‘Humility gave me strength in my struggle’
By Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
January 13, 2012
“Millennial Reflections” attempts to chronicle the changes in social issues from the end of the 1900s to the beginning and into the 2000s. Really it is nothing more than from one century to another. Looking back there is more in common between the 20th century through the 1920s and the last  quarter of the 19th century.
Distance makes us see that, though back in the day people would object, after all the “Roaring Twenties” after World War I cheered the “War to end all wars.” They did not see the precipice ahead.
Today is similar in some ways. The economic collapse is compared often to the Great Depression. President Obama’s fight with Congress is compared to FDR’s fight with Congress. Pundits see the same resistant ideologies then and now.
Through this entire period the church has crafted a social justice doctrine that is a light pointing to the end of the tunnel. Human dignity is its ground. Simply put, everyone has dignity and worth just by existing, being here. All the polarity around “life issues,” including opposition to the death penalty, only reinforces this point.
The Catholic Church in Mississippi (its two dioceses) is speaking out to the Legislature about poverty. Poverty is an affront to human dignity. It is dehumanizing. To fight to eliminate poverty is pro-Gospel, it speaks to human dignity.
Yet as we have written recently, it will be much harder to get a fair hearing, let alone influence legislation. We spoke about the power of witness, now we want to talk about the affront to human dignity.
Though it may seem very redundant, even depressing, to record and publicize the negative impact of legislative and policy decisions on the poor by depicting struggling families or individuals, at the same time it is a direct statement against the hypocrisy of the powers that be.
For example, consciousness is raised when the Capitol is filled with people in wheelchairs speaking to the effects of cutbacks to programs vital to them. When rural people fill the Capitol speaking against closing the one single institution that affects them increases the volume that says, “Change now!” And so on.
There will be many groups speaking loud and long for justice and fairness. When the outgoing governor urged lawmakers, “Don’t regard the pleas of agency heads who have resisted funding cuts. It’s the nature of government agencies to want to increase their spending level, but cuts are required. There are gonna have to be more.” (Clarion-Ledger Jan. 5, 2012) This attitude draws a line in the sand and we are on one side of that line.
Compromise is a goal seldom reached in the last several years, but we must try and work with those who do not agree with us, and not give up our principles.
We also need to recognize our allies. We may not agree on everything, but on issues we agree on we must support each other.
I write these lines getting ready for the first half of the New Year, but I have learned a lesson in humility. Christmas was very different for me this year, after spending several days in the hospital with pneumonia. I had never had pneumonia, and I thought it was the flu.
Having visited many in the hospital over the years it was a learning experience being the patient. As of this writing I look forward to getting back in the swing, seeing familiar faces in church, and being active again.
I share that with you as we talk about the poor, those who cannot obtain the quality of medical care many of us can. This is not to spread guilt, which can be counterproductive, it is to make a point we are all dependent. We are dependent on one another, on the social structures we create, and most of all on God.
We say our social justice teaching is based on human dignity. That covers everyone. The guy leaving the shelter early in the morning in slept-in clothes figuring out where his next meal is coming from has equal dignity to the guy in the Joseph A. Banks (“Buy one, get two free”) suit walking smartly into a gleaming office building.
I close with Jesus in Matthew 25, “When you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.” Happy and Blessed New Year!
(Fr. Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem. lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)
TOBIN ARCHIVES |
