LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016 1
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LIVINGCITYMAGAZINE.COM EDITOR IN CHIEF:
Clare Zanzucchi Susanne Janssen SENIOR EDITOR: Anne Lingley ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITORS: Emilie Christy, Sarah Mundell ART DIRECTOR: Andrew Re ART CONSULTANT: Miguel Tejerina MANAGING EDITOR:
CONTRIBUTORS:
ZÊÄÄãÃù Ýãã٥î½ù The January article about Mary Hartmann’s life was so inspiring. I have read and reread it. I love her conclusion answering the question, “Was I a mistake?” I say, No! No! No! She lists all the relationships that exist because she is alive and loving. I myself have asked that question. Was my nowannulled marriage a complete mistake? And what about my children? I hope the answer, like Mary’s, lies in the loving relationships I am trying to build in the world around me. Thank you for so beautiful a story. — Molly Knuffke, California
&ÙʥîÝݮĦÊçã I enjoyed reading about the “FOMO” generation in the February issue. I am not a student, but before retiring I worked with many at the university level, so the article really resonated. I realized how I have also experienced this fear in my own way. One Lent, a few years ago, I decided that I was over-the-top distracted by the news, and so I decided to give up listening or watching or even reading the news during that time.
Before going on this “fast,” I took in all the news I could get, listening to the radio and reading the newspaper daily. I thought them mostly unbiased and in line with my way of thinking. After Lent, I returned to only one news broadcast afterwards, and I felt disgust at how it was presented. Plus, much of the news was the same as 40 days earlier. So I like what this article said, that we can be who God wants us to be while loving and living in the present moment. — Elena Arriola-Freeman, California I have a neighbor I see every other day. I knew he was struggling with drugs, and I hesitated to get involved. So I avoided anything besides a quick “good-day.” However one day, we were in the same elevator, and he asked me directly how my day was. I knew he was trying hard to reach out to me when it should have been me doing exactly that. Wasn’t I the one who for years had chosen to love Christ in my neighbors always? I think it was fear that had held me back. I answered him politely and noticed that he looked very sad. Would I open the “door,” or would it be closed possibly forever? I thought
of what I had just read about mercy in the January Living City. I had judged rather than seeing this man with mercy and as Jesus. I put the past behind me and asked him about his day. For an hour, he told me his whole life story, about his illness and how he was battling it, and family struggles! I felt ashamed at my previous attitude. Even though I could not heal his disease, I knew I could listen and love this confused person. He shared about another person’s concern that helped him decide not to take his life a few years earlier, and this kept giving him hope, along with meeting people like me. — Maria Dalgarno, Toronto FROM FACEBOOK:
&ÙçÙù tÊÙÊ¥>®¥ Amen for that, if more people would realize God made us — the Bible says we are made in his image — I don’t think so many people would have issues with selfesteem and worthlessness. We’re not perfect, but we’re supposed to try daily to be more like him. — Jody Allen
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LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016
Marilyn Boesch, Mary V. Cass, Martina Hart, Tom Hartmann, Jerry Hearne, Rosa Kim, Joseph Klock, Susan Kopp, Lucia Martinez, Nancy O’Donnell, Sharry Silvi, Amy Uelmen, Maria Villar CORRESPONDENTS: Liliana Mugombozi (Africa) Alberto Barlocci (Argentina) Lorraine Lipson (Australia) Bennie Callebaut (Belgium) Gilvan D. de Sousa (Brazil) Maria Dalgarno (Canada) Jade Giacobbe (Illinois) Alain Boudre (France) Joachim Schwind (Germany) Frank Johnson (Great Britain) Susan Gately (Ireland) Michele Zanzucchi (Italy) Jose Aranas (Philippines) Kate O’Brien (Texas) Maria Clara Ramirez (California) Silvano Malini (Uruguay) COPY EDITORS: T. M. Hartmann, Roberta Rubin, Yvonne Tibbitt EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: Megan Bodenschatz, Maureen Cranley, Margaret Karam, OP; Mauree Shott EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: John Chesser, Tom Masters, Donald Mitchell, Francis Rogg, Fr. Julian Stead, OSB, Jim Webber CONSULTING EDITORS: Joan P. Back, Luigino Bruni, Roberto Catalano, Rita Moussallem, Paul O’Hara, Judy Povilus, Joseph Sievers ADMINISTRATION/CIRCULATION:
Philomena Sheridan Sid Hayden CIRCULATION ASSISTANTS: Marceline Fon-Sing, Geraldine Timoney, Rula Shamieh BUSINESS CONSULTANT:
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Emilie Christy, Mary Ann Cottone, Elena Freeman, Gail Freire, Pat Gildard, Laura Kellerman, Ana Paula Panzarini, Debbie Scianimanico WEBSITE MANAGERS:
Bronius Motekaitis, Luca Piazza, Stefano Masetti
march 2016
Volume 55 No.3 livingcitymagazine.com
PHOTOGRAPHEE.EU - FOTOLIA
Stranger or neighbor?
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The unknown can set us on edge — it’s part of our human nature, and each one of us is more or less geared toward safety. However, it’s up to us to decide how to deal with it. If you think that everyone unknown to you is a potential threat to your safety and well-being, it makes it hard to trust others. Even where there is a long history of immigration, those who are new or different can still face painful discrimination and exclusion. Now, confronted with real threats or acts of terror, we may struggle to distinguish a safe neighbor from a threatening one. Lately, this has been especially felt as terrorists use Islam to justify violent acts, and all Muslims get blamed. So, friend or foe? Do we choose to defend ourselves and close ourselves in, or do we choose to trust? Very often, the difference may simply depend on getting to know each other better.
Growing together, enriched by dialogue
Participants in Neighborhood Interfaith Conversations practice “emotional correctness” By Sarah Mundell and Susanne Janssen
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Rules for running away
How to overcome the tendency to judge before knowing? By Kim Zarif
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Faithful to that “yes”
Start bridge-building now
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Unity: gift, commitment, goal
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Even being “anti” can open up dialogue
Skip the labels
A Muslim’s and a Christian’s perspectives on Islamophobia By David Shaheed and Jordan Denari Understanding not only what, but why
Four different communication “cultures” that can help dialogue By William Gould
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Thank you, Dori Zamboni By Emilie Christy
Focolare’s president refreshes this core point of the spirituality of communion — Part 3 By Maria Voce
Not speaking up is the privilege of those who have never suffered from racism By Sarah Mundell
Neighbor to neighbor
Solidarity, an ordinary act to which we are called By Ron Ramer
2 messages 25 teens
If parents overcome their fears, they teach their children what really matters By Amy Uelmen
4 tagged
25 children
5 news 26 saints
17 images for word 28 food & community
22 March’s word of life with experiences 29 relax
Cover by Miguel Tejerina/photo by Photographee.eu/Fotolia
LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016 3
tagged X MARCH 18: DEATH OF
X MARCH 6: REMEMBERING A RENAISSANCE MAN Today, everyone has to become a specialist, but let’s remember William Whewell who died 150 years ago (1794–1866), an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest and philosopher. Whewell appears as a vestige of an earlier era when men of science dabbled in a bit of everything. He researched ocean tides, published work in the disciplines of mechanics, physics, geology, astronomy, and economics, while also finding the time to compose poetry, translate the works of Goethe, and write sermons and theological tracts. In mathematics, Whewell introduced the Whewell equation, defining the shape of a curve without reference to a coordinate system. He was also a wordsmith, contributing the terms scientist, physicist, consilience, catastrophism, and uniformitarianism, among others. He died after falling off his horse.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
WIKIPEDIA.ORG
WELLCOMEIMAGES.ORG
AN HONEST CYCLIST
Henri Cornet (1884–1941) was a French cyclist who won the 1904 Tour de France. He is its youngest winner, having won just short of his 20th birthday. It was his first year as a professional, and he got the nickname “the joker,” for his cheerfulness. In those days there were complaints about widespread cheating — cyclists took trains or got rides in cars. Cornet remained honest, rode the last 25 miles on flat tires because some competitors had spread nails on the street, and was declared the winner after the top four finishers were disqualified. He never had further success in the Tour and stopped racing with the start of World War I.
X MARCH 20: GREAT AMERICAN MEATOUT DAY Celebrated annually on the first day of spring, the Great American Meatout Day promotes a meat-free diet to improve health, protect the environment, and save animals. Studies showed that vegans decrease their risk of developing cancer, heart disease, diabetes, stroke and other chronic diseases. Besides, the UN has stated that reducing the amount of meat we eat can also significantly reduce global warming, as the amount of methane produced by animals is one of the top contributors to greenhouse gases. So by eating vegan for one day, you can save half a chicken, 148 square feet of rainforest and 3,700 gallons of water. By eating vegan 1-2 days a week, you can save 44 animals, 11,550 square feet of rainforest and 288,600 gallons of water in a year. Just enjoy alternatives like beans, lentils, quinoa or tofu. — Susanne Janssen
is a monthly magazine that shows how people connect their daily life with the roots of their faith and deepest values. Since 1967, Living City and its 32 sister editions have aimed at fostering a lifestyle of dialogue and universal brotherhood.
livingcitymagazine.com
Our mission
Our background Living City has its roots in the Focolare, a worldwide lay Catholic movement, founded in 1943 in Trent, Italy, which today numbers more than five million people of all ages, religions and backgrounds (read more at focolare.org). Its spirituality of communion is based on Jesus’ prayer for unity, “That they may all be one” (Jn 17:21). Focolare founder Chiara Lubich (1920–2008) opened new dialogues in the Catholic world;
with members of different Christian churches; with Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and the faithful of other religions; and with all people of goodwill. For the many social and academic contributions of the Focolare, Chiara received the 1977 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, the 1996 UNESCO Prize for Peace Education, the 1998 Prize for Human Rights from the Council of Europe, and numerous honorary doctorates, citizenships and awards.
Living City’s mission is to show how unity is possible among diverse people in many circumstances of everyday life. Together with our readers, we (staff and contributors) want to discover how to build bridges in the different sectors of society and personal life. We are convinced that dialogue and trust are the only way to live for peace and universal brotherhood, and we want to work for this goal with everyone who shares the ideals of peace, justice, freedom and truth. Our motivation lies in our belief that humanity is one family.
Living City, 202 Comforter Blvd., Hyde Park, NY 12538. For customer service, subscriptions, past issues and address changes:
[email protected]
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LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016
JAR [O] - FLICKR
news Jesus’ baptismal site on the Jordan UNESCO officially recognizes this World Heritage Site
T
Hope for the rainforest Regrown forests absorb even more carbon than old-growth ones
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11 times as much carbon from the atmosphere as old-growth forests, a study has shown. The researchers have produced a map showing regions in Latin America where regrowing rainforests would deliver the greatest benefits. However, they added that old-growth forests still needed to be protected as they locked away vast amount of carbon. Details of the study have been published in the journal Nature. The international team of scientists compiled data from almost 1,500 plots at 45 sites across the Neotropics, which covers southern and Central America, allowing them to produce a map highlighting the carbon sequestration potential of areas. New-growth, or secondary forests grow as a result of a major clearing of old-growth vegetation. The clearing could be the result of a natural event, such as a fire, or as a result of human activity, such as logging or farming. They can be of natural regrowth or planted. In order to maximize access to sunlight, nutrients and water, new trees grow quickly. EWLY GROWN RAINFORESTS CAN ABSORB
This means the plants sequester a much greater amount of carbon from the atmosphere, which it uses as part of the photosynthesis process that uses sunlight to produce the sugars the plant needs to grow. However, the long established old-growth rainforests have locked away a vast quantity of carbon over the decades and centuries. Rainforests are the largest terrestrial carbon sinks on the planet. Deforestation is seen as one of the major drivers of emissions from human activities and is estimated to account for 20% of all emissions. The ability of forests across the globe, particularly rainforests, to absorb and lock away carbon plays a key role in efforts to mitigate and curb the impacts of climate change resulting from human activity. The 2014 UN climate summit saw the establishment of the New York Declaration on Forests, a non-binding agreement that set the goal of halving the rate of global deforestation by 2020, and halting it by 2030. The declaration also called for the restoration of 150 million hectares of degraded forests by the end of this decade.
River has been officially declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, during a ceremony held in Paris at the beginning of February. It was attended by a delegation from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, including Jordanian Minister for Tourism Nayef Al-Fayez, and Archbishop Maroun Lahham, patriarchal vicar for Jordan of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Situated on the eastern bank of the River Jordan, about five miles north of the Dead Sea, the archaeological site consists of two distinct areas: Tell Al-Kharrar, also known as Jabal Mar-Elias (Elijah’s Hill) and the area of the churches of St. John the Baptist near the river. Situated in a pristine natural environment the site is believed to be the location where Jesus of Nazareth was baptized by John the Baptist. It features Roman and Byzantine remains including churches and chapels, a monastery, caves that have been used by hermits and pools in which baptisms were celebrated, testifying to the religious character of the place. In his speech during the ceremony, Lahham defined the site of the baptism as “a place where the voice of Christ still resounds” in Jordan, considered “a quiet and safe place, in the middle of a Middle East in flames.” The patriarchal vicar said that the Gospel mentioned the place 2,000 years ago, popular devotion has always confirmed it, archaeological research has highlighted it, four popes have visited it, and now the international community would declare it officially. Lahham added that “the Holy Land also, and above all, includes Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth, but Jordan is not the less holy.” fides.org WIKIMEDIA.ORG
Let it grow! New forests can be a productive and cost-effective way to absorb carbon
HE SITE OF JESUS’ BAPTISM ON THE JORDAN
— bbc.com LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016 5
dialogue
Growing together, enriched by dialogue Participants in Neighborhood Interfaith Conversations practice emotional, not political, correctness
BY SARAH MUNDELL AND SUSANNE JANSSEN
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HE
QUIET
NEIGHBORHOOD
IS
suddenly crowded with cars on this dark winter evening. There is a warm welcome at the door, inside a very diverse group is vividly chatting, discussing and exchanging ideas with one another. A table with eight chairs, and people from three different religions are sitting around and enjoying dinner together. And more people are filling the living room. This is not a one-time event but a monthly happening in Westchester County, just north of New York City: Neighborhood Interfaith Conversations. 6
LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016
Munazza Afzal, originally from Pakistan, puts the goal in a few, focused words: “I came because I wanted to know more about other religions, because my children played with Jewish and Christian kids. Then, we became friends.” Like her, other participants wanted to know more about other faith traditions because they were growing up in towns and neighborhoods where they were not exposed to different cultures. Others, like Ellen Greeley, have multiple faiths in their own family.
The group started in 2013 as an outgrowth of ExodusConversations.org, a website that explores how the story of the Exodus speaks to Jews, Christians and Muslims. David Arnow, one of the authors of the website, helped organize a program using material from the site to start an interfaith conversation. He wondered how people could connect with others of different religious traditions in a way that would broaden their usual circles. “Everybody enjoyed it so much that we decided to meet monthly,” recalls Arnow,
Growing closer. Jews, Muslims and Christians in Westchester County, NY, sought out a group where they could connect, learn and build trust
COURTESY OF DAVID ARNOW (3)
“I wanted to know more about other religions, because my children played with Jewish and Christian kids. Then, we became friends.”
now the coordinator of the group. Around 20 people usually attend, and 50 are on the email list. “We are not looking for a much larger group,” he explains. “We want people who are interested in talking about themes that are important to us, and we want to build real relationships.” Each time they choose a topic, like forgiveness, stewardship of the Earth or recent events like the shooting in San Bernardino, California. Then some members prepare some texts or a prayer from their faith tradition to share with everyone.
Michael, another member of the group, emphasizes the value of these connections: “We can learn from each other.” Sometimes, he confesses that he feels a “holy envy” about positive aspects of other religions, “for example, the hospitality of the Muslims — I wish it would be like this in my culture, too.” Yasser joined just two months ago, and says he will definitely stick with it. “I am originally from Morocco, and I like to talk about my religion and understand the faith of others. It was always easy for me to talk
to Christians, but I was afraid to talk to Jews because of the Palestinian conflict.” Then he met David, and they talked about the role of suffering in their religions, how it is to lose loved ones. The fear disappeared because of the dialogue. “Here I felt I can talk to Jews and ask questions, and I learned that a lot is related to politics, not to faith.” He can even start a discussion now about difficult matters, without getting angry, while listening to what someone from another faith has to say. “We cannot just cry for justice somewhere else; we can bring justice with our own hand where we are,” he says. Tom is also happy about the atmosphere: “You can ask anything, there’s no need for political correctness. It’s the emotional correctness that counts, and that guides the discussions.” “Emotional correctness” is a term being used more and more to refer to the compassion and respect with which a person communicates his or her ideas. John thoughtfully describes his experience of the last few years. “We grew as a group. We are more open now than in the beginning.” On this journey they have discovered how many things they share in common. “Just a few elements are really different,” says Dolores, “but most people always focus on the differences.” Chuck, a religion teacher at a Bronx school, advises against feeling superior. LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016 7
dialogue
Lively exchange. Participants in Neighborhood Interfaith Conversations always have thoughts to share. David Arnow, here with Dr. Mahjabeen Hassan, is one of the co-founders of the group
“Don’t compare your best with the other religion’s worst,” he says. “It is better to ask a believer of another tradition than to speak about them.” The influence of the group has grown beyond it: members played a key role in working with AJC (The American Jewish Committee) to organize a community memorial service in 2014 at Manhattanville College for three Jewish teenagers and a Palestinian boy killed in Israel. This spawned several more interfaith prayer services, each attended by more than 300 Westchester residents. One member of the group is the president of the Westchester Coalition against Islamophobia, whose motto is “put humanity first — not tribalism.” Another member, Dr. Mahjabeen Hassan, recalled an email sent around by another group member during a moment of tension. “It helped me, and I was grateful to know people who care, that we stand together.” Together they share encouraging news, such as that of Dr. Hassan, who tells the other members that 60 rabbis from different synagogues signed a petition to support Muslims, as well as how a group of Moroccan Muslim leaders had clearly distanced themselves from ISIS and any kind of terrorism. They all underline that society is much more polarized than even 10 years ago. “We need a balance,” says Tom; otherwise, people are not able to talk to 8
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each other anymore. Munazza agrees. “Here I can be open with no fear of being judged. This is important. Unless we ask questions, we can’t learn from one another.” This is their model against phobic or hate speech and threats further magnified by some of this year’s political discourse. “All our religions have the Golden Rule ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ We should treat people in a more positive way,” says one member, and everybody agrees. It helps them to face comments filled with hatred and fear. “Because of this group, we can now say with differing degrees of certainly, ‘I know this is true because there are people here that I believe and trust that say this,’” affirms Tom. In every piece of so-called religious violence in the news, there’s often not Islam, Judaism or Christianity behind it, but people who are practicing a deviant way that gets mixed up with politics. Topics for discussion and sharing at the next meeting abound. First of all, they all feel free to ask; they are eager to learn; they turn to their sacred texts to find responses to today’s challenges; and they are now friends, open to extend their friendship to whomever wants to enter into their enriching dialogue. More information at exodusconversations.org
“It is better to ask a believer of another tradition than to speak about them.”
dialogue
Skip the labels How can we overcome the tendency to judge before knowing?
M
Y HUSBAND WAS BORN IN HAMA,
Syria. As a Christian, he suffered quite a lot from the Muslims in his town: he and his brother were pelted with stones as they ran back from Mass to school every Sunday. Wanting a better life for himself, he attended medical school and did his residency in the U.S., but these experiences left a prejudice against Muslims in his heart. Two years ago, when I was given the opportunity to help a Muslim immigrant family through the emergency food pantry where I volunteered, I was offered an amazing opportunity — Randa and I learned about one another’s faith traditions that dispelled many myths. This dialogue led to meaningful discussions within our families… a rippling effect of love! Recently I was sitting in a meeting at my youngest daughter’s school. Our children (she is the last, a senior) have attended this prep school for over 15 years. The bombing in Paris had recently occurred, and the school had called together the parents to discuss the upcoming senior trip to London along with foreign language emersion trips to France and Spain. After many questions regarding the safety of our children, one mother remarked: “Those Syrians weren’t going to terrorize her!” And another said that her daughter was in college studying abroad and had been “stuck in trains with those smelly Syrians.” I could not believe my ears! This is a small school, and my Syrian-American children have played on the lacrosse fields, led roles on the stage, painted pictures for major art exhibits, made the national honor society — and now this! I was speechless, and for me that says a lot! That evening I spoke to my daughter about it, and she told me she had posted a not so nice response to the incident on Twitter. I reminded her that this is how hatred is maintained and that instead, love begets love.
The next day, I asked to speak with the headmaster and the upper school principal and told them my husband’s and my in-law’s story. I wanted to put a familiar face on “those Syrian!” I told them how my sister-in-law, her husband and four children had to sneak out in the middle of the night as President Assad sealed the country’s borders. They left with a few suitcases in hope of a better life in the U.S. That sounds a lot like my own ancestors at the turn of the century. On Thanksgiving Day I asked my sisterin-law’s family if they had suffered any troubles since the Paris incident, and unfortunately they had. They are staying in our apartment, and it is in a rural area. My nephew, who is only in the fourth grade, has become quite Americanized. He is consumed with football, the NBA and March Madness, and my son is even going to teach him how to surf! Like most American boys his age, he is watching Nickelodeon on TV. So when during recess one of his classmates came up to him and said, “Hey, why don’t you guys go back where you came from and stop causing so much trouble!”, he had no idea what he meant! Finally, after the San Bernardino, California incident in which it became evident that the shooters were of Pakistani descent, my husband made an interesting comment. He said that he works with a doctor who is originally from Pakistan and lives in a rural area with other Pakistani families. Now everyone feels the need “to keep an eye on them.” I had to smile to myself. If all of us could look at one another with “a simple eye,” how different our world would be!
ZAKHAROV EVGENIY - FOTOLIA
BY KIM ZARIF
LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016 9
Start bridge-building now Only 1% of the U.S. population is Muslim, and according to a study by Pew Research, the vast majority of them are against violence. But the unknown is often scary, and American Muslims are facing discrimination and misunderstanding more than ever before. Terrorists who use religion to justify their criminal acts make things worse. How do regular Muslims respond to this challenge? And what can nonMuslims do to overcome these divisions?
Great respect in the Quran for other religions BY DAVID SHAHEED
T
HE CIVIL WAR IN SYRIA AND THE
rise of daesh (more often referred to in the media as ISIS or ISIL) are recent events that have led to tensions in the Middle East and a distortion of Islam. Unfortunately, for me and all common Muslims, this situation is like being in crossfire. On one hand, these extremists distort Islam beyond all recognition in order to justify the domination and slaughter of innocent people, while they pursue territorial victories and material gain. On the other, people condemn us as Muslims for being part of this terrorism. The media often doesn’t help to distinguish between what is true and what is merely rhetoric used to advance the ideas of the writer. Furthermore, daesh has an agenda that is contrary to the basic tenets of Islam. In September 2014, more than 120 Islamic scholars from around the world condemned daesh and have urged others to join them (see lettertobaghdadi.com/). However, most people are unaware of this blanket condemnation since it didn’t make headlines in the major news media. Also, there are many YouTube videos of ordinary Muslims condemning the atrocities of these extremists. The reasons why the Muslim world rejects these extremists’ ideologies can be found by a simple examination of the basics of Islam. All Muslims recognize as the ultimate authorities for Muslims: 1) the Quran (book of
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revealed scripture for Muslims) and 2) the life example of Prophet Muhammad, who established the religion of Islam nearly 1400 years ago. One particular important passage of the Quran is this: “There shall be no compulsion (no coercion) in matters of faith. Truth stands out clear from error: whoever rejects the powers of evil and believes in God has indeed grasped the most trustworthy handhold, that never breaks. And God heareth and knoweth all things” (Yusuf Ali translation of the Holy Quran, 2:256). Many examples can be cited of Prophet Muhammad’s tolerance and respect for Christians and other faith traditions, and in 628 C.E., his Charter of Privileges to the Monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt. Sinai is well noted in the history of Christians and Muslims. The charter states: “This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them. “Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them. “No compulsion is to be on them. “Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. “No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or
to carry anything from it to the Muslims’ houses. “Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God’s covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate. “No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. “The Muslims are to fight for them. “If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. “Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. “No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last.” The medieval territory of AlAndalus at its peak occupying most of today’s Spain and Portugal could be a model of these principles being applied by Muslims after the time of Prophet Muhammad. From 711 to 1492, Muslims were the leaders of the government there; most of the time, Christians, Jews and Muslims lived together harmoniously, and each community flourished and enjoyed much success. Al-Andalus was considered a cultural and
educational center in the world during this period. Given this background, there is no rational explanation for the current distortions of Islam and the brutality practiced by daesh and similar organizations. However, a 2015 book entitled Countering ISIS: The Power of Spiritual Friendship, written by Professor David Carlson of Franklin College in Indiana, gives many insights regarding the background and motivations behind the organization. It becomes clear from reading Carlson’s book that the leaders of this organization are exploiting historical missteps by Western powers, such as colonialism and suppression of traditional values,
to justify the abuse of innocent people in the name of religion. I believe that these actions have never been successful and that they will fail in this instance as well. Instead, relationships built in true dialogue and with mutual trust, will last.
DAVE BUSHE - WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Judge David Shaheed has been working on the Marion County Superior Court in Indiana since 1994.
How can Christians respond to Islamophobia? BY JORDAN DENARI
O
2007, I RECEIVED A CHAIN EMAIL FROM A FAMILY FRIEND FROM MY PARISH. IT CAST suspicion on all Muslims in light of the violence committed by a few, saying that the majority were “irrelevant” or even “our enemy.” The anonymous author asked recipients to forward the message to family and friends, and I realized the email had already circulated among members of my Catholic community. Even though I didn’t know many Muslims at the time, the message troubled me. It didn’t seem to reflect the loving attitude I heard preached at Mass every week, but rather fear of those who were different and unknown. At the time, I wasn’t sure how to respond. But now — after getting involved in interreligious dialogue and studying Muslim-Christian relations — I have some ideas from my Catholic perspective about what to do when encountering anti-Muslim prejudice. NE DAY IN
1. LOOK UP WHAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHES ABOUT ISLAM AND MUSLIMS
The Second Vatican Council didn’t only change the Mass from Latin to English — it also changed the way the Church approached nonChristians and their religions. Nostra Aetate, one of the most influential council documents, says that the Church regards Muslims with “esteem.” It praises their dedication to prayer, fasting and charitable giving, and highlights their reverence and devotion to Jesus, who is considered a prophet, and Mary, his virgin mother. Nostra Aetate also calls Catholics to work with Muslims to establish peace and social justice, something Pope Francis and his predecessors have also emphasized. St. John Paul II identified four ways that Catholics can participate in dialogue with Muslims, the most important being everyday, lived dialogue. 2. HELP YOUR PARISH HOST A DINNER WITH THE LOCAL MUSLIM COMMUNITY
A meal is always a great starting point for dialogue. Parishes could coordinate
with the local mosque or interfaith group to host a meal with local Muslims. The gathering doesn’t necessarily need a topic for discussion; breaking bread to get to know one another is enough. But if Christians are looking for a theme to shape the event, they might consider a discussion on mercy. For Catholics, 2016 is the Year of Mercy and can be a great time to learn about the strong emphasis placed on God’s mercy in Islam. 3. ORGANIZE AN EDUCATIONAL EVENT ABOUT ISLAMOPHOBIA
Creating an atmosphere of hospitality and solidarity with Muslims is especially important today, given the rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric and attacks in many parts of the world. From 2014 to 2015, mosque vandalisms tripled in the U.S., and in many parts of Europe, anti-Muslim acts jumped to troubling heights. These statistics and the experiences of Muslims who have been targeted still don’t receive the attention they should. A parish could host an event with an expert and even invite members of the Muslim community to speak. Organizations like The Bridge Initiative, a Georgetown University research project on Islamophobia,
have resources and potential speakers that could be utilized for an event like this. 4. RESPOND TO ANTI-MUSLIM PREJUDICE
Now, more than ever, it is important for Christians to speak up against Islamophobia in their communities. As I know from experience, it’s often uncomfortable to address a friend’s stereotypical remarks or an inappropriate Facebook post. But we are called to stand in solidarity with all people, particularly the marginalized. If you’re faced with an antiMuslim chain email, respond to your friend in person, and invite her to join you at an interfaith event in your city. But don’t simply wait until you’re confronted with Islamophobia personally — start the work of bridge-building now. Let us take concrete actions during this Year of Mercy to do what Pope Francis asks of us: to “eliminate every form of closed-mindedness and disrespect, and drive out every form of violence and discrimination.” A Catholic voice on Muslim-Christian relations, Jordan Denari is a researcher with the Bridge Initiative, the Georgetown University research project on Islamophobia. LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016 11
dialogue
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Understanding not only what, but why Four different communication “cultures” that can help dialogue BY WILLIAM GOULD
T
ODAY
AMERICAN
SOCIETY
IS
characterized by deep divisions. We see this, for example, in our profoundly polarized politics, where our two major parties devote more time to demonizing each other than to working to find bi-partisan agreement on urgently important issues such as immigration. We see it in deep political and cultural divisions over issues like abortion, same-sex marriage and race-relations. We even see it within our religious bodies — think, for example of the bitter disagreements between progressive and conservative Catholics over the recent synod on the family. Of course, to some extent the pluralism we experience today is an inescapable consequence of living in a free society. This situation is not entirely new. As far back
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as 1960, Jesuit theologian John Courtney Murray lamented the breakdown of consensus in American public life. As Murray saw it, the challenge to unity posed by our pluralistic society was two-fold. The first challenge is intellectual and is rooted in the fact that we lack “a common universe of discourse,” so that the same words mean different things to different people and groups. In today’s context, think of the competing and incompatible understandings of the word marriage that we see at work in the same-sex marriage debate. As a result, what we frequently experience is not so much disagreement between different points of view as it is mutual incomprehension. The second challenge confronts us at a more emotional level. Our society is made
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up of different ethnic, religious, racial and regional groups, and economic classes with their distinct histories. These distinctive group experiences shape us and influence how we evaluate what those from other groups with different histories are saying to us. This can lead to an intensification of conflict owing not only to mutual misunderstanding at the cognitive level, but to feelings of suspicion, hostility and resentment stirred by memories of past wrongs. Think of the reaction in the black community when a young black man is shot by a white police officer: this reaction is based not only on the event itself taken in isolation, but against the background of a long historical memory of racist treatment. Why engage in dialogue? Recognizing the nature and gravity of the challenge we face, what can be done about it? What is needed, I believe, is for the various groups making up American society to seek to understand each other, both intellectually and affectively. And the way to achieve greater mutual understanding is for the different communities making up our society to engage in respectful dialogue with each other. Of course, people firmly committed to their views might wonder why they should engage in dialogue with those they regard not only as misguided, but as adversaries on issues they consider of vital importance. In response, I would suggest two reasons. First, by engaging in dialogue with those who disagree with us, we might actually learn something from them. After all, none of us has a monopoly on truth. Each of us has an angle of vision that can make its distinctive contribution to the public conversation. This is not to suggest that all points of views are equally true, but that we can
! sometimes gain insight from those who disagree with us. Moreover, by engaging in dialogue with those we oppose, we may come to understand better not only what they believe, but why they believe it. This gives us a fuller appreciation of them as fellow human beings made in the image of God, with whom we can perhaps empathize rather than viewing them as adversaries whom we seek to demonize. This is crucial because it points to the second reason such dialogical engagement is so important: if we make it clear to those who disagree with us that we truly wish to understand their position, then they are more likely to become open to learning about and appreciating ours. Four communication styles In reflecting on the best way to facilitate respectful dialogue, I am much influenced by Jesuit historian John O’Malley’s book Four Cultures of the West. O’Malley uses the term culture to refer to a “value system” marked by its own distinctive style of communication or expression, and the book examines four such cultures that have figured prominently in Western history. The first (Culture One) is prophetic culture, which, going back to the Old Testament prophets, takes the form of proclamation and protest against injustice. It often employs harsh and severe language and frequently frames issues in black and white terms, of good versus evil; it’s exemplified by figures such as Martin Luther and the Abolitionists. Culture Two is academic/professional culture, which is characterized by rigorous, reasoned argument and agonistic debate. It seeks to find the truth, but much emphasis is also placed on the refutation of one’s opponent. This is exemplified by Aristotle
and medieval Scholasticism and the Western legal tradition. Culture Three is humanistic culture, which is characterized by oratory, poetry, story and drama; it is exemplified by figures like Cicero, William Wilberforce and Lincoln, who used inspiring rhetoric to persuade people to work for the common good. Culture Four is artistic culture, such as dance or painting or music; it expresses itself not in words, but through symbolic performance. While all four cultures doubtless have something valuable to contribute to our current situation, I think Culture Three has the most to offer because it is best suited to meet the challenge of our divided and polarized age. This is particularly true for religious people trying to promote their social vison in a secular society. Stories to promote understanding Most religious contributions to public discussion today take the form of proclamation, often employing a strident and divisive rhetoric that is ill-suited to the situation we face. Proclamation and denunciation not only fail to convince those coming from a contrary perspective, they also reinforce the negative stereotype through which religious people are so often viewed today. Culture Two’s emphasis on rigorous argument is valuable and needed, but can also be frustrating and inconclusive when, as frequently happens, different groups, lacking a shared universe of discourse, talk past each other. In contrast, the rhetorical style of Culture Three can be effective because it approaches its listeners with respect, seeking to find common ground, to dissolve hardened stereotypes and to break down barriers to understanding. This opens up prospects for genuine dialogue, making it possible
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to enter into the minds and hearts of one’s interlocutors. Moreover, Culture Three does this not only through adopting an engaging rhetorical style, but also through the use of story, drama and film. Think, for example, of the positive effect of recent films like the powerful Of Gods and Men and the story of William Wilberforce’s campaign against the slave trade in Amazing Grace. Today, Pope Francis exemplifies perhaps more than anyone the approach I have in mind (of course, to the extent that he teaches through symbolic gestures like washing the feet of prisoners on Holy Thursday, he’s exemplifying a kind of wordless rhetoric of performance that has affinities with Culture Four). When Francis addressed the U.S. Congress during his American trip, he did not use denunciatory language. Instead, while making very clear his concerns about climate change, immigration and life issues, he sought to engage his listeners, to appeal to their humanity, even pointing to exemplary Americans — Lincoln, King, Day and Merton — whose examples we might all follow. Similarly, when addressing the U.S. hierarchy, he told them to avoid “harsh and divisive language” and adopt a more pastoral approach instead. More recently, it was announced that in October Francis will attend a joint Lutheran-Catholic service that is part of a series of events to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. In short, like Francis, we must strive to build bridges between and among groups; this is what fosters mutual understanding, which in turn creates a path for future unity. William Gould is the Assistant Dean for Juniors at Fordham College at Rose Hill, Bronx, New York, where he teaches courses in the American Catholic Studies Program and the Honors Program.
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dialogue
Neighbor to neighbor Solidarity, an ordinary act to which we are called BY RON RAMER communities of five Chicago suburbs stood together in solidarity in response to bomb threats directed at the Jewish Community Center that served those communities. That act of solidarity began with a chance encounter between the president of the JCC and a member of the local clergy. When asked by the clergyman how things were going, he said the JCC had been receiving bomb threats every 90 days for a year and a half. The JCC kept these threats under the radar in hopes of stopping them. Local clergy from all dominations cooperated in selecting a Sunday in which each would deliver a sermon to remind their congregations that a threat to their Jewish neighbors was a threat to the whole community, and that what happens to the Jews happens to all of us. A miracle occurred after that weekend of solidarity — the bomb threats stopped. That spontaneous act of solidarity came back to my mind when years later I was at a Chicago suburb interfaith Thanksgiving program and all faiths were represented — except Islam. No one from the Muslim community was on the program, and no one during the program made mention of reaching out to our Muslim brothers and sisters. I felt that solidarity with Muslim Americans in our community was especially called for at that moment, when fear of Muslims was at the top of national political debate, and I could not accept it when a few program members said, “We did invite them; they just did not show up.” As a neighbor reaching out to another neighbor, I made phone calls to find out how to make contact with the Muslim community and did not succeed. So I reached out to my Muslim friends whom I met through the Focolare and received one lead which led to another, then another, and then to a call with an emir of a neighboring community’s mosque. I reached him and simply said that I wanted to meet with him as a neighbor to a neighbor. I was not an emissary of any faith group or interfaith council. We met, along with three officers of his board.
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I spoke again to him two weeks later, and we agreed to get together again as friends. What do friends do? They meet over a cup of coffee to talk about matters important to them. Our next meeting will involve the two of us, who will each bring a friend who believes as we do. We are at the beginning of this journey together, and I am deeply aware that we are all in this together. I am keenly mindful that no religion is able to bring peace on its own. I am doing this as a neighbor to bring my neighbors together. I believe that reaching out is living a life of holiness, and I feel it is the job of ordinary people to achieve this holiness. I believe this is totally in keeping with Focolare founder Chiara Lubich’s commitment and life to motivate us to take this journey together — a journey of solidarity.
“What do friends do? They meet over a cup of coffee to talk about matters important to them.”
Ron Ramer a Jewish friend of the Focolare from Chicago.
An important talk. They agreed to get together as friends PHOTOOLES - DREAMSTIME
T
WENTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO THE FAITH
family
GEORGERUDY - FOTOLIA
Rich inner lives. Setting the minimum boundaries, parents can give their children possibilities to discover themselves
Rules for running away If parents overcome their fears, they teach their children what really matters BY AMY UELMEN
“I
AM RUNNING AWAY,” MY FIVE-YEARold brother announced to the family one Saturday morning. I cannot recall whether the cause was a fight with his older sisters or some form of rebellion against my parents, but I do remember thinking that the little guy had guts. My mom recognized that fact as well. So she said: “Okay, you can run away. But there are three rules: 1) You have to be dressed in clothes that are not pajamas; 2) You have to have had breakfast; and 3) You cannot cross the street.” He agreed, and he followed these rules to the letter, on this and other occasions. Once, not having had breakfast, he produced a coupon for a sandwich at the closest fast-food restaurant. “Nice try,” my mom explained, “but you would have to cross the street to get to the restaurant.” He dutifully ate a bowl of Cheerios before heading out the door. As soon as he rounded the bend, one of my parents would quietly get in the car to follow him from a distance, discreetly watching as he trudged up hilly cul-de-sacs, never crossing the street, looping around the block and back to our door.
These cool-down walks always did him a world of good. Then, and even more now, I admired my parents’ creativity in setting the minimum boundaries to assure the basic needs and safety of a five-year-old, while fully respecting his expressed desire for space to work out his emotions. He is today an accomplished musician, composer and deeply thoughtful and caring parent of two boys of his own. By today’s standards, we were what would now be termed “free range kids,” spending most afternoons and weekends playing outside, until the streetlights beckoned us home for dinner. Our play was largely unsupervised and unscheduled, gathering whatever neighbor kids were around for “capture the flag” or reenactments of imaginative scenes from the first Stars Wars movie or Charlie’s Angels. We skated down what, at the time, seemed to be steep hills with no knee pads or helmets. My brother frequently leapt off of retaining walls, acquiring the split chin that proved that he was not Superman. Our
weeks were sprinkled with music lessons, and summer was seasoned with organized softball, but we were not so tightly scheduled that practice times overtook play time. I do not think I am romanticizing the past to conclude that in recent years childhood has become more pressured and more complicated. As the literature on “helicopter parenting” recounts, stress and fear have crowded out what was once more simple. Some fears are grounded in concerns about safety, fueled by more immediate communication of scary news stories. Before cell phones, not knowing exactly what your kid was up to was normal. Now it may not only be the cause for panic, but also confusion and uncertainty about how and when to let go and leave space for independent decision-making. As Julie Lythcott-Haims recounts in her recent study of “the over-parenting trap,” How to Raise an Adult (2015), other fears may be grounded in a competitive race to success, in which the “check-list childhood” demands that all of a child’s time be spent on the studies and activities that make up the required list of accomplishments for school applications at the next level. Some parents are so concerned about the risk of failure that they are even doing their kids’ homework or projects for them. In response to discipline from teachers, some parents fight to shield their kids from correction or consequences, missing how these moments could lead to greater maturation and growth. At home this single-minded focus on school activities and homework and perhaps LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016 15
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the sheer exhaustion of an intense schedule can lead to the neglect of other tasks that could help kids not only to develop important life-skills, but also to develop a spirit of service to others. Of course, many of these practices are motivated by a desire to protect and assure the best for one’s kids — a secure place in the world. But against the backdrop of a fearful and competitive “arms race” for external markers of success, these approaches actually undercut and undermine their journey to becoming fully responsible adults. How might parents — and other adults accompanying the next generations — respond to these kinds of pressures? “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 Jn 4:18). How might love for our kids be more perfect — in the sense of being less infected by fear? For some, I wonder if my mom’s “rules for running away” might be a good place to start. Once the basics are assured, we may want to reflect on how to give kids some space to make contact with their inner life. The need to “run away” may actually express a desire to run toward something important — the interior quiet they need to recollect themselves, in order to work through how to respond to life’s ups and downs. What might help to heal the extreme pressure of the “checklist” of schoolwork and activities to be accomplished? One idea is to help them see all of their tasks — schoolwork, activities, household chores and care for their person, things or pets — through the lens of love. Why might I want to put my energy into studying? It may be a path that leads to insight and skills that can ultimately
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be put at the service of love. Sports, physical training, and yes, even play time, can be an expression of love for the body that God gave me to keep healthy, and also for the friends, teammates, and competitors with whom I am engaged. Love can also imbue those seemingly humble activities that help to sustain a household and a family. Doing the dishes, taking out the trash, doing laundry and cleaning the house are valuable not only because these are important life skills, but because they help to build a bridge of love with the people who are around me. And when it is not all about me, or about appearances and accomplishments, this opens the door to the deepest kind of peace and freedom to receive with an open heart the gifts God gave me and to share with open hands those gifts with others. One of the heroes from the new generation of Star Wars is clearly afraid of danger and conflict, to the point that he also runs away. He faces down his fears and limitations not because he seems to have a special caliber of interior strength, but because he chooses to love, to care deeply about another person, by putting her needs over his own fears. When kids are given the space to run toward that kind of love, they can touch the core of who they are and freely celebrate the gifts that they can bring to all of their relationships and projects. Amy Uelmen teaches graduate students and runs religious formation programs for young adults.
JEFFREY SWANSON - UNSPLASH
“We may want to reflect on how to give kids some space to make contact with their inner life.”
“I think I will be able to, in the end, rise above the clouds and climb the stairs to Heaven, and I will look down on my beautiful life.” — Yayoi Kusama (*1929), Japanese artist and writer
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profile
Faithful to that “yes” Thank you, Dori Zamboni
BY EMILIE CHRISTY
I
T’S
FASCINATING
HOW
DEEP
SPIRITUAL
insights can come through otherwise mundane situations. Such was the case with Focolare founder Chiara Lubich and Doriana “Dori” Zamboni, who passed away December 26 at the age of 89. Zamboni was present at the beginning of the movement, and played an essential role in Chiara Lubich’s great inspiration about the measure of love and the meaning of suffering: Jesus Forsaken. She cuaght an illness, an infection on her face by visiting the poor in her war-torn city. This led Chiara to contemplate Jesus on the cross, who felt abandoned by the Father and so cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46). When God became man and endured every imaginable suffering, he opened for everyone the pathway to salvation. This suffering transformed into love became a way to unity. This became a fundamental point of the spirituality of unity, a method and a lifestyle. 18
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Born in Trent, Italy, the second daughter examination … If you do not study, you are in a closely knit family, Zamboni was a not in the will of God, and if you do not do vivacious child who delighted in childish the will of God, you don’t love God.’ “That was a real blow because I had just pranks. As soon as she learned to read, books became her great passion. At 17, Zamboni discovered that God is love, a great truth, and that all the beautiful things was invited by a young on earth were created as a Capuchin priest to meet “Loving means from God the Father,” a teacher who belonged staying between gift Zamboni recalled. “I to the Third Order of St. these ongoing wanted to respond with Francis. She learned from my love … So I realized “Ms. Lubich” that God is realities of that for me to love God love, the love she had been going outside of meant studying Latin.” looking for. During the lessons Since she had fallen ourselves and Chiara explained differbehind in her studies, of entering into ent Gospel phrases, and Chiara offered to give her the divine.” this was new and often private lessons. “Chiara a revelation to her. In had asked me to do a translation, and when she handed back my order to put them into practice, she went work, there was more red ink than black! On to Mass in the morning and started visitanother page Chiara had written: ‘As you can ing the poor. One experience after another see, if you don’t commit yourself to study, I filled her life with a joy that she had never can’t promise that you will be able to take the known before.
Fulfilled life. Dori Zamboni (third from left), here with Chiara Lubich (second) and two other friends, tried to love God by doing his will
CSC AUDIOVISIVI – ARCHIVIO (3)
Renewing society. From 1976–2002, Zamboni helped the Volunteers of God to step into “public life”
It was during one of these visits that she got the infection on her face and was not able to go out into the cold, so a priest would come to bring her communion. During his visit, while Chiara was present, he asked her if she knew the moment when Jesus suffered the most. “I think it was when he cried out, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Mt 27:46)” he told the two. When the priest left, Chiara said, “If Jesus’ greatest suffering was the abandonment by the Father, let us choose him as our ideal, and let’s follow him like that.” “At that moment, the poor sores on my face, which seemed but shadows of his pain, gave me joy because they made me a bit like him, crying out to the Father,” Zamboni remembered. In this yes to Jesus who suffered, the pain was not important anymore, it was important to continue to love like Jesus, responding, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Lk 23:46).
She would work for Focolare communities in various European nations: France, Belgium, Great Britain and Scandinavia. She visited the U.S. community several times. From 1976 until 2002, Chiara entrusted her with looking after the branch of the Volunteers of God — laypeople at the service of humanity, who bring the spirituality of unity into society today. After a large-scale Focolare event in 1983, when the branch of the Volunteers as she described it “came into public life,” she said: “Certainly it showed that a new world is possible, that starting from little things, great successes can come about, in the sense of renewing environments in society … places that have within them a strength, a light and an enthusiasm that the spirituality of unity can give. It is a spirituality that changes people from within. Because the volunteers have changed from within, they can also influence the world around them with new actions and new ideas that bring new life, a new way of thinking, working or studying. It brings something new into the world which those who see it from the outside don’t necessarily understand, but they realize it is something good and necessary, something the world is waiting for.” Zamboni also played a significant role in developing Focolare publications, specifically Città Nuova, the Italian version of Living City. “Dori was open to what was new, to different cultural and social dynamics,” says Paolo Loriga, a former editor of the magazine. “She was interested in hearing discordant voices. She led us to see the affairs of the times and those of
the past from a much higher standpoint ... She asked us to discern the signs of the times and among those, the ones that showed the way forward toward a united world, however difficult it might be.” Toward the end of her life, asking herself if she had been faithful to her call from God, she said: “Now, I cannot say whether I have been faithful over all these years to my first complete ‘yes’ to Jesus … What always came to mind was the song which says: ‘I will never leave you because I love you’ and this helped me to overcome many difficult moments in our life: in the Focolare, outside, in health issues and in all these things … “I remember that years ago I was in the hospital, and when I came out Chiara said to me, ‘I think you have become a better person!’ I hope this has happened now too … I thought I knew what patience was, but I have realized instead that it is something you have to learn all the time. Recently due to circumstances, I have to do what the doctors want and what my body wants. Not being able to do what I want even in very little things, saying ‘I’ll do the will of God’ is a real effort at times ... “Indeed, it gives me the impression that loving is doing the will of God because Jesus says so, but it is like a pendulum which says, ‘I would like to do this; no, I must do the will of God’… “Loving means staying between these ongoing realities of going outside of ourselves and of entering into the divine. And most likely it is the Holy Spirit who gives the energy to the pendulum to keep on moving.” LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016 19
spirituality of unity
Unity: gift, commitment, goal Focolare’s president refreshes this core point of the spirituality of communion — Part 3
BY MARIA VOCE
I
WOULD LIKE TO QUOTE PART OF A TALK
given by Pope Paul VI. He refers to Jesus’ New Commandment and explains that it “transforms and sublimates friendship into fraternal love, in so far as it commits us to love one another as he himself loved us.” The pope emphasized how Jesus reached the point of proposing this to his Apostles, “wanting them to be in full communion, in other words, in unity of life.” This is clear in Jesus’ prayer to the Father: “That they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you” (Jn 17:21–22) … We can see this in a document from the Second Vatican Council, in which the Council Fathers say: “… the Lord Jesus, when he prayed to the Father, ‘that they all may be one … as we are one’ opened up vistas closed to human reason, for he implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine persons, and the unity of God’s children in truth and charity” (Gaudium et Spes, 24). It says, “vistas closed to human reason,” but we could say, they are “accessible” to us when we allow God to live in our midst, because they are accessible to Jesus who lives among us and not to our own capabilities. It is the life of the Trinity that can be reflected on earth. And this is the model we have to tend toward; this is the path we should follow today, too, so as to be authentic Christians, to bring the life of heaven on earth. Following this path, we can bring into the world a a way to reach holiness together, for which unity is the training ground, because in unity we train ourselves to live charity to the point of 20
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laying down our lives for one another, and so to become saints together … Therefore unity is a gift, it is a commitment, but it is also a goal. The third dimension is unity as a goal. This unity enables us to evangelize in our own particular way. Because what does Scripture say? It says, “That they may all be one … so that the world may believe.” Unity is not an end in itself. We must be one so that the world may believe. Our unity is directed toward the world, toward others. Let’s look now at the world we live in. How can we evangelize this world? How can we help? How can we solve the dramatic problems in the world today? The first thing we have to do is to be convinced of the treasure that the charism of unity represents and that we can bring the treasure of unity wherever we are, because it does not depend on us. We received it as a charism: it is a grace and a gift of God. Therefore this treasure of unity, which God has given to us, can be given to others. In 1984, Focolare founder Chiara Lubich wrote, “Before all else, God wants from us that we bring to life living cells everywhere, with Christ in our midst; cells that are ever more ardent, ever more numerous. God wants us to enkindle ever bigger fires in families, offices, factories, schools, parishes and convents.” Many other examples come to mind: in refugee camps, to bring the fire there … in hospitals for those wounded in war; in the lines of those looking for bread or for work but not finding it; in a strike; in the ports where those rescued from the seas arrive
DAVID BOOZER - PEXELS
Unity is not an end in itself. We must be one so that the world may believe.
(the ones who actually make it, not counting those who die on the way). We should “light fires” in all these places. We are called to light fires “to feed the blaze of the love of God in the Church and in society. Are we not called focolarini, (bearers of fire) and the places where we live focolares (where the fire burns)?” We are called to light fires and to do it with joy. Why? Because unity is the source of joy. Very often we forget that the world needs a smile, that the world needs joy. And we’ve got it because Jesus said, “that they may be one so that the world may believe” and “that they may have the fullness of my joy.” So obviously, if we have unity, we have joy, the fullness of joy. We must distribute this joy generously, and do the work of lighting fires with the joy of those who know they are bearers of joy. How can we do this? Through our dialogues: within the Catholic Church, and certainly for those Christians of other denominations within their own churches; then dialogue among all Christians, so as to reach full communion; then with people of other religions, so as to live the Golden Rule together; and with all people of goodwill, so as to help build peace and universal brotherhood; and dialogue with the various fields of culture, so as to influence this world’s ideas with principles that are valid for all and that everyone wants. But ours is never an abstract dialogue. It is always a dialogue with people, with brothers and sisters we love … the dialogue we will have with each person so as to reach that person, and then the next person and then the next, and the next, so we will reach dialogue “with everyone.” Then, we will reach universal brotherhood and fulfill our charism of unity … By doing this we will live out the impetus that Pope Francis is giving us, the mercy that we can have toward all, because we are embracing the anguish of humanity with a love that is made of mercy. I made a list so that we can remember the points.
First: what is unity? It is a gift of God. Second: our commitment to obtain this gift means to offer ourselves once again to God as instruments. To see everyone as a candidate for unity, and not just the poor. Therefore, to place unity before any particular activity. To live this in every present moment with the neighbors we have beside us, not waiting to live it when we have lots of people around, and living it with the measure of the “as” that is explained by Jesus Forsaken, who gives us the measure and shows us the way [he died on the cross and felt abandoned by his Father out of love for us]. This is our commitment. What should we look to as our goal? The whole of humanity. The goal is to be “one” so that the world may believe. Thus the goal is humanity made one, humankind in the fulfilled plan of God, which is universal brotherhood. How can we get there? By “lighting fires of love,” forming living cells everywhere. We have seen that it is possible everywhere, with joy, even in the most tragic situations, but always with openness to dialogue with every neighbor, with every brother or sister. This is our charism, and this is what we want to rediscover this year. If we set out to live it — and I am sure we will all try to live it together — with this kind of energy, a revolution can happen, because we can offer the world this new presence of God, which is a presence of Jesus among us, who will certainly find the solution and the answers to the anguish of humanity today. Last installment of a talk given in Montet, Switzerland, on August 16, 2015 to a primarily Catholic audience.
Called to be community This text can supplement the publication’s 7th point. See livingcitymagazine.com/ spirituality_program
Called to light fires of love. Unity is the source of joy — and very often we forget that the world needs a smile LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016 21
scripture into life God’s presence. Jesus invites us to believe that he, right now, is conquering evil and is establishing a new world
Each month we offer a passage from Scripture to guide and inspire our daily living. This commentary, which echoes the thoughts of Focolare founder Chiara Lubich and her spirituality of unity, is translated into 96 different languages and reaches several million people worldwide through the media.
See great things “The kingdom of God has come to you.” (Lk 11:20) BY FR. FABIO CIARDI, OMI
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Fr. Fabio Ciardi, OMI, a theologian and close collaborator of Chiara Lubich, heads a group of scripture experts that has been entrusted with the task of writing the Word of Life commentary. This commentary is written for a mainly Christian audience and is also available online ( l i v i n g c i t y m ag a z i n e. c o m ) and in leaflet format.
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LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016
HIS IS WHAT THE JEWS OF THE TIME OF
Jesus were waiting for: the arrival of God’s kingdom. As soon as he began going around the villages and towns, Jesus started to proclaim: “The kingdom of God has come near to you” (Lk 10:9). Then immediately after that: “The kingdom of God has come to you”; “the kingdom of God is among you” (Lk 17:21). In the person of Jesus, God’s very being had come into the midst of God’s people and, decisively and firmly, had taken back control of history so as to lead it to its goal. Jesus’ miracles were a sign of this. In the Gospel passage this Word of Life comes from, Jesus had just healed a man who was mute, freeing him from the devil that held him prisoner. It was a demonstration that he had come to conquer evil, every evil, and finally establish the kingdom of God. This term “the kingdom of God” was the Jewish people’s way of saying that God acted for the sake of Israel, freeing the people from every form of slavery and evil, guiding them to justice and peace, flooding them with joy and good things. This was the act of that God whom Jesus revealed as “Father” — merciful, loving and full of compassion, aware of the needs and sufferings of each of his children.
We too need to hear Jesus’ proclamation: “The kingdom of God has come to you.” Looking around us we often have the impression that the world is dominated by evil, that the violent and the corrupt have the upper hand. At times we feel ourselves at the mercy of hostile forces, of dangerous events that are stronger than we are. We feel impotent in the face of wars and environmental calamities, of massacres and climate change, of migration, and of financial and economic crises. Yet here is where Jesus’ proclamation belongs. It invites us to believe that he, right now, is conquering evil and is establishing a new world. In the month of March, 25 years ago, speaking to thousands of young people gathered in Rome, Chiara Lubich entrusted them with her dream: “It is possible to make the world a better place … almost a single family, as if belonging to just one country,” she said. Then, as now, this looked like a utopia. For the dream to become reality, however, she invited them to live mutual love, in the certainty that acting like this they would have “Christ among you, Christ himself, the Almighty, and from him you can hope for all things.” Yes, it is he who is the kingdom of God.
March 2016
Just another daily chore? When cooking and doing laundry builds love among us
JARED ERONDU - PEXELS
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And so, what do we do? Act in such a way, Chiara went on to say, as to always have him in our midst: “He himself will work with you in your countries because he will, in a certain way, come again into the world wherever you meet, because you will make him present through your mutual love, through your unity. “And he will enlighten you about all that is to be done. He will guide you; he will sustain you; he will be your strength, your fervor, your joy. “Because of him, the world around you will be converted to living in harmony; every division will be healed … “Love, therefore, love among you and love sown in many corners of the earth among individuals, among groups, among nations; love sown by every means possible so that the invasion of love, of which we have spoken at times in the past, may become a reality, and so that, also through your contribution, the civilization of love we all await may begin to take on solid form. “You have been called to this, and you will see great things” (Essential Writings, 2007, p. 366).
Following are experiences some of our readers shared about their effort to put the monthly sentence into practice.
Read more:
* Lubich, Chiara. The Pearl of the Gospel: Short Reflections on Reciprocal Love. New City Press: Hyde Park, New York, 2013. * Lubich, Chiara. “Thoughts: The inner Master,” Essential Writings. New City Press: Hyde Park, New York, 2007, p. 146. * Lubich, Chiara. “Mutual love,” The Art of Loving. New City Press: Hyde Park, New York, 2010, pg. 99-118.
April 2016
“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40).
Y ADULT CHILDREN HAD COME FOR AN
unannounced visit, which I knew would be long because two of them had brought their dogs, and they immediately asked about dinner. I jumped, like most mothers do, into that servant role. Concerned they wouldn’t survive another minute without food, I hopped into the car and went to the store, by myself. When I got home, I unloaded the groceries and began to cook, by myself. My children were on their smartphones or watching TV, and my husband was playing his guitar. That left me in the kitchen, alone, doing an act of love requiring energy I didn’t have. But was I concretely loving my neighbors? Not really, because rather than my actions being occupied for Jesus, I was preoccupied judging my family, expecting gratitude or help from them in return, and silently I became agitated. When we finished dinner they all left, and I was sad. As I said my prayers that evening, I knew I hadn’t loved in a way to have Jesus among us. My suffering wasn’t united to his. It came to me that a home is not just a structure: it is a place to belong, to be loved and to be wanted. On the surface my children probably had a nice day, but unlike Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, they hadn’t left filled with the Holy Spirit, nor did their hearts jump for joy because they met Jesus. I recalled that the way to get back the guidance of the Holy Spirit was to do a pure act of love, without expectation. Before my guests arrived I had been doing laundry, so I decided to go and fold the load of clothes still in the dryer. I asked myself, “is this simple task for love of Jesus, or am I treating my actions as a daily chore?” So I began to fold the clothes (mostly my husband’s) with much care, repeating the words “for you Jesus.” I no longer needed affirmation to feel good; my joy came from God. When I got to his black socks at the bottom of the basket, I matched them and turned them right side out, something I never take time to do. Then I put the remaining load into the dryer. When I came home from work the next day, that load of clothes (mostly mine) was neatly folded on the kitchen table. — Martha Currie, Texas LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016 23
scripture into life
Staying positive MONKEY BUSINESS IMAGES - DREAMSTIME
How a Parkinson’s diagnosis “woke me up” and focused me on the present moment
Welcoming new members. The support group helped her to step outside of herself
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I
N 2010 I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH equal. Two of the new members were Parkinson’s disease. In a way, this was men, and it came to mind that love might a relief, because I had been suffering from mean getting to know their wives and unexplained symptoms for a few years. building friendships. Right away I went online to find a One was very open and friendly, but support group, and I soon attended my the other was quieter. I just tried to persist, first meeting. Although no one had been and one day when I gave her husband a particularly welcoming, I kept attending, lift home, when she opened the door and because I wanted to learn all I could about saw me her face lit up. One of these girls Parkinson’s. Not long after there was the subsequently went ahead with another annual general meeting, and they needed group member’s wife to start a caretaker’s people to join the preparation committee. group, which has also been extremely So I offered and was accepted, not successful. I felt it was a confirmation that really knowing much of what would love had gone out even further. be expected. Having a new project was We are a small organization, and good, because I didn’t have time to think getting new members is exciting. At one of myself and dwell on the ramifications meeting I arrived and heard that two new of having a chronic illness. couples had come. Then I felt a little However, one thing that really helped annoyed, because no one seemed to be me and gave me peace was to think about attending to them. Remembering the lack Chiara Luce Badano, a servant of God, of welcome I had felt, I tried to be extra who while sick with bone friendly, getting membercancer still came to her ship forms and pencils for window to wave to her “Sometimes them, finding the treasurer friends. Even if one day I I feel that we to collect dues, etc. Then I am in a wheelchair or can’t made sure to say goodbye speak properly, I could only need to after the meeting. still smile. Even worse, try to love to Result: a new friendif one day I can’t use my ship, and one of the ladies lips, I will still smile with start a river later shared with me that at my eyes. It has focused me of love.” another meeting I couldn’t more on living the present attend, she saw a new moments I still have with person and tried to welcome determination and not putting things off. them as I had welcomed her! She is now That first year the president of the on our committee, and this year she and I support group was very efficient and did started a meeting for women with Parkinmost things herself, although she was son’s, which has been a very positive expegrateful for my help as public officer. I rience. So sometimes I feel that we only learned about government rules for chari- need to try to love to start a river of love. table organizations and dealt with local In a strange way, having a chronic offices to make sure our forms were all illness has woken me up, and I’ve done signed properly. Trying to love in each more things that I might not have done situation helped me carry out this task, otherwise, such as being on the committee and the others responded with their help and getting involved in other things, such as and were pleasant. dancing and painting and exercise classes In my second year we had a new along with my social activities. president and several new members, and — Margaret Healy, Australia the leadership style became much more
teens
children
Fixing the division I felt that I had to keep our friendship BY CHIARA TIBBITT, 15 F YOU ARE EVER HESITATING TO TAKE THE
step of fixing a friendship or helping others reconnect, just do it. The feeling you receive after becoming closer with someone or helping someone else build a friendship is more rewarding than anything else. All girls and boys go through tough friendships or situations, you’re not alone. I have many experiences within friendships that are all kind of the same. As long as you want to live the Gospel, means, love of neighbor, you will do the right thing. Here is my experience. I have a very large friend group called “CASTGADE.” Each letter in the word is the first letter of someone’s name in my friend group. So at first we were all friends, but slowly we started to separate from each other. Some of the girls went out to dinner for one friend’s birthday, without the rest of us. These girls later named themselves “STAG” — same concept. When I and the other three girls heard about this, we were really upset. So being teenage girls, our first thought was to
hang out without them. But trying to love everyone, I said we shouldn’t because it would cause more confrontation between these two groups of friends. So we just gave the group “STAG” some distance so we could cool down. After about two weeks, I confronted these four girls about the whole situation, and of course they denied it and said they didn’t mean anything by it. So I took this and just ignored it because I knew they were lying. My other friends that weren’t invited to the birthday dinner were still really upset, but I had still stayed close with the girls who were invited. I felt again that I had to try to fix the relationships. So that week I confronted the girls who were starting to separate, and I said we should all hang out — all of us. So we did and had a really great time. And now we all joke about “STAG” and call each other out when we start to distance ourselves from each other. All you really have to do is be willing to look at people with new eyes and start over again.
COURTESY OF EMILY WHITE
I
Taking the opportunity to love. Caroline has many ideas to be the first to love
So many ways to love Children across the country and around the world learn the Gospel-based Art of Loving through the Cube of Love program. They put it into practice in the family and with friends. Here are a few ways that Caroline White, 7, of Dallas has tried to “be the first to love” at home.
GODFER - DREAMSTIME
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Starting over. Going beyond hurt feelings can help maintain a friendship
Y LITTLE BROTHER THREW A FIT BECAUSE HE
didn’t want to eat his cereal for breakfast. I had a leftover donut from my dessert the night before, so I gave him my donut, and I ate his cereal. Another day, my dad left for work, and my mom was getting ready, so I made breakfast for my little brother and myself. One morning, my dad needed to wake up at 5am to go help load a truck at the food pantry, and he hit the snooze button on his alarm, so I went to wake him up so we wouldn’t be late, since I also help at the food pantry. Once my brother and I were building animals with Lego pieces, and my brother was making a dinosaur that needed a lot of pieces, so I gave him pieces from my animal so he could finish his dinosaur. LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016 25
saints
Beyond the snakes and shamrock Legends and the remarkable truth about St. Patrick
BY SUSAN GATELY
I
LIVE IN IRELAND, AND I USED TO
be involved in Confirmation retreats. Often a boy would take the name “Patrick” as a Confirmation name. “What do you know about St. Patrick?” I’d ask. “He got rid of the snakes from Ireland,” was the invariable reply. Legends abound about Ireland’s national saint, whose feast we celebrate on March 17. When his life story was first written in the seventh century by Muirchú, saints were treated as local heroic figures, and each region had its own, says Salvador Ryan, professor of ecclesiastical history at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Ireland. Those recounting the lives of saints were propagandists for the Catholic Church in an area. “There was a thin dividing line between religion and magic,” Ryan explains. “And the emphasis was on the saint as a wonder worker.” As a result, three important facts became lodged in the Irish psyche about St. Patrick: he brought Christianity to Ireland; he banished the snakes; and he explained the Trinity by means of a shamrock. Alas, these are all wrong. “In those three cases, the first one is actually false and the other
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two are late legends,” Ryan says as we sit together in one of the decorous parlors in the Pontifical College Maynooth. In 431 the pope sent a figure called Palladius to the Irish people, “believing in Christ.” So when Patrick arrived in Ireland two years later, there were already some Christians. The story of the snakes first appears in the 12th century book The Life of Patrick by Jocelin of Furness. “It is maybe symbolic of banishing evil, paganism, from Ireland,” says Ryan. And then there’s the shamrock. The first written evidence of the shamrock comes in the 17th century. The first image of Patrick holding a shamrock is on a half-penny coin minted in Dublin in 1674. But St. Patrick was not a legend. He was a real man and, uniquely for the time, he wrote his own life story. In fact, he is the only Roman citizen we know from the fifth century who was taken into slavery in a barbarian land among non-Roman peoples and who lived to tell the tale and wrote about it. Patrick wrote two documents: his Confessio (Confession), which runs to around 12 typewritten pages, and the Letter to
the soldiers of Coroticus. One is a declaration of faith, the other a severe reprimand to soldiers who have been conducting raids on Patrick’s newly baptized Christians. Confessio, written in Latin, arose from a period of crisis. “It seems that certain allegations have been made by some people in the Church in Britain against Patrick,” explains Ryan. “They claim he came to Ireland for his own financial gain. Patrick writes his confession as a defense, saying he has never taken money for the administration of baptism or from kings,” he said. St. Patrick told his own story. He was from Roman Britain. His father was a deacon, his grandfather a priest. His family was quite well to do with many servants. At the age of 16, he was kidnapped and brought to Ireland. Patrick wrote: “After I arrived in Ireland, I tended sheep every day, and I prayed frequently during the day. More and more the love of God increased, as did my sense of awe before God. Faith grew, and my spirit was moved, so that in one day I would pray up to one hundred times, and at night perhaps the same. I even remained in the woods and on the mountain, and
An iconic saint. St. Patrick did not cast away the snakes and most probably did not explain the Trinity with the shamrock. But he was ready to leave everything behind and endure many hardships for new members of the Christian community
SEEINGIMAGES - DREAMSTIME
“What comes through most powerfully is his humanity and his deep faith and humility.”
I would rise to pray before dawn in snow and ice and rain. I never felt the worse for it, and I never felt lazy — as I realize now, the spirit was burning in me at that time” (Confessio 16). Patrick escaped, but back in England, in a dream, a figure called Victor came with letters that said, “This is the voice of the Irish asking you to walk among us once again.” Against his family’s wishes, Patrick returned to Ireland. “It is almost a self-imposed exile. He tells us of the pain of emigration, the pain of being an alien in a strange land away from his family,” says Ryan. Patrick refers to the conversion of hundreds of people. While there is no tradition of martyrdom in Ireland, it is clear that Patrick suffered a lot. He was protective of the converts and ready to lay down his life for them. “What comes through most powerfully is his humanity and his deep faith and humility. He tells us that he was a stone lying in deep mire, but that God picked him up, raised him up, and sat him on top of the wall,” the scholar explains. Looking at the writings of St. Patrick rather than the legends,
one can see a man aware of his weakness. For instance he tells of a sin he committed at 16. He had confessed it, had done penance for it, and in confidence, told a friend. His friend broke the confidence and told everyone. “Sometimes that happens to us, too. So he’s very much a flesh and blood saint,” confirms Ryan. St. Patrick died towards the end of the 5th century. Two centuries later, some biographies of the saint were written, sponsored by the Church of Armagh, presenting him as a “wonder-working” saint, and so the legends began. But for Ryan, the Patrick of the Confessio is “more impressive” than his legends, this saint who wrote over 1,500 years ago: “For this reason, may God not let it come about that I would suffer the loss of his people, who have become his in the furthermost parts of the earth. I pray that God give me perseverance and that he grant me to bear faithful witness to him right up to my passing from this life, for the sake of my God” (Confessio 58).
LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016 27
VEGANBAKING.NET
food & community
A huge hit “Award-winning” truffles made by the robotics team BY MARIE ALOIA WITH ANISH PATEL, CAPTAIN OF TEAM 3774 UR HIGH SCHOOL WAS HOSTING
a state-wide robotics competition, where robotics teams from all over the U.S. come together to test the science, engineering and technology behind the robots they made, to see if they can outcompete the robots of other teams in specific tasks. By tradition, the hosting team provides refreshments for visitors as a team fundraiser. So with the two teams I coach at our school, we put together our usual menu of drinks, snacks and lunch items, based on what sold well in previous years. Home-baked goods are always a crowd-pleaser, so we shared some ideas: maybe brownies or chocolate-chip cookies. Then we got the idea for the truffles. One of the team captains had found a recipe for homemade Oreo truffles and had brought some to school for one of his classes. They were a huge hit. For our event, he had even done the math to find the cost of a single truffle so we could set an appropriate price. All that remained was a plan to make them. The Friday before our event was an in-service training for teachers, so the students did not have school. But both teams decided to come to school anyway to work in my classroom on their robots and the truffles. As the administration had asked them to wait until I was available after training, they were there waiting promptly at 1pm to get started. Until 8pm, my science classroom was a fury of activity: robots being tested and fixed, documentation and team
preparation, and a truffle-making assembly line. While the truffles don’t require baking, the chocolate coating had to be melted. Since my classroom only has a laboratory hot plate, I loaned the students a special pot I use for melting chocolate. At the end of the day they bagged about 200 truffles for sale. Of course, a portion of the last batch was reserved for “quality control,” to put it in proper engineering jargon, to be sampled by all the workers. Everyone approved. On the day of the state meet, the truffles sold slowly at first. Then the adults discovered them and sales suddenly accelerated! In the afternoon, one customer bought the last 20 and shared them with all the volunteers at the meet, including the school janitors and even the judges, who had heard about the truffles earlier that morning when the team had been interviewed and told the story of how they worked together to make this huge batch. In this robotics program, teams are judged on their technical ability as well as their ability to work well as a team. Some of those awards even outrank technical awards. To the students’ surprise, their team won the “Motivate” award, given to the team “that clearly demonstrates what it means to be a team.” The judges made particular note of the story of the truffle-making project in determining their choice. Among the team members this recipe is now called “the award winning truffles.” Enjoy!
Send us your stories and recipes to
[email protected].
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LIVING CITY, MARCH 2016
Oreo Truffles (makes about 40) Ingredients: • • •
One 14-oz bag regular Oreo cookies One 8-oz package cream cheese (low fat may be used, but not fat-free) Two 4-oz bars of semi-sweet baking chocolate
Directions: Crush the cookies down to a fine crumble, using a food processor or by pounding them in a plastic Ziploc bag. Reserve a few tablespoons of the crumbs to sprinkle on the outside of the finished truffles. Blend the cream cheese into the cookie crumbs to form a kind of dough. Roll the cookie dough into teaspoon-sized balls, and lay them on a tray covered with waxed paper or parchment.
Refrigerate them at least 30 minutes. In the meantime, melt the baking chocolate under a low heat or in a double boiler, stirring often. Drop truffles one at a time into the melted chocolate and retrieve with two forks, letting excess chocolate drip back into the bowl. Then return the truffle to the tray and sprinkle with cookie crumbs. Keep truffles refrigerated until use.
The award-winning robotics team 3774
COURTESY OF MARIE ALOIA
O
relax
STONE’S THROW BY VITTORIO SEDINI LOOK WHO’S GONE DIGITAL.
WHAT?! YOU NEED TO TURN THE PAGE.
SURE THERE ARE! LOOK, JUST DO THIS.
YES, BUT… IT’S THE FIFTH TIME I’VE READ PAGE 1!
TURN WHAT? THERE AREN’T ANY PAGES.
WOW. EVEN THE NEWBIES CAN TEACH SOMETHING TO AN OLD STONE LIKE ME.
Word search by Stanislao
Find the words in the grid taken from Beyond the snakes and shamrock on page 26. When you are finished, the unused letters will spell out a hidden message. Pick them out from left to right, top line to bottom line. Words can go horizontally, vertically and diagonally in all eight directions. S N M A Y N O O T H G E
A T A F E A S T F I W R
N M U I R C H U O A U E
N O I T A M R I F N O C
H S I E S N E F E D I I
R C I G E A H E P F R L
O E R S I C I A I A E O
M L S U I L T N C I L H
Solution for February’s Word Search FEBRUARY’S HIDDEN MESSAGE: COMPLETELY SURRENDERED TO THE WILL OF GOD
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essay
Even being “anti” can open up dialogue Not speaking up is the privilege of those who have never suffered from racism Beyond appearances. Not adding to mean-spirited discussions is not enough; we can speak up in order to influence negative opinions
BY SARAH MUNDELL
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MARC BRÜNEKE - FLICKR
N
OT LONG AGO A VIDEO FROM THE
Guardian explained the difference between being “non-racist” and “anti-racist.” It kind of startled me back to consciousness. In it Jamaican novelist Marlon James listed a few scenarios I had found myself in at different moments of my life: “I don’t sing that n-word”; “I’m not burning any crosses”; “I didn’t vote for that guy.” Sure, avoiding those things doesn’t make the problem of racism worse. But what am I actually doing to stop it? “Your going to bed with a clear conscious is not going to stop college students from getting assaulted,” James said. He invited the listener to take a more active stance, to speak up and say, we are against this, “that what hurts one of us hurts all of us.” That’s where we have to move from “non” to “anti,” he said. As someone committed to dialogue and to bringing the human family together, I am not at all in favor of racism. But I’m also not generally a person who likes to be “anti,” because I feel that “anti” often builds up walls instead of creating understanding and open discussion. Perhaps it’s because we sometimes argue against each other instead of about the positions we hold. Just because one sides’ voice gets louder does not necessarily mean a consensus has been reached. But that video helped me see how being “anti” can also be positive for dialogue. If being “anti” means actively doing something to be part of the solution that respects everyone, I’m in. What I am against, though, are racist attitudes and behaviors, not the person who has them. That person is still a brother or sister of mine, even if in the wrong. We were enjoying some pizza together in a youth workshop when the conversation took an unexpected turn. One participant shared his dismay at being stuck on the train near “some black guy,” and it made his whole ride horrible. “Because he’s black?” I asked. “But he was drunk and smelled funny, and he was saying things that didn’t make sense. I can’t stand them!”
I was shocked. He had assumed that the man was a drug addict or a gangster simply because the color of his skin and the hoodie he was wearing. A nice non-racist — perhaps myself a decade earlier — might have been content in not adding to the mean-spirited discussion. But in the last few years I’ve learned that being quiet is the privilege of those who have never suffered from racism, who don’t realize it is part of some people’s experience every single day. So as a white woman who does believe that “what hurts one of us hurts us all,” for me being quiet is no longer enough. I had to say something because, that man on the train, his struggle is my struggle. He is a child of God just like me. And that boy’s struggle, to face those who are different, was also my struggle, and I believed in the goodness of his heart. So I continued my questions. “How do you know he was drunk and not just a little upset?” “He just was.” “And what does that have to do with him being black? It could have been a white guy
who was drunk, if that was the case at all. Would that have bothered you? Would you have had more compassion? What if he had just lost his job and was grieving, or what if his dad just died?” He responded: “Why do they have to be on the train? I hate riding on the train because they are there.” So he was uncomfortable. “Are there any black kids at your school?” No. “So you don’t know yet what things they might know that you’d love to learn! Do you really think that every black person you might meet on the train is a drunk or on drugs or part of a gang? Come on, now!” He grinned sheepishly. “Maybe he works on Wall Street, or maybe he has the same hobby as you. Would you want to miss an opportunity to learn something from someone just because you were stopped by the color of their skin?” Attentive silence. That was one time where I was able to speak up in a loving way. But there have been other missed opportunities where I have stayed silent, or didn’t find the right words and further hurt my neighbor instead of healing that wound. I’ll keep trying.
T
oday more than ever, we are becoming global citizens. Very often we roam from one state or country to another, or travel for work or family. Opportunities for dialogue are limitless! So we need encouragement in bringing the lifestyle of dialogue, whether we are at home or on the road. The digital edition of Living City, which you can read on all your devices, offers a dynamic resource for people on the go. Now, for a limited time, the access is even easier: just send us your email, and if you are already a subscriber for print or digital, you will get a link in your email inbox.
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