CTA’s Next Generation (ages 18-42) is committed to fostering intergenerational dialogue between themselves and the “Wisdom Generation” — older CTA members who had personal experience of Vatican II. For this issue of CTA News, the intergenerational sharing committee posed a question about poverty. In the U.S., a booming economy has obscured the reality of low-income working and poor families, especially children. At the same time, almost half the world's population lives on less than $2 per day. What can we American Catholics do about the widening gulf between rich and poor? What should the global Catholic Church be doing? Here are two replies.
From the Next Generation:
To address the incredible economic disparities we face on this planet, our Catholic community must recommit itself to forming and sustaining relationships of solidarity with those who are most affected by economic injustice. We must rediscover, not poverty, but the people who live in poverty. We who live in the U.S. bear the greatest responsibility. We will pursue little change in the global or local economies until we see how our decisions and lifestyle affect others — and see it through their eyes.
When poverty has a person’s name attached to it — along with their story, their life and dreams — we are less likely to continue with business as usual and leave them out of our consideration. Most American Catholics, I think, wish to do good and live the Gospel. But the good news of Jesus has become trapped in a consumer lifestyle. We have grown almost incapable of hearing it as good news because it requires us to let go of so much that we hold dear.
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| Mike Boucher speaks at CTA New England Apr. 21 in Worchester, Mass. (Photo: John Moynihan) |
American Catholics must make concerted efforts to form meaningful relationships with people who are poor — those in our midst and those living elsewhere. Through these relationships, we can be transformed, because we come to know the people who are affected by our day-to-day decisions, consciously choose to remain close to their stories, and let those stories guide us into a new way of being/action. For example, when we meet Maria, the 14-year-old Honduran sweatshop worker who labored to make our clothing, what we buy no longer remains just a purchase. Our sterile transaction takes human form as we hear about her suffering resulting from our way of life. On our next purchase, we may choose sweatshop-free clothing.
Yet relationships on their own are not enough. As American Catholics we must reflect critically on Scripture and on our situation and use our power and resources to work for change. This will mean personal costs, lifestyle changes and voluntary reductions in energy use, personal wealth and luxuries. But these sacrifices are much easier to make when we are laying down our lives for a friend.
Furthermore, we must not wait for the institutional Church to initiate all these changes. We must begin today — in our own circumstances and with all our limitations — to step beyond our zones of comfort and enter the lives of others. Our witness will become good news preached to all — especially to ourselves!
Mike Boucher, 32,
Coordinator of Adult Education,
Spiritus
Christi Parish, Rochester, N.Y.
From the Wisdom Generation:
1. I believe that the problems currently being faced require a large program to educate American Catholics on social justice issues. The pronouncements of the popes and the U.S. bishops will be ineffective if local bishops don’t respond personally and get the pastors to respond as well. What is needed here is total acceptance of the concept of continuing education. Since the only time that all of the people seem to be available for this is at Sunday Mass, a major change of focus will be needed to implement this, with a lot less attention on worship and a lot more on service. This is a long-term project that involves all of the church, but in the short-term, individuals can help organize and push it.
2. American Catholics need to be educated to continue their spiritual growth. All of us are constantly subjected to the values of the culture. The first recommendation above cannot be implemented without this one. Spirituality is that for which we thirst and hunger, not religiosity. Again, this is a long-term project, but individuals can help organize it.
3. American Catholics need to be more active in groups that promote social justice and spiritual growth. Support such lobbying groups as NETWORK and Bread for the World. Write to your elected representatives on a regular basis. Organize a group that practices social justice by service to the needy.
I am a member of a group at our parish that travels across the border from San Diego to Tijuana on a regular basis; over the years we have supported a home for girls, started food co-ops, started sewing centers, built and supported a thrift store, built and supported a community clinic, built small community centers, built many homes for needy families, and established a vocational training center for poor women to learn computer skills and English.
Peter M. Kopkowski, 66,
newsletter editor for CTA of San Diego
County.