The Vatican's Journey From Anti-Communism to Anti-Capitalism

The pope's strong condemnation of income inequality and free markets shows how much has changed in the Catholic Church since the Cold War. 

The Atlantic / Emma Green / Nov 26 2013, 3:31 PM ET

Pope Francis is once again shaking things up in the Catholic Church. On Tuesday, he issued his first “apostolic exhortation,” declaring a new enemy for the Catholic Church: modern capitalism. “Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world,” he wrote. “This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.”

He couldn't be much clearer. The pope has taken a firm political stance against right-leaning, pro-free market economic policies, and his condemnation appears to be largely pointed at Europe and the United States. His explicit reference to “trickle-down” economic policies—the hallmark of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and their political successors—is just the beginning: Throughout 224 pages on the future of the Church, he condemns income inequality, “the culture of prosperity,” and “a financial system which rules rather than serves.”

Taken in the context of the last half-century of Roman Catholicism, this is a radical move.

You can read the entire article, taken from The Atlantic, by CLICKING HERE. 

Religion and Culture Colloquium Series

Along with Ford, Canada's Political Leadership Hits Rock Bottom

The mayor's gift for dumbing down democracy isn't limited to Toronto suburbs. 

There was a time when it was frowned on for the mayor of a major city to smoke crack and hang with shady characters. And while Rob Ford has much to answer for, his supporters in "Ford Nation" have been on a dangerous bender of their own.

Mayor Ford's puzzling popularity in the face of one salacious scandal after another seems propelled by his cheapening of values that appeals to a morally lazy electorate. Like a pair of drunks egging each other on, Ford and his die-hard supporters are enabling each other's bad behaviour that goes far beyond mere substance abuse.

Ford's everyman appeal stems in part from him making it respectable to indulge our ugliest instincts. Don't care about the poor? Neither does he. Are you a racist and a homophobe? So apparently is the mayor. Drive when drunk? Who doesn't? And while you might not smoke crack or have been charged with assaulting your wife, in case you do, the Chief Magistrate of North America's fourth largest city has got that covered. ...

You can read the entire column by clicking here.

Note:  This column, by Mitchell Anderson, was published Nov. 6 2013, in The Tyee, an independent news source from BC.  This is how David Beers describes The Tyee:  In November of 2003 The Tyee began its swim upstream against the media trends of our day. We're independent and not owned by any big corporation. We're dedicated to publishing lively, informative news and views, not dumbed down fluff. We, like the tyee salmon for which we are named, roam free and go where we wish.

 

Flooding Hope: The Lake St. Martin Story

You are invited to view Flooding Hope: The Lake St. Martin Story and to hear from filmmaker Dr. Myrle Ballard, in the first event of this year's Kairos North East Justice and Peace Speaker Series. The 20 minute film, made in 2012, documents how decades of flood fighting measures to protect towns, cities and farms have resulted in the drowning of Lake St. Martin First Nation land. Dr. Ballard, who has her PhD in natural resources and environmental management grew up in Lake St. Martin, and is Research Associate and Instructor at the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Manitoba. The meeting will take place at John Black United Church at 898 Henderson Highway on Tuesday, November 12th, between 7:30 and 9:30. All are welcome.

See this article from the Winnipeg Free Press to learn more about Dr. Ballard and her film.  http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/film-shows-death-of-a-first-nation-173441301.html

For more information, contact Melanie Whyte at 204-668-3893. 

Grassroutes, University of Winnipeg

Extractive Industries, Indigenous Development, and the Environment: A Panel Discussion

 

Tuesday, November 12, 7-9 pm -- The University of Winnipeg, (Riddell Hall)

   

 Speakers: Wab Kinew, Richard Atleo, Darren Courchene, and more, moderated by Julie Pelletier. More speakers TBA.

  

In April 2013, an article in the Guardian claimed that “Indigenous rights are the best defence against Canada’s resource rush” and that “First Nations people – and the decision of Canadians to stand alongside them – will determine the fate of the planet.”  This “natural marriage” between environmental activism and movements for Indigenous rights is not new. But is it useful? Or does it simply recycle old myths of the Noble Savage? 

• What is the relationship between Indigenous development and extractive industries in Canada? 
• Where does environmental activism fit into the picture?

For more information, for speaker profiles, and for more information about the Grass Routes festival visit www.grassroutes.ca

 

An Overview

FAITH IN THE CITY I

November 1-3, 2013

Sponsored and hosted by

Augustine United Church, 444 River Ave, Winnipeg

in Association with

The Knowles/Woodsworth Centre - University of Winnipeg

This is Augustine United Church’s first annual ecumenical, congregationally-based conversation, exploring the intersections of a justice-seeking church and urgent social and cultural matters. 

2013 Theme

Following Jesus … into politics?

Focus of conversations:  "To what extent should Christians rely on political engagement to bring about a just and peaceful society?  What is the response of the church, when the political process inevitably falls short in responding to God's call for justice and peace?"

Faith in the City I begins Friday evening (7 p.m.) with a Keynote Address by Bill Blaikie, United Church minister, former MP and MLA, and director of the Knowles-Woodsworth Centre (University of Winnipeg).

On Saturday (9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.), four 75 minute sessions provide an opportunity for dialogue between these individuals, but will also involve members of the audience.

⁃    Session 1 explores theological perspectives on the question, involving Jane Barter-Moulaison (Religion and Culture, University of Winnipeg and Anglican priest), Tim Sale (former MLA, Anglican priest) and Gord Zerbe (Theology, Canadian Mennonite University, Author:  Citizenship: Paul, Peace and Politics)

⁃    Session 2 invites Winnipeg activists to speak about their personal activism, as well as their experience with and wishes for the church's engagement in social action.  Featured will be Marianne Cerilli (former MLA, Social Planning Council), Jenny Gerbasi (City Counselor), Kevin Lamoureux (University of Winnipeg, Faculty with ACCESS program), David Northcott (Winnipeg Harvest).
  
Lunch, catered by a partner of the Social Purchasing Portal

⁃    Session 3 brings together four voices reflecting divergent perspectives on the question of Christian engagement in politics.  Participating in this conversation will be Bill Blaikie, Allison Chubb (Chaplain, St. John’s College, U of M), Aiden Enns (Geez Magazine publisher) and Lynda Trono (West Broadway Community Minister).

⁃    Session 4 provides opportunity for small group conversations in response to questions like: What's happening in our congregations?  How can we carry this weekend’s conversation forward in our respective faith communities?

On Sunday (10:30 a.m.), all participants are invited to join a special service of worship at Augustine United Church, which will conclude Faith in the City I.

REGISTRATION:        $55 (fully employed); $40 (part-time); $25 (unemployed/student)  

Registration Deadline:  Oct. 25, 2013

Lunch will be provided on Saturday.

Child care will be provided on Saturday for children under 4 years of age.

For more information contact the office at Augustine United Church

(augustine.uc@mymts.net; phone: (204) 284-2250).

Whatever happened to the political idealist?

This article, reposted by Salon.com, originally appeared on TomDispatch.  The article was written by Ira Chernus, a Professor of Religious Studies at University of Colorado at Boulder.  Chernus has been a self-described Jewish peace activist for over 30 years. 


The opening and a few short excerpts of the article are reposted here.  You can read the entire article by clicking here.

All right, I confess: I have a dream. I bet you do, too. I bet yours, like mine, is of a far, far better world not only for yourself and your loved ones, but for everyone on this beleaguered planet of ours.
And I bet you, like me, rarely talk to anyone about your dreams, even if you spend nearly all your time among politically active people working to improve the planet. Perhaps these days it feels somehow just too naïve, too unrealistic, too embarrassing. So instead, you focus your energy on the nuts and bolts of what’s wrong with the world, what has to be fixed immediately.

I’m thinking that it’s time to try a different approach — to keep feeling and voicing what Martin Luther King, Jr., called “the fierce urgency of now,” but balance it with a dose of another political lesson he taught us: the irresistible power of dreaming.

.....

Photo credit:  Library of Congress via Salon.com

Dreaming is the realm of pure freedom. In dreams, we can see, do, or be anything. When our dreams are political, they help us sense what it might be like to escape the limits imposed by corporations, the state, the media, the advertisers, powerful forces of every kind. They help us imagine in new ways what is possible. In our dreams, none of the powers that be can touch us.
.....
So don’t stop shouting from the rooftops about everything that’s outrageously wrong. Don’t stop the grinding political work of changing specific policies. But take the time to show how your outrage, policies, and politics are propelled by your dreams. Share those dreams: talk or write or draw or sing or dance them. Describe the kind of world you are working for and show how it could be linked to policies and politics. And don’t let anyone dismiss you as an “unrealistic dreamer.”

Yes, it’s true, the world will never look exactly like our mythic dreams. But we can’t get to any better future unless we first imagine that future, together. A political dream is a magnet that pulls us toward our goals. It may also be an asymptote — a promised land that we can never reach. Yet even if we never get there, every dream takes us closer to a transformed reality.

The Rise of the Christian Left

Photo Source:  Salon.com

This short article, from The Atlantic (online), points to data that suggest a rise in American Christians identifying as progressives, with conservatism in decline.  It asks the question:  Can progressives build a new "Moral Majority"?  (While one can't, of course, make direct parallels to our Canadian context, it may be of interest to us, as we think about our conversations during Faith in the City 1.

The article reports:  According to a new survey by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in partnership with the Brookings Institution, the religious balance of power is shifting in ways that could make the religious left the new "Moral Majority," figuratively speaking. If current trends persist, religious progressives will soon outnumber religious conservatives, a group that is shrinking with each successive generation, the data show.

Here is a graph illustrating this shift:

Source:  The Atlantic

The Atlantic quotes Lisa Sharon Harper (Sojourners Magazine):  "I think the focus on the person of Jesus is birthing a younger generation inspired by [Jesus' Sermon on the Mount].  Their political agenda is shaped by Jesus' call to feed the hungry, make sure the thirsty have clean water, make sure all have access to healthcare, transform America into a welcoming place for immigrants, fix our inequitable penal system, and end abject poverty abroad and in the forgotten corners of our urban and rural communities."

If you wish to read the entire article, click here.