Every parent wrestles with this in some form or fashion, realizing that a family unit not adequately caring for itself can be burdensome to society at large, while, at the same time, aware that a family too closed in on itself and its own welfare not only isolates itself from advantages accruing from closer attentiveness to the needs of society at large, but also deprives society of contributions it can provide.

This dilemma affects the choice of relationships allowed children, whether with neighbors or with classmates, and also the selection of a neighborhood in which to raise one’s family, with its school system and parish church.

The impact of connectedness, or lack thereof, also affects the extended family, frequently impacted, in this day and age, by the sometimes frequent geographical moves that a family makes, often to distant places, and this can either turn a family’s focus in on itself, or it can induce an openness to its new surroundings and relationships. The saying of Jesus to love one’s neighbor as oneself (Mk 12.31) heightens the complexity of this issue by placing love of others and love of self on the same level, by equating love of self and others.

When the U.N. pronounced May 15^th of each year to be International Family Day, it recognized the vital connection between the well-being of family life, and of a thriving society. A society that has not been enriched by vibrant families will be needy. The phenomenon of massive migrations of families, across the globe, illustrates people unable to meet their needs, seeking better conditions elsewhere. The root cause of this problem can be either their inability to provide adequately for themselves, or the failure of society to help them, possibly because support is lacking from those capable of providing it. 

Whom does one take care of? Is the family to nurture itself, or society at large, or both? This same issue resonates with a long-standing debate in American society on states’ rights vs. prerogatives of the federal government. This disagreement reflects the same dynamics operative in the discussion about how best to raise a family: by focusing on its own well-being to the extent possible, thereby relieving society at large from the responsibility of caring for it, or by alerting it to caring for the surrounding society on the score that a strong set of social institutions works to the family’s own advantage. When some argue that all politics is local (states’ rights), they mean that only those on the scene can best know and provide for the needs and benefits of those at home. On the other hand, there are those who argue that balkanizing the body politic into discrete units, with each looking to its own needs and benefits, is harmful even to these smaller segments precisely because oblivious of the whole, and they suggest that the individual family best serves its own interests when it engages in linkages and connections to others (federal government).

Our analysis so far tells us that we are looking for a unifying principle between being responsible for your own local unit and community while forming the family consciousness and behavior with regards to a global and deeply interrelated society. The Church consistently teaches us that the family is the basic unit of society and this teaching is not subject to change. The way the church understands this concept however is evolving, consider Pope Benedict XVI’s 2008 World Day of Peace message. In the first six paragraphs he extols this teaching that indeed the family is still the basic unit of society and must be protected as such. But from paragraph 6 on Pope Benedict XVI redefines the family unit within a more interrelated global reality.

The social community, if it is to live in peace, is also called to draw inspiration from the values on which the family community is based. This is as true for local communities as it is for national communities; it is also true for the international community itself, for the human family which dwells in that common house which is the earth. Here, however, we cannot forget that the family comes into being from the responsible and definitive “yes” of a man and a women, and it continues to live from the conscious “yes” of the children who gradually join it. The family community, in order to prosper, needs the generous consent of all its members. This realization also needs to become a shared conviction on the part of all those called to form the common human family. We need to say our own “yes” to this vocation which God has inscribed in our very nature. We do not live alongside one another purely by chance; all of us are progressing along a common path as men and women, and thus as brothers and sisters. Consequently, it is essential that we should all be committed to living our lives in an attitude of responsibility before God, acknowledging him as the deepest source of our own existence and that of others. By going back to this supreme principle we are able to perceive the unconditional worth of each human being, and thus to lay the premises for building a humanity at peace. Without this transcendent foundation society is a mere aggregation of neighbours, not a community of brothers and sisters called to form one great family.

A Passionist concern:

Within the various aspects of Passionist ministries and service we often find ourselves engaging with families. Whether it is in the parishes, retreat houses, schools, missions or any one of our social missions, we almost always find ourselves at the service of the family unit. The family, like our own community, is feeling the pressures of a changing world. Whether they are conscience of it or not they are addressing issues that relate to an emerging cosmology and at minimum they can identify aspects of globalization that is making an impact on the family unit. Consider for example some of the frustration and disconnect that an older generation has with their adult children whose lifestyles and values seem markedly different then their own. Consider also the young married couple that is entering a lifestyle of commitment and self-sacrifice in the midst of a globalized society of massive interrelationships. It becomes our responsibility to offer the family unit a perspective of hope, understanding and possibly some tools or resources that will help their community integrate within this all encompassing phenomenon.  

The family is both self-sufficient and interdependent. It cannot meet all its needs. But if it is too dependent on others, it will find that the available common goods do not always meet its particular needs. By doing for itself what it can, it avoids becoming a drain on public resources. By reaching out to society in solidarity, with others, to provide common goods, it helps form a social bonding with others that meet both its own needs, and the needs of all others. The Passionist JPIC Office and the Passionist Earth and Spirit Center are developing tools and resources to help families integrate this both/and reality. Through methodologies of Christian simple living and sustainable practices like the Lent 4.5 Program of the Passionist Earth and Spirit Center and the “Live Simply so Others May Simply Live” retreat of the Passionist JPIC Office Families can learn how to value their own time together as a safe and protected social unit while growing into a deeper conscience of global solidarity. The mantra that we offer the family is the same that is being said all over the world: Think Globally, Act Locally.  

Finally let us also address the primary issue that we will face if we have not done so already with regards to the family: The issue of identity. The emerging social order is at present giving us a crisis of identity. This is a natural crisis that always accompanies major sociological and cosmological shifts. Our own community is in the midst of this crisis as we try to comprehend the place of our charism, spirituality and community within this globalized reality. We will notice that Catholic families are also being stretched in their identity. The older generation will not know how to cope or relate with a younger generation that is far more technological and interconnected then they ever were. The younger married couples are going to struggle with how they are to identify their own roles while respecting the other members of their intimate family community. Some young men for example will attempt to impose a familiar family male role only to find that their spouse has other hopes and expectations. In many ways our task again will be to listen and to walk with the members of the family that try to comprehend their role and identity within this new reality. But we must also be able to offer guidance, encouragement and a perspective of patience and understanding as they journey on this difficult transition.      

Our Passionist spirituality offers a powerful perspective for the crisis of identity. To begin with we offer an ethic of compassion. The family unit, as with the rest of society, is going through a massive transition and this will require the members of the family to be patient and understanding of the journey that they and their family members are taking. Compassion is the principle by which we endure and share in the suffering of others based on the fact that they do not walk it alone. We are all together on this journey and by sharing our own difficult transition into this emerging reality we become a suffering companion to them. By placing their own crisis within a larger social framework we offer them the ability to see God’s work in all this. Our other great gift of course becomes the spirituality of mystical transition that is at the heart of our own Passionist charism. We are dying to new life. That is the Passionist principle that Fr. Thomas Berry used to offer a spiritual perspective to the massive cosmological transition that we are facing. Within the context of globalization we can also use this principle to help see that God’s hand in this. Individually, socially, we are at the foot of the Cross wondering where all this is headed. This is an opportunity for families, as it is for us, to reflect on the core values and message of our faith and to creatively reintegrate them into the emerging family dynamic.

Subsidiarity states that the smaller segments of society, such as the family, must be duly recognized and allowed to function separately and independently at the level of their own competence. Whenever a task can be done at a lower level of organization, let it be done there, without interference from above. The principle of solidarity represents those benefits and necessities that are only attainable collaboratively, and that pertain to every segment of society in order to live well. This is the common good for which society as a whole is responsible, on whose behalf everyone must work in solidarity. In this scenario, the family unit illustrates subsidiarity at work providing many of its needs. But the common goods, to which every family aspires as well, exceed the reach of the individual family, and so families must join in solidarity with others to gain them. While the family achieves many of its personal or private goods by dint of its own resources, access to the goods common to all requires it to reach out in solidarity with others, both by helping to provide them, and then to enjoy them.

Our question is what value and relationship do these two principles have in light of the globalization and the new cosmology. During the Medieval era, Prior to Newtonian cosmology, the individual was subsumed (although not completely) by the collective identity. In Medieval European society your own value was measured by how it served the body politic or Christendom. Since the Newtonian cosmology the tables were turned and the collective identity was replaced by individual freedom and achievement. From what we can gauge the new cosmology is moving us towards a holistic relationship between these two social forces.

The current laws governing the universe exist in two distinct frameworks. General relativity explains the apparent universal interrelationships that exist in large inter-planetary bodies. Under this framework the Universe is an ordered collective system out there and we all fit neatly into it. But if we look at the law governing the subatomic particles general relativity no longer makes sense. Instead we move towards the field of quantum mechanics and under this system each individual particle exists almost independently and very chaotic with its surroundings. Under this framework the universe seems very random and pointless. But theories such as string theory are emerging as the unifying principle that will bring the individual and the collective together through infinitesimal filaments of energy that have distinct vibrations for every particle but which keeps them all in harmony as a collective whole.

For our theology, subsidiarity is the principle governing the very basic family/social unit (quantum mechanics) while solidarity is the principle that governs the collective interrelationship (general relativity). We are looking for a holistic theological unifying theory that can bring these two principles together.  

Early Christianity may offer us a model for how to integrate these two principles, especially within the religious and family dynamic. As the young Christian faith grew, it found its membership coming from both Judaism and the gentile world. Under the initial influence of St. James, Jewish practices such as circumcision, near and dear to a significant portion of the early converts to Christianity, were also proposed for the gentile converts to the faith, because they meant so much, at least to the Jewish portion of the new Christians, who wanted to preserve a significant presence of their mother religion (Judaism) in their new surroundings. However, it would require the gentile converts to Christianity to reach out to something new and different for them, and St. Paul was less than enthusiastic about this prospect. This expresses the issue of staying with familiar surroundings, or reaching out to the strange and different. A compromise was worked out allowing the Jewish converts to retain certain features of their familiar heritage, such as their Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament), while the gentile element among the new converts was dispensed from circumcision, though they were challenged to accept the Hebrew scriptures (the (Old Testament) as their spiritual sustenance, while being allowed to celebrate the Christian Mysteries (the Eucharist) in the familiar setting of their own homes, since at this early stage the Christian church building was neither conceptualized, or constructed. The best interests of both groups were met by allowing them to continue enjoying the benefits of their origins while stretching them to reach out to new social experiences. The growing Christian family both honored the familiar background of each group, and urged a new social setting on them. 

Later on, St. Paul was to touch on something similar from another angle, that of the growing internal development of Christianity as it flourished and developed. St. Paul noted that, in any organization, some positions are more prominent, enjoying status and outreach, attracting attention, and enjoying new relationships. Such enterprise benefits the entire operation. At the same time, any well-functioning program also depends on smaller and less socially oriented units within itself. St. Paul was anxious to avoid any conflict between the larger and smaller segments of the Christian churches he founded, so he broached the human body as an example of how parts and wholes work together, to their mutual benefit. (1 Cor 12) He contrived a fictitious conversation in which the foot should say: “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body”. Paul remarks: “it does not for this reason belong any less to the body”. And he goes on: “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I do not need you’”, and again comments “…indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary…” And he concludes: “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it…” St. Paul presents parts and whole as mutually benefitting each other, both by remaining what they are and performing within their own area of competence, and also enriching another part, which would otherwise suffer without help from other parts of the body. This too helps to reflect about fostering the welfare of the family, both by caring for itself, as well as by contributing to society at large. So the family is at one and the same time to look to itself by pursuing its own interests, even while reaching out to engage others: the neighbor, the parishioner, the fellow-worker, the professional and business world, the political scene. Pursuing its own interests need not harm the public sphere but can even benefit it, and showing concern about public affairs need not be so demanding that the family’s private affairs suffer. Indeed, they may be enriched.

A further illustration of this dual concern is assembling a jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle comprises pieces designed to fit together into a whole. The whole is the final product, and it directs the placement and alignment of the various pieces. Each placement is so unique that only one special piece can fit into a given space. There is no way to substitute one piece for another. Each piece is suitable for only one space. The part and the whole go together, since, without the large space, there won’t be any place for the piece to fit, just as no final picture will emerge until each piece finds the space where it belongs.  The family is like one of these puzzle pieces, appreciated for its own qualities, as well as for the part it plays in the whole (society at large) that provides it the big picture, where it finds a fit.

Catholic social teaching has and continues to advance both principles. In the recent encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI he specifically describes the importance of integrating both principles into a cohesive relationship. In focusing on the issue of International aid the Holy Father describes the danger of an absolute approach to either principles under paragraph 58.

The principle of subsidiarity must remain closely linked to the principle of solidarity and vice versa, since the former without the latter gives way to social privatism, while the latter without the former gives way to paternalist social assistance that is demeaning to those in need.

This particular vision may seem quite grand however and the author of this post does not fully share Fr. Berry’s conviction. But what I do share with him and the growing academic community is that there is a new and emerging cosmology that is going to change the way we see and understand ourselves in relationship to all living things and to the universe at large.

The Catholic Church agrees with this position and as a result the Pontifical Academy of Sciences has held conferences to evaluate the emerging scientific and theological development of this new cosmology. In the 1991 address to the participants of a conference by the Vatican Observatory Pope John Paul II laments the rift between science and religion since the times of Galileo saying that: In principle the Church could not accept such a rift, convinced as she was that the truth of nature and the truth of revelation come from the same divine source. Pope John Paul II goes on to celebrate the theme of that particular conference declaring:

The theme you have chosen is a particularly significant one: The Quantum Creation of the Universe and the Origins of the Laws of Nature. It not only includes such fundamental concepts in the natural sciences as quantum physics, quantum gravity, cosmology and physical laws, but also such religious themes as creation, God and nature, the natural and the supernatural, miracles, and others. You have chosen a difficult task, but one which offers the promise of advancing the understanding of concepts essential to the meeting of religion and science.

Why would this be important for those of us who engage in social justice ministries? In his book titled “Cosmopolis” Stephen Toulmin suggests that the way we understand how the universe functions and develops has an impact on how we perceive our own idea of social relationships. He tells us that “Social and natural regularities alike are aspects of the same overall cosmos+polis – i.e. cosmopolis, the practical idea that human affairs are influenced by, and proceed in step with heavenly affairs.” Some of these social developments are intentional. Consider the fact that if you read Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” or John Lock’s treatises on government, both assert a position on the natural order as a fundamental reason for establishing their social economic or political systems.

A new cosmology is indeed emerging and the social implications of this will be enormous. Fr. Berry’s contribution was to address our spirituality so that the “truth of revelation” can be integrated with the “truth of nature.” Below I will briefly explain the emerging cosmology and present Fr. Berry’s recommendations for developing a “Christian cosmology”.  

A New Cosmology:

The social order that has governed our nations since World War II have been designed based on a Newtonian Universe. Newton’s and Galileo’s great revolution was to identify a universe that looked to be in a timeless and almost perfect order. The famous image we received was that the universe functioned like a well oiled machine (usually like a clock). Theologically God was understood as the “Prime Mover” or the clock winder who set the universe in motion and who then walked away leaving us to continue oiling the divine machine. An implication of this was to identify ourselves as cogs in a machine. We each had our individual duty. If we did it responsibly, we would keep the universe functioning well. Religion and faith became very individualized since our goal was to be individually in tune with the master designer. Our social structures served that same purpose. Politically we focused on governing the self-interest of the individual. Economically we also focused on serving the individual’s interest in the marketplace. The rebellion of communism did not alter the social cosmology. Instead it shifted the priority. Instead of focusing on the individual cogs, Communism created a political and economic system based on serving the social machine itself.

Throughout the 20^th century we have been introduced to a new cosmology. Albert Einstein has taken us on a journey towards getting to know a universe that is not stable and in orderly motion. Instead we are now aware of an expanding universe that is deeply interrelated. We have begun to identify the Universe as a constantly emergent cosmos of dynamic matter originating in time from a single source. The sciences of quantum mechanics show not an orderly but a very chaotic system of subatomic particles. String theory posits the possibility that matter may look chaotic but can again be interrelated and unified. Our expanding universe is causing us to be quite humble as we consider these mysterious aspects of nature. The implications for theology are amazing. God is no longer a separate being that wound a perfect clock and walked away. God is ever and always present with an ever changing universe. Might the essence of string theory even offer us a glimpse into the unifying divine plan?

To seek the implications of this cosmology for the social order we do not have to look too far. Since World War II we have begun to design social systems based on an interrelated reality that we believe cannot be ignored. While politically many of us still hide behind the façade of nationalism and national borders, economically almost none of us can deny the implication of living in a globalized world. Globalization itself is the birth of the first social concept that gives expression to this new cosmology.

Fr. Berry suggested that within our own theological field it is our responsibility to wrestle with the spiritual and theological implications of this new cosmology. In an article that he wrote called “Christian Cosmology” he makes the following recommendations regarding how the new cosmology intersects with our faith and spirituality:

1. The Universe is a sequence of irreversible transformations begun 13.7 billion years ago with four major stages (galactic, earth, life and human)
2. The evolutionary process has a psychic-spiritual as well as a material-physical aspect
3. Earth has a privileged role as a planet whereon life is known to exist. There is a unity of the earth process (what happened to on member affects the others.)
4. Through humanity the universe reflects and celebrates itself in conscious self awareness.
5. The ultimate measure of value is found in the full expression of the universe. The well being of humanity coincides with the well being of the earth.
6. The universe can be understood as the primary revelation of the divine.
7. Biblical revelation (incarnation and redemption) all takes place within the larger cosmological and historical context.

With these recommendations Fr. Berry is suggesting that by integrating  our emerging cosmology we will be developing a spirituality of deep and dynamic interrelationship between God, creation, and ourselves. Our former cosmology had us existing as a far more independent and isolated reality. The new emerging cosmology is depicting a far more symbiotic relationship within all of creation. Utilizing Christian language Fr. Berry sees all of creation existing in communion with God. He offers us this mantra to help us reorient our vision of ourselves with all of creation: “We are no longer a collection of objects, but a communion of subjects”.

The 1971 Catholic Synod of Bishops offered a powerful support for the promotion of social justice within the life of the Church. Under paragraph 6 of their document “Justice in the World” The Catholic Bishops of the entire world say the following:

God has revealed himself to us, and made known to us, as it is brought progressively to realization, his plan of liberation and salvation which is once and for all fulfilled in the Paschal Mystery of Christ. Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel, or, in other words, of the Church’s mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation.

Here, the pursuit of justice is described as being a constitutive element rather than an unimportant or secondary dimension of the Gospel mandate. Furthermore the Bishops also highlight the theological center of our call to pursue social justice within the Pascal Mystery. In the mystery of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection the plan of God’s Kingdom is revealed to us and the social program that Jesus pursues of publically promoting a society that is based on love, compassion, non-violence and justice is given the divine stamp of approval.

The Passionist Constitutions eloquently describes this theology further under Constitution article 65:

We Passionists make the Paschal Mystery the center of our lives. This entails a loving commitment to follow Jesus Crucified, and a generous resolve to proclaim His Passion and death with faith and love. His Passion and death are no mere historical events. They are ever-present realities to people in the world of today, “crucified” as they are by injustice, by the lack of a deep respect for human life, and by a hungry yearning for peace, truth, and the fullness of human existence.

Here again the centrality is the Paschal Mystery. However we Passionists also look towards the incarnation of the social injustice that Christ suffered with the unjust suffering that continues in our world today. Devotion to Jesus Crucified calls us to walk with the “people in the world today, “crucified” as they are by injustice.” Social justice is not an afterthought. It is a central part of the Christian mystery. Of course the pursuit of social justice has evolved along with the development of the social order so that the methods of pursuing the social agenda looks different now compared to the 2000 year history of the Christian faith. So with that we will examine what we mean by social justice today.

Actions on Behalf of Justice:

In a retreat program on social justice that the Campaign for Human Development offers the parishes the facilitator offers the following story to the participants:

Once there was a church picnic. It was a beautiful day. The picnic site was by a river, and there was a cool breeze across the water. Kids were playing ball. There was lots of food. Bingo was in full swing! All of a sudden someone shouted, “Look, there is a body floating face down in the river.” At once, a few people waded into the river and pulled the person ashore. Someone else called an ambulance while another administered CPR. Other shaded the person form the heat of the sun. Everything looked under control, but then another body was sighted and then another, and then another… Everyone scurried to help in some way. One person, left the group and began to run upstream. “Where are you going?” the crowd cried out. “We need you to help.” He replied, “I’m going upstream to find out why people keep floating down the river…”

This story begins to describe to us the concept of the two feet of social justice. The basic concept is that if we are to participate in God’s salvific plan that includes the transformation of unjust systems then we must address two aspects of social injustice. The first dimension of injustice is the real manifestations of suffering and injustice. We must help those who are suffering. Like the story above me must give aid to the people who are floating down the river. This form of service is traditionally called charity and we usually express this with direct social service ministries or donations. Homeless shelters, soup kitchen, prison and hospital ministries, educational opportunities, all these are expressions of charity ministries that address the real needs of people who are suffering.

However the person who left the group to run upstream exemplifies the other dimension of social justice. In this case the person is analyzing the situation to uncover the root cause of suffering. As the person goes upstream and discovers the reason for why people are ending up in the river he will have to further understand the reason of this situation and respond to the need. It may be that a bridge is broken and in need of repair. It may be that a criminal activity is happening whereby they will need to advocate for the end of this practice. This is the dimension we traditionally call justice and it is usually expressed with advocacy and community development. Legislative advocacy, corporate responsibility, micro-finance and development projects, Community organizing, are all expressions of justice ministries that address the root causes of suffering in the world. 

The analogy of the two feet is intentional because it suggests that just as a person finds it easier to progress walking on two feet versus hoping on one so to is it easier for a society to experience progress by utilizing both justice and charity. Justice without Charity is insensitive and bound to fail since it is not taking into consideration the needs of the victims. It would be as if the person at the church picnic just begins to make an assumption that some criminal activity is taking place and advocates for better policing when the entire time a bridge is broken. Similarly Charity without Justice leads to an unending cycle of service and ministry and at some point the community will either become exhausted or callous to the suffering.

The founder of the Passionist Community, St. Paul of the Cross illustrates the use of the two feet during an episode in the 1730’s when he and his community found themselves in the middle of a battle between the Austrians and Spanish in the town of Orbetello. In addressing the sufferings of the wounded soldiers St. Paul tended and ministered to the needs of the wounded from both sides. This shows his use of charity to the victims of the battle. During this same episode he became aware of the Spanish General’s intent to bombard the town. He appealed against the bombardment and as a result the Spanish General opted for a blockade which brought an end to the battle. This shows his use of justice to advocate against any further suffering.   

The Church has traditionally placed more emphasis on charity over justice. In the encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict XVI states “It must be admitted that the Church’s leadership was slow to realize that the issue of the just structuring of society needed to be approached in a new way.” In this encyclical Pope Benedict maintains that the Church by its very nature is required to promote charity. Politics and the State on the other hand have the responsibility to administer justice, although the Church is deeply committed to the “promotion of justice through efforts to bring about openness of mind and will to the demands of the common good.” The Gospel and social tradition of the Church offer moral principles that promote the values of justice. Yet in the pluralistic global society that we live in we cannot expect nor want our Church to be legal authority behind the establishment of the just social order.

However because the Church’s mission is the promotion of the Gospel we must expect the institution, and us as members of that institution, to participate in the global order by assessing justice or the lack thereof and offering guidance and assistance as individuals or as Non-Governmental Organizations especially where States either cannot or do not take responsibility with policies that fly in the face of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church. “In today’s complex situation, not least because of the growth of a globalized economy, the Church’s social doctrine has become a set of fundamental guidelines offering approaches that are valid even beyond the confines of the Church.” With her orientation towards charity, the Church seeks to humanize and personalize secular and public institutions that otherwise may not meet the total needs of those they seek to serve.

Pope Pius XI reminds us in the encyclical Divini Redemptoris that “charity will never be true charity unless it takes justice into constant account… let no one attempt with trifling charitable donations to exempt himself from the great duties imposed by justice. Both justice and charity often dictate obligations touching on the same subject-matter, but under different aspects.” Catholic social teaching has always described a deep relationship between these two values. However in the recent social encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, the Holy Father goes further in actually integrating these values and suggesting again that they serve the same function only with a different emphasis.

To desire the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity. To take a stand for the common good is on the one hand to be solicitous for, and on the other hand to avail oneself of, that complex of institutions that give structure to the life of society, juridically, civilly, politically and culturally, making it the pólis, or “city”. The more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real needs of our neighbours, the more effectively we love them. Every Christian is called to practise this charity, in a manner corresponding to his vocation and according to the degree of influence he wields in the pólis. This is the institutional path — we might also call it the political path — of charity, no less excellent and effective than the kind of charity which encounters the neighbour directly, outside the institutional mediation of the pólis.

Justice and charity function to promote the common good. With this statement there is no longer a hierarchy of values. Charity is the personal encounters where we directly give to our neighbors in need. Justice is a “no less excellent and effective” form of charity that pursues such virtue through an institutional or “political path”, the path of social justice.

It is strange to want to summate something as the first steps towards the rest of you life.  I stood at the door of the retreat house for St. Paul of the Cross Monastery in Pittsburgh not entirely sure of what awaited me, but with what I considered a reasonable understanding of where I came from.

Less than a month ago, like many young people of my age, I adorned a cap and gown as I walked across a stage to receive my college diploma. What I chose to do after though, is what distanced me from my peers, and brought me to the door of the Passionist Monastery.

I chose to break the traditional path that my other fellow graduates would endeavor because of the calling I felt. This was by no means an easy decision, but the affirmation I received in my three and a half weeks of training in Pittsburgh for my experience with Passionist Volunteers International was the blessing I needed to be able commit whole heartedly.

I, along with ten other volunteers, all of us recent college graduates, began to root ourselves in the eminent experience of overseas missionary service. To do so, we took great pains to reflect as both an individual and as collectives, particularly in the group with whom we would live with in intentional community in either our site in Jamaica or Honduras. It was made clear to us that with the stresses of international service is it important to know oneself. This task, though appearing straightforward enough, was perhaps the mot difficult part, but the lynchpin of my orientation experience. It is in my path of self discovery that I could truly understand how this volunteer experience corresponded with God’s plan for me. I began to see how this experience offered opportunities of growth and understanding that truly affirmed my presence there.

Contributing to this understanding and my place in the program was grasping the Passionist charism. Studying the history of St Paul of the Cross, the expansion of the Passionist Community into North America, and the work they continue to do around the world gave us future volunteers valued perspective. We became part of something bigger than a volunteer, and throughout the training period, my own interaction with the Passionist priests and brothers demonstrated to me how familial our embrace with the Congregation of the Passion would be. Furthermore, our study of Passionist charism also gave us the fundamental mission ideology we share, “ to accompany the crucified and suffering of today”. The way in which we each grasped this accompaniment is very personal but serves as the modus operandi in our individual service abroad.

It is a unique opportunity to be able to love and serve with the support of a collective and the autonomy of the individual. That is what I needed when I passed those doors into the retreat house. To enter a new part of my life, be able to look back, but have confidence in where I am going.

• Catholic Social Ministry Gathering
• Ecumenical Advocacy Days
• Churches for a Middle East Peace

We continue to collaborate with other organizations to promote in an ongoing way these social issues of Catholic concern. We encourage the members of the Passionist family to keep engaged on these issues and links through these organizations. The summer offers us many opportunities to engage with our congressional representatives locally due to the summer recess which will begin on August 9 and go through September 12. During this time your congressional representatives will be in their districts so you can call their local district scheduler to see when you can make an appointment to see them locally.  Below is a highlight of updates and links related to the campaigns and issues the JPIC office has addressed.    

Economic Justice:

The USCCB has promoted a great advocacy site through its Justice, Peace and Human Development Office. Many of the issues that they address are related to the issues of the Catholic Social Ministry Gathering that we attended in February of this year. Another Catholic organization that addresses the issues of Economic Justice is Network, A Catholic social justice lobby group. They have a new website designed for easier access to their action alerts. Some of the issues that they are raising this summer are:

• Support a Responsible Estates Tax
• Support Local Jobs for America  

Immigration:

The Justice for Immigrant Campaign is a coalition of Catholic organizations including the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops. They, along with Network and other immigrant justice organizations, are advocating for a comprehensive immigration reform bill that will address the immigrant issue following the social teachings of the Catholic Church.

• Justice for Immigrant postcard campaign 
• Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Ecology/Energy:

The Catholic Coalition on Climate Change is a newly organized coalition of Catholic organizations that is looking into policies and issues related to climate change. By clicking on this link you will be visiting the action page of the Catholic Coalition which will give individuals some personal practices that will help address our own individual carbon footprint. Unfortunately the Senate has chosen not to create a comprehensive climate bill this summer. Instead we would like push Congress to bring this issue as we advocate against S. 3072 which will undermine the Clean Air Act and block the EPA’s global warming pollution cuts. But we also support any legislation like H.R. 4690 that will push the US to adopt more sustainable living practices especially in developing alternative modes of public transportation. 

• H.R. 4690 Livable Communities Act
• No to S. 3072

Peace and Disarmament:

In the area of international peace there are a great number of concerns. However in this year the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops have placed their emphasis on two priorities. With regards to the conflicts in the Middle East the issue of Israel and Palestine continue to be of primary concern in this area. The other priority continues to be the concern regarding the reduction of nuclear weapons and a call for a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

• Urge President Obama and Congress to take a strong leadership in promoting the two state solution between Israel/Palestine
• Urge the Senate to pass the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty  

Global Poverty:

The Catholic Church is part of a global family. The growing community now includes our Asian and African brothers and sisters. The social call for developing solidarity is nothing less then a call to be part of the universal church. Our own national policies has economic repercussions throughout the world. Again the issues related to this concern are many but we have tried to focus on current issues related to global poverty. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the fastest growing Catholic communities in Africa and the human right violations that they face is directly related to the interest that our own extractive industry has in the mining operations of this nation.  

• Urge Congress to support Humanitarean Funding FY 2010 Supplemental Appropriations Bill
• Urge Congress to support s. 891/h.r. 4128 to help improve the lives of our Congolese sisters and brothers.

Next year the volunteer program will be serving another area of Jamaica called Mandeville where the Passionist have a larger presence including a retreat center. We will post further information regarding these volunteer mission opportunities in Mandeville as they develop.

This past year Mr. Matt Messing was at the Stony Hill community and serving in their schools. Below is an account of his own experience that was shared to me by the PVI program director, Ms. Tricia Lothshutz. Please visit this link to know more about the PVI program. If you would like to apply to this program visit this other link.

A Contrast in Education: By Matt Messing

Jamaica’s state of education, particularly in terms of funding and resources, is quite dismal. The severity of such a condition becomes clearly disturbing as you witness children fighting over a seemingly simple pencil. The fight is not over something trivial, like design or color; it’s a response to the reality of scarcity.

In the midst of such realities there exist low literacy rates, understaffed schools, large class sizes, limited use of technology, high drop-out rates and low percentage of educators who hold advanced degrees in their field.

However, in contrast to all the disheartening challenges that such a system brings to its people, Jamaica does educate her children in a way that reaches far beyond any amount of funding. There is a connection, almost a sort of bond between the child and his/her environment. They do not act apart from the world, but rather within the world.

Amidst this relationship comes an awakening of the senses which can often times become clouded by artificial toys and trinkets and theories of how a 21^st century child should play, learn and grow. This child learns through imaginative play. He feels the ground between his toes as he runs down the mountains, balancing a simple stick and wheel. He is in awe of a friend who climbs for a juicy, ripe mango high up in the tree.

Two school girls learn rhyme and rhythm as they sing, “…down by the banks with the hanky panky where the bullfrog jumps from bank to banky with a hip hop hip hop hop skiddle diddle turtle pop!”, while playing a popular hand game. A child learns of mathematics as he designs and builds a car made from twigs and string and bottle caps. And as she runs, the young girl understands the world around her. She is connected to the trees that bring her food and the streams that give her water and the mountain breeze that gives her reprieve from the Caribbean heat.

This education of the world and the connectedness we have with it is free. Not even a system of scarcity in school funding and resources can take that away. Yes, there must be increased support for schools in less-developed countries and this is not to make light of very harsh realities. But, Jamaica can teach us a lesson, not only of education, but, of life. Take your shoes off, be within the world, awaken your senses.

Six months have gone by since the earthquake, and easily our work is three times larger than it was before. We have so many new programs to meet the pressing needs. Today for the first time, we fired up our crematorium. Although I was joking that I would like to use it to make Sister Judy’s birthday cake (for her 65^th today), the sad truth is that poverty still humiliates the poor even after their death (a simple trip to the general morgue would show that to be true in a second). Our first attempt at a more dignified  burial through cremation was predictably for a child, for five year old Lori Demosthene. We said the usual prayers for the dead, and commended Lori to God, to ash, and to the earth. This is our reality. The circle of life, coming around all too soon, completed already in childhood. Our crematorium is dedicated to Our Mother of Sorrows. We have the sorrow of burying more than 50 children and 30 adults every week.  

Our new campground for displaced children is nearly ready. We have been working there all week. Instead of circling the wagons, we squared off empty containers in a huge rectangle covering 4,000 square meters. We will expand it in time. The containers themselves will soon be dormitories for the children, and the area for meals, schooling and activities will be in the shadow of the containers with the help of large awnings. There are about 350 children waiting to come in. There will be an area for small children dedicated to St Ann, the grandmother of Jesus, and a section for older children dedicated to St Louis. We hope to open July 27, on the feast of St Ann. In the meantime, the program for kids in tent cities, called Fr Wasson’s angels of light, is going strong and fast becoming an informal school system and nutrition center for 3000 children.  

We have started another eight street schools over these six months. One of them is for blind and deaf children. The school they used to attend, St Vincent’s in Port au Prince, was destroyed by the earthquake, so we made a simple school for them until St Vincent is rebuilt. Our first ten children are already in this simple school.We named the school for the late beloved founder of St Vincent’s, Sister Joan Margaret. Our other 23 schools are all in session, some in tents and some in undamaged buildings, and all of them will be rebuilt slowly. We have a campaign in progress for this.  

The program for prosthetic s and rehabilitation called St Germaine  is well underway, and many people leave our gates with crutches, wheelchairs and artificial limbs  just a little bit stronger and a little bit more able after every therapy visit. The mothers are so beautiful and patient with their children, but sadly sometimes the mothers also are disabled or missing a limb from the earthquake. Hope springs eternal.    

Our St Luke field hospital for adults and children has saved a few lives already. It looks like something from Gilligans Island but it works for now. We are making a prefab surgery room at the moment, and doing our best to make it a family environment. We have a portable CT Scan already, and a portable Digital XRAY in the planning, most important since we receive terrible trauma injuries.  Our ability will be greatly increased by this equipment which will be used in an air conditioned container! Just today, we received the donation of an ambulance for the field hospital, from the government of Spain.  

On July 23, our original orphanage (as of 23 years)  we will receive 40 children from the earthquake. It will bring the population there at St Helene to 400 children.  

We are still very busy with distributions of food, clothing, water, tents, and thousands of shoes donated in memory of Molly Hightower, one of our deeply mourned volunteers killed when our headquarters  at Petionville collapsed. The distributions are difficult but important, since Port au Prince hardly at all much improved from the original catastrophe six months ago. I think many of you saw the pictures of the memorial we made for our deceased children, staff, volunteers and colleagues from the earthquake. It is at St Damien Hospital. It is our new cornerstone.  

At St Damien hospital, our cancer program is improving, the surgery center is very active, the new maternity and neonatology programs and struggling but doing well, and we now can do digital electroencephalograms and have them interpreted abroad. This is to monitor the seizure activity of our patients. It is a huge advance in our treatment of seizures. Also, just today, little Anabel returned to Italy to have part of her skull replaced, finally, after losing it in the nightmare of January 12, 2010.  

I will find a way to get pictures of many of these activities on the website of Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos and Compassionweavers.com as soon as I can.  

Many thanks to all of you for your prayers, donations, encouragement !    

Fr Rick Frechette July 20, 2010

Below Fr. Rick Frechette shares on how faith has given him strength during this tragic situation.

In Honduras the Passionist Volunteers are based in Talanga, a town of 30,000, located an hour north of Tegucigalpa, the Capital. There they live in community in a three bedroom house located a few blocks from the main church and the central park. Their typical week mixes activities both in and outside of Talanga. A main focus of the program is Casa Pasionista, a home for those suffering from HIV/AIDS, established by the Passionists in 1991.

Jean Baumgardner volunteered this past year to serve at the Casa Pasionista mission in Honduras. Below is an account of her experience of service and the spirituality of suffering.  

What Does It Mean?: by Jean Baumgardner

Until now I have never written about a man that I hardly know. Every Wednesday I go to Casa Pasionista, a community residence of AIDS internos (patients). Sitting and chatting with Gladis, I could see into a room where a man they call Mario lay dying. Rays of light pour into the room, illuminating dust particles as they fall on the floor, defeated as are the dead white blood cells that could no longer fight for Mario.

Fidel, another interno, turns and asks, “Have you ever seen a person dying of AIDS?” I shake my head. Fidel and Gladis begin telling stories of friends who died from AIDS. From a long time I sat with them watching Mario’s father sitting at his son’s side, sombrero in his lap, clasping his son’s hand. I watched his lips move but couldn’t make out what he was saying. My ears heard only the foreignness of a language spoken to a person dying of a terrible disease. I told Gladis that I wanted to enter the room, but was afraid. Knowing that this reality was so unknown to me, she squeezed my hand and led me into the rom.

“He wants to pray,” Mario’s father announces. We circle the bed. When I look into Mario’s wide black eyes I see a child, not a man, staring back at me. Mario’s father dials a cell phone and turns on the speaker. He explains that he always calls this woman to pray when he is desperate. She is a great Catholic but people from all religions ask for her prayers. “She is old, too fat to move but she sits praying every day,” he explains.

Her voice books in the room! We close our eyes. I listen to her voice and the voices of the internos calling out to Jesus, Mary and the saints. Time stops. Mario’s face relaxes into a quiet peace as he pulls down over his hear his hat that reads, “God is love.” We stand together in silence for a minute.

Maria asks me to help her wash Mario. His knee caps wobble as I help him to his feet as he wraps his arms around my shoulders. We hold onto each other in a precarious balancing act while Maria washes him. I shift my balance between my feet and we sway like we are dancing. His face is so close to mine that I can see myself staring back at me from his pupils.

Fidel watches us as we gently lay Mario back down. He asks me, “What does it mean for you to see a person dying of AIDS?…This is what we will all become.” With that Maria and Fidel give a full, rich, alive laugh! A reminder that we cannot let death, pain, and suffering consume us.

When I walk into Casa Pasionista I never know where accompanying the internos will take me. That Wednesday I never thought I would be asked what it means to see a person dying of AIDS, to witness the suffering of a man I hardly know. Trying to answer an unanswerable question I think of Simon, who was called to accompany Jesus, a man he hardly knew, to carry the cross. Just as Simon walked a short part of the journey to Calvary with Jesus, I was given the privilege to spend some time with Mario with he is dying.

Her martyrdom has raised the issue of protecting the Amazon rainforest and as a result the government of Brazil has adopted strict environmental enforcement policies that are being monitored by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources. Her congregation has vowed to continue her vital ministry and they remained involved in promoting land reform and ongoing projects of sustainable development.

Sr. Stang highlights an emerging face of Catholic Martyrs, martyrs who die in the service of the Gospel’s challenge to protect the dignity of marginalized people and the integrity of creation. Sr. Stang’s story is awe inspiring but it is not an isolated story. Many other missionaries have also given their lives and paid the ultimate price for preaching the Gospel of life and justice. In preaching this Gospel they challenge a global economic market system that is driven by easy and unethical profit making. What is impressive with Sr. Stang is how her community mobilized itself to continue promoting a ministry that they saw as a vital expression of modern evangelization.      

The Passionist of Holy Cross Province also has a modern martyr of the Gospel message. Fr. Carl Schmitz, CP was a Passionist priest who grew up in Chicago and who became a dedicated missionary serving in the United States and then in the Passionist missions in China, Japan, and the Philippines. By 1976 Fr. Carl was driven to preach the Gospel to a poor indigenous community in the Philippines known as the Bila’ans. They are a tribal mountain people of 80,000 who lived on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. He was sent to work with the mountain people in a rugged jeep. Clambering hand over foot along muddy mountain paths, sleeping on dirt floors in thatched huts, he struggled to learn a new dialect and be a sign of God’s love to these people.

The Bila’ans were an abused people who had been displaced from the lowlands to the mountains where it was hard to find suitable land for their small gardens. Murder and burning of properties were rampant. Violence was constant. Fr. Carl found himself as chief negotiator for peace and an advocate for the Bila’an people.

Two serious issues faced the missionary. Paramilitary forces in the area often turned out to be bandits who used young Bila’ans as their agents in illegal logging and rustling water buffalo. When Fr. Carl discovered that going on, he would head up the mountains, find his people, persuade them to go to the coast with him and seek amnesty.

The New Peoples Army (Communist) was another problem. Young Bila’ans often saw the NPA as a way to gain back their stolen lands. Fr. Carl tried to persuade his young men to leave the rebels and seek amnesty.

His activities did not make him popular with the paramilitary. On April 7, 1988 Fr. Carl had brought six young Bila’ans who were involved with paramilitary activities to his out-mission at Bolul. He planned to take them from there to the authorities the next day. The paramilitary were probably uneasy, fearing some action could be taken against them.

Determined to stop Fr. Carl, they got a young Bila’an, Johnny Monday, half drunk. Handing him a Garand rifle they told him to kill Fr. Carl. Some teachers at Bolul, who were housed close to Fr. Carl’s rectory, tell us what happened then.

The half-drunk Johnny Monday lurched into Bolul and stopped at the bottom step of the thatched rectory.

He shouted: “Get out here Fr. Carl, I’ve got a bone to pick with you.”

“Take your time, Johnny, I’ll be there.” Carl came out and stood at the top of the steps about 10 feet from Johnny Monday, who continued to shout: “I am going to kill you, Fr. Carl.”

“Why would you do that, Johnny?”

“You are a bad man–you give money to the Communists.”

“You know better than that, Johnny, I take care of my poor. Just this afternoon, I paid for your wife’s medicines.”

“You’re smiling, Fr. Carl, you are never going to smile again.”

The first shot went through the Fr. Carl’s mouth and killed him instantly. Johnny Monday then emptied the magazine and tore his body apart.

A tragedy? Yes.

But for Fr. Carl, it was a missionary career crowned with martyrdom for justice. He loved the Bila’an people and would not allow them to be corrupted by the paramilitary, who were often bent on illegal logging and the rape of the virgin forests. Quite aware of the risks he was taking, he saw the face of Christ in his people and he knew the blood of Christ was shed for them. He was Passionist and missionary through and through, and malicious men brought him to a martyr’s death.

The Passionist community like the Sisters of Notre Dame will continue to uphold the brave Christian witness and sacrifice from these modern martyrs of economic globalization. With the Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation Office the Passionist are creating a network of solidarity for all lay and vowed members of the Passionist family who faithfully preach the Gospel of justice in places that continue to challenge our most basic Christian values.