Roomin' House Blues

One of the greatest looming crisis in the world today is the global water shortage. Both secular and religious social justice advocates are concerned with this and Catholics in particular are applying CST (Catholic Social Teaching for my non-Catholic friends) to this. I have always been concerned with inequality and it's savage effects, as a Catholic child, as a fallen away Catholic, and as a returned Catholic. But returning late in adulthood, and studying CST I have gained a entirely new set of tools to use on this problem. I thank my old Santa Cruz friend Kim MacKay for this article and here is my take: Water is becoming a a point of conflict between global capitalism and the poor of the world. It is being treated as private property of investors. Catholic social teaching starts with certain simple premises: the dignity and right to survive of every human being, The "universal destination of goods" (that the good things of the earth are ultimately everyone's, ...

I have been studying the pronouncements, activities and history of Pope Francis with an hopeful intensity since his surprise election. His choice of name and, the simplicity of his of first appearance and his style of behavior became immediate indicators that something was different, but it remained to be seen what wold be the substance of that difference.  One of the immediate surprises is that after election, he went to pay his hotel bill, and then he moved into the Vatican guest house, Domus Sanctae Marthae, rather than the papal apartments.  He freed himself slightly from his staff by this, setting some of his own appointments, lived a in slightly simpler manner and became in my mind "The Rooming House Pope."  He had a Rabbi friend come and stay with him in the guest house, invited the Editor of La Republica over for an interview, kissed cleaned and kissed the feet of prisoners on Holy Thursday and did numerous acts that constituted his style. I explored his...

Forwarded by my friend Nina to me, a letter from U.S. Bishops: From the Bishops: ACTION ALERT: Congress Must Act this Week to Protect our Poor and Vulnerable Brothers and Sisters Take ACTION!   Protect our Poor and Vulnerable Brothers and Sisters   This week Congress must act on the current FY 2011 spending bill to avert a government shutdown.  Some current proposals include deep cuts to programs that serve the poorest, most vulnerable people at home and abroad.  Likewise a shutdown of government services will fall most heavily on those who have the fewest resources. Fiscal responsibility is important, but it demands shared sacrifice and a special concern for poor persons at home and abroad.   Unfortunately, the voices of poor and vulnerable people have not been heard in the debate, and as a result they are being forced to bear the brunt of the proposed cuts. The vast majority of the cuts come from the non-defense, discretionary portion of the budget (onl...

Tonight, Thursday March 31st, at 8PET,   Kevin Appleby, Migration Policy Director for USCCB, will appear on “The World Over”, a show on the Catholic network EWTN.   USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) has worked very hard for a fair and just immigration policy. Justice for Immigrants is asking supporters of Catholic teaching on immigration to call in with questions.  Catholic teaching on immigration, while taking into account the right of a nation to protect it's borders, is primarily motivated by the churches teaching on social justice. 

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a statement in support of the Wisconsin Bishops stand in favor of workers in Wisconsin whose rights to collective bargaining are under assault. The press release is below.  SCCB News Release 11-038 February 24, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE USCCB Chairman Supports Wisconsin Bishops on the Rights of Workers WASHINGTON (February 24, 2011)—Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, California, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, expressed his “support for and solidarity” with the Wisconsin bishops’ statement on the rights of workers.             In a February 23 letter to Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki of Milwaukee, Bishop Blaire wrote, “You and our brother bishops in Wisconsin are offering a timely reminder of what the Church teaches on the rights and duties of workers, including the right to form an...

I have obtained a copy of a letter from the Massachusetts Catholic Conference expressing concerns about budget cuts.  I am presenting it here, below,  with some modification of the formating. MASSACHUSETTS CATHOLIC CONFERENCE                         WEST END PLACE 150 Staniford Street, Suite 5, Boston, MA  02114-2511 Phone (617) 367-6060 FAX (617) 367-2767 staff@macathconf.org February 9, 2011 Standing in Solidarity with All We begin the second decade of a still new century as a country of complexity and contrasts. Even after the financial crisis of three years ago, the United States remains a society capable of producing great wealth, a center of scientific discovery and innovation.  For some the financial crisis appears finished; in technical terms, the recession may be described as over. But the contrasts remain and are riveting in human terms. For many residents—a...

Governor Walker has had the benefit of a Jesuit education, but apparently he missed the part about social justice.  I have received a press release from Catholic Democrats that goes into detail on this.  Boston, Mass . -  Catholic Democrats  is urging Catholics to stand in solidarity with the teachers, nurses, snowplow drivers, and other unionized employees of the state of Wisconsin and other states where Republican governors and legislators are seeking to eliminate or diminish their collective bargaining rights. The right of workers to organize and bargain collectively is a foundational principal of the rich Catholic Social Justice tradition, which dates back to 1891. In Wisconsin, newly elected Republican Governor Scott Walker has led an unprecedented assault on labor in his first month in office.  Through the so-called "Budget Repair Bill," which was scheduled to be brought before the state legislature with little debate, Walker has not o...

The Bible says in not one but several places, to be kind to the strangers among you, for you were once one of them.  Currently Congress is considering cutting funding for refugees, those immigrants who have no other choice but to be immigrants.  Justice for Immigrants, a organization representing the Catholic point of view on immigration questions has forwarded me email which I copy below in hopes that you will write Congress to help stop  this. Help Fight Drastic Cuts to Funding for Refugees Take Action! Your help is needed!   Take Action NOW : Contact your Senators and Representative by e-mail, phone, FAX or U.S. Mail: Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at: 202-224-3121, or call your Members’ local offices. Send the e-mail below.  (You can also send the email by clicking on "Take Action".) Additional contact info can be found on Members’ web sites at:  www.senate.gov  and  www.house.gov . Share this action alert with your social med...

I have been considering systems of economic and political thought that stem from Catholic social teaching and try to apply it.  In Rerum Novarum Pope Leo the 13th talked about the need to create greater social equality without extending the power and responsibilities of the state beyond it's proper role.   This proper role was not well defined, but it is clear that Pope Leo say in state socialism the dangers of too much state control over individual human beings and accelerated class conflict.  He did not, I think, have a libertarian view, although it would not be irrational to read that into the document.  But I think the fact that the emphasized that the state did have a proper role runs contrary to libertarianism.  He did say that the poverty and suffering of the workers needed to be alleviated and that greater access to production and property on the part of the workers was needed. It is from this that the idea of distributism,...