The purpose of the Church is to reach out and draw all of its members to communion with God through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Church does this by presenting age after age the message of Jesus and also joins us with Jesus through our sacramental life. In carrying out this mission, it tries to convey to the entire world a message based on truth and love, a message that has tremendous implications for justice and fairness. These virtues are affected by the economic system present at any given moment.
For most of the last 2,000 years virtually the entire world’s economy was based on agriculture. That changed with the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century bringing tremendous change to human life, including a vast increase in wealth and prosperity. But not everyone shared equally in these new developments. In the late 19th century, Pope Leo XIII saw that the Industrial Revolution and its later developments were inflicting tremendous pain and suffering on the poor workers in the urban centers of Europe and North America. He wrote his famous encyclical, Rerum Novarum which laid out a structure of responsibilities reminding employers of their responsibilities to be fair and just with their workers, and that those workers had the right to organize in order to defend their economic interests. In those days, that economy was mostly one of shops and small plants where workers and employers were often in face to face situations.
By the 1930’s, the world of the small plant by an individual or family gave way as nationwide industries developed and thus Pope Pius XI wrote the encyclical Quadragesimo Anno which built on the work of Leo XIII and dealt now with problems related to nation-wide economies.
After World War II with the decolonization of the people of Africa, the possibility of a one world economy expanded tremendously and as a result in 1963 that magnificent pope John XXIII wrote a document that had tremendous impact in the Church and on the world entitled Pacem in Terris, Peace on Earth. It dealt with this new worldwide economy many years before any of us were routinely referring to the reality of an integrated world economy. The document came out in 1963 and made a powerful impression on Church leaders all over world. Fifty years have passed since the encyclicals issued and in the next couple of days I will give you my opinion of the affect that it has had in this painful and agonizing half century.
 

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It is an old story, isn’t it? A megabank, HSBC, based in New York and one of the largest financial institutions in the world, recently admitted to taking part in the illegal laundering of large amounts of money for tourists and drug cartels. You and I would probably go to jail if we were so caught but HSBC got a slap on the wrist and was fined just 12% of the company’s reported profits for the year 2011. Not one person from the bank has served a single day of jail time. Thanks be to God, things are not all bad. Two weeks ago, the nation’s largest banks began sending payments to millions of Americans who have been wrongfully foreclosed upon during the housing crisis.
A total of $3.6 billion in cash will be distributed to 4.2 million borrowers who lost their homes or were at risk of foreclosure. This good news comes from the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Control of Currency. Payments range from $300,000 to $125,000. Bank HSBC, mentioned above, and others are enormous, and they include Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citi Group. Do you think these banks sensitive executives came forward and said, “Oops. I mishandled an account or two.”? Not at all. The banks, and there were 13 of them, settled the complaints that they wrongly foreclosed on borrowers with abuses such as robosigning to automatically sign off on foreclosures without receiving documents. The numbers tell us nothing. The coldness and insensitivity and lack of concern for justice has caused pain, fear and suffering to millions of people. The damage is far more than the $3.6 billion. That doesn’t begin to cover the losses and it certainly doesn’t cover for the pain and suffering. At least it is better than nothing.
And it is not just a problem in this country. At the end of last year, Deutsche Bank, which is the world’s largest, faced allegations that rocked the financial world. The whistle blower attempted to tell executives within Deutsche Bank about inaccurate bookkeeping. He was ignored at first, then was demoted and ultimately terminated even though he had received nothing but favorable performance reviews in the past.
Whistle blowers, like this brave man at Deutsche Bank, are very courageous and frequently suffer tremendously for their courage and honesty. I thank God for the existence of Government Accountability Project which endeavors to protect such people, especially when the culprits move against them to punish them.
They always need help in carrying out their work. They can be reached at Government Accountability Project, 1612 K Street, NW Suite #1100, Washington, DC 20006, (202) 457-0034, www.whistleblower.org.

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I am amazed! I am really amazed. More accurately, I am really saddened. Here we are in 2013 and the Supreme Court of the United States is seriously discussing cutting back the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The arguments for it? Why, the problem has been solved! Voter discrimination has been eliminated and there is no need for this archaic law today!
I assume that the justices on the court were somewhat conscious of the fact that throughout 2012 there was a determined effort in more than 20 states to adjust voting procedures in a way that it would make it more difficult for some citizens, especially the poor and minorities, to cast their vote. Restrictions on voter ID, scheduling and inconvenient polling places as well as other tricks were used to cut back on the voting of these groups.
It is true that in 2013 the evils present in our system before 1965 have been greatly lessened but that is no reason to go backwards. We still see powerful forces that want to limit voting rights. The Voter Rights Act holds them at bay. Let’s keep it that way.
 

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I don’t think any person would admit to being FOR injustice. We all want a just society, just laws, just relationships, just pay and we seek to fulfill our just responsibilities. If that is the obvious situation, why is there so much INJUSTICE?

The formal description of justice is that it is a moral virtue that consists in a constant and firm desire to give to God and a neighbor whatever is their due. The street language would call that simply, “Doing the right thing!”

Why is there so much injustice? Here is where we see how moral virtues interlock with each other. So many crimes, especially petty crimes, are the result of a failure to practice the virtue of prudence. Once a person finds that they have a facility in acting unjustly then, regretfully, it becomes ever easier and evermore likely to be repeated. Just like prudence doesn’t fall from the sky, we develop the virtue of justice and strengthen it by constant practice in our efforts to deal fairly in all of our relationships, first with God and then with the people with whom we are sharing life.

Practice in this area is easy to find but one of the most obvious is in the use of the power of speech. How often do we talk about our family, our friends, our neighbors in a manner that is unjust without giving them the benefit of the doubt, projecting negative motivations to their actions and not defending their good name when others malign it?

Practicing the virtue of justice can save us a lot of trouble. Put justice and prudence together and we will have an easier time in life. Let’s try harder.

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Last month, I touched on the three great THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES. They are called theological because they directly connect us with the theos, with God. They are, of course, faith, hope and charity and each of these has as its goal the drawing of us closer and closer into the inner life of God. This is made possible in our daily lives by having been baptized and then walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

Actually, I think I jumped the gun by going straight to the theological virtues. I really should have started with the four key human virtues. These four virtues should play a key role in our lives and are called cardinal because all other virtues are grouped around them. They are prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. Let’s take a look at them one at a time.

Would you like to be called imprudent? Of course not. We all respect horse sense. We all respect the person who has the quality of good judgment. The implicit human virtue that makes for good judgment, makes for right decisions, makes for living their lives orderly and properly in line with God’s law is the virtue of PRUDENCE. Prudence is the virtue that directs practical reason to discern true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it. On the street, we also call it “horse sense.” Prudence is a wonderful asset in day-to-day living but it doesn’t fall from the sky. We have to work at it by learning to think critically of the situations in which we find ourselves, consider the various possible outcomes of various choices, and make the judgment always on what is best for everybody involved.

Let’s hear it for prudence!

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Last Friday, I had the opportunity to celebrate Mass for a large number of middle school kids who had taken part in a five-day mission program, “Just 5 Days.” I was impressed! I was moved! These young people had come from across the country to work in Austin through programs in the community where they could give “just five days” of service to people who have special needs. Those five days were also filled with conversation about the ultimate purpose of our life; sanctity, walking in the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth. They were also filled with intense study of Catholic social teaching. What a wonderful concept.

After Mass was celebrated, they returned to their respective towns and parishes. They now carry a renewed commitment to our never-ending challenge – to work for a more just and more equitable world.

All of these kids are Catholic but overwhelmingly they attend the public schools. Public schools endeavor to do a great job with the challenges that are before them, but isn’t it sad that they cannot really transfer moral and spiritual values to their students? All values are ultimately religious in one form or another and those schools are blocked from stepping into that crucially important area of life.

We need many more programs like Just Five Days!

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On June 30th, the New York Times reported that federal investigators stated that the owner of Massey Energy, which is also the owner of the West Virginia mine where 29 men were killed in an explosion last year, misled government inspectors by keeping accounts of hazardous conditions out of social record books where inspectors would see them. The owners kept a dual accounting system regarding safety problems and efforts to fix them were recorded in an internal set of books out of sight of inspectors, the official books that the law required them to keep.

Twenty-nine people are dead because of the company’s greater concern for the bottom line. Two people have been indicted. One is a foreman and the other is director of security. No Massey managers have been charged, including 18 executives who refused to be interviewed for the federal investigation, invoking their Fifth Amendment rights.

This picture shows the top of our Supreme Court building, with the engraved words, “Equal Justice Under Law.” I know that the wheels of justice grind slowly but I hope that they are still grinding.
Let’s pray that they will.

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January 30^th, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last Sunday, we saw Jesus walking along the Sea of Galilee calling a number of simple fishermen to come and follow him in order to “fish” for human beings.  Today, he has gone inland and approaches the mountains and begins to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom.  His ministry has been announced!  His disciples have been chosen and it is time to go to work to spread the Good News in a more detailed manner.  In order to launch this more structured phase of his ministry, he sits down surrounded by the disciples and begins to teach and the first thing that he unveils is what will turn out to be the basic law of the new Kingdom.  We call it the Beatitudes.

At the beginning of chapter five and running through chapters six and seven, Jesus will give his basic teachings on his divine message from God to the human family on the purpose of life, how it ought to be lived and how we ought to relate to one another.  It is important that we note that the standards that he places before us are at dramatic variance with the standards of the world.  Jesus challenges us to embrace poverty and simplicity, to be concerned about justice and let mercy pour through us into the lives of others, keep our attentions firmly set on our eternal destination, then to be able to be strong in the face of misunderstanding and oppression.  It is a tough job description.  It is the job description of being a real Christian.

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For some Americans, it was a surprise – even amazing.  In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Louis Brandeis to the United States Supreme Court, the first Jew ever nominated for that position.  Prior to that, since the establishment of the Supreme Court in the Constitution at the end of the 18^th century, every single member of the court was a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant male.  No one thought anything about it!

The appointment of Brandeis was the first step in recognizing that the court was for all of the American people, not just one segment of our society.  Have we gone in the opposite direction?  Today there is not a single WASP on the court.  Rather there are six Roman Catholics and three Jews.  It is a reflection that we have come a long way in terms of recognizing that our political structures should recognize, to a certain degree at least, the demographics of America.  Have we gone too far?  Shouldn’t there be at least one WASP on the court?  Take it easy.  I’m not serious.

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