Reflection Process
On the margins I have discovered so many social movements with roots in parishes or schools that bring people together to make them become protagonists of their own histories, to set in motion dynamics that smacked of dignity. Taking life as it comes, they do not sit around resigned or complaining but come together to convert injustice into new possibilities. I call them “social poets.” In mobilizing for change, in their search for dignity, I see a source of moral energy, a reserve of civic passion, capable of revitalizing our democracy and reorientating the economy.
It was precisely here that the Church was born, in the margins of the Cross where so many of the crucified are found. If the Church disowns the poor, she ceases to be the Church of Jesus; she falls back on the old temptation to become a moral or intellectual elite. There is only one word for the Church that becomes a stranger to the poor: “scandal.” The road to the geographic and existential margins is the route of the Incarnation: God chose the peripheries as the place to reveal, in Jesus, His saving action in history. . .
To be clear: this is not the Church “organizing” the people. These are organizations that already exist—some Christian, some not. I would like the Church to open its doors more widely to these movements; I hope every diocese in the world has an ongoing collaboration with them, as some already do. But my role and that of the Church is to accompany, not paternalize them. That means offering teaching and guidance, but never imposing doctrine or trying to control them. The Church illuminates with the light of the Gospel, awakening the peoples to their own dignity, but it is the people who have the instinct to organize themselves.
—POPE FRANCIS, “LET US DREAM” (SIMON & SCHUSTER, 2020)
Reflection Questions:
n How do Catholic social teaching and the principles of organizing, as described in this issue, show up in the work you do both individually and in the communities of which you are a part?
n What’s at stake when it comes to preserving the connections between Catholic social teaching and organizing in the American context? For people of faith? For American public life?
n What changes are needed in order to build the vision Pope Francis describes here—one where every diocese supports and collaborates with community organizers?
n How might we build our collective power to achieve these changes?
Note: Participants were asked to reflect on similar questions throughout the course of the “Prophetic Communities” conference.
SPRING EVENTS
NW Ignatian Advocacy Summit
From April 13–15, we cohosted an ecological justice advocacy summit with Jesuits West and Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. The three-day event provided opportunities for college- and high-school students, teachers, justice practitioners, and parishioners to learn community organizing and advocacy skills. In a powerful act of solidarity, the highschool students and their teachers traveled to the Spokane City Legislative building when representatives failed to show up to their scheduled Zoom legislative meetings. The summit concluded with a liturgy that invited participants to spend time in deep reflection and gratitude with nature.
“Receive Her in the Lord”
On May 6, we cosponsored “Receive Her in the Lord: Reimagining Women’s Participation in a Synodal Church” (shown below), an event hosted by Discerning Deacons at St. James Cathedral Hall. Nearly 200 participants from western Washington representing 40 different Catholic communities participated. As a result of this gathering, 10 institutions committed to hosting St. Phoebe Day celebrations in their parish and local communities to honor the many gifts and powerful voices of women while also praying for the universal church’s discernment about women’s participation and leadership. Interested in planning your own St. Phoebe Day celebration? Learn more and register for a planning call at discerningdeacons.org/celebrate2023