Social Justice Talk

 

First thing this morning I had a meeting with my subcommittee studying ageism in the workplace, but we were all commiserating over the election results. It felt very cathartic, but I may have talked more than my fair share. In the afternoon I had a meeting of the Central Committee that went fine, but I felt like I annoyed the chair after the meeting a little bit, so maybe today was just an off day for me socially.

It had been snowing hard this morning, so Travalon drove me to the parking lot where I catch the shuttle. It was running, despite the winter weather advisory, and more people got on it than I've ever seen before. Since my car wasn't in the lot, it would have made no sense for me to catch the shuttle home, so Travalon picked me up at work. Then we went to the church on the far east side because they were having a talk on social justice. It was social justice that first attracted me to the Catholic Church as a child, but I seem to have fallen in with a crowd for years who care more about the outward trappings of religion than about the marginalized, and they even treat the phrase "Social Justice Warrior" like an insult. Which seems odd, since Jesus Himself said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied."

When I got to the church, two people greeted me and asked if I were "Beth." I said, "No, did you have to register ahead of time?" They assured me that I didn't have to, and then they asked if I were interested in OCIA. Since I had no idea what that was, I said I wasn't sure, but it's just what we used to call RCIA, because they asked, "Are you thinking of becoming Catholic?" I said, "I am Catholic - is this a class?" but they said no, it was a talk anyone could attend. Then a guy came in after me and, other than being asked if he were Beth, they had the exact same conversation with him. I went into the chapel and took a seat, and people were friendly and talked to me beforehand. Then the priest opened with a prayer and asked us to talk to someone we didn't know about what we'd done all day. I said go to meetings, while the woman I was talking to said watching her toddler grandson, so that sounds a lot more fun. The talk was very good, and afterwards we could ask questions, so I asked a sort of convoluted one about how all the wealthy countries pollute more and enjoy the fruits of that energy use, while the people who didn't benefit from it are affected more by climate change and so are migrating north... but the countries who caused them the problems won't let them in, and what does the church say about that? To my surprise (and delight), the priest quoted one pope who said any county with a surplus is morally obligated to help another country that doesn't have enough, and another pope said someone who doesn't have the basic necessities is allowed to take them from someone who has more than enough. Also, this parish has a Care for Creation Committee, so I asked to join that. I thought maybe we'd found our new parish home with the Mass in the gym, because I loved the music, but there are things more important than beautiful music. Though, to be fair, there was a choir rehearsing lovely music while we were in the meeting, so maybe I'll hear some there yet. Still, if all they have at the Mass we go to is the rock band, it's worth it to have found a parish that upholds the dignity of every human being, not just the unborn who ask nothing of us, but also the ones who demand something from us, like the children and the immigrants and the poor. After all, the measure of a country's wealth is not how rich the richest person is but how well-provided the poorest people are.

Famous Hat