Communities Creating Opportunity Policy and Development Director

“On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act.   One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they journey on life’s highway.”

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Every day, thousands of families in Missouri struggle to stretch their wages across mounting bills.  Times are tough, within our faith communities we are finding too many families who lack the income to meet their basic needs.  In these difficult times, social service agencies, church emergency assistance funds, and food banks are all but tapped out.  As the financial woes for our working families mount, many Missourians turn to high interest credit, like payday and car title loans, to meet their short term credit needs.

Payday loans are small, short-term loans that are secured by a borrower’s personal check.  Payday loans typically cost $17 for every $100 borrowed and must be repaid in full before the borrower’s next payday—which translates to an annual percentage rate (APR) of 445% for a two-week loan, meaning that many borrowers pay more in fees than they actually borrow. For a “typical” payday loan in Missouri, a borrower completes eight back-to-back transactions before fully repaying an average loan of $300. This accrues $410 in interest fees.

These loans cause a predatory cycle of debt that traps our families into a spiral of recurring high interest fees. Exorbitant interest rates on payday loans ensnare our struggling families into spirals of debt so usurious that a $300 loan for the month’s groceries typically ends up costing our families a whopping $710.^[1]  With these rates, the average borrower pays more in interest than the original loan amount.  The triple-digit interest rate is a product of the payday loan’s very unfair design: a loan that is due in full, plus interest and fees, in two short weeks and is secured by access to a family’s banking account.

These high cost loans don’t reflect the family values of our communities, and they dishonor the old adage that hard work and persistence create prosperity.  Even individuals who are able to repay their astronomical payday and car title loan debts are unable to build credit as these lenders refuse to report positively to credit agencies.  Small dollar, high interest borrowers are therefore trapped in a financial subclass that does not allow them to maintain income or build wealth.

There are now over one thousand payday lenders in Missouri, not to mention the hundreds of car title lenders and pawnshops.  That’s more than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined.  While these loans are marked as a short term fix for unexpected expenses, they tend to trap people in debt.  Because the loans (and fees) are due in full within two weeks to a month, the borrower is forced to come up with a sizeable amount of cash in a short time.

Especially in these difficult economic times, we know that Missouri families deserve better.  In order for lending to build assets in our communities, lending products must abide by a fair interest rate.  As an interfaith community, we are building a grassroots base to outlaw the triple digit interest rates that cause the debt rap.  Lowering the APR to a reasonable figure, like 36 percent APR can be accomplished by either lowering the fees charged, or by giving families more time to repay the loan.  In either case, it means a family will be given a fighting chance to succeed, rather than being ensnared in a product that by its very terms makes it almost certain the family will fail.

This month as we celebrate the life and the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, we are called to “transform the Jericho Road so that men and women and not constantly beaten and robbed along life’s highway.”  The Jericho Road in Missouri is broken.  Our rural, suburban, and city roads across the state run rampant with predatory lenders that charge triple digit interest, robbing our families of the wages they need to survive.  Faith community efforts are critical to freeing our neighbors from the payday debt trap.  Religious and community groups throughout the state are building a movement to Cap the Rate on these triple-digit interest products.  Visit www.cco.org or www.moresponsiblelending.org to learn how you can get involved.  Together, we can transform the Jericho Road.

A ‘Big Shift’ from the 20th century, a time defined by hyper-consumption (or conspicuous consumption), to a 21st century age of collaborative consumption is underway. Collaborative consumption describes the rapid explosion in traditional sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping redefined through technology and peer communities. The primary source for information on this topic is here.

From enormous marketplaces such as eBay and Craigslist, to emerging sectors such as social lending (Zopa), peer-to-peer travel (Airbnb) and car sharing (Zipcar or peer-to-peer RelayRides), Collaborative Consumption is disrupting outdated modes of business and reinventing not just what we consume but how we consume. New marketplaces such as TaskRabbit, ParkatmyHouse, Zimride, Swap.com, Zilok, Bartercard and thredUP are enabling “peer-to-peer” to become the default way people exchange — whether it’s unused space, goods, skills, money, or services — and sites like these are appearing everyday, all over the world. Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of these as most of us haven’t.

What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption is a groundbreaking original book that includes dozens of stories of how entrepreneurs and businesses are innovating in the space of Collaborative Consumption.  Financial Times says it is: “A remarkably hopeful and accessible book about a social revolution gaining momentum.”

Major areas for collaborative consumption include:

• Product service systems where individuals Pay for the benefit of using a product without needing to own the product outright. Disrupting traditional industries based on models of individual private ownership.  This could be anything from car sharing to sharing solar power to toy rental to fashion rental to textbook rental.
• Redistribution markets where used or pre-owned goods are redistributed from where they are not needed to somewhere or someone where they are.  Redistribution includes craigslist, eBay, free/gift exchanges, swap sites for books and other items, clothing swaps – the possibilities are many.

Collaborative lifestyles where People with similar interests are banding together to share and exchange less tangible assets such as time, space, skills, and money.  This can include coworking spaces, social lending, bartering, gardens, skill sharing, parking spots, errand and task networks, and other creative options.

Find two brief videos on this topic here  and here.The second video gives a concise explanation of the concept of collaborative consumption and its value.

For further reading:

Alex Goldmark, GOOD Magazine — October 11, 2011
“Peer to Peer Lenders Take Banks Out of Credit Equation”

Kevin Lee, Forbes — October 25, 2011
“Can China Lead The Development of a Shared Value Economy?”

Derek Thompson, The Atlantic — November 9, 2011
How Steve Case and His Company Are Driving the Sharing Economy

Bryan Walsh, Time Magazine — Thursday, Mar. 17, 2011
Today’s Smart Choice: Don’t Own.  Share

Major sporting events are occasions for increased trafficking activity. Pope John Paul II called trafficking, “a shocking offense against human dignity and a grave violation of fundamental human rights,” and Pope Benedict XVI calls it a scourge. The following are facts from Human Trafficking: The Facts from the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING FACTS

• An estimated 2.5 million people are in forced labor (including sexual exploitation) at any given time as a result of trafficking

Of these:

• 1.4 million – 56% – are in Asia and the Pacific
• 250,000 – 10% – are in Latin America and the Caribbean
• 230,000 – 9.2% – are in the Middle East and Northern Africa
• 130,000 – 5.2% – are in sub-Saharan countries
• 270,000 – 10.8% – are in industrialized countries
• 200,000 – 8% – are in countries in transition

• 161 countries are reported to be affected by human trafficking by being a source, transit or destination count

• People are reported to be trafficked from 127 countries to be exploited in 137 countries, affecting every continent and every type of economy4

The Victims

• The majority of trafficking victims are between 18 and 24 years of age
• An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year
• 95% of victims experienced physical or sexual violence during trafficking (based on data from selected European countries)
• 43% of victims are used for forced commercial sexual exploitation, of whom 98 per cent are women and girls
• 32% of victims are used for forced economic exploitation, of whom 56 per cent are women and girls
• Many trafficking victims have at least middle-level education

The Traffickers

• 52% of those recruiting victims are men, 42% are women and 6% are both men and women
• In 54% of cases the recruiter was a stranger to the victim, 46% of cases the recruiter was known to victim
• The majority of suspects involved in the trafficking process are nationals of the country where the trafficking process is occurring

The Profits

• Estimated global annual profits made from the exploitation of all trafficked forced labor are US$ 31.6 billion

Of this:

• US$ 15.5 billion – 49% – is generated in industrialized economies
• US$ 9.7 billion – 30.6% is generated in Asia and the Pacific
• US$ 1.3 billion – 4.1% is generated in Latin America and the Caribbean
• US$ 1.6 billion – 5% is generated in sub-Saharan Africa
• US$ 1.5 billion – 4.7% is generated in the Middle East and North Africa

Prosecutions

• In 2006 there were only 5,808 prosecutions and 3,160 convictions throughout the world
• This means that for every 800 people trafficked, only one person was convicted in 2006

by Pat Marrin, National Catholic Worker Reporter and 2010 Romero Delegation to Nueva Esperanza, El Salvador Participant

The road to Nueva Esperanza is dusty and rutted, a bumpy ride for the old pickup truck Gigi Gruenke drove to San Carlos to get me. She knows the roads well from her six years in El Salvador, from 2001 to 2007, as a Maryknoll lay volunteer working with the sisters of the Pequeña Comunidad (“Little Community”) in the Baja Lempa region of the country.  She is back to visit and has offered to help me tell the story of the sisters as part of NCR’s coverage of El Salvador 30 years after the death of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated on March 24, 1980.

Nueva Esperanza (“New Hope”) has 140 families and is one of the last towns along the Lempa, the country’s main river, which winds snakelike from the Honduran border and empties into the estuaries along Pacific coast 10 miles south of here.  We negotiate around some cattle. A young girl and her brother hitched a ride in the back of the truck when we stopped at a market to pick up 42 eggs. A week of celebrating Monseñor Romero has kept the Pequeña Comunidad sisters busy feeding visitors.

I hold the four stacked cardboard trays tied with string. My arms flex to cushion the eggs at each bump. The children in back sway and hang onto the pipe frame above the truck bed. El Salvador is a place where metaphors spring to mind to help interpret fragile realities. I recall Scott Wright’s story about what it was like to be in the country during its brutal civil war. An activist from Washington, D.C., he had come down in the early 1980s to work in the refugee camps on the Honduran border, then slipped into the country to accompany the thousands of terrified people hiding out in the hills from the helicopter gunships and army patrols. During a stop to rest in the jungle, a woman handed him her baby to hold while she went off to do something. This was El Salvador. If you came here you were entrusted with something precious.

We drop off our riders and park the truck next to the sisters’ walled compound. The town exhibits a rustic simplicity that is also another name for poverty. Across El Salvador, from the urban sprawl in the capital to the tiny cantons in the mountains accessible only on foot, people are living on the edge. Even 18 years after the 1992 peace accords, political divisions and vast inequities still reflect a lack of resources throughout the country, but especially in areas held by the rebels during the war.  Malnutrition, no funds for schools or health clinics, and unemployment are forcing young people to head north or join the gangs that pervade even the rural areas.

Accompanying the people

This is where the sisters of the Pequeña Comunidad live and minister to a network of 47 surrounding communities. Their style is immersion with the people and their objective is empowerment. They catechize, do sacramental preparation, counsel ordinary ministry but with a bottom-up approach made popular 40 years earlier after the Second Vatican Council and the emergence of Christian base communities that emphasized the role of the laity in the church.  We enter the compound where Srs. Nohemy Ortíz, Hortencia Preza and Valentina Pérez join us in a large, covered courtyard with plastic chairs arranged in a circle, an all-purposespace for meetings, meals and prayer. At one end is a garden sculpture of a seated Romero.

Ortíz has been with the community for most of its 40 years. She says that it was “formed in the womb of the Christian base communities” where lay men and women were trained to conduct Bible study in the many outlying villages visited only rarely by priests. The grassroots vitality of the base community experience attracted young people to the church. Many young women who wanted to commit their lives to service but did not feel called to traditional convent life sought a new form of religious life among the poor. In 1970, the “Little Community” was formed. The sisters did not wear religious habits and did not seek formal status under church law.

Ortíz says that as many as 50 people, both men and women, were involved with the community, but that its vowed membership never exceeded 15. Today, there are a total of eight sisters: the three serving in the Baja Lempa area; two sisters, Ana Beatriz Landaverde and Maria Isabel Figueroa,  serving in San Salvador; and three others, Anna María Barriento, Yulma Bonilla and Carmen Elena Hernández, in Morazán. Two North Americans, St. Joseph Sr. Elena Jaramilla from Orange, California and Providence Sr. Frances Stacy from Spokane, Washington also work with the sisters.

“We never thought of ourselves as an institute or congregation,” Ortíz says. “We were committed to Jesus of Nazareth as his followers and disciples. Rather than take traditional vows to a superior or to a bishop, we take our vows before the people.”

Not having canonical status is outweighed, she says, by the freedom to go where the people need them, and to be prophetic in pursuing justice, even when this is difficult or controversial.

Preza tells of her path to the community; since childhood she had felt a desire to serve but her mother had discouraged her from considering the brown-habited nuns they saw in church. “I joined a choir and youth group where I met Nohemy and some of the other sisters. They didn’t wear habits and I wondered how they could be sisters,” she says. But the more she came to know them and their work with the people, the more she felt called to accompany them. She made her vows in 1989, while the war was still going on. She was 24 years old. “The church became real to me,” she says.

Pérez describes her childhood devotion to her family, but says that she knew she wanted to reach out to others and thought she needed to join the convent to do this. She met Preza, who was holding weekly meetings at her church. “I realized I could dedicate myself to God without going far away to do it. Nohemy kept asking me, ‘When do you want to join us? Come, the door is open.’ ”

Pérez read her vows publicly in 2006. She says that one of the things she values is the sisters’ freedom to reach out to all religious sects and faiths, as Romero had done.

Option for the poor

In its early years, the new community took inspiration from the 1968 Latin American bishops’ meeting in Medellín, Colombia, where the phrase “God’s option for the poor” was first uttered officially. A new spirit took hold in Latin America, challenging the traditional alignment of the church with wealth and power. In both urban and rural areas, Bible study led to analysis of the causes of poverty, unjust labor practices and land distribution, and the treatment of people by the police and military. Those in power, threatened by growing pressures for reform, accused some priests of being communists, including two Belgian priests who have worked closely with the Pequeña sisters, Frs. Pedro Declercq and Rogelio Ponseele. The struggle pitted conservative bishops tied to the wealthy and the military against the popular church led by Romero, who struggled unsuccessfully to hold both church and nation together toavert civil war, which broke out in 1981.

The image of the martyred Silvia Maribel Arriola is carried in this year’s commemoration march honoring El Salvador’s Archbishop Oscar Romero. The Pequeña sisters, vowed to accompany the people, were caught up in the conflict. One member, Sr. Silvia Maribel Arriola, who made her vows with the group in 1975, is revered as one of El Salvador’s most beloved martyrs. She came to the community because of her desire to serve Jesus in the poor and through her friendship with Ortíz. Arriola was Romero’s personal secretary from 1977 until his assassination in 1980. A nurse, she was with a group of 97 refugees killed by the army on Jan 17, 1981. She was 29 years old. The bodies were doused in gasoline and burned to destroy evidence of the civilian massacre, one of 200 documented from the war.

The sisters say they continue to look to Romero for inspiration. Preza and Pérez cite his defense of human rights as the greatest challenge. For Ortíz, Romero remains a model of prophet, teacher and pastor. “He gives us spiritual eyes to see so we can continue to build the reign of God,” she says.  “He is now a risen in the people.

“Everyone wants him to be canonized, but not just as an object of devotion, someone to light candles to. He lived his life in total faithfulness during a very crucial moment in El Salvador’s history. We will honor him by living as he did, saying what he said. And that is not so easy.”

A selection of the murals produced by local youth will be added to the traveling exhibit, Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War in Afghanistan (http://afsc.org/project/windows-and-mirrors) when it is in Kansas City from November 12 through December 30, 2011. The traveling exhibit will be on display at the in Central KCMO Public Library and the Johnson County Central Resource Library. The murals produced locally will be displayed with other student works at the Johnson County Central Resource Library.

After learning about Afghanistan the Learning Club teens identified themes they wanted to communicate in their murals. They wanted to recognize the violence experienced by both Afghans and U.S. citizens; the extreme poverty and hardships suffered by the people of Afghanistan. They wanted people to recognize our equality and that we have lots in common– the importance of family, hopes for the future, desires for peace, health, jobs…

Jose Faus, Kansas City area artist and poet, volunteered his skills to facilitate the creative process with the Learning Club youth. He introduced methods of communicating emotions and meaning not only with images but also with color, shape and rhythm. The results were extraordinary.

School and youth groups interested in participating in the project can contact AFSC at 816 931-5256 or afsckc@afsc.org.

We wish to thank Utrecht Art Supplies for their contribution of and discount on paints and other materials in support of this project.

Click here to see photos of Learning Club Leadership Academy working on murals.

This article was taken from American Friends Service Committee Website.

Sister Michelle spoke at the School of the Americas vigil on November 21, 2011 accompanied by Mercy Associate Nelly del Cid from Honduras, Sister Tita from Panama and Sister Anita from Argentina. 

Good morning,

I am here to represent the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, Mercy Associates, Mercy Volunteers, Mercy College Students, and Ministry Partners who are standing in solidarity with you and with all those negatively affected by the graduates of the SOA. We come with mercy, compassion, and hope, but also with a sense of urgency and impatience:

• As the Mercy Family, we are scandalized that we, the USA, who are 4% of the world’s population, have 50% of the world’s military;
• We are scandalized that the US has troops in 130 or so countries currently;
• We are scandalized that in a country where 80% of us claim to be Christian, many seem to have forgotten the words of Jesus- that we should actually love our neighbor as ourselves.

We all know whose interests our numerous military bases are protecting.

And yet there is hope:

• There is hope in our Honduran Mercy Sisters and Associates who are part of the “women resisting violence” movement inHonduras;
• Our Panama sisters gave us hope, when in 1984, their efforts and those of others succeeded in getting the SOA out of Panama;
• And there is hope in you, who come here year after year to say NO to the oppressive, unjust structures of a military culture.

You know what solidarity is:  standing with our brothers and sisters in love and compassion- to the end.

So we must continue this SOA Watch here and at home- as our sisters from Latin America have reminded us, we must connect the dots and be awake and alert to what’s happening around us.

Let us continue until that day when right relationships, non-violence, the common good, and finally, peace, will prevail in the Americas and all over our planet.  Thank you!

Experiencing the SOA Watch the First Time

By Sister Michelle Gorman, R.S.M,  Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Community Leadership Team Justice Liaison,

November 29, 2011

After many years of being aware of the annual School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC) protests at Fort Benning, GA, I finally was able to attend.  I was inspired by the presence of so many Catholic groups as well as the intergenerational mix of college students, middle aged activists, and older people aided by canes and wheelchairs. Fr. Roy Bourgeois and Martin Sheen were the celebrities who spoke from a long history of efforts to close the SOA. Mercy Sisters Anita Siufi (Argentina), Tita Lopez (Panama), and Mercy Associate Nelly del Cid (Honduras) were the Mercies who have lived daily with the effects of the SOA in their respective countries.

The continuing existence of the SOA and its history of militarization in the Americas violates every one of our Critical Concerns, i.e., the practice of non-violence, anti-racism, reverence for Earth, and concern for women and immigrants. The causes of violence, racism, and disrespect for immigrants, women, and Earth itself lie in the greed and inhumanity of ‘the few’ who continue to maintain control over resources in many parts of our world, with complete disregard for the needs of ‘the many’.

In one of her several talks during the protest event, Nelly del Cid reminded us that the three most lucrative issues on our planet today are trafficking in persons, drugs, and arms. This scandalizing fact awakens in us a sense of urgency to act and a renewed support for all those resisting the devaluation of human life for the sake of greed and profit. . . .

How do we, as U.S. citizens and taxpayers, get in touch with our own complicity which results in the denial of basic human rights in so many parts of our world? When we and many other groups beyond the U.S. commit ourselves to work for systemic change, we encounter a system that privatizes land and water, seeds and crops, the very basics of life itself?

Where can we find the courage to continue to seek the welfare of our brothers and sisters if not in the placing of our hope in the God of Mercy, Wisdom, and Mystery, whose compassion extends to the fall of a sparrow?  We must be in solidarity with all of those who, past and present, resisted and continue to resist the unjust structures created by a military culture that is becoming more and more pervasive in our world.  Our planet is too beautiful to be destroyed; our brothers and sisters worldwide are too beautiful to be dominated by those who only seem to value the bottom line.

We applaud members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction who stood firm and ultimately rejected cuts that would harm Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and food stamp beneficiaries. We thank those who opposed still more tax giveaways to millionaires and insisted that fair revenue increases had to be part of any emerging plan to cut the deficit.

A bad plan would have been worse than no plan – and some very bad plans were put forward. These included a $643 billion Republican proposal that would have resulted in just $3 billion in tax increases from ending tax breaks on corporate jets. Democrats were right to reject this proposal, which reportedly cut $216 billion in domestic appropriations. The plan once again targeted programs that serve low- and moderate-income families, such as education, job training, housing and public health, while asking nothing of upper-income Americans.

Likewise, Democrats were correct to take a pass on a proposal by Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) that contained $250 billion in net new tax revenue but masked a large low-to-middle-income tax increase, with almost all of the new revenue paid right back out in tax cuts disproportionately benefiting millionaires and billionaires. The plan, which also would have made the Bush tax cuts permanent, amounted to a massive tax decrease for those at the top, while those lower down the economic ladder would have paid with higher taxes and cuts to Medicare and other critical programs.

The public overwhelmingly supports closing tax loopholes and increasing taxes on the wealthy and corporations to reduce the deficit. It also opposes cuts that negatively affect Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries. In a poll this month by Lake Research Partners/Tarrance Group poll of swing states, 89 percent of those surveyed said they were either strongly or somewhat in favor of closing tax loopholes to make the tax code fairer and 66 percent supported increasing taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations. In contrast, only 19 percent favored making hundreds of millions of dollars in beneficiary cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

The best way to reduce the deficit is to get people back to work, buying goods and services and paying taxes.  The Joint Select Committee should have approved a plan with job creation initiatives in the short term, followed once the economy strengthens by tax increases and spending cuts that spare low-income and vulnerable people from harm. Extending the federal Unemployment Insurance (UI) program for the long-term unemployed is must-pass legislation for Congress before federal UI expires in December. Abandoning the jobless with unemployment stuck at 9 percent would be unthinkably cruel and a severe blow to the economy.

Regrettably, too many members remained intransigently opposed to such a sensible and productive plan. They insisted instead on service and benefit cuts that would weaken our economy and jeopardize our future, while shifting the tax burden so that the rich benefit even more. Over the coming years, such a plan would leave more of our young people unprepared for employment, more of our population lacking health care and more of our seniors economically insecure. The members of the Joint Select Committee who rejected that approach should feel proud of their success in staving off a dangerous course of action.

The Coalition on Human Needs (CHN) is an alliance of national organizations working together to promote public policies which address the needs of low-income and other vulnerable populations. The Coalition conducts analyses of federal budget proposals and policies to determine their impact on people in need. The Coalition’s members include civil rights, religious, labor and professional organizations and those concerned with the wellbeing of children, women, the elderly and people with disabilities. CHN is located at 1120 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite 312, Washington, D.C. 20036. For more information please visit www.chn.org.

Many of us have been following and/or participating in local “Occupy Wall Street” events.  It is both hopeful that voices are being raised and discouraging that, in many instances, those with power or authority have striven to silence those voices.  Encouraging is what John Gehring, from Faith in Public Life, says in his recent article (Occupy Wall Street, False Idols and Building a Moral Economy),in Catholics in Alliance –  “Even as some pundits and politicos dismiss the Occupy Wall Street movement as a fleeting burst of activism from the far left, Cardinal Peter Turkson of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace said last week that the “basic sentiment” behind the protests aligns with mainstream principles of Catholic social teaching on the economy.”  How many churches are waking up to the need to speak out about the gross injustices in the U.S. economic system? Gehring also says:

Ever since Pope Leo XIII ushered in modern Catholic social teaching with an 1891 encyclical challenging the excesses of a savage capitalism that exploits workers for maximum profit, the Catholic Church has been on the front lines of the struggle for economic fairness.  During the 1980’s, when Ronald Reagan touted “trickle down” economic theories that disproportionately benefited the richest 1 percent, Pope John Paul II warned against an “idolatry of the market” and insisted that private wealth was subject to a “social mortgage” to benefit the common good. The U.S. Catholic bishops’ 1986 pastoral letter, Economic Justice for All, called for an economy that serves the “dignity of the human person” and responded to the era’s anti-tax orthodoxy (which remains a powerful force today with the Tea Party) by urging that “the tax system should be continually evaluated in terms of its impact on the poor.” Pope Benedict XVI denounced the “scandal of glaring inequalities” in his 2008 encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, and called for a more just distribution of wealth. And last week’s Vatican document, widely covered in the US media, spoke clearly about “the primacy of being over having,” of “ethics over the economy” and of “embracing the logic of the global common good.

The Vatican’s complete document can be found here or here.  This document is an analysis of the moral failing behind the current economic crisis.  Even more—signed by the Council’s head, Cardinal Peter Turkson, and by its secretary, Bishop Mario Toso—the document charts what might be called a “Catholic way forward” from the present morass.  To read an interesting analysis of the document, read Professor Steve Schneck’s article, The Vatican’s Breathtakingly good Statement on Economics .

George Weigel and other conservative Catholic commentators who have arrogantly dismissed Church teaching on economic justice and income inequality for years should dust off their copies of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. The Compendium is clear that “the Church’s social doctrine requires that ownership of goods be accessible to all.” It points out that the Church has “never recognized the right to private property as absolute and untouchable” – insisting that a “universal destination of goods” is inextricably linked with a “preferential option for the poor.”

As Fr. Tom Reese, S.J., of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University has frequently pointed out, the Vatican’s consistent calls for a radical rethinking of global capitalism is far to the left of the most progressive Democrat in Congress.  While this causes heartburn for those self-styled defenders of orthodoxy on the Catholic right who think they have a monopoly on Catholic identity, it just might be the kind of moral medicine we need today.”

By Tony Magliano

The Occupy Wall Street movement has a powerful ally in Catholic social teaching! Recently I became more convinced of this truth after spending a couple of hours with the Occupy Baltimore segment of this now global movement. In front of Baltimore’s pricey Inner-Harbor, I encountered a small tent city ranging from homeless persons to college graduates. Four of them talked with me about why they are there. In the shadow of a skyscraper with huge bold words Bank of America on it, one of the occupiers pointed to it and said “they, and the many other greedy corporations like them, control most of the wealth, while so many of the rest of us have so little.”

Since the federal government’s bailout of the mega banks and various other large companies, corporate profits have risen to an all time high. And yet, many pay little or no taxes. Hedge fund managers and CEO’s are raking in millions, while huge numbers of families continue to lose their homes, 14 million people remain unemployed, and 50 million have no health insurance and a record 46 million Americans live in poverty – including 16 million children!

Another occupier cited Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz’s eye-opening calculation that the richest one percent of Americans now own 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. And that the gap between the rich and the rest of us – especially the poor – is wider now than at any time since the Great Depression! The occupiers unanimously agreed that with this tremendous concentration of wealth comes a tremendous concentration of power. Wealthy corporations, with their large campaign contributions, wield considerable influence with Congress and executive branch, whereas the shrinking middle-class and poor have very little influence with America’s policy makers.

Blessed Pope John Paul II addressed very strong words to these “structures of sin.” He said, “The all-consuming desire for profit, and … the thirst for power, with the intention of imposing one’s will upon others” is opposed to the will of God! The Catholic social teaching principle known as “the universal destination of the earth’s resources” insists that all people deserve a fair share of creation and the goods of humankind – certainly to the point of having each person’s basic needs entirely met. Pope Paul VI taught that God intends for everyone to adequately share in the goods of the earth, and that all other rights must be subordinated to this truth!

American society’s failure to fulfill this ethical principle is a moral indictment against most of Washington’s politicians, corporate America and liberal capitalism – which highly favors those with wealth and power at the painful expense of those with little or none. Blessed John Paul said the human inadequacies of capitalism are far from disappearing.

So much of America’s political and economic system is unjust. And yet for the most part, Catholics are silent. Silence supports the rich and powerful, never the poor and weak! But Catholic social teaching calls us to speak up for the poor and weak. So let us raise our voices together with our courageous brothers and sisters of the Occupy movement. Demand that our do-little Congress significantly raise taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, drastically cut military spending, stop the wars, create millions of public service jobs, give small businesses – especially green energy companies – job-producing financial assistance, extend the efficiency of Medicare to everyone, pass strong anti-sweatshop legislation and greatly increase poverty-focused assistance to the nation’s and world’s poor!

Tony Magliano is a Catholic News Service columnist whose work appears in diocesan papers throughout the United States. If your diocesan paper does not carry his column, we encourage you to call them and request that they do.

In  October, we discussed Fair Trade as an alternative shopping option and we noted that we would offer some ideas and  stores for you to consider. What seemed too early last month is now a reality – Christmas is just over a month away. As Christmas is the season of gift-giving, we will soon be considering our Christmas gifts. Many of us will make donations to worthy causes or organizations in someone’s honor, others of us want to give actual gifts.

If you are among the latter, would you consider giving a fair trade gift — a gift that ensures the artisan or producer gets a fair price for their product? Fair trade means creating sustainable and positive change. When items are fairly traded it means that partners participate in a system that aims to pay fair wages, creates long-term, direct trading relationships based on dialogue, transparency, equity, and respect. For those who live in the Kansas City metropolitan area, the following is a list of ideas for purchasing a great gift while helping to contribute positively to the world at the same time:

Ten Thousand Villages at 7947 Santa Fe Drive in downtown Overland Park, Kansas offers gifts from around the world, knowing that the fair market prices empower artisans and producers from third world countries. Of special note is that Ten Thousand Villages has a holiday tradition of offering local not-for-profit organizations 15% of all sales made on Sunday afternoons before Christmas. This is an opportunity to not only shop but to enjoy reconnecting with friends, learning about the not-for-profit who is benefiting and to enjoy light refreshments.

Two of those benefiting are: Keeler Women’s Center which empowers women in the urban core of Kansas City through education, advocacy, personal and spiritual development. Their Sunday benefit is November 27 from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. The Migrant Farmworkers Project’s (MFP) benefit is Sunday, December 4 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. MFP works in solidarity with seasonal and migrant farmworkers to obtain a healthier, more secure, and more fulfilling life. MFP offers them social, legal, health care and educational services. MFP feels closely connected to the fair trade imperative because the Lafayette County farmworkers whom they serve are exactly the kind of people who have been displaced by global free market practices. On one hand, MFP supports fair trade to keep workers in developing economies at work. On the other hand, they want to support the farmworkers they know so well who have been forced out of their home countries.
KC Organics and Natural Market is hosting a fair trade event on Saturday, December 10 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This Market will be held at Notre Dame de Sion High School at 10631 Wornall Road, ¼ mile South of I-435. There will be locally produced holiday gifts, including baked goods, seasonal produce, body care products, gift baskets, hand-made eco-cards, wreaths, fair trade coffee and more.

1st Baptist Church of Kansas City, MO offers Equal Exchange fair trade items – coffee, tea, chocolate, coca, and sugar. They are located at 100 W. Red Bridge Road, KCMO. For details, call 816-942-1866.

Both The Roasterie and Parisi Artisan Coffee purchase all of their coffees directly from the producers. They prefer to go to the origin, assess the product offered, make arrangements for purchase and shipment, and pay the farmer a fair price directly. Both also offer an organic line of products and both sell select blends of coffees at Costco. The Roasterie has three locations in Kansas City, sells beans to local grocery stores, and has a line of products that are Fair Trade Certified. Parisi Artisan Coffee also seeks to directly assess  the growers’ commitment to employing sustainable farming practices.

Lastly, the Fair Trade Holiday Market in Lawrence, KS that will open November 27 and 28 from 8a.m. to 7p.m. and again from November 29 to December 3 from 10a.m. to 7p.m. It is located at Ecumenical Christian Ministries 1204 Oread Ave, Lawrence, KS. The Market offers fairly traded arts and crafts from local and international artisans that make unique holiday gifts. It is organized by Lawrence Fair Trade, a community group dedicated to raising awareness of global economic injustice and working to establish sustainable solutions.
Also, donations can be given in a person’s name as an alternative gift to local and national organizations such as UNICEF, Habitat for Humanity, Amethyst Place in Kansas City, Center of Concern, Keeler Center, OxFam, Amnesty International, Migrant Farmworkers Project, The Justice Project in Kansas City, Sleeyphead Beds, St. James Place on Troost, or any not-for-profit of your choice. The needs are great and monetary gifts are always welcome. You can also support or find gifts online through organizations like Catholic Relief Services, namely their Work of Human Hands project, or Equal Exchange.

You might also contact the organization of your choice to find out what their needs are. A great example is our Catholic Worker Houses – Holy Family, Cherith Brook or Shalom. Their needs are especially great when it’s cold; blankets, coats, hats, gloves, and thermal underwear are just a few. Make a donation of needed goods in honor of a friend or family member.

Shop at locally-owned businesses such as Rainy Day Books in Fairway, KS, World’s Window or Stuff in Brookside rather than big-box stores. Gift cards to locally-owned and operated restaurants such as The Westside Local and Chez Elle on the Westside, Pot Pie or Teahouse and Coffeepot in Westport, or Eden’s Alley in Unity Temple on the Plaza  are also good options. Another avenue to explore is purchasing only Made in the USA products.
There are many more alternatives for Christmas gifts. We know we have not included them all. If you have one or more you want us to know about please send them to jchristensen10@kc.rr.com, and we will include them in the December edition of the KC Olive Branch.