Mirror of Justice

A blog dedicated to the development of Catholic legal theory.
Affiliated with the Program on Church, State & Society at Notre Dame Law School.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Labor Day

By Susan Stabile

As we approach Labor Day, MOJ readers may be interested in reading the Labor Day Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, which can be accessed here.   The statement reminds us that "the moral dimensions of work and workers' rights are at the core of our Catholic social tradition," and that too many workers, both in the United States and in the rest of the world, still lack decent wages and working conditions and many others do not have the opportunity to work at all.

The statement also addresses the failed debate on immigration reform, recognizing that "at is core, immigration is about workers who come to our land to try to better lives for themselves and their families by their labor."

Previous Labor Day statements of the U.S. Catholic Bishops are available here.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Pay It Forward

By Susan Stabile

John Freund, C.M., recently rewatched Pay it Forward, the 2000 film about a seventh grade extra credit homework assignment that changed the world.  It intrigued him enough to cause him to gather some  materials on the "pay it forward" idea and the movement spawned by the movie, exemplifying a simple yet profound idea "that involve[s] people in solutions that are practical and replicable."  The materials he has linked to can be accessed via his famvin website, here.  As I was reading some of the material, I was particularly taken by Ben Franklin's use of the concept, illustrated in this letter.

It is not Catholic Legal Theory, but it does demonstrate the powerful potential ripple effect of small individual actions.  "Pay it Forward" projects in schools and towns have yielded tremendous results.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Combatting Poverty Through Systemic Change

By Susan Stabile

My friend John Freund, C.M., has gathered a treasure trove of resources on systemic change in the Vincentian Encyclopedia on the famvin website.  The systemic change approach to poverty, which has been embodied in a number of movements, emphasizes involving the poor themselves, a holistic vision that addresses a series of basic human needs and espeically self-help and self-sustaining programs particularly aimed at the root causes of poverty.  The Vincentian Encyclyopedia material on the subject includes some terrific media resouces and can be accessed here.   The Vincentian Community is committed to identifying and exploring strategies that implement systemic change; see here for a dicussion of their focus.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Wrongful Life Suits

By Susan Stabile

I've always been troubled by wrongful life lawsuits and their "better off dead" premise.  Victoria Springer argues in a paper recently posted on SSRN that "[s]ocial psychological models of health behavior and evolutionary theory, including inclusive fitness, parental investment, the theory of reasoned action, and the theory of planned behavior" all support "the claim that a child, due to its severe defects, could be 'better off dead' and that the mother would have willingly terminated the pregnancy if full information was disclosed."  I suppose we can take some solace in the fact that the author admits that "not all disabled individuals are lesser evolutionary beings or that any impaired ability to reproduce invevitably or irreparably condemns an individual to a 'negative' fitness score," (important because "the only way to balance the negative fitness score [is] to take one's self out of the equation entirely").  The article can be accessed here.

Repeat Abortions

By Susan Stabile

According to recent report of the Guttmacher Institute, about half of all U.S. women having an abortion have had a previous abortion.  The report also notes that the decline in the number of U.S. abortions has stalled and that "at the current rate, about one-third of all U.S. women will have had an abortion by age 45."  The characteristics of women having first-time and repeat abortions is fairly similar (including the fact that most were using some form of contraception at the time), except that women having a repeat abortion are generally older and more likely to already have had a child.  The report concludes that the key to reducing unintended pregnancies and fewer abortions is more effective contraceptive use.  (10 Guttmacher Policy Review 8 (2007)). 

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Resurrection and Justice

By Susan Stabile

Wishing all a blessed Easter, one last Easter excerpt from the Education for Justice website (http://www.educationforjustice.org/)

Thoughts for Your Consideration

The data of Good Friday is not complete.
Another way of looking at things is possible.
The reality is bigger than at first expected.

The death of Jesus is not the last word or the end of the story.
Resurrection is the ultimate word of God about life and death.
In a world with lots of death, we are called to share Resurrection today.

Today’s letter to the Corinthians reminds us that something new is possible: “Let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

In the midst of awesome human problems and serious injustices, we believe something more is possible. We believe that resurrection is possible.

Change is possible. Growth is possible. Peace and reconciliation are possible. Something new is possible. Liberation for the poor and oppressed is possible. Social change is possible. Nations can work together for justice and peace. People can stand up and demand human rights. Society can provide health care for all. There is enough food so that everyone can eat. We can live in solidarity.

Our world knows the tragedy of divisions and hatreds between peoples and nations. Our world knows the scandal of poverty and economic injustice. More than ever, the world needs to experience resurrection.

More than ever we need a spirit that will help and heal the death, violence, and injustice of the world. More than ever we need to create a world where people are not oppressed by sinful structures. Peter in Acts reminds us that Jesus “. . . went about doing good and healing all those oppressed . . .” We are called to do the same.

An understanding of resurrection which does not address issues of justice is shallow and not consistent with the spirit of Jesus who lived, died, and rose to bring an end to all oppression and injustice.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

The Genius of Women

By Susan Stabile

Pope John Paul II often referred to the "Genius of Women" and of their contribution to progress measured according to the "social and ethical dimension, which deals with human relations and spirtiual values." (Letter to Women).  Pope Benedict has similarly given thanks for the manifestations of the feminine "genius."

Following are excerpts from the Good Friday homily of Capuchin Father Faniero Cantalemessa, preacher of the Pontifical Household, which focus on the women at the cross. (Source: Zenit news, April 6, 2007)

"There has been animated discussion for quite some time about who it was that wanted Jesus' death: Was it the Jews or Pilate? One thing is certain in any case: It was men and not women.  No woman was involved, not even indirectly, in his condemnation. Even the only pagan woman named in the accounts, Pilate's wife, dissociated herself from his condemnation.  "Jesus said: 'Blessed is he who is not scandalized by me.' These women are the only ones who were not scandalized by him.

"We must ask ourselves about this fact: Why were the women untroubled by the scandal of the cross? Why did they stay when everything seem finished and even his closest disciples had abandoned him and were secretly planning to go back home?

"Jesus had already given the answer to this question when, replying to
Simon, he said of the woman who had washed and kissed his feet, 'She has
loved much!'  [The women at the cross] "followed the reasoning of the heart and this did not deceive them. Their presence near the crucified and risen Christ contains a vital teaching for today.

"Our civilization, dominated by technology, needs a heart to survive in it without being dehumanized. We have to give more room to the 'reasons of the heart,' if humanity is not to fail.  The improvement of man's intelligence and capacity to know does not go forward at the same rate as improvement in his capacity to love.  The latter does not seem to count for much and yet we know well that
happiness or unhappiness on earth does not depend so much on knowing or not
knowing as much as it does on loving or not loving, on being loved or not
being loved.  It is not hard to understand why we are so anxious to increase are knowledge, but so worried about increasing our capacity to love: Knowledge automatically translates into power, love into
service.

"Love alone redeems and saves, while science and the thirst for knowledge,
by itself, is able to lead Faust and his imitators to damnation.

"Everyday experience shows us that women can 'lift us up,' but they can also cast us down. She too needs to be saved, neither more nor less than man.  But we must avoid repeating the ancient gnostic mistake according to which woman, in order to save herself, must cease to be a woman and must become a man.  Pro-male prejudice is so deeply rooted in society that women themselves
have ended up succumbing to it.  To affirm their dignity, they have sometimes believed it necessary to
minimize or deny the difference of the sexes, reducing it to a product of culture.

"The pious women [of Calvary] must not only be admired and
honored, but imitated.  How grateful we must be to the pious women! Along the way to Calvary, their
sobbing was the only friendly sound that reached the Savior's ears; while he
hung on the cross, their gaze was the only one that fell upon him with love
and compassion."

Bearing Witness to the Resurrection

By Susan Stabile

From the Education for Justice (http://www.educationforjustice.org/) website entry for the Easter Vigil:

Quotes
It would be a contradiction to settle for a life of mediocrity, marked by a minimalist ethic and a shallow religiosity. To ask catechumens: “Do you wish to receive Baptism?” means at the same time to ask them: “Do you wish to become holy?” It means to set before them the radical nature of the Sermon on the Mount.”
John Paul II, Novo Millennio Inuente

This world of ours can change: peace is possible even where for too long there has been fighting and death. . . . Men and women of every continent, draw from his tomb, empty now for ever, the strength needed to defeat the powers of evil and death, and to place all research and all technical and social progress at the service of a better future for all.
John Paul II, Easter 2001

The power of the Spirit, who raised Christ from the dead, is continuously at work in the world. Through the generous sons and daughters of the Church likewise, the People of God is present in the midst of the poor and of those who suffer oppression and persecution; it lives in its own flesh and its own heart the Passion of Christ and bears witness to his resurrection.
1971 Synod of Bishops, Justice in the World

We believe that every person is precious, that people are more important than things, and that the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person. . . In a global culture driven by excessive individualism, our tradition proclaims that the person is not only sacred but also social. The Catholic tradition teaches that human beings grow and achieve fulfillment in community.
U.S. Bishops, Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions

Thoughts for Your Consideration

Easter Resurrection is about power, liberation and freedom, but not the power of dominating control or of manipulating others. It is not about the power of corporations or control by military force or the manipulation of the mass media or the triumph of money. Rather it is the power of non-violent, active, generous love and solidarity. It is the power that comes from a faith rooted in the great story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The readings at the Easter vigil highlight the great story of God working in our world for our liberation and life. This great story of liberation lives on today.

Friday, April 6, 2007

Good Friday

By Susan Stabile

From the Education for Justice website (http://www.educationforjustice.org/Thoughts for Your Consideration
Our commemoration of Good Friday can sometimes be taken over by a “spirituality of sentimentality.” We might force ourselves to feel bad because of someone who died 2000 years ago. We might force ourselves to feel bad because we are told that we did something to make this Jesus of Nazareth suffer. Our art, our music and our prayer can box us into such sentimentality; however, this need not be the case.

We may avoid the extremes or limits of such a spirituality and move to a more healthy spirituality of Good Friday, by making sure that we ground our spirituality in the “real world.” The suffering of Jesus is connected with the suffering of the world and its people – people of all times and places – especially the poor and powerless.

This suffering continues today:

in any situation where people experience injustice
in the violence that continues in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Iraq
in the extreme poverty in places like Haiti or nations in Sub-Sahara Africa
in the more than 800 million people in the world who go to bed hungry
in the lives of those who affected by last year’s hurricanes and struggle to recover
in the experience of those who are denied human rights or are even unjustly imprisoned
in the lives of all those who experience racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination
in the “suffering” of planet earth as it feels the effect of the human abuse of the environment
in the lives of forced migrants (refugees, migrant workers, the undocumented
in the experience of indigenous peoples at home and abroad
in the experience of anyone who has lost family members in acts of war and violence
in the experience of the people of the Darfur region of the Sudan
in the millions who have died in the ongoing war and unrest in the Congo
in the suffering experienced by individual people and families in abusive relationships
in the experience of those who are sick and cannot afford medical care
in children who are denied an adequate education
in the frustration of those who cannot find work at a just wage.
The list could go on and on.

The events of Good Friday call us not into an unreal, sentimental sorrow, but into a deeper awareness of life today with its struggles and sorrows. Our Good Friday experience calls us into a deeper desire to work for an end to injustice and suffering. We are called to a deep solidarity with our God and a deep solidarity with each other. In solidarity, Jesus “became the source of eternal salvation.” Through such solidarity we will experience resurrection.

Three Reminders of Social Teaching from John’s Passion Story

1) Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its scabbard.”
Catholic Social Teaching is committed to peace, reconciliation and nonviolence.

It is absolutely necessary that international conflicts should not be settled by war, but that other methods better befitting human nature should be found. Let a strategy of non-violence be fostered also, and let conscientious objection be recognized and regulated by law in each nation.
1971 Synod of Bishops, Justice in the World

In all of his suffering, as in all of his life and ministry, Jesus refused to defend himself with force or with violence. He endured violence and cruelty so that God’s love might be fully manifest and the world might be reconciled to the One from whom it had become estranged. Even at his death, Jesus cried for forgiveness for those who were executioners: “Father, forgive them.”
US Bishops, The Challenge of Peace

2) Jesus answered the high priest: “I have spoken publicly to the world.”
Catholic Social Teaching encourages political and economic processes that are “transparent” so that all people can fully participate in their human and political rights.

Is this not the time for all to work together for a new constitutional organization of the human family, truly capable of ensuring peace and harmony between peoples, as well as their integral development? . . . It means continuing and deepening processes already in place to meet the almost universal demand for participatory ways of exercising political authority, even international political authority, and for transparency and accountability at every level of public life.
John Paul II, World Day of Peace, January 1, 2003

3) Jesus said to Pilate: “For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.”

Catholic Social Teaching invites the whole world and its institutions to speak the truth whether it is through a free and truthful press, open and honest government, or the courageous speaking up about situations of injustice.

The fundamental moral requirement of all communication is respect for and service of the truth. Freedom to seek and speak what is true is essential to human communication, not only in relation to facts and information but also, and especially, regarding the nature and destiny of the human person, regarding society and the common good, regarding our relationship with God.
John Paul II, World Communications Day, June 1, 2003....

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Holy Thursday

By Susan Stabile

From the Education for Justice (http://www.educationforjustice.org/) website:

Thoughts for Your Consideration
The events of Holy Thursday connect us with Catholic Social Teaching. The Holy Thursday scriptures challenge us to move beyond ourselves into the freedom and joy of Jesus Christ which is shared in community. This divine spirituality inspires social change in the Christian community and in the whole world community.

The Exodus: In the first reading we are invited into the exodus story, the great story of God leading people from slavery to freedom, the great story of God bringing people together into a community. God’s spirit inspires the liberation of those who are enslaved. Liberation is at the heart of Catholic Social Teaching.

The Passover Meal – The Eucharist: In the second reading, we are invited into the Passover meal which Jesus celebrated with his friends. We are invited into the Eucharist to receive the body of Christ and to become the living body of Christ. This solidarity with one another is essential to Catholic Social Teaching.

The Washing of Feet: In the Gospel story, we are invited into the Passover meal and the profound ritual of washing feet – the profound ritual of service. Service is what being a follower of Jesus is about. (It is so central to what Jesus is about, that some have proposed that we do this each Sunday, just as we share the Eucharist each week.) Service, especially to the poor and all those in need, is at the heart of Catholic Social Teaching.

Service and Mutuality: The interaction between Jesus and Peter reminds us of the mutuality of service that is essential to the Christian life. Peter, along with all the other disciples, is told to go and do the same, but first he is also told that he has to have his feet washed. The Christian community is not a community of “domination over,” or a community where some have it and others do not, or a community divided by those in need and those not in need. We all need to serve and we all need to be served. In community we share our needs as well as our gifts with each other. Without this attitude Catholic Social Teaching can become a shallow charity.

Priestly Ministry: It is in light of the gospel story of the washing of the feet that the ministry of priests makes sense in the Christian churches. Through our baptism we are all priests. We all have things to learn and things to teach. Priesthood means humble service. It is in a spirit of humble service that we preach and live the gospel and work for social change....

Prayers of Intercession

Response: God, bring us together as one people.

For all those who do not have enough to eat this evening, we pray. . .

For all those who do not have a home this evening, we pray. . .

For all those who live in fear of war, terrorism, and violence, we pray. . .

For all those who need to be set free from political and economic oppression, we pray. . .

For all those called to service, especially to service of those most in need, we pray. . .

For our church, that we may be renewed in the spirit of Jesus, we pray. . .

Prayer
Father-Mother-God
Sister-Brother-God
Friend-Companion-God
Mystery-God

Thanks for sight
sight that comes in Jesus
insight about ourselves and the world
insight about the way of Jesus
the way of compassionate love.

Thanks for life and all that nourishes life
the food of bread and grain,
fruits and vegetables,
meat and fish,
milk and all proteins
air and water
sun and breeze
earth and sea
space and mystery
friend and companion
stranger and refugee
young and old
the familiar and the new.

Thanks for the life of the spirit
for prayer and meditation
for silence and sound
for sacrament and scripture
for community and tradition
for poverty and wealth
for wisdom shared
for conversation and silence
for unity and diversity.

Thanks for all the challenges
for the call
to act for justice
to serve others
to live in peace
for the feelings that teach us
to know ourselves and others and you
to be restless for what is right
to speak out for what is good
to witness to what is of God.

Glory to you through all the ages! Amen!

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