all over the world. Food presents people in a way they want to be presented, that reflects happier times not the horrors on the nightly news.
Reading the paper one morning I was struck by an article by a former progressive alderman titled, “U.S. should restore aid to Sierra Leone.” Knowing several families from Sierra Leone in Mississippi, I was drawn to it.
A story is more than a story when you can add flesh and bones, personality and a sense of humor about the people written about. The article brought back the terrible civil war over diamonds. Other countries were involved. It was complicated as all these things are, but in the end rather absurd. Diamonds are dead. People are living – 10,000 amputees struggling to make it, and a huge population of widows and orphans.
The country has come a long way since that bloody war. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission, not unlike that of South Africa of which Archbishop Desmond Tutu was a member, ended its work with sound recommendations that sent the country in a new direction of rebirth and hope.
The article makes a case that while the country has a history of public corruption, it is no worse than Chicago. Since the war, it has had two elections which were the most free, peaceful and fair in all of Africa. The piece goes on to urge the U.S. to restore aid and become more involved in the development of Sierra Leone.
There is another reason I agreed with the article. Two days before in a book store I saw a thick paperback history of the African slave trade going back to around 1350. Sierra Leone was at ground zero. Over 600 years of suffering on both sides of the ocean reached into every country of Europe, and the United States, ending with the columnist describing a soccer game at beautiful Lumley Beach. Every player was missing one limb. The agility, tenacity, courage and spirit moved him deeply.
What hooked me were the people I know from Sierra Leone, highly professional, making great contributions here in Mississippi. What they left, and the new lives they made may not be as dramatic as that soccer game on Lumley Beach, but they also describe the power of hope, with a faith fixed on a vision, and the love and support to attain it.
Many of you reading this may have little knowledge of a small country some would be challenged to find on a map, but all of us can resonate to the indomitable human spirit that says, “Yes I can!”
I know some who read this paper are incarcerated, but yes you can build a life that makes sense and has meaning. Others of you may be home bound or in nursing homes. But, yes you can be inspired and discover meaning in your life.
It is not the cards life deals out to us, but it is how we play them. We don’t do it alone. Our faith is all about dying and rising. Yes we can!
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Raymond.)
Yes, prayer works
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
July 25 , 2008
By Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem
“Are you going to the big fundraiser? “Nope, I’m going to fill up my truck.” So was the caption in a cartoon in the Clarion-Ledger recently. Gas is now over $4 a gallon, and rising, right here in Mississippi.
There was a prayer service (Methodists, Catholics, Episcopalians) on the capitol steps for just immigration reform in our state and country. A new draconian law went into effect July 1, that makes it a felony to work without documents, the first of its kind in the country. Besides filling up our prisons with people who do honest work, the impact on families and children will be catastrophic.
Lions feeding off livestock put themselves at the point of being wiped out. This is going on in Kenya. Yes, it does matter that wild animals are being threatened.
It does matter that the rain forest in South America is at risk because furniture companies in the USA want prize wood. The rain forests generate major amounts of oxygen. Considering what greenhouse gasses are doing to the atmosphere this is critical. Yes, folks, global warming is here.
Housing crisis, massive foreclosures. In one place the mayor ordered the police to stop evicting so many people. Their stuff on the street was being stolen right out from under them, chaos was everywhere.
Jobs. Supply plants for Nissan laying off workers: Johnson Control laid off 142 from its Madison plant, and metal parts assembly plant, PK USA Inc, cut 45 workers in its Canton facility Friday, June 27. More is expected. (C-L July 1, 2008)
Price of gasoline at the pump. Increasing layoffs. Immigrants, living in fear, working low wage jobs to keep their families at home from starving.
The environment. The economy. Immigrant labor. Is this the 21st century introduction to 1929, the Great Depression number 2?
There are eerie similarities. That all American man of letters, Mark Twain, wrote a book about the high and mighty, rich and famous, called it the “Gilded Age of the 1890s.” Then came the crash of `29. Mark Twain coined a new label in the American lexicon: gilded age. This stuck. In fact the last several years, on the outside say, 1981 to the present, life has not been better for the elite and wealthy. Somebody wrote a new book, “The New Gilded Age” noting the similarities then and now.
For all that, the gap between the poor and middle class has never been wider since 1960, with the middle class continuing to crumble. The wealth is not spreading. The rich are getting richer. The wealthy still are small in numbers and are extraordinarily powerful.
Times like these, then and now, drive people into the churches. I remember the `30s, `40s and `50s, people slowly recovering. They would fill up Our Lady of Sorrows at Jackson and Kedzie, in Chicago’s West Side. They would fill the “upper church” and the “lower church,” and out into the streets. The police would cordon it off.
The streets would be packed with people on Friday evenings for the Sorrowful Mother Novena originally compiled by Father Thomas Keane, OSM. It spread all over Chicago and all over the country. Times were hard. People were insecure. Poverty was everywhere spreading like a fungus throughout society.
The people prayed hard then. They are praying hard now.
Guatemalan workers up in Leake County are planning a huge prayer service for protection and justice. The organizer said, “We came together to pray and the (civil) war ended. We pray now for our families who depend on our work to survive. We pray that people know that we contribute to the community.”
Leaders of three faiths, their members, activists and immigrants gathered at the capitol steps to pray for justice.
Does prayer work? Is it like some cynics say, the last throes before defeat? Here in Mississippi when segregation ruled, they came together and prayed. Members of every religion came together and prayed, and those Jericho walls came crashing down, and a new day was born.
Yes, prayer works. No matter what happens in the months ahead. People will pray for just immigration reform. All the legalism in the world will fade away. Another law will bring down these barriers: “You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the native born among you ... you were once aliens in the land of Egypt. I, the Lord, am your God.” (Lev 19:33)
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Raymond.)
Immigrants journey with persistent hope
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
June 13, 2008
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O Praem
The great plains are being ravaged by tornadoes from Kansas to Oklahoma. Nightly news sees homes and neighborhoods turned to matchsticks. We know a lot about tornadoes, as close as northeast Jackson, still putting itself back together, a month after five twisters hit our state. Violence quick and dirty, recovery long and painful.
Then there are the faces of small children, wide-eyed and uncomprehending being comforted in their mothers’ arms in front of a pile of rubble that was their home, in a ravaged town that was their world, the sounds of armored personnel carriers and the tramp of soldiers’ feet fading in the distance. Violence quick and dirty, recovery long and painful.
The slightly bent man with long grey hair tied in a pony tail, is walking west on Capitol Street, very early in the morning. Tan corduroy jacket over faded jeans, definitely the ’70s look, but he is not making a fashion statement, except maybe to advertise “good stuff” he got from the Salvation Army.
His eyes tell you he is somewhere else. He pushes open the chapel door, the community of five priests and four people from the community greet him. He feels a little out of place, but is attentive to the readings, and is riveted to the ritual. He makes the “throne” with his hands and takes the Body broken for him, and drinks the cup of Blood shed for him, and an expression of peace is seen on his face.
He remembers a lot of broken bodies, and rivers of blood from a far off place, no longer in the news. Later on he is seen walking up Robinson toward Dixon Road to the Metro Center, his corduroy jacket and jeans and gray pony tale tell of another time of change, long forgotten. Recovery is long and painful.
The church is full of people with bright dresses from Central America. They sang and prayed fervently, tiny children crawling on the floor. These are the ones Jesus reached out to, and said the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Mothers’ arms snatch them up as their curiosity has them crawling toward the altar.
The band finishes playing, and the community listens how to cope with a new law that makes their hard work for low pay a criminal offense. A week later all kinds of advice is running through the underground networks. They know the church is in solidarity with them, and will be with them.
Words create an invisible prison, concealed by smiles and accommodating hard work, as the workers make the resort sparkle and guests happy. Those outside see nothing but serenity.
With hardly a mention in the media, real prisons run by companies, not the state, emerge just to contain the terrorists trimming chickens and harvesting fruit in the fields. The workers’ low wages help reap huge profits, with nary a peep from them.
Those locked up, having dared to commit felonies for working diligently for these low wages, reap big bucks for those who build and run the prisons. Those outside see nothing but serenity.
On May 22 in a Catholic church in lower Manhattan, they offered a “Mass for the Invisible.” The occasion was to commemorate the death of Boubacar Bah, a 52-year-old tailor from Guinea who overstayed his tourist visa and died in an immigration detention facility run by, you guessed it, CCA (Corrections Corporation of America), a private prison company that runs things on the cheap, and some facilities have little oversight or accountability.
Father Brian Jordan offered this Mass at St. Andrew Church, situated among the courthouses of Manhattan. He said in his homily. “If you are not a citizen, then you are a nonperson. You have no rights.”
He stressed Catholic theology that proclaims the dignity of all life. “Every person counts. No person is illegal. They may do illegal things.” He said, “60 years ago we had a momentous event, the UN Declaration of Human Rights. One has a right to health and to be protected, even in prison.”
Immigration detention is a system with little resemblance to what ordinary Americans think it is. There is hope. The church stands with the immigrants. We can count on that, can’t we?
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Good law must reflect morality
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
May 9, 2008
Two weeks ago, Sister Jean Juliano, DC, told the horrible situation of Indian workers being exploited by the Signal Corporation on the coast. She dramatically outlined the H2 guest worker visa program and quoted Charlie Rangel (D-MI) saying this is the closest thing he has ever seen to slavery. She pointed out this situation exists throughout the country.
When Pope Benedict XVI visited our country he spoke about human rights and immigrants. On the plane to the United States he spoke of protecting immigrant families, not dividing them. He raised the issue the next day with President Bush (New York Times April 20, 2008). Both John Paul II and Benedict XVI speak out for human rights for all people as coming from God.
John Paul II said “(Human rights) are conferred not by governments or institutions, but by the Creator alone, in whose image human beings have been made.” (Gn 1:26) He further says human rights are not only individual rights, but the whole concept includes the family “as the fundamental unit of society” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 16). (Address on the 50th Anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights)
The papal documents, the international conventions and declarations, state the point clearly. Human rights transcend all man made laws, anywhere throughout the world. Scholars and activists all over the globe have written on this and have developed a new model for social change. Oppressed people throughout the world are aware of this approach and have been using it to strive for justice and fairness in each particular situation.
The recent U.S. Human Rights Network Conference in Chicago brought together over 300 organizations working for human rights in a variety of contexts, both national and international. Among these were the leading immigrant rights organizations in our country. All of them are developing ways to address injustice through the lens of human rights.
During the pope’s visit several American bishops condemned the raids at five chicken plants, in five states, belonging to Pilgrim’s Pride arresting 300 people accused of being “illegal immigrants.” Cardinal Mahoney, said, “I was stunned. I just feel these raids are totally negative.”
Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the Committee on Migration of the U.S. bishops said, (These raids) did strike me as inappropriate. The pope comes as a man of peace, a man of good will, the leader of a major religion. Many of the persons arrested were Catholic.”
We should be clear. Our bishops have gone on record advocating giving legal status to undocumented immigrants. They are on the forefront of advocacy for immigrant rights.
The papal statements have energized our bishops and Catholic organizations to continue to press for fair, just and comprehensive immigration reform. This column has reported recent statements our bishops made urging just immigration reform.
Those of us working in social justice can narrate painful cases of abuse to families and individuals they work with. They occur in our parishes and communities. But for many who read the public press these have little influence. What did they used to call us? “bleeding hearts” as if compassion was some sort of defect. Yet our religion is based on it. Just read Mt 25: 31-45.
I urge our readers to familiarize themselves with what our bishops teach on immigration. I especially urge them to see what our Southern bishops have written on this. These are what should guide our thinking.
In the light of the recently passed law here in Mississippi that will make work by undocumented immigrants a felony, up to five years in prison, before being turned over to immigration authorities, our work is cut out for us.
The damage this can do to families is horrible and un-American. Law is not equivalent to morality. Good law must reflect morality. Bad law must be revoked. We dealt with that in the last century, are we condemned to deal with it in this century? We know what is right.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Raymond.)
Jesus told us to work for understanding
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
April 11 , 2008
“It was in Antioch (in Syria) that the disciples were first called Christian” (Acts of the Apostle 11:26)
Spring is bursting all over. Suddenly all the new leaves are on the trees. Midway Road, once visible from the priory road, is concealed by new growth. Strange sounds of creatures that call these woods their home are heard all the time.
We live in this environment, mindful that we live with countless other creatures, all of us praising one Creator. Walking around the lake you must look down, because you just may step on somebody’s home which could have unwelcome consequences.
The earth is beautiful in the spring, like a new day, not yet messed up by anyone. As true as this is, it is not so. All over our little blue and white planet, blood flows like water, and the wailing of torn up families drowns out calls of joy from animals anywhere. Spring always brings promise, and enkindles hope, often short lived.
Easter has come, with promise of eternal victory over evil. The recent issue of America reports thousands of Iraqi Christians, whose faith and ritual goes back to the Apostles, being driven from their lands by fanatics who violate their own religion to do so.
Mohammed preached tolerance toward Christians and Jews, as “People of the Book.” His own cousin was a Christian. So what is going on with religion being turned on its head?
The report stated, “Christians had been fleeing Iraq for years before the U.S. invasion in 2003. The Ancient Assyrian Church of the East saw four-fifths of its members emigrate before 2000.” Saddam persecuted them for their use of Syriac, their language, instead of Arabic, his language.
“Now other Christians are fleeing under combined pressures of radical Islam and the chaos of war.” Their Catholic cousins, the Chaldeans, saw their archbishop of Mosul, Faraj Rahho, kidnapped and murdered. The pressure on Iraqi Christians continues. The loss of these, and other Eastern Christians “diminishes the world Christian community, including the Christian West.” (America, March 24, 2008)
Our technology is beyond the average person’s understanding. There is no longer a fear that the “bomb” will blow us to smithereens. The fear is corporations will no longer profit if they do not have unlimited access to oil. The Middle East is being trashed for greed. The average person is left out in the discussion.
Death-Resurrection. It always comes down to that. Jesus said, “Unless the grain of wheat dies . . . .” But death is such a messy business, especially if it is done violently in the name of fanatical religion.
Nobody is clean in this. Fanaticism, which is fundamentalism on steroids, runs through Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Think about it. Adherents of these three religions together have so much power and wealth, they can blast the planet into a wasteland.
Yet the wisdom of these three religions expounds a unity and inclusiveness among all humanity as children, even images, of God. Clearly we have a challenge in the new millennium. Either we rise to it, or we all suffer, without exception.
This is the 21st century. God has not given up on us. There are brilliant voices of reason and sanity among all three religions calling for calm and dialogue. Throughout the world there are movements and groups promoting inclusiveness and unity as the only solution to continued survival on this planet.
We don’t need another Messiah, we got one and we better begin to understand what he taught. Jesus told us he would be present in all of us, and together we must work for inclusion not division, for integration, not segregation, for understanding not confusion.
Here in Mississippi, the Institute for Interfaith Dialogue continues to bring believers of all religions together in order to appreciate one another, and move us closer toward unity and inclusion that so many died for.
Forty years ago last Friday (April 4) Martin Luther King was assassinated, a martyr for human rights. Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, a martyr for justice. Thomas Merton died in a tragic accident, a monk living his life for greater understanding and religious dialogue all over the world.
I pray that they have not died in vain.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Raymond.)
Unity possible, necessary to survival
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
March 14, 2008
There is no denying the world we live in is a fractured, divided, polarized place. Anyone could fill a page with examples. Every now and then something comes my way that startles me with an open expression of unity in diversity.
I’m at the age when I am hesitant to use slogan phrases. Often they bring up a different context than what the current writer is trying to say. However, with the pressure of television forcing presidential candidates to articulate complex policy programs, not only reducing them to sound bites, but after 3,000 speeches, to mantras. This only adds to dumb down the populace, and the brighter ones search for answers. There is something for another column.
So, I use this slogan “unity in diversity,” wherever it came from, to express something essential about our religion. Over the last few years “Catholic” has been added to many things our church publishes, promotes or otherwise wants us to pay attention to.
However, I have been in groups where this word is very narrowly defined, to the point vast numbers of people and ideas are excluded. Being a lover of words, I thought I would tinker with this, and did some research.
Well, over a millennium and a half ago, the hot button issue in the church was the nature of Jesus Christ. There was a group known as Arians who believed Jesus was not fully divine as the Father. They had major councils to settle such things as these.
It was at one of these councils that an Egyptian (Coptic) bishop, a major theologian, used the word catholic meaning universal, common, what is held by all. He won the big theological argument, and we say the creed that bears his name, the Athanasian Creed.
Thus catholic applied to all Christians who held these universal beliefs. For the next millennium catholic referred to our universality. I should add catholic is an adjective and Christian is a noun, first used in Antioch as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.
It didn’t become widely uses as a noun with a capital “C” until the 16th century. For centuries Christian and Catholic were, for the most part, one and the same. It was also international.
The power of our catholicity, in fact, creates a big tent. It reaches worldwide, including representatives from every nation and culture on the planet. Many of us experience this when we leave our country and encounter fellow Catholic Christians from other places with customs all their own.
We don’t have to travel to do that. Our country has, in one way or another, become the home of just about every other nationality on the planet. Cultures and languages proliferate and are preserved.
I see this going on right here. Our Catholic Church here in Mississippi reflects the country. We celebrate Encuentro with the Hispanic population, and just last week the Black Catholic Congress had its annual day of reflection. In both we see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit among everyone who attends one of these events.
The cultural differences, the styles of worship, the exuberance and joy, only make our unity stronger. When people truly share their faith, it is not with words or arguments, it is from the heart. It is a sharing of the Holy Spirit that makes us one, holy, catholic and apostolic.
I can resonate when I see the faith I was raised in expressed in harmony and rhythm, in clapping and swaying that makes you feel the presence of God all around you. At the same time, not missing a beat in the ancient rituals, the breaking of the bread, the sharing of the cup, we recognize the presence of Jesus and one another as his disciples, the same way the two recognized him on the road to Emmaus.
In Clarksdale, the heart of the blues, I felt the Spirit pull us together, for a time, healing the wounds of the centuries. There is something so catholic about this. Our different styles only reinforce our common faith. It is Catholic with a capital “C.”
Our common faith is a witness to our fractured, polarized country, likely to be more polarized, that unity is not only possible, but is a necessity for our little blue and white planet and its inhabitants to survive.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Raymond.)
‘Who really benefits from immigrant labor?’
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
February 8, 2008
As Catholics we must know and appreciate our church’s teaching on social justice. This forms our Catholic conscience regarding the immigration debate.
The U.S. bishops’ have issued statements: “Voices and Choices” The Bishops of the South, 2000; and “Strangers No Longer,” the U.S. and Mexican Bishops, 2003.
In 2007 Catholic responses to the immigration issue in Congress included the “Statement Regarding the Failure of the Senate’s Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill,” Cardinal Roger Mahoney, Los Angeles; “Statement of the Executive Directors of the Conference of the Major Superiors of Men, and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious on the Failure of Congress to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” and the “Letter from the Catholic Bishops of North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina to members of Congress in Three States.”
All of these unambiguously defend immigrant rights. They defend the right to migrate. They defend worker rights and the right to dialogue and advocate for humane and just working conditions. They defend these people as possessing human rights, and the fact they must be treated with respect.
They condemn, in all its forms, racist and inhumane treatment of immigrants. This is the church’s teaching. You will rarely see this in the media.
I don’t often take up this issue. I defer to Sister Jean Juliano, DC, who has been teaching us the church’s position, and our position in the struggle for immigrant justice in Mississippi. Many of us in the coalitions and advocacy groups we work with will do our best to prevent old-time racism from crafting policies in the guise of immigration reform.
The current session of the Mississippi Legislature is dealing with its version of “immigration reform.” The rhetoric will become so hot reason will jump out the window. Before we go through this, let us look at just what is driving this migration of labor.
Supply and demand expresses much of it. The demand for cheap labor by U.S. corporations, the lack of jobs in Mexico, Guatemala, the Caribbean, or elsewhere south of the border. The age-old urge to migrate to fend off starvation.
Desperate people willing and able to work at any job they can get to feed their families is the simplest way to frame the issue. Then increase the need at both ends, and we have a mass migration.
It has happened before in our country. European migration that diversified America, had to fight the same kind of hatred Latin American migrants face. People who lived through that say it was survival of the fittest.
What is different? NAFTA and CAFTA for starters. Both of these treaties opened up Latin America to U.S. products. Cheap American corn drives native growers out of business. As this is being written the price of tortillas in Mexico has tripled.
The same thing is going on in Haiti. The poor are literally eating dirt cookies to kill the hunger pains because rice has become unaffordable. Why? Because food prices around the world have spiked, because of higher oil prices needed for fertilizer, irrigation and transportation.
Prices for basic ingredients such as corn and wheat are also up sharply, and the increasing global demand for biofuels is pressuring food markets as well. The problem is very acute in the Caribbean where island nations depend on imports and food prices are up 40 percent in some places. (Clarion-Ledger, Jan. 30, 2008)
Merely explaining crises like these in economic terms excuses nothing. This, going on just off the coast of the richest most consuming nation in the world is inexcusable.
A mass migration is under way, and no wall, no army, no prisons can stop it. It is driven by hunger and the need for work. It supplies an unlimited supply of the cheapest labor, akin to slavery, to the biggest American corporations who depend on the system to survive. Its chief product is inequality.
This is consciously planned to keep profits high and labor cheap.
No immigration policy will work, unless this exploitation is addressed.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Raymond.)
Light has shown in land of gloom
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
This time of year we get to hear very inspirational and powerful poetry from the Bible, especially the Book of Isaiah. When you read this I will have slogged in the snow, perhaps got stuck in airports, and seen frozen fellow travelers grateful to come in out of the cold.
Leaving beautiful Mississippi in the winter, to head into the heart of it, takes will power; but the Scripture is right on time, as gray skies and snow flurries blur the vision. I think of Isaiah 9: 1, “Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom, a light has shown.” That could not come at a better time than the winter solstice, the longest nights, the shortest days, and up North, the snow and freezing rain.
People need more than football games to cheer them up this time of year. Recently I saw the light shining in a piece about a very dedicated lady out our way near Raymond, who makes lights shine in minds dulled by isolation and self hate, lives already messed up that makes their future uncertain. A petite septuagenarian, she radiates optimism and educational expertise.
Her students are locked up, but she says the key to opening their minds is, “You have to convince them they’re not what people have been telling them they are.” They complete their GED, and all look to her like their grandma. They may not have broken the cycle from the schoolhouse to the jailhouse, but they are given hope for a second chance. “A light has shown in the land of gloom.”
More lights shining in the land of gloom are two women in Holmes County who have made it their lifework to help young people break the cycle from the schoolhouse to the jailhouse. The key is education and they are active in Holmes County to do everything possible to prevent the school system from failing youth.
They have formed a coalition, “Prevention of the Schoolhouse to the Jailhouse Coalition.” It is state-wide. It is intergenerationally led after the model of Southern Echo, another group shining light into the gloom, and bringing people hope.
This month, on Dr. Martin Luther King Day, they will come from all over the state to the capitol steps for a huge youth rally. As in the past, young people will speak out for juvenile justice and for education. These youth are focused and dedicated. They, themselves, are lights shining. I see them as future leaders.
Seeing them each year, I think of so many just like them, still wandering in the land of gloom. This rally is another side of Christmas just past. There are prayers offered, a little preaching maybe, lots of singing and cheers, but surely they reflect that God has not abandoned them, why he is right there putting fire in their bellies to work hard that education reaches everyone, and really breaks the rails and stops the train from the schoolhouse to the jailhouse.
That other verse from Isaiah 9, a verse of liberation comes to mind, “The rod of their taskmaster, you have smashed, as on the day of Midian. A child is born to us, a son given to us . . . They name him wonder-counselor.”
The key to freedom is education, no getting around that. It benefits everyone. A Federal Bureau of Prisons study found the more education completed, the lower the recidivism (landing back in jail). Also several studies have shown inmates who participate in education programs are less likely to return to prison upon their release.
Other studies have shown the longer students stay in school, especially schools which provide better quality education, crime rates are actually lowered and youth stay out of the criminal justice system.
In the gloom of winter it is good to applaud those who bring light and hope. We surely need it.
A new year, fresh light, new hope! Yes he became one of us and he is with us to the end. Have a blessed New Year!
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
A little child will lead them
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
Engaging in the struggle for justice for immigrants and a fair immigration policy, which Sister Jean Juliano, DC, writes so well about in this paper, we should not overlook the situation of children who are refugees.
Here in Jackson, Catholic Charities’ Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program has been in this work since 1980. We are familiar in their resettling Sudanese refugee youth. From our efforts and others throughout the country came the documentary “The Lost Boys of Sudan” that raised the nation’s consciousness.
Today (Dec. 14), two Haitian youth will go through an emancipation ceremony surrounded by caring foster parents, peers and dedicated Catholic Charities staff. This is an affirming rite of passage recognizing often silent but heroic efforts to rebuild lives from chaos. They take confident first steps to begin again in a new country.
This puts a new face on the issue of immigration. I participated in several of these ceremonies, and the courage of these youth energizes me. The best of America came from immigrants fleeing oppression, and who is more vulnerable than youth coming from oppressive regimes?
Haiti has a long and proud history, and has given us creative geniuses who have enriched our own culture. The powerful writer, Edwidge Danticat, left Haiti and resettled to Brooklyn at the age of 12. She mastered three languages, producing novels depicting the struggle of Haiti today.
Her current book, “Brother I’m Dying”, tells her own father’s last illness and his difficulty with American immigration bureaucracy that hastened his death. Her stories show the warm and courageous spirit of the Haitian people steeped in Catholicism and indigenous religions that sustained them over three centuries of paying the price of successfully throwing off the yoke of slavery.
Then there are Salvadorans fleeing a repressive regime trying to find a little peace. We all remember the Jesuits and their housekeeper murdered, and the witness of Archbishop Oscar Romero.
Yet walk down the street and hear the languages and accents, and see the people from many countries, and you don’t think like this. You see them as individuals like the rest of us. However, today there is a virulent hatred of anybody who isn’t “standard (white) American.” That is the standard everyone is measured against. A false fear of “the other” is rendering the country paranoid. Just see Eugene Robinson’s piece on his attendance at the American Anthropological Society Convention. He describes Americans, members of the most powerful nation on earth, living behind walls, popping pills to prevent diseases they may never get, and looking at the world with an “us or them” mentality. Then talk radio spews out the vomit of talking heads stoking people’s fears of losing their identity in a morass of “foreign languages.”
This is the nation built on immigrants. This is the nation campaigning to save Ellis Island, where “our ancestors came speaking German, French, Swedish, Polish, Italian, etc. and built America.” Maybe so but the ad fails to mention the virulent nativist prejudice they had to endure.
In our state the target groups come from Central and South America. They are struggling against an exploitive and unjust system. They come from oppressive and poverty-stricken places. Often it is American trade policies that render their communities powerless to compete.
They migrate to find work. Migration is a right, our bishops tell us. They come and work long hours in bad conditions. They pay taxes. They live in poor communities. They fill our churches. They speak Spanish, but they are us. We don’t know that yet, or we deny it. They are us. They must make it or we all fail
Next month the state Legislature is back in session. We will hear old-time Jim Crow racist propaganda directed against these immigrants. I am going on record (again) to say none of that is American even if it is wrapped in the flag. It is the same stuff we struggled against, black, white and brown, to achieve some level of civil rights, a better quality of life for our children. Let’s not target families, like us, who struggle. Let us attack an unfair system and urge our Legislators, both local and national, to create a fair, just and honorable immigration policy based on the teachings of our church.
I look back at the two Haitian youth just graduated from our program. They could tell me a thing or two about oppression. They are smiling. Hope and promise radiates off them. Never mind. They make this old man feel upbeat. It will get better. It always does.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Witnesses show where Spirit leads
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
November 16 , 2007
The recent convocation of priests, deacons and lay/religious ecclesial ministers, which was covered so well in this publication, is worth a second look. It was held in historic Natchez, the cradle of Catholicism in our region.
It was significant in many ways. This time the presenters and panelists were all from our diocese. Also, for the first time, the religious/lay pastoral ministers (now called lay ecclesial ministers) participated and presented during the last day and a half.
Some people recommended they participate at all the convocation the next time. Forty percent of Catholic churches are run by lay ministers. Priest sacramental ministers are circuit riders.
This seems like a new development, but we were reminded this was the norm for a good part of Catholic history in Mississippi. There were many inspiring presenters who made us excited about a new possibility of evangelizing and sustaining faith communities, rather than see this as merely the fading out of priests and recruiting lay ministers as “temporary.”
Presenter after presenter quoted the documents of Vatican II and helped us see where the Spirit is leading. Yes, I prefer to see the glass half full rather than half empty.
The powerful witness from the elders who lived through the tumultuous changes that befell Mississippi and the church in the last century demonstrated that we stand on strong shoulders. Father Patrick Farrell’s remembering those days set things in a good balance reflecting the wisdom of years of experience. Every one of the presenters gave heartfelt and sincere testimony witnessing to their own faith, and encouraged the rest of us.
The Glenmarys and the Sacred Heart Fathers and Brothers have been working for years in “No Priest Land USA.” Typical for them are tiny communities that sustained themselves until a priest got there, whenever that was. They have been doing this over a century.
Father Tim Murphy, a Glenmary in Pontotoc, reassured us small is good, and lay people have always worked with them as collaborators. In fact the majority of the lay ecclesial ministers at the conference were from North Mississippi, the part with the fewest Catholics. Tim felt totally secure, and in fact excited the church is opening up ministry to lay people like this.
He and other presenters, like Sister Liz Brown over in Okolona, who has been ministering up there over 20 plus years, is very secure in her role, speaking professionally about demographics, poverty indices, outreach to non-Catholics, although the Vatican II term, “Separated Brothers and Sisters” was most often used.
Collaboration is more than between clergy and laity in ministry together, but also with other faith communities as well. Mississippi Catholic history is replete with examples of Protestants helping out Catholics and vice versa.
The religious priests, brothers and sisters present at the meeting seemed most comfortable with, and excited by the possibilities opening up. The diocesan clergy were also enthusiastic, but expressed more concern about covering places and the future of small churches and sustaining sacramental ministry.
I must mention Father Henry Shelton’s presentation on social justice as a powerful witness of what he and his colleagues are doing in Tupelo. The outreach is to everyone. We developed on the many ramifications of evangelization.
Father Elvin Sunds reminded us we are definitely at a point of transition, and have been for several years. Change is painful, he said, but it is a sign new growth is taking place. He urged us to be excited by new possibilities and to trust God who always sees us through.
Yes, there is the negative side. There is a history of religious and racial bigotry that, unfortunately, is not dead. Just a few days after this energizing conference the Ku Klux Klan marched in Tupelo. Hatred is still with us this century, yet we have the talent and the means to stamp it out. True religion dispels hatred and lies.
The witness of the caliber of those gathered in Natchez can meet these challenges. Vatican II awakened the laity like a sleeping giant. The readings from the Letter to the Romans these past weeks tell us of the power that comes from baptism. Lay people are answering the call. All of us, clergy, religious and laity are coming together in collaborative ways to make the church in Mississippi not merely survive, but thrive to be a beacon of reconciliation in the 21st century.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
‘I will send my angel to guard you’
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
October 12 , 2007
A front page story in today’s Clarion Ledger (Oct. 2) reports Tallahatchie County will formally apologize to the family of Emmett Till, and the nation, for the horrible atrocity and travesty of justice that occurred in that courtroom in Sumner, Miss., in 1955. The ceremony will take place today in Sumner, and relatives of Emmett Till will be there. State Sen. David Jordan, a civil rights icon in his own right, will preside.
It is good to see justice and closure in these long standing civil rights cases. We still need healing, lots of healing for the sins of our parents and grandparents for so many, many years of bad things.
I remember Emmett Till vividly. We would be the same age. I was in eighth grade in Chicago, watching our black and white TV reporting the events in Mississippi, which to me was a dangerous and alien land.
I remember the funeral at the church on South State Street. Jet Magazine’s famous photographs of the open casket let all the world see the results of evil up close.
Years later, grown and a priest, I remember talking to A.A. “Sammy” Raynor about it at many a funeral. It was his funeral home that handled the arrangements. By that time the funeral home was across 71st Street from St. Columbanus Church, of which he was a member and a Knight of Peter Claver. We had many a friendly chat over the years, until he was called home to God.
I bring this up, because over the years as these cases get resolved one way or another, and closure takes place, and people say, as (Senator) Jordan was quoted, “A metamorphosis has taken place (in Mississippi]),” a funny feeling creeps over me. Something isn’t quite right.
Things like racism, anti-Semitism, prejudice against one group or another, just don’t disappear. I know, you will remind me of my optimism in the big year 2000, for my hope for the new millennium. I even call my column “Millennial Reflections,” because I have an abiding hope for positive social change in our nation and the world.
Then I see it. Incident after incident. Laws and policies people died for, being chipped away, piece by piece. Then there is Jena, La. When this first popped up, I was the little eighth grader who wondered, “Where was Mississippi?” trying to figure out, “Where is Jena, La.?” As this outrage continues to unfold, my unrelenting optimism kept denying, “How can this be, 40 years later?” There it was, in all its ugliness.
I was blessed to be around people as shocked and concerned as I was. Everyone quietly knew what had to be done. There are so many good people here in Mississippi. Groups quietly organized. Before dawn (what did Thomas Merton say? “It is darkest before the dawn.”) a bus from Tougaloo College, another hallowed spot that sustained the movement, and Jackson State University moved on to I-20 toward Monroe, then Jena. I, too, with a United Auto Workers (UAW) organizer headed to where we had to be.
I will talk like a religious, for the Holy Spirit was in that place. Over 60,000 people (believe nothing less…) were moving like one organism. Everyone was family. I spoke to people from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Ohio, New York, New Mexico, Arizona. I mean the nation was in Jena that day. Yes we rallied for justice. We prayed for justice. We knew it will turn out all right.
I mean the big picture. This new, 21st century has begun its own struggle for human rights. Jena was the first major civil, but now it has become human, rights action this century.
We look at pictures of our heroes in the last century. We experience the “metamorphosis” as Jordan calls it. I study their expressions. They had to struggle with the only enemy that can defeat those who struggle for change. That enemy is fear. What conquered fear for them, is what conquered fear for us, faith in God. The rock faith of the “Three Young Men” in the fiery furnace, who were protected by the angel (Daniel 3:16-27), protected us.
In the midst of this outrage, becoming more intense as details unfold, we had an inner serenity that comes to those who are doing what is right. We were family that day. As St. Augustine says, we “were of one mind and one heart in God.” We were of one mind and one heart doing the work of God.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Separated brothers might have common mother
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
September 14 , 2007
A few weeks ago many of us had the chance to see Christanne Amanpour’s three nights of videos on “God’s Warriors,” the militant and fundamentalist wings of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It was powerful and informative.
She herself is in the mix with a Muslim father, a Catholic mother and a Jewish husband (married in a Catholic ceremony, by the way). She is quite open about her multicultural and multi-religious upbringing, and felt it helps give her a good balance in this crazy world we live in.
None of what she presented represented the mainstream Jews, Christians and Muslims. In Turkey there is a knee jerk rejection of extremism as anathema (to use a Catholic term).
Historians and scholars can trot out tons of evidence of how Jews, Christians and Muslims actually lived in harmony for centuries. This writer can attest to Catholic Christian Arabs and their Muslim neighbors sharing in each others’ feast days, in a natural ordinary way.
To bring this up now, somebody would immediately find fault with it, or dismiss it as propaganda. Yet Melkite (Catholic) Christians still call God Allah in their prayers. There is a lot more to this than meets the eye.
Msgr. Joe Champlin, famous for his “Together in Christ” marriage prep for Catholics of my generation, is involved in the Catholic Muslim dialogue. He lists 10 things we share in common. Of course among these are some things we don’t agree on, but that’s what makes interreligious dialogue, accepting the differences, and building relationships of love and trust.
(1) Catholics and Muslims believe in one God, that is we both believe in the same God. Much of what the Quran says about God echoes the Bible.
(2) Catholics and Muslims believe in divine assistance.
(3) Catholics and Muslims practice daily prayer. Muslims pray five times a day. We who pray the Liturgy of the Hours pray anywhere from two to seven times a day, those of us who don’t often say grace before meals, attend morning Mass.
(4) Catholics and Muslims practice weekly worship. Muslims worship on Friday. (Jews worship on Saturday and Christians on Sunday.)
(5) Catholics and Muslims practice fasting for spiritual discipline. Ramadan is their month long fast from everything from sunup to sundown. Before dawn they take breakfast, and after sundown they eat dinner with friends and neighbors, often including their Christian neighbors. They call it Iftar. This goes on the whole month. The practice of fasting is alive and well in both religions.
(6) Almsgiving. This is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, and is common to Catholics and Muslims to give alms and do outreach and care for the poor and vulnerable.
(7) Catholics and Muslims have holy places and shrines. I have been to several such as the Dome of the Rock, where Muhammad ascended to heaven, much like St. Paul was carried to the “third heaven,” to affirm his mission, and then brought back; the Cave of Abraham in Urfa, where I found Catholics and Muslims revering our common patriarch; Mary’s House in Ephesus, where Catholics and Muslims were in force honoring the Virgin Mary. Rosaries and prayer beads were in abundance there.
(8) People of the Book. Throughout the Quran, the people of the book, Christians and Jews, who have divinely revealed Scriptures are mentioned, and must be respected and honored.
(9) Abraham. He is our common ancestor.
(10) Jesus and Mary. Muslims have a deep reverence for Jesus (Issa) and the Virgin Mary (Maryam). They believe, as we do, that Mary was a virgin and gave birth to Jesus by the power of God. They name their children Issa and Maryam.
Mary’s house at Ephesus brings Catholics and Muslims together as one. When I was there I had a new appreciation of Mary bringing Catholics and Muslims together in dialogue to achieve a real unity in diversity. Muslims do not see Jesus as a Messiah, nor have any understanding of the Trinity.
However, they see Jesus as the greatest of God’s prophets or messengers, and Jesus will come to judge the world. They believe Muhammad didn’t invent anything, but picked up where Jesus left off.
Yes, there are major differences between Catholics and Muslims. However, of all the different “brands” of Christians, Catholics and Muslims have most in common.
Even what separates us the most (the Trinity and nature of Jesus) is also a bonding force in that both of us revere Jesus, and his mother. The 19th Sura (chapter) of the Quran is all about Mary. We must learn about each other, for knowledge dispels fear, and love forges unity.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Some differences matter, others don’t
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
August 17, 2007
Unity. What does it take to bring people together?
“Unity in diversity” is a motto of God knows how many groups, but how do we get there? We lived through a time where we thought we got there, but, alas, it was premature.
I would venture to say that much failure was not paying attention to differences that matter. Now some differences do not matter, but those that do, are usually weighted down with some social, religious, political, or other elements that make them symbols of identity.
With technology — the Internet, satellite telephones, high speed travel — the world becomes very small. Much of what makes us who we are has not changed, and cannot be changed, despite instant communication.
Add to that, this century is beginning with a resurgence of divisiveness, raising up the walls, isolating people, creating fear and suspicion fed by ignorance. We seem to have taken a 180-degree turn from the direction of things we took for granted a mere 30 years ago.
Now, more than then, we need to discover unity, merely for the sake of survival on this small blue and white planet floating in the void. Technology alone demands this. Misunderstanding can have catastrophic consequences.
This could be a great introduction to a speech blasting certain political directions and events of recent years, but that’s too easy. When we reflect on unity, we are not just talking about dialogue and compromise and getting along. When we talk about unity, we think about what makes us one species, human. What is there that we all have in common? I find this interesting from a religious perspective.
Vatican II opened a big door to religious dialogue and acceptance. It spawned an ecumenical movement for the next 40 years. Despite the contrary, it is still going on. It may stumble here and there, but it still is ongoing.
For example, despite what the media said about the pope getting Muslims mad at him for quoting a 14th century Byzantine emperor, the Muslims in Turkey still spoke with pride when he went to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and prayed with the Muslim leaders for unity and what we share in common (which is more than most people think).
When John XXIII was beatified the Turks called him “Turkey’s first pope” in recognition of all the good he did in Turkey when he was the Vatican’s representative. Now that is a gesture!
Unity is more than symbols and gestures, as powerful as they are, and despite the genuine good they do. Unity is always a goal, but never fully achieved. This new millennium and this century need to review the basics that we learned during the turbulent “century of change” that we just completed.
Perhaps that is the problem — the millennium. People go crazy when a millennium is crossed. The last time it happened all kinds of strange things happened. They are happening again. It’s like “Man the lifeboats, every person for themselves, the world is going to end!”
We forget the world has ended, many times. A mindset of fear of attack raises barriers, and makes the mass of people weak, like sheep, easily manipulated. How many times have I heard in the last few weeks in U.S. airports, “The threat level is orange.”
The crowds just kept on moving, heading for their plane or the nearest Borders or Barnes and Noble. Yet those messages subliminally contribute to an underlying uneasiness. We have new things to contend with now.
Yet despite what leaders warn, people really want to come together. There are interfaith movements throughout the country bridging the religious divide, and bringing people together. No, it’s not some conversion technique. It is not stirring up some unrecognizable religious gumbo.
It is people appreciating their own and others religious traditions, to see what they hold dear reflected in the other. This gives hope. Perhaps humanity does have a future, and good things will yet come to be.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
Black Catholics celebrate with joyful noise, holy silence
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem
July 20, 2007
Soon there will be a feature story and pictures of Congress X in Buffalo New York of the gathering of the National Black Catholic Congress.
Begun in the late 1800s as a result of the work of Daniel Rudd, and reborn with a contemporary face by Sister Thea Bowman in the 1980s, the National Black Catholic Congress has been a unifying and spiritual force for black Catholics, and those close to them, all over the country. Even those who have never heard of it are benefiting from the many positions and directives this organization has taken.
I would like to share my reflections in order to illustrate something of the Catholicity in the church we call Catholic.
Over 2300 people attended this event in the Buffalo Convention Center. The area is rich in African American history being the terminal of the Underground Railroad. The spirit of Harriett Tubman permeates the place. (Of course something could be said for Niagara Falls I suppose.)
This event has become truly international. Several African countries were represented as well as Latin American and Caribbean nations as well. The diversity illustrated the world from the vantage point of people of color. We were all one, giant, humongous extended family. People were reconnecting with friends from all over the country. Personally, I met an old friend I hadn’t seen in 40 years!
When we sang and praised the Lord it was one voice and one spirit. However this year the gospel sound occasionally gave way to progressive jazz. Dr. Kevin Johnson is an absolute precious resource.
As author, composer and professor of music at Spellman College in Atlanta, he has taken black Catholic music a step beyond Father Clarence Rivers, Grayson Brown, Sister Bowman, true pioneers in moving our liturgy to reflect the gifts and culture of African Americans.
Dr. Johnson shared with us a paper he is publishing that describes a perfect fit between the free, spirit filled style of African American music with the flow and structure of the Roman liturgy.
For instance, he has several recordings of psalm responses and Masses in different styles illustrating the rich variety of black church music that fit with the responses between the scripture readings. He has also recorded a jazz Mass that reflects the solemnity and reverence as well as the joyfulness expressed in our liturgy.
Those who think of black church music as shouting and praising with a strong beat were treated to styles no less spirit filled but complemented the holy times and silent times when we are in communion with God in the Eucharist.
From joyful noise to holy silence his music expressed the full range and gifts of African American liturgical music that made our liturgies truly Catholic and black, and you can take away the “and.”
The Mass choir under his direction blended well with the ritual and solemnity of the nation’s black bishops, deacons and priests during the Liturgies. Dr. Johnson was raised in the Catholic Church and loves it. For him being black and Catholic is as natural as pants going with a shirt.
Another highlight for me was the introduction to centering prayer by Abbot Emeritus Thomas Keating, OCSO, of Snowmass Abbey in Colorado. Many know him in Jackson when he presented this workshop here some years back. His presence made us all feel how rich our Catholic spirituality is.
The session I attended was packed. There he was in his black and white Trappist habit perfectly at home articulating clear and convincingly, how anyone can experience God and Jesus within them.
In another session he used the documents of Vatican II to illustrate the four ways Jesus is present in the Eucharist. He pointed out, among other things, that holy Communion is the closest union with God we can get and as Paul says, makes us the Body of Christ. He spoke, as Scripture says, “As one who has authority, not as the scribes.” His presence alone lifted all of us.
I can also share with you the powerful workshops on prison ministry, Catholic relief services in Africa, and immigration reform. All were well attended. Instead I share some of the spiritual force that keeps people “coming back to congress” every five years.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem, lives at St. Moses the Black.)
West meets East (Part two)
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem
June 22, 2007
Here is part two from my trip to Turkey with 21 others as travelers and pilgrims attempting to rediscover our religious past in order to continue dialogue between all religions.
Sponsored by the Institute of Interfaith Dialogue based in Texas and Mississippi, we were hosted by Turkish Muslims sincerely seeking interfaith dialogue between Christians and Jews.
In future columns I will get specific about what this means, and make you aware of the ongoing Catholic-Muslim dialogue.
Turkey is an ideal place to begin this journey. What is now Turkey saw the development of Christianity and Islam to become towering expressions of their culture and theology. In this same place are colossal ruins of colossal failure in religious dialogue leading to the historic catastrophe we still live with.
In this same place we can encounter the presence of Abraham, our ancestor in the faith, a beautiful devotion to the Virgin Mary and deep reverence for Jesus, “who will come and judge the world and reconcile it with God.”
In this place we see reverence for the covenant between God and humanity, and its deliverance through Moses. Abraham (Ibrahim), Moses (Mousa), Jesus (Issa), and Mary (Maryam), the very pillars of our faith, have a deep devotion and reverence by Muslims.
The power of faith runs all over the Anatolian plains and into the caves at Cappadocia. Those great fathers Gregory, Basil, and Gregory are all over. Kayseri (Ceasarea) was the see of one Gregory, Nesfehir (Nyssa) the see of another Gregory, and Basil, compiler of the liturgy that bears his name, still have powerful memorials in Cappadocia.
The place looks like New Mexico with rock formations like beehives, and natural and man-made caves bringing back the monks of old who walked and talked in perfect submission to God long before Islam, the religion of submission to God, appeared on the scene.
The chapels inside with frescoes, Greek icons of Mary (Theotokos), Jesus (Pantocrator), and John the Baptist, always appear above the stone altar. They are so fresh. Newer ones are 12th century.
Christians and others hid here for protection. Things like the Mongol Invasions, which triggered to a large extent the Turkish-Muslim westward expansion, draw a blank with most of us. To all of us much of this was new. Our “Western Civilization” courses never went east of the Elbe. The Ottoman Empire was the blob on the map giving the name of the mapmaker.
Being the only Catholic in the group, which really blended well, it was interesting to see how my Protestant friends connected with our common Christian past. Another big lacuna in education. “Beautiful art!” was the general response, while I touched an ancient icon and crossed myself.
First impressions. We crossed into a parallel universe. When we entered Aya Sofia, the greatest church in Christendom, built by Emperor Justinian, “Holy Wisdom,” it stood out as a relic of the tragic history of Christian failure to dialogue.
Much of it is still the way the crusaders left it after they stripped it of anything they could move. When Mhemet II conquered Constantinople, this was his crown jewel. He was aghast at its condition. He had buttresses built to keep it standing. Despite its conversion to a mosque and reconversion to a museum, the Ottomans get the credit for it not turning into a pile of brick and stone.
Later I spoke with the Imam at the Blue Mosque across the square from Aya Sofia. He showed where he and Pope Benedict XVI prayed. He also was moved that the pope prayed as the Muslims do. As a further move to dialogue, the Holy Father presented the ecumenical patriarch with an icon from Hagia Sophia stolen by the crusaders almost 900 years ago. He lives in the Phanar, the last link to Christian Constantinople.
Today we need dialogue more than ever. Fear is bred by ignorance. Most Americans know nothing about Islam, I mean nothing. Fanatics running around in old fashioned clothes hurling bombs are a disgrace to Islam. Yet we see that nightly and get a distorted view of the religion. I will have more to say on that.
Yes Turkey is the place to begin dialogue between Christians and Muslims. Our failures are out in the open, and the need for honest and prayerful dialogue is screaming at us.
To see God working among Christians and Muslims to create this dialogue is so powerful for us. There will be a part three, maybe more. Despite what we hear, there is so much hope. God is so good.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem, lives at St. Moses the Black.)
Children of Abraham need to make peace, talk
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem
May 11, 2007
The Internet is truly an amazing thing. I am not of the wired generation who have “Blackberry” devices that are like a second electronic mind. I was in an airport with a friend of mine who edited a report, updated the appointment calendar, made phone calls, all to people both in and out of the country.
The Internet has us all so connected that everything becomes local. Sometimes virtual reality and the real thing become blurred. Then there is the speed of jet travel. People can be transported both electronically and physically so efficiently and safely, that only a few short years ago these were undreamed of.
By way of contrast, a few years ago a two-volume translation into English appeared of letters from the pioneer Norbertines in the 1800s recounting their missionary efforts in northeastern Wisconsin. The struggle to go just a few miles by horse and wagon in a December blizzard make one cold just to read it.
Similar records exist here describing transportation and communication across Mississippi. Bishop John Chance’s diaries describe his travels through Warren, Claiborne and Adams counties. These accounts describe what takes 45 minutes today as half-a-day journey or more. Back then the separation made each place unique, and the effort to get there only underlined the differences.
Today the planet is becoming a village, but differences of historic dimensions remain, and unless they are respected and understood no means of travel or communication will make them any more understood.
It is not the convenience, ease or safety in travel and communication, it is understanding the people and places we reach out to that is important. The survival of humanity depends on this. Despite our technology we are doing a very bad job at this.
I am not going to bore you with yet another account of manufactured fear, the “war on terror” or anything you haven’t already heard about whether from me or anybody else. The simple fact is, yes we have made the world smaller, and there are people different than we are, and that alone is reason enough to get to know them and learn from them.
The truth is, all human history is interconnected. The more we know about one another, the better we all are.
This is really a two part column. When you read this, I’ll be preparing to leave for Turkey with a group of Jacksonians sponsored by the Institute for Interfaith Dialogue (IID). Remember them? Some of you outside of the metro area may not know what I am talking about. A few years ago they came to Jackson’s Thalia Mara Hall with the “Whirling Dervishes” of Rumi.
They belong to the Sufi Order of Islam noted for its mysticism. Rumi was a 13th century poet and mystic whose poetry has an uncanny similarity to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Blessed Herman Joseph of Steinfeld, Hildegard of Bingen, and a few centuries later, St. John of the Cross. All of them wrote of their experiences of union with God. All mystics seem to reach up and beyond religious limitations, but that’s another piece.
Rumi’s poetry has been very popular in this country and our trip marks his 800th birthday. Over the years we have been adapting some things from the Sufis perhaps without knowing they are Muslim, such as the enneagram, a very popular device at retreats for self reflection.
The IID has sponsored an annual interfaith dinner in Jackson, and has brought together Catholic, Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist, Hindu, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, and each year, a new religious representative to celebrate the efforts of all religions in their journey to God.
This interfaith trip to Turkey will bring us to the Christian and Muslim shrines that have been central in their formation. Places like Ephesus, Nicea, Cappadocia, call to mind Paul and Barnabas, whom we have been reading about, and Gregory and Basil, the great councils of the early church. Istanbul (Constantinople) also calls to mind the Ottoman emperors like Sultan Ahmet I, who built the Blue Mosque in 1609 across the plaza from Hagia Sophia, built by the Roman Emperor Justinian between 532-537 AD, the major cathedral of the Byzantine Church. It was the most beautiful church in Christendom for centuries.
So much of this faded from Catholic radar after the Schism of 1054 and the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans, May 29, 1453. Yet our histories have been forever intertwined. The latest chapter is Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.
With all the terrible things going on in the Middle East, it is imperative that the Children of Abraham make peace and talk to each other. The Roman Canon speaks of Abraham, “our father in faith” and every evening in vespers we recall “the promises made to our ancestors, to Abraham’s heirs forever.” Stay tuned.
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem, lives at St. Moses the Black Priory, Jackson.) |
