A Theology of Liberation and the New Creation

The concept of a biblical approach to addressing poverty has always challenged me, especially since learning of St. Francis of Assisi’s commitment to voluntary poverty when I was a teenager.  What should be my role, as a person of privilege, in helping to bring justice and equity to the poor?  Several years ago, inspired by Francis of Assisi and the modern day Shane Claiborne, I could think of no better way to figure this out than by moving to the Bronx and living in community with others wanting to figure this out too. 

Shortly after moving to the Bronx, my roommates and I were blessed with the opportunity to get to know two people who moved into the apartment above us whose life and work was steeped in the practice and culture of liberation theology.  I was intrigued by the many stories they told of oppressed peoples in Central and South America, and even here in the United States, rising up and confronting the established powers with the power of the Gospel.  The power of the Gospel in the hands of the poor and oppressed seemed like something St. Francis of Assisi would have rejoiced at seeing.

While I do not profess to be an expert in liberation theology or the history of the Latin American church, I have learned from Joseph Nangle OFM in his book Engaged Spirituality that the liberation theology movement led to a decision made at the 1968 Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Medellín, Colombia, to prioritize the poor over the privileges of the established order. The impact of this decision by the church hierarchy was not inconsequential: more and more people sought to join this movement which was improving the authenticity of the church, now that the church was authentically serving the New Creation. And over the next ten years, a thousand people were killed for working to implement this vision, by those who preferred the status quo – continuing the Christian tradition initiated by Jesus of the faithful being persecuted by empire. 

This is the backdrop of where our current pope, Francis, was formed and lived out his early years.  The Latin American church, Pope Francis, and all they represent show us what it means to live out what Fr. Joe Nangle calls an “engaged spirituality” – a spirituality that impacts how we live every aspect of our lives.  Living a life of voluntary poverty, a counter-cultural lifestyle that prefers simplicity to consumerism, is a direct threat to the empire of capitalism that permeates society.  Following Jesus’ call to leave everything behind and follow him, the way Francis of Assisi did, leads us more fully into our faith and begs us to develop a deeper spirituality whereby we can live a richer, fuller life.  Living out an engaged spirituality allows us to recognize our interdependence with one another and all of God’s creation, and feel a sense of reverence and wonder about it all.

It is from this perspective we can best appreciate what Pope Francis has to share with us in his encyclical Laudato Si’.   Pope Francis lays out the framework for an integral ecology – one in which we recognize the responsibility we have as human beings to humbly come to terms with our place in the world.  Building on the spirituality and mysticism of St. Francis of Assisi that is so clearly expressed in St. Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures, Pope Francis continues on to “read the signs of the times” (Mt 16:3) and lays out what St. Francis would say “is ours to do” in this day and age, in order for us to rise to a new consciousness and accept the responsibility God gave us when he gave us the gift of life on Earth.

When God became incarnate through Jesus, He did so to show us how to live as a human being on Earth in such a way that would allow us to honor our Creator.  Through Jesus and the many parables He gives us throughout the Gospel, we learn how to prioritize the needs of the poor and marginalized, not take more than we need, and counter the empire that leads to suffering and injustice.  What Pope Francis is doing now is building off of the lessons of Jesus, Francis of Assisi, and many others from recent church history who are also working towards the “New Creation.”

This “New Creation” is what is referred to in the Lord’s Prayer, Isaiah 65, Revelation 21, and in many other places throughout the Bible and religious liturgy.  It is the Kingdom of God that Jesus spoke of so often and invited us to join him in building.  We are invited to be co-creators with God, which maybe is another way of interpreting the call St. Francis heard to repair God’s house, when he prayed in front of the cross of San Damiano. What greater honor do we have than the opportunity to accept this supreme invitation? 

To build the New Creation, we will need to take a sincere look at the institutionalized racism, economic inequity and environmental injustices surrounding us, and examine our contributions to the injustices and desecration of the ecological web of life.  We as humans have pushed our ecosystems beyond that which is sustainable, and it is we humans (especially the most vulnerable, who are least responsible for the desecration) – as well as other creatures – which are suffering the consequences of veering too far away from God’s original plan for humankind.  I am of the belief, much like Pope Francis, that the only hope for humanity may lie in the humility and spirituality delineated by the life of St. Francis of Assisi and the posture towards creation he shows in his Canticle of the Creatures.

charity:water in NY Times!

I am very happy to see international traveler and global health writer Nicholas Kristof has written an article about charity:water in the Sunday edition of the NY Times! I first heard about charity:water last year right before my birthday, when the Facebook Causes application asked me to fundraise by having family and friends donate $22 for my 22nd birthday, as charity:water's founder Scott Harrison had donors give $33 for his 33rd birthday. This organization is partnering with non-profits in developing countries to build wells with hand-pumps for thousands of communities in Haiti, Honduras, India, and many African countries. You can get involved with volunteering for charity:water by emailing nicky.yates@charitywater.org.

You can learn a lot more about Kristof's topics by reading the comments people post about his articles on his blog. In reading the comments on his charity:water article, I found articles and research on whether or not water projects in developing countries are sustainable, by the International Institute for Environment and Development and the World Bank (Comment 7) (lesson: don't abandon the wells after building them!). I also found people from other countries who would like to partner with charity:water (Comments 10, 15, 18) and information about a dangerous plan in place regarding the NYS Watershed and the Delaware River Basin Commission (Comment 13).

I really liked Comment 14, about how Mr. Kristof breezes right over the fact that it was the spiritual crisis Scott Harrison underwent and how he became a follower of Christ after his time volunteering with Mercy Ships. Also Comment 11, criticizing Nick Kristof for paying too much attention to the act of giving, and not highlighting the fact that self-sacrifice is what's important. Sacrificing one's time for others, and building community, so that the people you are helping are actually being empowered to make changes for themselves, not simply enabled by being given handouts.

Or put another way, having the moral courage to stand up for what's right, every day of your life. I've posted three comments on Irshad Manji's Moral Courage Project webpage so far, explaining how to stand up for our fellow global citizens and how to get others motivated, too. We can't expect to partake in activities once and that solve all the problems in the world. We need to keep at it, and dedicate our entire lives to the causes, making sure to follow up with those we help and not abandon them. There are plenty of people already taking up this cross, as Shane Claiborne shows with his movie "The Ordinary Radicals." We can do it too, and social media can help. Scott Harrison's successful marketing campaign demonstrates the power of social networking; I think this can be taken a step further if teachers would think outside the box, and incorporate blogs, twitter, and Facebook into everyday homework assignments. More and more non-profit organizations are creating these social networking accounts, and the sky's the limit with the charitable organizations one can find out about and get involved in, merely by spending some time on the Internet. Let's wake up and use the tools God has given us to use here in the 21st century.

Why you should question authority

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to hear Irshad Manji [see great bio on her Facebook page] speak at NYU, during a conference on social entrepreneurship through Wagner's Bridge group. She is the author of "The Trouble with Islam Today" and has been described as "Osama bin Laden's worst nightmare." How did she become the person she is today? She knows the importance of questioning authority. As a little girl in Canada, where her family escaped as refugees from Uganda, she attended the madressa, where she was taught that women should be subservient to men and not to ask too many questions about her faith. Well, she was expelled, to say the least. Since, she's critically analyzed the Quran and been a strong proponent of ijtihad - Islam's word for the concept of critical thinking. Ever since learning about her, she's become one of my favorite role models. I truly find many parallels between her and Shane Claiborne, author of "The Irresistible Revolution." I've gone through a similar journey of questioning in my own religious upbringing in the Catholic Church, especially after reading Shane's book. As a little girl in the madressa, Irshad Manji had this question: "What if I'm not being educated? What if I'm being indoctrinated?" So, I challenge you to question your own educators.

Barack Obama understands the dangers of not questioning authority. He specifically appointed strong-minded people to his Cabinet to avoid groupthink.

I question the definition of “conservative." What is being conserved? A way of life particular to the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries? With all due respect, in the long history of the world I would not pick this particular time period to conserve. I would conserve the way God made the planet. He gave us food that grows from the ground to eat - food that is whole and protects us from chronic diseases, not chemically modified artificial food in packages. He provided grass for the cows to eat. Water from springs to drink - not from plastic bottles. He gave us an ozone layer to protect us from the sun. Legs to get from place to place instead of burning fossil fuels and letting our muscles waste away and our waists get bigger. He gave us sunlight as solar energy. THOSE are things I would choose to conserve.

My Research Methods textbook agrees with the idea of questioning what you are taught. I've always wondered whether or not I wanted to get a PhD and "do research for the rest of my life." Well, what if the traditional, keeping-your-distance-from-your-subjects way of doing research wasn't the only way to do research? Perhaps community-based participatory research is an even more effective method. When researchers come to the conclusion that the IRB is more than often a bureaucratic barrier than a way to protect people, and the Belmont Report concludes that its guidelines may not be sufficient in dealing with studies of social programs (versus biomedical research), we should indeed question what we are taught. Community-based participatory research allows the researchers to interact with community members. The success of grassroots organizing has always come from involving the stakeholders in the decision process. Why should the research process be any different? If you want to design a program to help the community, for God's sake, involve the community in the program planning!

During Irshad Manji's speech, she mentioned a conversation between Oprah and Will Smith right after Obama one the election. Oprah asked Will Smith his thoughts on Obama. Will Smith replied, "all of our excuses are gone now, Oprah. GONE."

So now I ask, what do you question in your life? Will you be bold enough to be a "social entrepreneur" and do something about it? It only takes one person to make a difference.

musings

Whether or not it was meant to be, the application process is quite a time of truly defining who you are. Lately I've been struggling with a way to adequately describe to people who I am - my interests, my motivations, my passion. There are so many different ways I can try to frame it, but when it comes down to it, there's really only one explanation: I've given my life to God. You may laugh at this, if you don't know me very well, but it's true. It's the only thing that fully describes why I work so hard at what I do and why I love it so much. God blessed me in so many ways, and he made me somewhat intelligent, and so what else could I do but give my life over to God? It makes so much sense...everything I learn, everything I see in life, can be described through faith. But it just so happens that at some point along the way, "career development counselors" told me to leave religiously-affiliated "stuff" off my resume. And it also just so happens that I began to grow a faith that was more spiritual than bound by the narrow-mindedness of the church. And for these reasons, most of the time, I really don't talk about my faith. "Preach the Gospel at all times...if necessary, use words" was the maxim ingrained in me by the Franciscans. But upon reading my friend David's blogpost, and upon reaching this point in my life where I'm on a quest to make sense of my life for people who can't see inside my mind, this is the only logical explanation I can come up with. Public health teaches me there are disparities in this world. Terrible inequities. That the only way to truly make change is by paying attention to grassroots, bottom-up approaches (in addition to influencing policy through top-down approaches, of course). Through honesty. And dialogue. And integrity. And then, Shane Claiborne preaches of being an "ordinary radical" (keep in mind the root of "radical" means root...no pun intended...ha). Of loving our neighbors. Of having this passion, this fire, that cannot be quenched:

"There is a movement bubbling up that goes beyond cynicism and celebrates a new way of living, a generation that stops complaining about the church it sees and becomes the church it dreams of. And this little revolution is irresistible. It is a contagious revolution that dances, laughs, and loves." ~Shane Claiborne, Irresistible Revolution

Every day I live and learn on this journey is a humbling experience. It makes me feel like my life is purposeful, and that makes me come alive. I am reminded every day of just how much parallel there is between the stuff that works in public health, and Shane Claiborne's irresistible revolution. So next time I'm about to go jogging with my professor on the streets of Puebla in the early hours of a chilly, Mexican morning (theoretically) and she asks me to explain myself, to explain the passion she sees in me, that's all I have to say - I've given my life to God. Screw the political correctness of it all.

Speaking out against racism

Former neo-Nazi speaks at Trabant - News

This speaks to me at so many levels right now. Grad school has opened up my eyes to how much institutional racism still exists in America, and this speech/article speaks to that. We need more of this awareness. And the last quote by Matt Lenno is really awesome too. It reminds me of Biblical Paul and the potential for terrorists that Shane Claiborne speaks about in The Irresistible Revolution:

"He was a skinhead," he said. "He was a miserable human being. He bred hate and he has shown that he can change. Not only is this a speaker on diversity but he is a motivational speaker. He has shown that he can change and he leads a movement against hate no matter what the cost is to his family or whatever it may be. If someone like that, that horrible of a human being can change, anybody can change what they're doing and anyone can change their message."