Justice Poetry

P ope Francis encouraged judges of Africa and South America that their decisions are poetry for people and for the world.

Point of Care

This ship’s “crew is now committed to raising awareness and providing information to the local populations and offers on-the-spot first-stage outpatient treatment.”



The “Pope Francis Hospital Ship” brings medical equipment and assistance to #coronavirus-hit communities along the Amazon River in #Brazil. https://t.co/CHHvGWRTVD
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) July 13, 2020

World Refugee Day

The “global confederation of Catholic charities is appealing to the world’s political leaders to accept refugees in a dignified and safe way, ensuring their basic needs are met and providing them with safe living conditions, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Caritas Internationalis fosters solidarity, its Secretary-General said, “through the expression of care and love for the most vulnerable, and the refugees are among them.”

Caritas Internationalis releases a message on the occasion of #WorldRefugeeDay, June 20.https://t.co/vgMvovo7nH

— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) June 19, 2020

Largest Lockdown

India began the largest lockdown in March in order to mitigate the novel coronovirus. In his third report, America Magazine’s Kevin Clarke looked at how the lockdown and the public health system complicated the struggle with the virus for Catholics hospitals.

Here is the article Father Malone is referring to, by @ClarkeAtAmerica https://t.co/GyBDawPbiQ

— America Magazine (@americamag) May 22, 2020

Without Are Within

Tuesday Christiane Amanpour opened her segment: “When you think about doctors without borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres, you probably think of war-torn countries. …But right now, they are helping with coronavirus in the United States. And few parts need it more than the Navajo Nation.”

It and numerous other peoples contend with the pandemic without vital resources to do so. Catholic aid agencies continue helping.

Humanitarian assistance is not a job that can be phoned in during a stay-at-home lockdown. “You have to be face-to-face,” Jennifer Overton says. “We can’t forget about all the people that are vulnerable and all the people that are counting on us." https://t.co/5eHlOpKnjs

— America Magazine (@americamag) May 20, 2020

Giving Voice to “Experts-by-Experience”

Often remaining unnamed and faceless refugees routinely experience the distortion of time. Refugees’ experience has much to say about time distortion inflicted on everyone by the pandemic. Dr. Anna Rowlands spoke of her fieldwork that assessed time distorted by “enforced idleness.” Dr. Rowlands reminds that physical distancing “remains a social privilege” that refugees cannot enjoy.

What does it mean to spend time well, and how might our collective experience of the current restrictions affect the way we impose them on others in future? https://t.co/ShgtgxWNuX #coronavirus

— Thinking Faith (@ThinkingFaith) April 30, 2020

“Causing Angry Strife To Cease”

That line from a hymn extols one virtue of St. Catherine of Siena. She saw the Church divided. “Catherine spent the last two years of her life in Rome, in prayer and pleading on behalf of the cause of Pope Urban VI and the unity of the Church.”

In 2016 before the U.K. vote on the Brexit issue, Thinking Faith posted a contribution centring on today’s saint. It reposted it today, and it sounds a few current themes: care for the sick; “complaint about political leadership”; and “a perspective of service, rather than of self-interest.”

How does the life Catherine of Siena , whose feast is today, suggest ways in which we might think about our political engagement? Toby Lees OP draws some lessons from the 14th century saint for our lives today. https://t.co/iZyoZ3QlSp pic.twitter.com/N64w5I91aV

— Thinking Faith (@ThinkingFaith) April 29, 2020

Mapping

Molly Burhans is cartography fluent. She has been mapping properties of the church so the church may administer them more effectively. That increases service to others. She opened a company to do this.

Her work helped the Vatican with a recent document. America Magazine recently chatted with Mary on one of its podcasts. Subject: how location data can help the Vatican’s COVID-19 response.

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Wiki-image Old World map by “Museum | PD-US"

Signs of the Times

Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny noted in the pandemic Catholics and other Christians are “at a sort of ‘crossroads’ – in Greek, krisis.” Choosing one road “feeds on the need for security; its ‘substitute logic’ has us think only about how to adapt to the present annoyances and discomforts, perhaps finding a way to continue doing what we were doing before without contravening the restrictions imposed by the authorities.” The other road embraces “the ‘saving logic’ of the gospel.” It reaches “through uncertainty and grasp a renewed identity and mission as baptised Christians and missionary disciples.”

How do we interpret the signs of these extraordinary times? @jesuitczerny asks whether, in our responses to #coronavirus, we are embracing the ‘saving logic’ of the gospel and all of its opportunities, or resigning ourselves to a ‘substitute logic’. https://t.co/LmN16RiotI pic.twitter.com/2LbcWq7avp

— Thinking Faith (@ThinkingFaith) April 23, 2020

Network of Listeners

The Jesuit Province of Canada recently launched “Talk to a Friend.” It is a network of listeners (French and English and a few other languages) from across the various Jesuit apostolates. The initiative seeks to accompany “people who are suffering because of” the pandemic. Following the link leads to detailed information and how to use “Talk to a Friend.”

Easter Message of Jesuit General Superior

Father Arturo Sosa encouraged everyone with his Easter message. “The crisis of COVID-19…draws our gaze to what oppresses us.” Father Sosa noted that “those who have died because of COVID…are urging us to take the necessary steps to transform our lives, to renew the society that we have built on such shaky foundations, and to rescue the environment that we have treated so badly.” [Full text]

Homeless Are Not Invisible

Pope Francis said in his recent interview

the poor are hidden, because poverty is bashful. In Rome recently, in the midst of the quarantine, a policeman said to a man: “You can’t be on the street, go home.” The response was: “I have no home. I live in the street.” To discover such a large number of people who are on the margins … And we don’t see them, because poverty is bashful. They are there but we don’t see them: they have become part of the landscape; they are things.

In Detroit Ss. Peter and Paul Jesuit Church and the University of Detroit-Mercy are not shy to see the homeless. The Church is home to the Pope Francis Center. The Center made a creative move to keep people healthy and still offer showers to those who are homeless.

The #Jesuits' @popefranciscnt has opened mobile showers in a @detmercy parking lot for the homeless to use during the pandemic. https://t.co/7eQMcuXjoy

— Midwest Jesuits (@MidwestJesuits) April 16, 2020

Auto-Pilot No More

Pope Francis pleads humans move wisely and justly: the way to emerge from the pandemic and into a more integrally lived and shared world.

“I hope that this time of danger will free us from operating on automatic pilot, shake our sleepy consciences and allow a humanist and ecological conversion that puts an end to the idolatry of money and places human life and dignity at the center."https://t.co/Pqj32XS1ZX pic.twitter.com/0y3njv7keU

— America Magazine (@americamag) April 12, 2020

Ignatian Solidarity Resources

Holy Saturday welcomes Christians to let the Creator do what humans cannot. Numerous resource-links aid that.

Our faith teaches us that there is light in the darkness. Find light with ISN’s #coronavirus resources. https://t.co/bpD5dbkRQe

— Ignatian Solidarity (@IGsolidarityNET) April 11, 2020

Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus

Jesuit General Superior Fr. Arturo Sosa promulgated the Universal Apostolic Preferences for the next decade. He summarized them in this video.            

Widening Circle of Concern

Pope Francis’ concern for vulnerable people is well known. Last summer he merged four councils concerned for social justice and human wellbeing into one Vatican department. The department also will help local churches (dioceses) “offer appropriate material and spiritual assistance” to vulnerable people.

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Washers and dryers in the new ‘Pope Francis Laundry,’ established for the homeless in Rome. (Credit: L’Osservatore Romano.)

After Election: Tasks Ahead

A Jesuit General Congregation [GC] addresses tasks after its initial ones. When a general superior resigns a congregations first task is accepting the resignation; the second is electing a successor. The election follows the plan Ignatius devised. Under the leadership of Fr. Arturo Sosa GC36 will address matters of mission, internal governance and the state of the Society of Jesus.

The contours of those matters reflect the “signs of the times”; they may well reflect the interests of Fr. Sosa. Among them are: Jesuit spirituality; collaboration with others; solidarity with the most vulnerable; migrants and refugees; reconciliation and dialogue; and the intellectual apostolate. [Source: Jesuits in Europe]

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Image of Ignatius Jesuits of Canada

Communication, Mercy, Healing

An initiative in Australia aims to put people first. The Australian Catholic Bishops “will provide an opportunity for ordinary Catholics and child abuse survivors to speak directly to Church leadership.” It is a concrete response to the invitation Pope Francis extended to let “the power of mercy to heal wounded relationships” (World Communications Day Message). Stories told and believed begin healing and empower people.  

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Wiki-image of Kings Canyon by Ueli Fahrni CC BY-SA 3.0

Catholic Charities Partners with Bethlehem University

News released by Catholic Charities USA at the top of July:

“To those who suffer, God does not provide arguments which explain everything; rather, his response is that of an accom-panying presence, a history of goodness which touches every story of suffering and opens up a ray of light.”
- Pope Francis

Lumen Fidei (“The Light of Faith”), July 5, 2013

Catholic Charities USA Launches Internship Program with Bethlehem University
Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) is partnering with Bethlehem University, a Catholic university located in the Holy Land, to sponsor a select group of students to spend the summer learning and serving with Catholic Charities agencies across America.
Eight Palestinian students underwent a one-week orientation at CCUSA before spending the next six weeks working at local Catholic Charities agencies across the country.
“This internship program is an opportunity to students to engage with the mission of the Catholic Church and apply it to the real-world challenges facing so many,” said Father Larry Snyder, president of CCUSA. “We hope they will take these life-altering experiences and stories back to Palestine and call others to meet the needs of their community.”
For more information, please visit the CCUSA Newsroom.

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Wiki-image from Bethlehem University by Philip daoud of BU Main Bldg CC BY-SA 3.0.

Good Question

During the Age of Exploration travelers discovered peoples and forced on them what the travelers thought was good: their good was good for everyone. "Why didn't [the travelers] leave them alone?" The members of the Society of Jesus today see their vocation as reconciling all people. Jesuit Tony Herbert reflected on the question his nephew posed and on the Jesuit vocation through the lens of his work in India.