World Cup 2014: Did the bishops of Brazil miss the pope's memo?

Are the Bishops of Brazil and Pope Francis on the same page when it comes to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, or did the Bishops miss their CEO’s memo?

At the start of the tournament, the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil added their voice to that of Brazilians who for months had been protesting their government’s lavish spending on the tournament. When millions of Brazil’s citizens lack basic needs and are living in poverty, the construction of enormous stadiums was hard to justify.

The bishops issued a brochure in the shape of a “red card” to express their concern “regarding the inversion of priorities in the use of public money that should go to health, education, basic sanitation, transportation and security”.  They were concerned, too, about the displacement of the homeless, and an increase in sexual tourism and human trafficking. 

The bishops want the 2014 World Cup to be more than “bread and circuses”, more than a well-orchestrated government distraction from Brazil’s social and political challenges, and are pushing for reforms. Through a campaign called “Steilpass” (translated either as “the decisive turning point”, or, in soccer lingo,  “assist”), the Brazilian bishops, in collaboration with the Conference of Religious in Brazil, presented the Brazilian government with ten proposals focused on building a more just society.  Among the proposals are calls for universal health care, access to a complete public education, meaningful work for all, promotion and protection of youth from violence, respect for cultural diversity, and democratic control of justice and the media.

The bishops’ message to government seems to stand in contrast to the cordial message of Pope Francis on the opening of the tournament. While Francis makes no overt references to Brazil’s problems, the shortcomings of human relationships are implicit in his message.

Francis looks at the world’s beautiful game as a metaphor for the improvement of the human person and, therefore, of society.  “Football”, said the pontiff, “can and should be a school for building a ‘culture of encounter’ which allows for peace and harmony among peoples”. 

Francis draws three lessons from sport that can contribute to peace.  The first is the need to train so that one can grow in virtue.  The second is to look to the common good because “in life, when we are fominhas (individualistic and egoistic), ignoring those who surround us, the entire society is damaged”.  And, the third is to respect both one’s teammates and opponents. The pope indicated that teamwork and respect for others are key components in winning both on the pitch and in life.

“No one wins by himself, not on the field or in life!” said Francis, adding “that by learning the lessons that sports teach us, we will all be winners, strengthening the bonds that tie us together.”

Despite the difference in the tone and content of the message of the Brazilian bishops and that of the pope, their underlying substance is not all that radically different. Both are concerned with the dignity of the human person and the flourishing of human society.

Francis encourages individuals to forgo selfishness and to seek peace and harmony with one another for the good of the entire human family, while the bishops urge those in positions of power to use the resources at their disposal for the advancement of the common good. Whereas the bishops spotlight the messiness of human society, the pope illuminates the ability of the individual to help tidy the mess.

The bishops and the pope have the same currency in hand; their messages are different sides of the same coin. Flip the coin, and on both sides there is a call to conversion, healing and renewal for the sake of social justice, or, in soccer lingo, “fair play”.

Women are making the desert bloom

In recognition of this year’s International Women’s Day, I attended two events. Though the character of the two events differed, they shared a common element: women around the globe are a force for change in their communities and in the world. From the macro to the micro level, women are creating streams in the desert places of human society.

World Day of Prayer 

The first event that I attended was the 2014 World Day of Prayer. The World Day of Prayer has its origins in the 19^th century in the missionary activity of women. Held annually since 1927, women from 170 countries participate.

This year, the women of Egypt prepared the ecumenical service, and not surprisingly, given the importance of the Nile River for life in the Sahara Desert, water featured prominently in the readings and prayers. The spiritually evocative theme, “Streams in the Desert”, pointed to God’s love and mercy in the parched places of human life.

As the women reflected on Egypt’s history and anticipated the future, the life-giving character of water was a metaphor for individual and community transformation.  Through faith in action, the women of Egypt aspire to “become channels of living water to the world” (Women's Inter-Church Council of Canada Ecumenical Service World Day of Prayer 2014). 

Egyptian women are continually discovering ways to make their world bloom with possibilities. From the daughter of Pharaoh, who in the biblical story of salvation defied her father to rescue the Hebrew baby who would lead an enslaved people to freedom, to the women who stood with men in Tahrir Square protesting a repressive regime, Egyptian women are agents of change, claiming their “right to freedom, justice and equality” (Ecumenical Service World Day of Prayer 2014).  Their vision extends into the future as they look for ways to preserve the waters of the Nile for future generations, and to enhance opportunities for women and girls. 

Unbreakable: One Girl Changing the World

The World Day of Prayer service prompted me to look inward for the parched places of my life that could use a little sprinkling of life giving water, and it prepared me for the second event, the screening of the film Unbreakable: One Girl Changing the World. This event took me out of my self, leading me to reevaluate my commitment to social justice at home and in places oceans away.

“Women Creating Change”, a project in the Lower Columbia region where I live, screened the film.   Before the film, we watched a video presentation that depicts some of the barriers – isolation, unaffordable housing and childcare, food insecurity, transportation costs, and claw backs to social assistance – women with low incomes struggle to overcome.  

Unbreakable: One Girl Changing the World tells the story of Malala Yousafzai who is internationally renowned for her courageous efforts to promote education for girls. Malala survived and recovered from a Taliban attempt to assassinate her, and remains committed to her mission. Not unlike Pharaoh’s daughter, the baby she plucked from the waters or the women who protested in Tahrir Square, Malala refuses to be silent against injustice; her inspiring example to empower girls through education is a stream in the desert of ignorance.

The Malala film was a natural fit with the goals of “Women Creating Change”. Tara Howse, project co-coordinator, explains, “Our project is based around identifying what prevents women in our local region from having a secure and stable future. We know that education is directly linked to the empowerment of women, which has been demonstrated to a better quality of life for their families and the rest of society.” To this end, the project hopes to establish a bursary for women. Projects like this one are made in Canada examples of women working towards the transformation of society.

The women of Egypt, Malala and “Women Creating Change” share a common goal; all want to see an increase in the opportunities for individuals to live with dignity, to realize their potential, and to live in harmony with others.

Collaborating with others, we become streams in the desert

These are matters of social justice in which we can participate, although I admit that there are times when I feel quite useless in the face of injustice. Despite these sometimes feelings of uselessness, I believe that often even a small action makes a significant difference, and that when we collaborate with others, we become like streams in the desert, helping individuals and communities to bloom.

We are our brother's keeper: message for the World Day of Peace

In his message for the 47th World Day of Peace, Pope Francis calls every man and woman to the universal vocation of fraternity.  

In Fraternity as the foundation of peace and as the pathway to peace, the pope speaks about the harmful effects of poverty, war, corruption, organized crime and environmental degradation on our ability to live peacefully with one another.  While the obstacles to world peace are communal in nature and difficult to overcome, the message is personal and social, realistic and hopeful.

The biblical foundations of fraternity

Francis refers to the biblical story of two brothers, Cain and Abel, to explain the concept of fraternity. In the story, Cain murders Abel, and God holds Cain accountable for his failure to care for and protect his brother.  The pope writes that the story of Cain and Abel illustrates our “profound identity and vocation” to live as brothers and sisters, even as it demonstrates our “tragic capacity to betray that calling.” Despite this capacity to ignore our identity and to deny our vocation, we have an “irrepressible longing for fraternity” which forms us into communities and peoples, and enables us to overcome differences and embrace one another.

Francis explains that the fraternal imperative to live in peace with one another resides in the transcendent fatherhood of God and in the cross of Christ.  God’s “extraordinarily concrete and personal love” for every man and woman is a powerful transformative force that leads to conversion and makes fraternity possible. 

Fraternity is difficult

Still, fraternity as the pathway to peace is difficult. As Francis realistically notes, fraternity requires “a perennial exercise of empathy, of listening to the hopes and sufferings of others, even those furthest away from me, and walking the demanding path of that love which knows how to give and spend itself freely for the good of all our brothers and sisters.”

While the basic idea of fraternity (do good to everyone) is pretty simple, I consider its implementation rather challenging. In a similar way as God called to Cain, “Where is your brother?”, fraternity calls us to take responsibility for the well being of others whether we know them, or not; like them, or not; agree with them, or not.  Fraternity makes us answerable for our brothers and sisters around the world.  To Cain’s retort to God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”,  our answer must be “yes” if we are serious about building peace.

Our vocation to live in harmony makes demands of us that we would perhaps prefer to ignore. It requires that we step out of our comfortable lives, reassess our attitudes, and then actually do something to help overcome obstacles to peace.  We may find it difficult to relate to the realities that threaten the lives of so many people around the world, or we may become indifferent to the plight of those whom we do not know. Alternatively, if we want to help, the sheer magnitude of the problems may overwhelm us with feelings of helplessness and prevent us from taking action that will help build those pathways to peace.

Pope Francis’s message for the 47^th World Day of Peace reminds us that without a “lively awareness of relatedness” (and I believe relatedness implies action), peace will remain an unattainable dream. We begin to build pathways to peace, in our hearts, in our homes and in the world, when we act upon our vocation to cherish one another as brothers and sisters of the same human family.

Malala Yousafzai: Sharing in the prophetic task

Because she is a girl, she was shot in the head. 

Malala Yousafzai has become a household name since the Taliban attempted to assassinate her on October 9.  That day, as Malala and other girls rode home from school, Taliban gunmen boarded the canopied Toyota pick up truck that served as their bus.

Malala’s crime: her conviction that girls have a right to education. Her advocacy for the education of girls began in 2009, when the Taliban captured her town of Mingora in the Swat valley of Pakistan, and began a reign of terror. Eleven years old at the time, Malala wrote a blog for the BBC describing life under the Taliban. While Malala wrote anonymously under the pen name Gul Malek, which means “grief stricken”, it was only a matter of time before the Taliban discovered her identity. 

Since 2011, when she was awarded Pakistan’s National Peace Prize, and nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize, the Taliban have been out to get Malala, who believes that education for girls is a human right, a means of reducing poverty, and a tool for peace. Not surprisingly, these accolades fail to impress the Taliban, and perhaps make them even more determined to harm Malala, whom they consider to be a “symbol of obscenity”, and “an advocate for the west”. They have said they will attack her again.

Malala has power over the Taliban

Even while she is wounded and recovering in a hospital bed far from home, Malala has power over these men. While she is at her weakest and most vulnerable, the strength of her convictions, her spiritual courage, and her ability to inspire others scare these men. Because of her courageous spirit that arises from her deep convictions, Malala has successfully inspired her community and  captured international attention. She epitomizes Ambrose Redmoon’s definition of courage; “courage is not the absence fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”

Malala’s courage is contagious. It empowers others. Despite her fears, Malala publicly expressed the grief of her community and persisted in her criticism of their oppressors.  In the words of Malala’s friend Kainat Riaz, who was also wounded in the attack, Malala gave them courage; “she made us powerful.”

As if to prove her point, Riaz has put herself at risk by telling the story of that fateful day. Armed guards are posted outside her home to protect her and her family. Everyday, she and other girls put themselves in harm’s way when they go to school. Since the assassination attempt the Pakistani Taliban has adopted the horrific practice of throwing acid in the faces of girls who continue to attend school.

A voice in the wilderness cries out for justice

The Taliban has presently silenced Malala, but her voice echoes in the courageous but less attention grabbing actions of others who daily challenge their oppressors. Her voice echoes in the determined footsteps of girls who continue to attend school, refusing to let the Taliban dictate their future. Her voice echoes in the fathers who respect their daughters’ desire to learn, and who still allow their daughters to attend school despite the risks. These fathers and daughters are everyday prophets who know that to do nothing in the face of oppression presents a greater risk. They are laying the foundations for change.

While the Taliban call Malala a symbol of obscenity, others call her a “symbol of resistance”, a “symbol of peace,” and a “voice in the wilderness”.  This last epithet strikes me as particularly apt.  It brings to mind Biblical prophets, like Moses, Isaiah, and John the Baptist.  These were not doom and gloom harbingers of an apocalypse. These were prophets who brought hope to communities that were oppressed with injustice.  They challenged the dominant culture, offered a different vision of the future and energized the people.

Malala is like these prophets. She discerns a reality that transcends her current personal and communal experience of suffering. She envisions a new future full of possibility.  She inspires others to work for change.

Every so often, someone exceptional like Malala appears as a leader in a community. While her prophetic imagination is linked with the culture and history of a specific situation, the call to be a prophet is universal. Each one of us shares the prophetic task of envisioning and building a more just world, where the dignity and rights of all people are honored. Each one of us has a responsibility to do our part so that justice flows like a mighty river, enriching the lives of all people, regardless of sex, race, or creed.

Read more on the courage of girls like Malala in this story from Kathy Gannon of the Associated Press.

See the petition to nominate Malala for the Nobel Peace Prize 

Some Biblical references for the requirement of justice:

Micah 6:8

You have been told, oh mortal, what is good
and what the Lord requires of you:
Only to do justice and to love goodness,
and to walk humbly with your God.

Amos 5: 22-24

 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals

I will not look upon.

 Take away from me the noise of your songs;

I will not listen to the melody of your harps.

 But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Reducing poverty is a matter of justice

Charity or Justice?

In his book on spirituality, The Holy Longing, Father Ronald Rolheiser relates the following story. One day, some children spotted three bodies floating in the river that ran through their village. They ran to get help. Of the three bodies, one was dead, one was injured, and one was a healthy child. Everyday for years, three more bodies came floating down the river. The villagers buried the dead, nursed the injured, and found homes for the children. The villagers were proud of the systems they had established for dealing with the bodies. But, no one ever went up the river to find out what was happening.

Rolheiser was drawing a distinction between charity and social justice. While charity relieves the symptoms of a problem, social justice looks beyond the symptoms to the cause, and works for change. Social justice is an essential aspect of spirituality.

Not unlike the villagers in our story, Canada has put systems in place that are intended to address social problems, like poverty. While our politicians talk about poor Canadians, rarely do any make a trip up the river to experience the harsh reality of poverty.

Who are the poor?

Jagrup Brar, a Surrey, BC MLA, is a notable exception. Brar accepted the “Raise the Rates” challenge to live for one month on the BC welfare rate of $610. He did so this past January. 

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Welfare+Challenge+Jagrup+Brar+blogs+about+living+month/5946143/story.html

During his month long experiment with poverty, Brar lived off about $4 per day, after deductions for basics like rent, buss pass, and phone. He was constantly hungry and fatigued. He lost 26 pounds. He had to make choices between purchasing toiletries and food. He said the experience changed him, making him a humbler, more compassionate person, committed to working for justice for the poor.

Brar’s experience challenges a common Canadian mindset about welfare recipients. The poor are not typically lazy individuals taking advantage of taxpayer dollars. The poor are working people who do not make a living wage. The poor are individuals affected by job loss, illness, disability, or, they have suffered a crippling accident. The poor are single mothers and their children who have fled from abusive situations. The poor are immigrant farm workers who lack the basic rights and benefits that we have come to expect in Canada. The poor are refugees from United Nations refugee camps whose sponsors have reneged on commitments to support them for a year. Poverty is a tapestry of individual stories, and is not defined by one group of people.

Claw back policies keep people poor

Brar discovered some problems with policy. Child support payments, which many mothers do not regularly receive, are deducted from welfare payments. Earnings from any type of work, even snow shoveling for a few bucks, are deducted.

Income from other sources does not improve the situation for people when welfare is clawed back. While social assistance was originally intended to provide short-term relief, claw back policies keep people poor, penalize the recipient for working, and encourage dishonesty.

A crippling discrepancy

“Raise the Rates” puts the Market Basket Measure (MBM) for metro-Vancouver at $1300 per month, but the welfare payment for an individual living in British Columbia is only $610 per month, of which $400 is deducted for rent. The MBM is a goods and services measure that takes into consideration the cost of living in different geographical areas, and is based on after tax income. The categories of the basket are food, shelter, clothing, footwear, transportation, and other goods and services, which includes a miscellany of things, from postage stamps to school supplies to newspaper subscriptions to entertainment.

Where there is such a grave discrepancy between the actual cost of living and the welfare allowance, is it any wonder that food banks, soup kitchens, and shelters have become permanent features of many communities?

The poor deserve justice

These services are examples of charity that caring citizens have established to assist the poor among us. Although these charitable endeavors are essential to promoting the dignity of the poor, the poor deserve more than charity. They deserve justice.

The three western provinces lack any kind of comprehensive strategy to reduce or prevent poverty. Justice calls for the development of measurable strategies to reduce poverty, and to prevent more people from falling into poverty.

Unlike Brar, who was able to return to his comfortable home after a four-week joust with poverty, 500,000 British Columbians are caught in poverty. Poverty is not going to go away, unless we develop the political and social will to create a more just society. Until then, the bodies will continue to float down the river.

http://bcpovertyreduction.ca/