DIOCESAN FAITH AND JUSTICE LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

RECEPTION AND RECOGNITION

SEPTEMBER 21, 1999

RAPPE ROOM, CATHOLIC CENTER

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS Thomas J. Allio, Director, Diocesan Social Action Office Executive Director, Catholic Commission, Summit County

PRAYER

JUBILEE LIVING AND EVERYDAY CHRISTIANITY The Most Reverend Anthony M. Pilla, Bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland
INTRODUCTION BY THOMAS MULLEN
REMARKS OF BISHOP ANTHONY M. PILLA SEPTEMBER 21ST GATHERING AT THE CATHOLIC CENTER "JUBILEE LIVING AND EVERYDAY CHRISTIANITY"

Good evening everyone. Thank you Tom for that warm introduction. I am delighted to be able to join you for this fine celebration of the Faith and Justice Leadership Institute. Over the past three years, more than 900 people have participated in the various classes, workshops and forums of the institute. These sessions have focused on the vision, principles and action steps necessary in implementing the Church in the City. The skills you have learned will be put to practical use and will certainly be beneficial to our parishes, neighborhoods, and to the Northeast Ohio region as a whole. I congratulate all of you for taking your faith seriously. You obviously recognize an essential aspect of the lay vocation - the responsibility to contribute to the social mission of the church. Every believer is called to serve "the least of these", to be a "peacemaker". Catholics are called by God to protect human life, to promote human dignity, to defend the poor and to seek the common good. These are not merely options for us; they are requirements of our faith.

I can truly say that you are a source of inspiration to me. It is a blessing to work, side by side, with so many lay women and men like yourselves, who by your actions give witness to the reality that the social mission of the church belongs to all of us. I thank all of you for your work in behalf of the Church in the City and the social justice ministry of the Church. Let me say a few words about our jubilee call and the role of everyday Christians in responding to it. So much has been made of the new millennium - corporations trying to hawk millennium products; religious sects preaching doom and gloom; fringe groups encouraging people to stockpile food and water. It is as if the popular culture has launched a whole "new millennium industry." Quite frankly I have grown somewhat tired of the hype and exploitation. In Luke 4, Jesus of Nazareth proclaims something quite different for our society and world. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me; therefore he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind and release to prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord." Although our social and political problems are different from those experienced by the ancient Israelites and the followers of Jesus who first heard the call to Jubilee, what remains constant is how the jubilee challenges us to address injustices. Working for justice is the central theme of jubilee.

So, the continuing challenge to seek the common good is not an abstract ideal for us, but an urgent task for all. We face many important issues in our time. The United States is blessed with extraordinary freedom, resources, and strength. We have accomplished much together in our economic, social, and political life. However, we confront important decisions on how to respond to urgent national problems and dramatic global change. A number of critical questions need to be addressed in the coming campaign:

How can our nation best respond to the haunting needs of vulnerable children in our midst? We live in a society where 1.5 million unborn children die each year through legalized abortion. We live in a rich nation where more than a fourth of our preschoolers grow up poor. We live in a world where almost 35,000 children die every day from hunger and the diseases associated with malnutrition. The lives and dignity of vulnerable children - born and unborn - remain central questions for 1999. How can our nation bring together the strength of a powerful market economy and just public policies to confront continuing poverty and dependency, joblessness and declining real income for many families, and growing hostility toward immigrants and refugees? How can our society best combat continuing prejudice and discrimination, overcome the divisions among our people, provide full opportunity for all people, and heal the open wounds of racism and sexism? How can our society better support families in their irreplaceable moral role and social duties, offering real choices and help in funding and affording decent education, housing, and health care? How can we help parents raise their children with sound moral values, a sense of hope, and an ethic of responsibility for themselves and others? How can our nation respond creatively to dramatic international changes and pursue the values of justice and peace in a world often marked by too much violence and not enough development, too many violations of human rights and not enough respect for human life? How can we find fair ways to invest in our human needs, protect the environment, deal with our global responsibilities, and meet our fiscal and global obligations to future generations without spending resources we don’t have and running up deficits in the future? How can we fairly allocate scarce public resources and share the blessings and burdens of citizenship without increasing debt for our children? What are the appropriate responsibilities and limitations of free markets, government, voluntary organizations, and families? How can these essential elements of society work together to increase productivity, unleash creativity, restrain excesses, combat injustice, and pursue the common good? And perhaps most fundamentally, how can we resist what Pope John Paul II calls a growing "culture of violence"? Why does it seem like our nation is turning to violence to solve some of our most difficult problems - to abortion to deal with unplanned pregnancies, to the death penalty to combat crime, to euthanasia and assisted suicide to deal with the burdens of age and illness?

We raise these questions not to exhaust the possibilities, but to suggest key concerns and issues for the millennium. We believe every proposal, policy, or political platform should be measured by how it touches the human person; whether it enhances or diminishes human life, human dignity and human rights; and how it advances the common good. The common good is shaped by the moral convictions, personal virtue, and active commitment of every person. The renewal of democracy is not simply a task for others, but for each of us. It is the traditional virtue of citizenship that will renew American democracy. In bringing the virtues and values we seek to uphold in our personal lives into the public arena, we strengthen public life and build a better society. Let's be honest. Catholic social teaching is still the best-kept secret of our church. We have this rich and vast teaching that remains unknown to most parishioners throughout the United States. Our people do not understand that Catholic social teaching is an essential part of the Catholic faith. This sad reality has numerous repercussions. The most significant of which is that it weakens our capacity to be a church that is true to the demands of the Gospel. It weakens our influence in the political arena. It diminishes our effectiveness in trying to promote an understanding of the common good in the broader society. This is a very special gathering tonight and I want to take this occasion to tell you that I need your help. I need your support so that together we can issue an urgent call within our diocese to pastors, Catholic educators, and catechists to communicate Catholic Social Teaching more fully to all members of our family of faith. This needs to be a high priority for all of us. There are many good initiatives that we can build upon.

The reflection and action guide of the Diocesan Social Action Office, entitled "Proclaim Jubilee, Proclaim Justice" is one vehicle for education. The October 15 - 31 prayer and study days focused on overcoming poverty that will take place in parishes, synagogues and mosques throughout Northeast Ohio is yet another opportunity. The ongoing work around the Church in the City is still another concrete way in which Catholics can become better acquainted with Catholic Social Teaching. Finally, I am very interested in the dialogue that will be taking place on November 5th between our social action staff and the elementary and secondary principals of the diocese. My hope is that some very practical steps can be taken to ensure that the social teachings of the church are more fully integrated into our school curriculum.

My sisters and brothers: the jubilee year is an invitation for all of us to view our lives from a divine perspective: all that we are and all that we do should be in accord with God's will and should serve the purpose of building a community of justice, mercy, love and peace. The jubilee calls to become transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Such a transformation will enable us to be energized in our practice of charity, more passionate in our pursuit of justice, more compassionate to the immigrant and stranger and more skilled in helping people overcome poverty. More than ever, our world needs leaders like this. In a little over three months, we will usher in the third Christian millennium. I anticipate that day with tremendous trust and confidence in our Lord Jesus Christ. We need not feel overburdened by the challenging problems of poverty, international debt or the need to reconcile a broken world. We need not despair about the rampant consumerism or the culture of death. We need to be people who are instruments of hope, healing and justice when we are overwhelmed by the magnitude of problems facing humanity. We must do our part, knowing that we cannot do it all. In the words of St. Paul, "We have placed our hopes in the living God." I have placed my hopes in the living God - a God who has not and will not abandon his children. The signs of a living God are all around us; they cannot be denied. How else does one explain the end of the Cold War without acknowledging the hand of God working through courageous and faith filled people who were moved to action? How does one account for the growing sense of solidarity and interdependence among the peoples of the world? How else does one explain the willingness of Christians, Jews and Muslims in Northeast Ohio to seek common ground and to find ways to collaborate on initiatives to overcome poverty? Yes, we approach the year 2000 - placing our hopes in a living God. My friends, working for justice is not easy. As the U.S. Bishops said in our pastoral reflection "Everyday Christianity: To Hunger and Thirst for Justice": "Being a believer means that one lives in a certain way -- walking with the Lord, doing justice, loving kindness, living peaceably among all people. Christian discipleship means practicing what Jesus preached. Discipleship is found in a relationship with Christ and a commitment to His mission of "bringing good news to the poor, liberty to captives, new sight to the blind and setting the downtrodden free."

For Catholics this takes a special meaning today. According to the Second Vatican Council, "It is the special vocation of the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God's will. They live in the world, in each and every one of the world's occupations and callings and in the ordinary circumstances of social and family life which, as it were, form the context of their existence. There they are called by God to contribute to the sanctification of the world within, like heaven, in the spirit of the Gospel, by fulfilling their own particular duties."

As the holy lay women and men that you are, I urge you to use your talents to the fullest for the good of others. Let the Holy Spirit enter and guide you and give you wisdom so that with open hearts and hands you can make this world a better place for you and for all of God's children. From the religious perspective we see this as a challenge to all believers - to every woman and man - to hear the cries of the poor and to respond with acts of charity and justice. All of us must take seriously, the call to bring our values into the market place and the political arena, into the community and family life - to be a voice for the voiceless - to defend the defenseless - to empower the powerless. This is not merely the work of our Catholic Commissions - we are all called to make a difference - whether we are teachers or tailors, salespersons or secretaries, attorneys or artists, homemakers or hotel keepers, God regularly places opportunities for us to be agents of change through our ordinary lives.

This call takes on renewed urgency as we approach the Great jubilee, but it is not new. "The task of disciples today was probably best and most simply expressed in the words of the prophet Micah: "What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice to love kindness and walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8) Thank you very much.

	RECOGNITION OF LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE PARTICIPANTS Sister Madeline Shemo, H.M., Executive Director Catholic Commission of Lake and Geauga
PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES FOR COMPLETION OF THE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE The Most Reverend Anthony M. Pilla, Bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland
CONCLUSION: Let us continue to build the City of God