Some Thoughts

I realize that my posts are very idealistic. Our world is complicated and heavily involved on many levels, from the local to the international sphere. But Catholics are not called to be simply realistic; we are called to witness to the mission of Jesus and the message of the Gospel. In doing so, we must always demand of ourselves a better way of life for everyone on earth, but more importantly, live out the call to reconciliation. We can't simply look past the faults and hurts in our lives. Instead, we must recognize how interrelated our lives are, and cherish our relationships with others. At a global scale, this takes on a far more profound meaning: we must be willing to be aware of the evils in our world, and take a stand against them, while striving to see those in other countries as neighbors and equals.

Gaudium et Spes speaks about weapon disarmament, fairness and equality in economic systems, and multilateralism in nation-building and peacekeeping. However, the document hints at the responsibility that each person owes to one another. Just as one person is responsible for the good and welfare of his neighbor, so are countries responsible for the good and welfare of other countries. Being that presence of good is more than mindless service, but rather, is a committed practice of mindfully seeking common ground and fellowship. It is in this mindset that reconciliation is required. To build these friendships between countries, there must be a sense of relationship that supersedes forgiveness by working to better the other, rather than absolving guilt and moving ahead with one's own affairs. To speak in metaphor, a friend would forgive another that breaks his window, but would practice reconciliation by working with this person to build a new window together.

Weapons of mass destruction stand between this goal. How do you completely and totally trust someone that has inordinate power? There would be no way to get around the fact that one can leverage the other. There is no reconciliation. In the same way, current practices of multilateralism, especially in international crises, such as the one in Ukraine, address political issues and demand concessions, rather than seek permanent solutions by working to directly address the needs of the people. Countries still seem hesitant to become truly committed to the good of one another. While many signs point towards a more peaceful world, we are far from the reconciliation the Church asks for. The guidelines of Gaudium et Spes may be dated, but the message is clear: to accomplish the good of one another, we must be fully invested in that mission, and be prepared to not only set aside all differences and hurts, but establish a lasting means for all to exist in peace and harmony. In doing so, we must have that mindset of relationship, and be ever vigilant that the fate of one country impacts the other. Let us hope that we never lose sight of that goal, and push towards a better unity of hearts and minds towards the well-being of all.

The Pope as an Agent of Reconciliation

I have already explored how the least of member of the Catholic Church can bring about reconciliation, through charitable work and bringing about peace in the community that they live in.  Moving from the least powerful to the most powerful, it is important to look at how the Pope can act as a force for reconciliation in the world.  In particular, I would like to focus on the efforts of two recent popes that brought about reconciliation, Pope John Paul II and the current Pope Francis.  These popes have thrived on the world stage, and have brought Catholics together, peoples of different countries together, and peoples of different religions together.  They have also worked to improve the Church’s standing in the eyes of the world.  These actions are direct exemplifications of the values of reconciliation that are expressed in Gaudium et Spes. 

Pope John Paul II came to the papacy after the monumental changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council, and he is often regarded as the pope that helped to cement the changes and documents that were presented by the Council, including Gaudium et Spes.  When looking at the change that Pope John Paul II brought about, it is not a stretch to suggest that he was very familiar with the tenants of Gaudium et Spes.  The document speaks of the great need to “eliminate the danger of war” wherever it is found (82).  Pope John Paul II is generally recognized as a key leader who helped bring an end to the Cold War, putting an end to one of the tensest periods in recent memory.  In particular, the Pope’s visit to Soviet Bloc Poland is remembered as a turning point in pressuring Russia to release its grip on Poland.  This trailer clip of a produced by Newt Gingrich documents the Pope’s trip and highlights the importance of this visit. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av5rc5IPavs

Pope Francis has also come to the papacy at a pivotal time in Catholic history.  The Church is facing declining Church attendance in areas like Western Europe and the United States, and at the same time is rapidly growing in areas like Asia and South America.  The very fact the Pope Francis is from South America shows that these changes are making a real impact on the Church.  Francis has in many ways taken an active role to bring about change in the Church, and has taken a distinctive turn away from the ways of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.  His more open ways and humble attitude has given him devout following that resembles the enthusiasm that was showed for John Paul II at his peak.  Pope Francis has in particular focused on worldly wealth, and has criticized the excesses of capitalism and greed in the world.  He has advocated for greater attention to be paid to the poor of the world and has asked for greater generosity to the poor.  Gaudium et Spes looks at the how greater generosity and a curtailing of the abuses of capitalism can bring about peace.  Section 85 begins by saying “The present solidarity of mankind also calls for a revival of greater international cooperation in the economic field”.  It also states that in order for peace to take place on the global stage, “radical changes are made in the established procedures of modern world commerce”.  Pope Francis has covered this same message in speeches and interviews, criticizing the “idolatry of money” and how “unfettered capitalism is tyranny”.   This criticism ruffled some feathers across the world, particularly by conservatives and the wealthy.  The Wall Street Journal in particular was critical, and their coverage of the issue can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6TTSpuX1-0

Thus it is clear that Gaudium et Spes is a document whose message is still relevant today, and the leadership of the Church is intimately aware of its message on peace and reconciliation.   

Reconciliation by Love

So, I spent my Spring Break on a Nun Run. And, for those of you who think that is a 5k in habits, it is, thank the Lord, most certainly not. Five young women from CUA rented a van (which I got to drive through Manhattan, the Bronx, and Times Square. Thank you, Father James Brent, for blessing our car!) and drove up the Northeastern seaboard to visit five convents in a week as a step in the process of discernment. We visited with Polish Franciscan sisters in Maryland and the Hawthorne Dominicans outside of New York. We stayed with the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal in the Bronx and with the Sister Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara as well as the Precious Blood Sisters, who live together in a cloister in the Jewish quarter of Brooklyn.

You are probably wondering what this has to do with reconciliation, and the answer is found in our last stop. We had a retreat over the final weekend of Spring Break with the Sisters of Life in Stamford, Connecticut. If you don't know, what the Sisters of Life do is work with women facing the trial of abortion, and those who have suffered its effects, and breathe life back into their hearts and their lives through God's grace and love.

One of the results of this is that the women who are lost, deciding whether to abort their unborn children or trying to figure out why no one told them abortion would hurt so much, are reconciled with their Father. It's a process of healing through love, and that is really what reconciliation is all about. Love.

I discovered this week that my vocation is not the religious life, not because I didn't feel drawn to any of the communities; I knew already that would be the case, because I am, at the core of my spirituality, Orthodox. Rather, because I paid attention to the sort of calling they had, where there ministry was rooted, and I could tell that my ministry is too pastoral to allow me to be in an Orthodox convent. At least, not for a very long time. I had already known that I was called to the ecuminical movement-- the reunification of the Church. Which brings me back to the question I asked of God this weekend-- How do you heal the broken Church?

His answer was that, first, you had to heal it within yourself. In order to affect order in the world, you must have it inside your own heart. The trick to that is to love every part of the broken Church. Only through love can reconciliation come about. Love is the root of all reconciliation-- of a woman to herself and her past, of families, of Christians, and of the world. The only thing powerful enough to affect the change that peace amounts to is through love.

Catholic Peace Efforts Worldwide

The story of Catholicism itself is an interesting case study for the idea of reconciliation as a force of creating compatibility in the world.  In the span of just 100 years after the death of Christ, the religion had managed to break out of its foundations in heavily Jewish regions like Nazareth and Jerusalem, and had spread west into Greek and Latin speaking regions, as well as East into traditionally Persian areas, and the result was that Catholicism was a world religion from its very beginning.  It existed under a variety of different rulers and forms of government, was worshipped among people of different languages and backgrounds, and was embraced by the rich and poor alike.  This history lead directly into Section 83 of Gaudium et Spes that speaks of “Setting Up an International Community”. 

This section relates that “it is absolutely necessary for countries to cooperate more advantageously and more closely together tan to organize international bodies to work tirelessly for the creation of organizations which will foster peace”.  In many ways, the Church is an organization that works tirelessly for peace.  The Church has been criticized over the years for problems with its bureaucracy and rigid social conservatism, but there is no doubt that the Church as an organization has always stood for peace.  Even apart from the Vatican, the Church, in the sense of the universal group of worshippers, has also been a source of peace in a variety of ways, and is perhaps seen strongest in the charitable work done by the members of the Catholic Church.  One particularly great example of this is the work being done by organizations like Catholic Relief Services.  Organizations like this bring peace on a daily basis to the poor, neglected, abused, and forgotten throughout the entire world, and it is through this type of work that even the smallest Catholic parishioner is able to “work tirelessly for…peace”.  Here is a video of some of the work that they do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8ejD8Ba5_k

I believe that the charity CRS does, which is just one of many organizations like it in the Catholic Church, is a prime example of the type of reconciliation that Gaudium et Spes preaches.   

Thoughts on Reconciliation

In my personal opinion, Chapter V was the most surprising part of Gaudium et Spes, in the sense that it was very different from what my initial expectations of the passage were.  Learning that the topic my group was going to be writing on was reconciliation, I expected read a fairly blasé section of this document that extolled the virtues of forgiveness as it emerges from the Gospel and the Sacraments.  After all, the Catholic Church even has a Sacrament named Reconciliation, and theme of forgiveness is found all throughout the Catholic Mass.  While Chapter V certainly did draw upon the Gospel and the Mass, the reconciliation Gaudium et Spes speaks of doesn’t come solely from these sources.  In order to better articulate what type of reconciliation Gaudium et Spes was speaking of, I turned, as English majors often do, to Dictionary.com.  A quick search of the word “reconciliation” returned these two different definitions:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/reconciliation?s=t

The first definition fit perfectly with what I though Gaudium et Spes would be: a rather unenlightening comment on how the world needs to be in “a state of being reconciled” through “an act of reconciling”.  How is this definition helpful with understanding anything of what the word “reconciliation” means?  Thus it is the second definition “the process of making consistent or compatible”, which leads to the most insight into what reconciliation is, and Gaudium et Spes wisely chooses to use a form of this definition in Chapter V, titled “The Fostering of Peace and the Promotion of a Community of Nations”.  To fully explore the theme of reconciliation in Gaudium et Spes, I would like to focus on how the Catholic Church, its poorest parishioners all the way up to the Pope, can be agents that bring about consistently and compatibility in the world.

Constructive Cooperation or Ganging Up?

Given the recent events that have transpired in Crimea, the G7 summit has met to discuss possible responses to Russia's annexation attempt. The group of nations has promised both "individual and collective action" and decries the annexation as "illegal" and "deeply flawed" due to the presence of Russian forces. With questions of sovereignty and legitimacy swirling, it might seem as if the international community has banded together against a common threat, resulting in some degree of cooperation.

Through a Catholic lens, we find that this cooperation is not exactly optimal. Gaudium et Spes spells out that a primary goal of an international community is to bring about peace by ending war. However, the conflict in Crimea, while not a purely military act, ties back to militaristic issues of land control and acquisition, and has involved the use of military involvement. What's more, international condemnation has not impeded, let alone stopped, Russia's power grab in Eastern Europe, nor has it resulted in the removal of Russian troops. In this sense, the G7 has failed as of yet to end this ongoing ideological war, as well as the use of military force.

But in a much fuller sense, Gaudium et Spes discusses how international cooperation should be heavily focused on creating just systems for peoples to live in prosperity and peace, while eliminating human want. This involves organizing both just economic structures as well as providing aid for struggling nations. In this respect, there is no cooperation occurring between these countries. There is no talk of providing aid, or supporting the economic growth of any nation. There is no collaboration to promote the well-being of any peoples, Russian, Ukrainian, or Crimean. Rather than develop the ability for citizens to provide for themselves and grow in harmony, nations are preoccupied with matters of nationality, discussing what divides us rather than what can bring us to a more truly harmonious existence. The biggest issues are political, not human, in nature. Condemnation of actions is not truly a path to peace, but simply another step in the cycle of politicization that has gripped our international dialogues. For reconciliation to occur, countries need to be asking bigger questions: what are the living conditions of citizens in this country? How can we best meet these people's needs? Where can we find common ground between peoples, rather than bicker and argue over legitimacy and nationality? But rather than focus on the people, all eyes are on the leaders, and we target them with demands for concessions. There is no reconciliation, and no relationship, only retribution.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26547138

A Summary of Church Teaching on War

Peace cannot be attained through violence. It can only be attained by understanding. 

- Ralph Waldo Emerson