Think and Act Anew

40 Days, 40 Cities

This week we begin our observance of Lent, the 40 days leading up to the celebration of Easter and the Paschal mystery. The number 40 is used repeatedly in Scripture. There is the story of Noah and the great flood, where it rains for 40 days and 40 nights (Gn 7:4,12,17; 8:6).  Moses stayed with God on Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights (Ex 24:18). The Israelites wander in the wilderness for 40 years before entering the Promised Land (Nm 14:34). Jesus fasts in the desert for 40 days and nights before beginning his public ministry (Mk1:12-15); his ascension into heaven occurs 40 days after the Resurrection (Acts 1:3).

So I was struck by a chart heading I saw in The New York Times last weekend: Motown No. 1 on the Poverty Top 40. Under that headline was a list of the 40 cities of more than 250,000 with the highest poverty rates.  Detroit’s poverty rate topped the list at 37.6 percent. The 40th place - a four-way tie among Greensboro, NC, Corpus Christi, TX, New York, NY, and Tulsa, OK -- had a poverty rate of 20.1 percent.  No region escaped the list, a clear, tragic demonstration of how widespread poverty is in America. 

Given the coincidence of this list of 40 cities with the advent of the 40 days of Lent I thought we might “think and act anew” about our Lenten observance. As we reflect on the meaning of our baptism let’s include these “neighbors” in our thoughts and actions.   Here are some ideas:

1. St. Augustine said, “True prayer is nothing but love.” Say a special prayer for the people of each city, one per day for 40 days.  Contemplate how our actions as individuals and as society resulted in poverty in each city.

2. “Adopt” a city and support one of its food banks, so those who are poor do not go hungry.

3. Contribute 40 items of clothing and other household goods to a church or community organization that is not in your neighborhood.

4. Save $40 by giving up that morning cappuccino, or potato chips at lunch, or a diet soda) and donate it to an organization that works to reduce poverty in one of the 40 cities.

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during the 40 days of Lent allow us to enter into a special state of grace. Could we widen that circle to include the other, the unknown, the one who is in need?

See the complete list of 40 cities on nytimes.com

Do you live in one of these cities? Share with us the challenges facing those who are poor in your community. What ideas do you have for Lenten observances? Post your comments below or join the discussion on our Facebook page.

Love is in the Air

Today, the legendary St. Valentine is popularly celebrated, so it seems like a good time to talk about “love.”

In ancient Greece, philosophers struggled to define the different dimensions of love: are we talking about eros (desire, passion, ecstatic love), philia (friendship), or agape (concern and care for the other)?  Christianity inherited Greek thought about love and re-invented it to create a new paradigm, a distinct understanding of love.  This understanding has evolved through the ages and modern writers like C.S. Lewis continued to wrestle with love’s dimensions.

More recently and importantly, Pope Benedict XVI chose the topic of love for the first encyclical of his papacy, Deus Caritas Est: God is Love. It is a work of great depth, including discourse on the path of two people “in love” towards divine love, where body and soul are intimately united. I hope to shed light on one of the other dimensions of love he discussed: love of the “other.”

From the Book of Deuteronomy, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might,” to Jesus’s twofold great commandment of love of God and of neighbor at the Last Supper, The Holy Father explains what “loving our neighbor” means and why it is so important. 

“If anyone says, ‘I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his  brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:20)… The unbreakable bond between love of God and love of neighbour is emphasized. One is so closely connected to the other that to say that we love God becomes a lie if we are closed to our neighbour or hate him altogether. Saint John's words should rather be interpreted to mean that love of neighbour is a path that leads to the encounter with God, and that closing our eyes to our neighbour also blinds us to God.

“In God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even know.” 

This love of God and other is first the responsibility of each individual, but also a responsibility of the community at every level. As people of God, we must both love and serve our neighbor. This is caritas.  It shapes not only Catholic Charities but each of us, as bearers of light in the world, of faith, hope, and love.

Love is in the air today. Amidst the chocolates and the roses, can we find ways not only to express love for that one special person but also God’s love for those outside our immediate family or circle of friends, or church community, especially those who are poor? They are in need of material goods--food, housing, clothing to be sure. But many need much more than outward necessities.  Seeing each of them as brother or sister in Christ, we see a friend who, like us, has an interior desire for a sign of love, of concern. Can we open our hearts to give them that gesture of love which they crave?  Even if we don’t like or even know them.

That Persistent Drive Towards the Goal

Drive. Rush. Goal.  Sunday’s Super Bowl was a great event, perhaps the most visible display of the human will to win. And from the New York Giants’ point of view, evidence that determination and persistence can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. 

 
Source:  OregonLive.com/Associated Press

It reminded me of an article I read earlier in the day in The New York Times, “The Hidden Homeless,” and how similar these two stories are.  The Times recounted the day in the life of a homeless family in New York, Tonya Lewis and her two sons, who live in one of the city’s shelters.  By 4:45 in the morning, she is already running late. She and her children needed to get started on their day to work, school, and daycare that involved a relentless march through the public transportation system - four subways, two buses, and long walks on either end - a four-hour trek in all, each day. At 8 p.m., they return to their room and prepare for the next day.

 
Source: The New York Times

Their story is not unfamiliar to Catholic Charities. Ms. Lewis and her husband had jobs - low paying but enough to cover the rent on their apartment.  But he lost his job as a maintenance worker, and her hours as a home health aide were reduced due to cuts in Medicaid. In the course of a few months, the family’s income dropped from $4,400 a month to $840. They could no longer afford the rent on their $1,200 a month apartment.  A government program that provided rent subsidies was discontinued. The family split up and joined the growing and all but invisible ranks of the homeless.  The article describes the situation in New York City:

Unlike in the 1980s, when the crisis was defined by AIDS patients or men who slept on church steps, these days it has become more likely that a seemingly ordinary family, rushing about on public transportation with Elmo bags and video games, could be without a home.

Of New York’s more than 40,000 homeless people in shelters — enough to fill the stands at Citi Field — about three-quarters now belong to families like the Lewises and are cloaked in a deceptive, superficial normalcy. They do not sleep outside or on cots on armory floors. By and large, their shoes are good; some have smartphones. Many get up each morning and leave the shelter to go to work or to school. Their hardships — poverty, unemployment, a marathon commute — exist out of sight.

Yet they have a goal - to get back on their feet - and they drive forward, every day gaining a few yards towards that elusive goal. 

We’ll be gathered around the water cooler or coffee room this week reliving the game (the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat).  Could we also talk about these families?  Read the article. You’ll see that the stories are not so different after all.

What is your reaction to the NY Times article? Have you seen a shift in homelessness in your community? Are there any homeless children at your child’s school? How is the community responding?  Share your stories and examples here, or join our Facebook discussion.

The Time is Running Out

The readings at Sunday’s liturgy reflected the urgency with which God expects us to act in carrying out his work.  As St. Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, “the world in its present form is passing away.”

Even though the readings spanned centuries - from the times of King David to the century after Christ - the message is the same today: proclaim my message, follow me, work for the common good.  It is not an easy path to take. Two of our colleagues at Catholic Charities found a way, though, and have transformed the lives of hundreds as a result.

Kevin Concannon, now USDA Under Secretary for Food and Nutrition and Consumer Services, has spent his entire career helping others.  From the Catholic Charities movement in Maine and throughout his distinguished experience in government, he has demonstrated his commitment to ensuring that children live in hunger-free communities. He inspires us all to envision a society in which everyone has enough to eat and lives a life of opportunity and hope.

Janet Valente Pape has spent the past two decades working on domestic violence, homelessness, aging, disability, imprisonment, and racism issues - known contributors to poverty. While serving as Director of Catholic Charities in Wichita, Kansas, she supported and advanced programs that promoted diversity. As Chair of the CCUSA Board, she led a march across the bridge in Covington, Kentucky, to highlight the links between poverty and racism, and co-hosted the first ever Internet conference on poverty and racism. 

When we watch the news these days, we may feel that the world as we have known it is passing away.  We may feel that the problems of the economy and unemployment and poverty are too vast and complex to resolve. But Kevin and Janet are proof that one person can effect great change.

The Psalmist reminds us that God’s love and compassion “are from of old.” Like Jonah, like the Apostles, we are called to set aside the distractions of our daily lives and do God’s bidding in the here and now.

I’m sure there are hundreds of other humble heroes like Kevin and Janet, people who heed the urgency of God’s call. Who are the people helping those in your community for whom “the time is running out”?  Let me know. Let’s tell their stories here.

Do you know anyone who has made a difference in the lives of poor people? Started a food bank? Led a fight for housing?  Started a prison reading program?  Share their stories in the comment area below or on Facebook and follow the conversation.

Rebuilding the Dream of Martin Luther King

At Catholic Charities, we work every day to keep the dream of Martin Luther King alive. But as this recession has deepened, we see that dream threatened as layoffs and unemployment erode the progress black Americans have made to climb out of poverty and share in the American dream.

When Dr. King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 1963, about half of all African Americans lived in poverty. The efforts of Dr. King and the Civil Rights movement, coupled with the Johnson Administration’s War on Poverty in the 1960’s, marked the beginning of upward mobility towards the middle class for African Americans: good jobs, home ownership, a college education.

The country’s economic expansion in the 1990’s also did much to reduce poverty among African Americans, as related by the Economic Policy Institute:

Over the 1990s, there was strong job growth and the black poverty rate dropped 9.4 percentage points from 31.9 percent in 1990 to 22.5 percent in 2000. The black poverty rate in 2000 was the lowest black poverty rate on record. The 1990s decline was the biggest drop in black poverty since the 1960s. It was amazing to see the black poverty rate cut by almost a third in a mere 10 years.

But then came the Great Recession, and the number of African Americans living below the poverty line soared to 27.4 percent - nearly 11 million people - in 2010, up from its historic low just a few years earlier. (Contrast that with the overall official poverty of 15.1 percent, which rose from 11.3 percent in the same time period.) The Department of Labor reports that since the recession officially ended, the overall unemployment rate has fallen to 8.5 percent, while the black unemployment rate rose to 16.7 percent, and now stands at 15.8 percent. Even when employed, the median income of the black population is $32,068, lower than the overall median income of $49,445.

While the recession and ongoing slow recovery have hurt the American middle class as a whole, the black middle class has been especially hard hit because of massive layoffs in the federal, state and local public sector:  “About one in five black workers have public-sector jobs, and African-American workers are one-third more likely than white ones to be employed in the public sector,” as The New York Times noted in November 2011. Government jobs provided millions of African Americans a ladder out of poverty and into the middle class. Now, many are gone. While 1.9 million private sector jobs were added last year, 280,000 government jobs were lost. 

Before the recession, African Americans also were realizing the American dream of owning a home, and that, too, has reversed. Reviewing the mortgage foreclosure crisis in its report, Lost Ground, 2011, the Center for Responsible Lending finds that although the majority of affected borrowers have been white (5.1 percent foreclosure rate), people of color were almost twice as likely to have been impacted by the crisis, (9.8 percent). CRL also found that despite good credit scores and income, African Americans were offered loans at higher interest rates than white borrowers and were targets of predatory lending.

Yes, much progress has been made since Dr. King cried out his dream from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Many organizations, including Catholic Charities agencies, have stepped in since the 2008 financial crisis to stem the erosion of that dream.  Clearly, we all need to do more. America will not truly recover unless our African American brothers and sisters are included in that recovery.

We must keep the dream alive. We must rebuild an America for everyone. This is our hope. This is our faith.

Turn! Turn! Turn!

This week marked one of the few times when people around the world act in concert: we turned the pages of our calendars to a New Year.

At the beginning of each New Year, we look at the clean slate before us, and we make resolutions:  to lose weight… to save money… to exercise… to become better people.  We take comfort in knowing that change is not only possible, it is probable.   We believe we can turn our lives around.

In the 1960’s, a generation believed they could turn around the direction of the nation. Pete Seeger captured this spirit by turning some verses from the book of Ecclesiastes into “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” a song that became an anthem for peace and tolerance.  It was sung then by a variety of artists, from Seeger and Judy Collins to The Byrds, and more recently by Bruce Springsteen and Roger McGuinn. 

When I think about the 46 million Americans who were living in poverty at the end of 2011, with whom we work every day, I think of “Turn! Turn! Turn!” because each of them wants to turn the circumstances of their lives around. 

As our nation struggles to turn the economy around, “Turn! Turn! Turn!” can once again be our anthem.  

The lyrics tell us there is a time for every purpose under heaven.  Here’s what I think:

It is time to for us to find our common faith and heal our differences.

It is time for generous hearts.

It is time for a new generation to work together for the benefit of the common good.

It is time to recognize that buried deep within each human being is the image and likeness of God, including those who are marginalized.

It is time to turn our priorities around.

We can be better. We can make a difference.

I swear it’s not too late.

Reflection for the Christmas Season

In her book Dead Man Walking, Sr. Helen Prejean quotes an early Christian theologian who says: “There are many annunciations, but there are few incarnations.”  In other words, God is constantly sending us messages, but we simply do not recognize them.  I suspect that is the case because God is continually breaking into our world in mysterious and unexpected ways.  As the saints tell us: God interrupts the routines of our lives in ways that surprise us and do not meet our expectations.  (Do you think that Mary really expected to be visited by an angel?)

This is not surprising for those who work at Catholic Charities.  God comes to our door every day in disguises that most people cannot see through: in people whose behaviors and language can be offensive and erratic; whose appearance can push others away; whose lack of proper manners and etiquette disappoint our sensitivities.  And yet, we look deep within them and we see hidden underneath all of these superficial appearances the indelible and unmistakable image of our loving God.  And so we treat them with the respect and dignity which that image within them deserves and demands.  And we pull them into a circle of acceptance from the shadows of disregard that unfortunately marks most of their days. We are called--we are mandated--to do no less.   

At Christmas, Jesus appears in the form of a baby--vulnerable, weak, and yet full of wonderful potential.  We are reminded that every child is given to us as a sacred trust.  If that child is lacking in any way when we have the resources to ensure otherwise, then we as a society have failed the child and failed our calling to be God's people--a people that mirrors the unconditional love of our God.

I think people get this demand of our faith more profoundly at Christmastime than at any other time of the year.  We find ourselves immersed in mystery and wonder and cannot help but exhibit the good will in our hearts that we otherwise keep hidden.  The challenge is owning that spirit by our actions throughout the rest of the year.  Then an annunciation will truly become an incarnation.

In the words of the medieval mystic, Meister Eckhardt, what good is it for Christ to have come into the world so long ago, if he is not born anew in my heart this year?

A Million Empty Homes, but No Room at the Inn

Walk into just about any church this time of year and you will find a crèche, with a manger, Mary, Joseph, some shepherds, sheep and cattle. In the story of Jesus’s birth, as told by Matthew and Luke, there was no room at the inn for a tired pregnant woman and her weary spouse. As a result, the newborn Savior of the World was laid in a bed of straw in a cave.

When I look at these nativity scenes, I think about the thousands of American families who also have no rooms to call their own.  HUD reports that in 2010, nearly 242,000 persons in families were homeless on any given night.  Nearly one million children were homeless at times over the course of the 2009-2010 school year, according to public school officials.

Yet more than a million homes sit empty in cities and suburban lots and rural landscapes. More than 4 million homes have been foreclosed on.

Many foreclosed homes are now filled with mold. Others have been turned into marijuana farms.  A house in Detroit was covered in ice by artists who were making a point about the frozen housing market. Occupy Our Homes movements are springing up in cities around the country, demanding that banks negotiate with homeowners instead of foreclosing on them. 

The housing crisis is a human crisis. It is also an economic crisis that perpetuates the human crisis.

Back in May, the New York Times reported that economists were worried that growing inventory of bank-owned homes was further depressing home values, leading to more distressed sales or foreclosures. They estimated it would take three years or longer to sell all of the houses currently owned by the banks.

A few ideas about how to handle this enormous problem have been circulating recently.

In September, Glenn Hubbard, Dean of the Columbia Business School, along with Alan Boyce and Chris Mayer issued Streamlined Refinancings for up to 30 Million Borrowers, proposing a mass refinancing program that could benefit as many as 30 million borrowers who have government-backed mortgages. Unlike the other government programs to date, this plan would permit homeowners who are current on their mortgages to refinance at today's low rates and with reduced closing costs. Lowering the mortgage payments for these homeowners could generate savings of $70 to $100 billion per year, which would be pumped into the economy, increasing market demand, creating jobs, and stabilizing the housing market.

Tackling the problem of already foreclosed homes, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), HUD, and the Treasury Department has asked private investors, industry stakeholders, and community organizations to propose  ways that homes currently held by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) could be brought back to the market--e.g. through programs for previous homeowners to rent properties or for current renters to become owners through a lease-to-own option.

Will any of these ideas work?  What are the drawbacks? Are there innovative approaches in your community to keep families in their homes that could work on a national or regional basis? What would you do with these empty houses?  Post your ideas here.

We need to keep people in their houses instead of adding to the thousands of families seeking shelter each night.  And open the doors to those that sit empty because of an economic crisis that refuses to resolve. Because while we sing “Away in the Manger” this Christmas season, we know that for too many women, men and children, a night without a home is not that far away.

¿Cómo se dice “Please Pass the Fabric Softener”?

Sometimes the solution to a problem pops up in the most unexpected of places.

For customers of the Magic Touch laundry, many of whom are new Spanish-speaking immigrants, even the most mundane of chores can be … a chore.  Trying to understand the various options for wash, rinse and dry, or even just asking for change, they find themselves face to face with a language barrier. 

So one of the regulars, Hector Canonge, an artist, decided to hold weekly English classes at the laundromat, where people regularly gather. He called his project the Inwood Laundromat Language Institute, which was conceived initially as a work of public art. 

Sitting around folding tables in the middle of the Laundromat, the students first work on vocabulary related to the task at hand: “clothes,” “pants,” “soap.”  Then, using flashcards and the environment as tools, he moves to more advanced aspects of the English language, like possessives and verbs that are difficult to learn from a text book: “my sweater,” “wash the clothes.” The students come away with a real-world vocabulary they can use in their day-to-day lives.

This is a perfect example of thinking and acting anew. Instead of expecting ESL students to show up at a school or library or even a church, this artist used his creativity to conceive of a totally new approach that met people in the stream of their lives.  Would this work in other urban or suburban neighborhoods around the country? Is co-location an idea that can be used to help people gain other skills needed to move from poverty to self-sufficiency?  Artists have a special gift of looking at the world in new and unexpected ways. Should we tap the artists in our communities for more ideas? 

Read more about The Inwood Laundromat Language Institute in the Manhattan Times, and let me know what you think.

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I would like to add a note today. Over the next few weeks members of the Catholic Charities network will offer reflections based on the daily Mass readings for the 2011 Advent/Christmas season. Please join me in reading them on the Catholic Charities USA website, and post any reflections of your own here on the blog.

Feed the 5000

And All Ate and Were Filled

There is a subtle hum of joyful anticipation in the air. Flights have been confirmed. Turkeys and cranberries bought. Pies readied for the oven.

Thanksgiving, I’ve heard over and over again, is many people’s favorite holiday. It brings out the best in us – gathering around the table to celebrate family and friendship. It also is the one week out of the year that as a nation we gather food and funds to feed our neighbors who don’t have the financial wherewithal to set out a lavish Thanksgiving spread.

It reminds me of the miracle performed by Jesus in the fields of Bethsaida: the Feeding of the Five Thousand.

Jesus, looking for a little quiet time as we all do, found himself surrounded by crowds of people who had left their towns to follow him. Evening approached and it was clear that this now huge throng could soon turn into a hungry mob. The disciples, who frequently had trouble coming up with the right thing to do, suggested that Jesus dismiss the crowd so they could go and buy something for their dinner. Jesus, however, had another idea.

“There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.”

But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”

Then he said, “Bring them here to me,” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.

They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over—twelve wicker baskets full. (Matthew 14:15-20)

Our Thanksgiving traditions echo this Gospel. We feed extended family and welcome friends. We organize community dinners so no one need be home alone. We take some of what we have bought and give it to food pantries. There are even leftovers.

The important thing here, though, is that we follow in the steps of Jesus by feeding thousands of five thousands on this one day each year. We may not perform miracles, but we bring the Gospels to life in an extraordinary outpouring of love for our neighbor without judgment. In doing so we demonstrate our love for God and each other.

I’d like to give you something else to chew on as you reach for seconds this Thursday. What would our nation look like if we acted like this during the other 51 weeks of the year? If we can dwell in the house of the Lord—in love—on this day, why not every day?

I am convinced that we can, that we should, and that we must. For the love of God.