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“EVERYONE LOVES THE SOUND OF A TRAIN IN THE DISTANCE”

11/20/2020

I was thinking about the impact Jean Donovan had on my life. She was one of the four church women raped and murdered on Dec. 2, 1980 in El Salvador by one of the US supported, military death-squads. Their crime? They were ministering to the internal refugees of that country.

Jean wrote a friend shortly before she was assassinated:

“The Peace Corps left today and my heart sank low. The danger is extreme and they were right to leave. ... Now I must assess my own position, because I am not up for suicide. Several times I have decided to leave El Salvador. I almost could, except for the children, the poor, bruised victims of this insanity. Who would care for them? Whose heart could be so staunch as to favor the reasonable thing in a sea of their tears and loneliness? Not mine, dear friend, not mine."

I was thinking how it’s relatively easy for me to identify with her commitment to the poor – in the distance, a detached kind of love. Paul Simon sang it this way: “Everyone loves the sound of a train in the distance."

For me, for you, for us, an up close and personal love of refugees, migrants and the poor is another thing altogether. They speak another language, smell and are poorly dressed, need help over and over again, to name but a few demands made of me, of you, of us. Some clamor about them being criminals, drug pushers, stealers of our jobs, living off the public trough and other erroneous characterizations. Moreover, my contact with them might threaten my relationships with family, friends and my employment.

Dorothy Day, cofounder of the Catholic Worker movement, shed light on this struggle between detached love and real, day-to-day love when caring for and standing with the poor and disenfranchised by referring to, what was for her, perhaps the most important chapter of Dostoevsky’s book The Brothers Karamazov.

This chapter concerns a conversation between a wealthy woman and an elderly monk, Father Zosima. The woman asks him how she can really know that God exists. Fr. Zosima tells her that no explanation or argument can achieve this, only the practice of "active love." He assures her that there is no other way to know the reality of God. The woman confesses that sometimes she dreams about a life of loving service to others—she thinks perhaps she will become a nun, live in holy poverty and serve the poor in the humblest way. It seems to her such a wonderful thought that it makes tears comes to her eyes.

But then it crosses her mind how ungrateful some of the people she is serving will be. Some will complain that the soup she is serving isn't hot enough, the bread isn't fresh enough, the bed is too hard, the covers are too thin. She confesses she couldn't bear such ingratitude—and so her dreams about serving others vanish, and once again she finds herself wondering if there really is a God.
To this Fr. Zosima responds with the words, "Love in practice is a hard and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.....I am sorry I can say nothing more consoling to you.” This is a scathing critique of charity as we know it, that is, a charity that controls and defines the one who is in need.

Let me explain how I have been struggling with this “up close and personal” kind of love in my own life. For years, I have been helping Christine and Fredrick (not their real names) financially. I know that the money I have is not my own, especially as a person with religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Yet, there never seems to be a letup to Christine and Fredrick’s requests which have increased in number and amounts. I must admit that I have often felt resentful at their requests to which, nonetheless, I usually respond in whole or in part. Begrudgingly, I must add. In fact, I have felt outright anger at them for “taking advantage” of me. As a result, I have stopped even accepting their phone calls or text messages because I invariably give in to their requests when I recall the times I was forced to steal cold-cuts and bread from the grocery store due to an economic downturn. Moreover, I know that my economic security is through no worthiness of my own. All is a gift from God through others. Regrettably, these truths make it no easier for me to decide the right course of action. And such is the struggle to love up close and personal with all the guilt and remorse it can carry.

As evidenced by my struggle with Christine and Frederick, I realize that such unconditional love does not rise spontaneously from my breast. It requires of me to first be open to the Spirit of the living God in my life and to pray as the founder of my religious community, Leo John Dehon, taught us to pray.”Make my heart like your heart.” Furthermore, it requires an act of the will, of faith, to love the other with all their faults and brokenness -- as I am so loved. Hopefully, ever so gradually I learn to love them because of who they are in and of themselves, which is in and of God.

Finally, loving up close and personal like that of Jean and her companions requires that I consider carefully the conditions and policies that drive our sister and brother refugees, and the poor of our own country, into such desperate circumstances. After all, as Rev. Cornell West reminds us, “Never forget that [social] justice is what love looks like in public, just like tenderness is what love feels like in private.”

Clearly, love in practice is a hard and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.
Or so it seems to me.

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Religious Liberty: The Right to Worship Freely, Or...

10/22/2020

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In recent years I have become increasingly uncomfortable with the way some persons have used “religious liberty,” a core value embedded in our constitution, for political purposes and, intentionally or not, as a means of oppressing others of a different ethnicity, religious affiliation or lifestyle. For example, some business owners have refused to serve “others” in the name of religious liberty. They forget that in opening a business, the owner enters into a “contract” with the community to treat everyone with the same dignity and respect.

But it’s not as simple as that. The question remains, what is driving this phenomenon. Let me suggest that this wave of oppression, disguised as religious liberty, is a desire to hold on to “traditional” values which are increasingly challenged by the ever expanding reality of globalization which imposes a culture of its own on a population.

Political scientists have long held that Western, neoliberal economic-globalization -- begun in the 1980s with new modes of communications and transportation -- undermines traditional values at home and abroad. These scientists point out that this McWorld takeover results in new waves of fundamentalism. But that is a deeper dive than we might want to take at this juncture.

Clearly we have to have an honest dialogue with one another about religious liberty and other challenges to “traditional” values, or we are doomed to live in a world with greater and greater division. Hopefully the following article will open up some avenues for that conversation. In that vein, I always welcome your feedback. Finally, please note, that I have taken the liberty to edit the article to say “some conservatives” because, while the author’s ideas are very worthy, I do not believe that they apply to everyone who might claim the title of conservative.

Or so it seems to me.

How [some] conservatives have changed the meaning of
‘religious liberty’

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George Floyd and The Spiral of Violence

6/8/2020

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Bob Bossie, SCJ

Hour after hour, television news highlights the violent episodes of our day: Police murder George Floyd. The nation and world erupt in protest and rebellion. Many are fearful, even in their own homes. Politicians proclaim their toughness against crime in our streets. The police, national guard and military are called in to restore order. But what are the roots of violence?

In his little book Spiral of Violence, Helder Camara, former Bishop of Recife, Brazil describes violence for us in its many forms.

Oppression
First, he reminds us there is the violence of oppression such as hunger, poverty, racism and the domination of the many by the few. This is systemic violence, that is, socially accepted patterns of relationships which favor some groups at the expense of others. Carefully constructed, all pervading, supported by ideology, culture, religion and politics, this stage of violence remains hidden for the most part. In this way, oppression is upheld by the dominant culture as peace and most accept it as such.

One need only pick up a newspaper and read that the U.S. consumes well over 30% of the world’s resources and that the disparity between rich and poor, even in the U.S., is growing with leaps and bounds. The COVID pandemic sheds light on this extreme disparity: U.S. Billionaires increased their wealth by $434Billion during COVID while, during the same period, 30 million persons sought unemployment aid and many go hungry and without health care. Personally, we see this violence in our ministries, neighborhoods, in our own families. Meanwhile, the earth itself is subject to pillage resulting in the ever growing global climate crisis and conflict over diminishing resources such as land, fuel, food and water. This is not God’s world.

Rebellion
The second stage of violence is rebellion against the first stage. It may be planned, as in the Civil Rights movement or protests against corporate interests at home or abroad or the climate crisis. It may also be unplanned and spontaneous, as in the response to cases of police brutality such the murder of George Floyd. The powers and their minions in the media brand this rebellion as riots, violence, brutality, terrorism and like. They would have us believe that this is the beginning of violence, the disruption of peace. And we usually accept it as such. Even if we understand the causes of the rebellion, we tend to say things like, “Violence will not solve the problem,” and “Arrest the looters and rioters.” But we ignore or forget the root of the problem: Oppression, in which the few loot poor and marginalized communities daily and Trillion dollar bailouts go to the 1% while 99% get little.

Repression
The third stage of violence, Bishop Camara instructs us, is known as repression when police or military force is called out to restore peace or, as the powers say, “restore order.” In reality, this is a negative peace. It is not the peace of the Gospel which is built on justice. Since this “peace” is built on a lie, ultimately it must be maintained by force. In our neighborhoods and streets, that is the principle role of the police. Internationally, that is the role of the military with its absolute force of nuclear weapons.

If we are honest, many of us give a sigh of relief when this state is completed. The status quo is resumed but on a different footing because the escalating violence of militarized police or massive military operations is ever ready. Deterrence it is called. The message is loud and clear: domination by any means necessary is the order of the day. And the young hear it loud and clear. As do those we brand as rioters, demons or terrorists. It is their singular acts of violence, however repugnant we may deem them, to which all of our attention is focused today and from which many reap enormous political and economic profit.

One need only realize that the U.S. criminal justice system consumes $80 billion each year just to keep roughly 2.3 million people behind bars and the military budget is now $1.6 Trillion. And so the spiral of violence continues.
If we truly want to honor the George Floyds of our world, the words of Pope Paul VI are crucial: “If you want peace, work for justice.”

Some reflection questions

1. What struck you in this article and how did it make you feel?
2. Why do we act so strongly to the violence in the stage of rebellion but, for the most part, ignore the violence in the stage of oppression?
3. What do you think we are called to do to change this spiral, that is, what are we called to begin doing? Stop doing? Continue doing with a new intention?

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SANCTIONS = BIOLOGICAL WARFARE

5/22/2020

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Bob Bossie, SCJ

Biological Warfare. That's what it is and that's what it should be called. By continuing sanctions against Venezuela, Iran, Hezbollah, Nicaragua, North Korea and others -- especially during the COVID-19 pandemic -- the U.S. is engaging in biological warfare, a crime against humanity. Despite the fact that no one will use that term, that's what it is.

Sanctions had already been linked to 40,000 deaths in Venezuela before COVID-19. While information about the number of deaths in Iran before the coronavirus is not readily available, the disease has hammered few countries as hard as it has hit Iran. As of May 21, Iran reported 129,341 cases and 7,249 deaths. In fact, one can only guess the number of coronavirus deaths in Iran, Venezuela and elsewhere that are attributable to sanctions when there is little if any way to test for the virus and even the most sophisticated western nations are counting deaths in the tens of thousands.

At a time when all of humanity is facing a common, invisible, enemy, world leaders, including Pope Francis, have called for a suspension of economic sanctions, that have increasingly become the pursuit of war by other means. These leaders have also called for a worldwide ceasefire. The Trump administration continues to ignore these appeals and has intensified punitive measures on the two nations it has identified as America’s greatest enemies: Iran and Venezuela.

On top of this, the US has used its veto power in the IMF to reject emergency loans to both Iran and Venezuela.

In Iraq’s St. Raphael hospital in the 1990s, I personally witnessed the suffering and death of some of the tens of thousands of Iraqi children who died from US-UN sanctions against Iraq. One doctor at St. Raphael's hospital told our group, "I hope President [HW} Bush goes to heaven." Because I was stunned by his comment, I asked, "Why would you say that?" The doctor responded, "So he can see all the children he killed." Clearly, no one with a heart can stand by and watch this war crime being repeated.

SANCTIONS ARE BIOLOGICAL WARFARE -- A WAR CRIME -- A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY!!!

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The Stimulus (Bailout): A Work in Progress

5/1/2020

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The Bailout is an insult to those who need it most. It allocates most of its $2 Trillion for corporations and just $1200 for individuals who lost their jobs and $500 for each of their children, plus an extension of unemployment benefits for four months at a relatively good level.

But that’s on paper. The numbers show 30 million are unemployed, the highest level in the country’s history. Millions who were already unemployed continue to be left to their own devices and the meager safety net they rely upon is now swamped by the newly unemployed. Miles-long lines of cars waiting at food banks attest to this reality.

Unemployment benefits require two stages, according to 60 Minutes on April 12. Stage one, applicants must fill out a lengthy form on-line during which many applicants find that their connections ends inexplicably before completing it.

Stage two, after filling out the form online, the applicants must then call the unemployment office to answer further questions. Again, though, the system is totally overwhelmed. Applicants report calling 50 times a day for several days without success. Meanwhile, rents were due on the first of April and May, food supplies dwindle from hoarding, over demand and the breaking of supply chains (farms, to factories, to grocery stores, to purchasers).

Meanwhile, Congress allocated an additional $4 Trillion for corporate loan guarantees, but President Trump said he would not follow even the minimal oversight required by Congress.

This most extreme expenditure of the peoples’ monies is a looming catastrophe seen 12 years ago in the Wall Street bailout of 2008. At that time, corporations and financial institution used bailout monies in two ways. One, they bought back their stocks at rock bottom prices. This buyback drove up the stock prices. Corporations then used these extra monies to “reward” their top executives and shareholders furthering the radical divide between the haves and have-nots, the one percent and the 99 percent.

Two, the devalued prices of family homes were rich picking for the banks and other financial institutions because homeowners were unable to pay their mortgages. Thus, banks repossessed these homes, and other properties, and when prices rose again, sold them at handsome profits.

The Shock and Distraction Behind This Transfer of Wealth
This was deliberate and planned grand theft of the highest form and the same is happening today during the coronavirus pandemic. For decades now, the corporate class has been exploiting moments of shock and distraction around the world caused, inexorably, by unfettered free-market policies to gather greater and greater wealth and economic control for itself.

Even now, under cover of the coronavirus pandemic, corporate government is escalating economic, military and political pressure against Venezuela in order to gain control of its oil reserve -- the single largest in the world, and against Iran, to ensure US control of middle east oil resources. These economic sanctions alone are taking the lives of untold numbers of citizens in these two countries, especially due to the coronavirus which is challenging to even the most advanced western countries.. The Trump administration has refused the call of world leaders for the suspension of sanctions while all of humanity is facing a common, invisible, enemy. Clearly, the goal is to create such a state of shock that the corporate class can ensure control of these resources by any means necessary.
Again, under cover of the coronavirus, the corporate class is allowing the global climate crisis to escalate exponentially while they continue to reap financial rewards from their devastating economic policies.

Finally, under the cover of the pandemic, it is clear that migrant detention centers, prisons and jails are now ticking time bombs for the Coronavirus.

Clearly, there are some further drastic cracks in society

The wealth of the nation is now more fully ensconced in the hands of the corporate owners, the one percent.
The Democrats voted for this stimulus bill. None of the so-called progressives used any of their leverage to fight for the working class and the poor. Sander’s speech saying he would hold up passage of the bill if an amendment removing unemployment benefits was passed, was a mockery since he knew that the Republican leadership only allowed it to come to a vote because they knew it wouldn’t pass. Their strategy, as cruel as it might seem, was to persuade their base that they did everything they could to prevent the stimulus package from including unemployment benefits for the average person.
The dream that when the pandemic ends we will be able to get back to business as usual is totally unrealistic. The upward movement of capital, the further loss of individual wealth, the vacuum left by these months of, relatively, no economic activity, etc. make such a dream impossible. Fifty percent of all employment is provided by small businesses. Most will be bankrupt in a short time and allow for corporate takeovers at rock bottom prices. In fact, Walgreens and CVS, the number 1 and 2 drugstore chains in the US, are already accelerating efforts to buy out rival independent pharmacies hurt by the pandemic.
During this pandemic, many are dying because they cannot afford hospital/medical care. Further, persons/families will rack up extreme debts from hospital and medicine charges because they are now uninsured due to layoffs. This is all a result of the profit-driven health care system. Moreover, the Trump administration’s prior decision to eviscerate funding for the National Infectious Disease Department contributed to the inability of the health care system to respond to the pandemic. Clearly, a universal health care system would be more able to respond to this pandemic.
The coronavirus didn’t cause the economic collapse but it does show that the US economy was already a house of cards due to neo-liberal economic policies. Such policies include the rampant speculation we have seen these last 50 years, not the least of which followed the bailout of 2008. In fact, these policies are a major cause of the pandemic and others to come.
Immigrants, who live in the U.S. and pay taxes, engage in essential work that endangers their lives while providing many of us with some degree of normalcy. Meanwhile, they are excluded from the stimulus package.

Is This Really The Type Of Society We Want To Live In Or Leave To Our Children?

Some hopeful signs
The coronavirus is radicalizing workers on many fronts. McDonald’s workers in Tampa, St. Louis, and Memphis went on strike, asking for protective equipment, hazard pay, and paid leave for anyone who wants to stay home because of the virus. General Electric workers protested proposed layoffs and asked the company to put them to work making ventilators. In response to a worker’s lawsuit, a judge ruled that Instacart had likely misclassified its California workforce as independent contractors in order to underpay them and to skirt some labor laws.

Never again can it be said that national health care, The Green New Deal, homes for those without homes, etc. are unaffordable. There’s always money when it benefits corporations and for engaging in resource wars, both of which benefit the wealthy. Citizens can push for policies that benefit the common good.

The pandemic offers us an opportunity: greater numbers of people are becoming aware that the neo-liberal, globalized economy played a major part in leading us to this pandemic and the destruction of the economy. Clearly, the economy should serve the people, which includes protecting the environment, and not just serve the most wealthy one percent.

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“EVERYONE LOVES THE SOUND OF A TRAIN IN THE DISTANCE”

Religious Liberty: The Right to Worship Freely, Or...

George Floyd and The Spiral of Violence

SANCTIONS = BIOLOGICAL WARFARE

The Stimulus (Bailout): A Work in Progress

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