Update on Province Discussions on Community Life

Mar 30, 2017

Following upon the vision of the 20^th General Assembly an international Community Life Symposium will convene in Rome this July. In past years Symposiums have centered on Mission & Ministry, and Spirituality. Members and Companions of the Kansas City Province have been challenged to engage in a series of conversations about what it means to live authentically in community as Precious Blood Missionaries and what it means to live a simple lifestyle. We have been asked to envision what the fullest participation of our Companions in our communal life, spirituality, and apostolic work might look like.
The first “Conversation” of five asked what our favorite experience of living in community was and what our hopes and dreams are for the kind of community life we want to live in the future.
“How good and how pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell as one.” Psalm 133.1
In the many gatherings of members that took place in February living, studying, praying, working, eating together while in Formation was seen as a joyful time for members. We all have stories we love to share in our gatherings. Living together at Precious Blood Seminary and some of our larger parishes, and living together inter-generationally were seen as valuable experiences. “Clusters” once intentionally gathered monthly for study, prayer, meals, and fun. The Annual Assembly was seen as an opportunity to gather, reacquaint, catch up with others, and share new ideas.
The “Mission House” was envisioned as a new and positive way of being together in community and ministry. While most of us will not be living in a Mission House we need to find time and ways to get together more often for prayer, study, reflection, support, and shared meals. We need to make use of new technologies to better communicate with one another and communicate our mission of evangelization, reconciliation, and renewal. What might a “virtual” Mission House look like?
While our process moving forward may be messy (being community can be a messy business), we need to venture forth boldly.
“Let’s continue this process to see where it might lead us while hoping that it will land us in a time and space for interpersonal reflection and introspection that springs forth community life.”
 

We Need Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Not Walls and Intimidation

Mar 26, 2017

by Gabino Zavala, Justice and Peace Director
We continue our Lenten journey as we celebrate the 4th Sunday of Lent. We understand that this Lenten season is an opportunity for us to devote ourselves to reforming our lives in the image of Jesus Christ. The spiritual and corporal works of mercy call us to stand in solidarity with the vulnerable and marginalized in our society. We are called to welcome and accompany those in our midst who live in fear. As we accompany the most vulnerable in our society we call form a just and comprehensive reform of our broken immigration system.
On Ash Wednesday the California Bishops urged the faithful of their dioceses to reflect on the issue of immigration during the Lenten season. I have included the text of the California Bishops’ letter for our own prayer and reflection.

“Today marks the beginning of the Lenten Season, a time when Christian people devote ourselves more intentionally to the spiritual and corporal works of mercy in an earnest effort to reform our lives in the image of Jesus Christ.  We use this occasion to call upon Catholics and all people of good will in California and throughout the United States to stand in solidarity with the vulnerable and excluded in our society.  Urgent attention needs to be given to our neighbors who are migrants and refugees, especially those immigrants who are undocumented.  They are being unjustly targeted and vilified.

We are deeply concerned about the possibility of widespread deportations that will break up families and break down our communities.  Fear is now growing in our neighborhoods and schools.  The work of businesses and farms is being disrupted.  We seem to be turning away from our nation’s long history of renewal and innovation inspired by successive generations of immigrants and refugees.  We are a nation of immigrants.  We have a long history of welcoming those fleeing violence in other countries.  We should not turn our back on this proud legacy, especially in this current moment in our history.

As pastors, we witness firsthand every day the fear in our communities. We call upon the new Administration and Congress in Washington to do everything in their power to ease the climate of fear that is now gripping our communities.  It is long past time for our leaders to stop allowing this issue to be used for political advantage and set themselves to the task of fixing our broken immigration system. The principles and priorities for immigration reform are well-known and they are reasonable.  We urgently need reforms in our visa and guest worker programs.  We need reforms that keep families together and recognize that those who are detained already have the legal right of due process.  We need to provide those who are here and contribute to our economy and society but without documentation an immediate path to regularize their status with an eye to one day becoming citizens.

Some concrete measures are already under consideration. In Congress, the Federal BRIDGE Act, S.128/H.R, 496, for instance, will protect DACA students (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).  In Sacramento, the California Values Act, SB 54, would protect the safety and well-being of all Californians by ensuring that state and local resources are not used to assist in deportations that would separate families. It would also do so by having the effect of reducing crime, since undocumented persons would not fear approaching a law enforcement office to report a crime.   We support these proposals as well as other reasonable steps to address immigration in a compassionate, thoughtful manner and we encourage our political leaders to find bi-partisan solutions.

The Catholic bishops of California and the United States support the federal government’s obligation to protect our borders and to uphold our immigration laws.  We also hold that these legal principles should always be at the service of human dignity and the common good of society.  The current immigration system is gravely flawed.  And because it is gravely flawed, the current push to increase enforcement and deportations — without first reforming the underlying system — can only lead to further violations of human rights and human dignity.

Just as the Church works to protect the life of the unborn and to support the unemployed, the homeless and the hungry, so we pledge our continued support to migration and refugee programs. Our parishes and social services, such as Catholic Charities, must remain in solidarity with our suffering brothers and sisters.

We ask all people of faith to work with their neighbors to welcome and accompany those who are afraid and uncertain.  We need to try to better understand and empathize with one another.  Recognizing that we all share the same human hopes and desires will help us bravely respond to the anxious uncertainty in ourselves and the nation.

During this Lenten season we will hear the familiar refrain from Psalm 95, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”  The Lord God always hears the cry of the poor.  God is all merciful and we are judged by how we see, hear, and act in accordance with that mercy.  May our fasting, penance, charity and solidarity help us to live as one people under God’s merciful gaze.”