Threshold Winter 2009

Our Hunger and Thirst for Justice
by Mary Agnes Patterson, OSB

Our hunger and thirst for justice and peace will focus on the works of charity and our response to the root causes of injustice.

Transformation of social structures begins with and is always accompanied
by a change of heart.
from the Pastoral Letter on Economics, National Conference of Catholic Bishops

This is the current wording of our long standing commitment to work for justice and peace. Sister Gabrielle Kocour, chairperson of the Mount’s Justice and Peace Network, reflects on our response to human needs with the following story. “If we see someone drowning in a river, we try to save the victim. If someone is struggling in the water an hour later at the same place, and then a couple more the next day, we finally realize there must be a hole in the bridge. We might change our response. We can still wait and aid the victims after they fall or we could get hammer and nails and try to repair or rebuild the bridge. The structure that needs changing is most likely a social, political or economic structure.”

Pope Paul VI said we must identify the structure causing the problem, confront it and eventually uproot it. Since the earliest days of our community presence in Atchison, those in need have always come to our doors for food and assistance, including financial aid for education. Over the years we have been able to help our employees, victims of natural disasters, and others in emergency situations.

Our commitment to help others was given a formal structure in the late 1960s. We realized that we needed further education in the meaning of justice and Catholic social teaching. We knew that there was a need to work to change unjust structures and, at the same time, help people through works of charity. For the past 40 years, we have recommitted ourselves annually to finding ways to extend compassion to the poor and work to bring about justice and peace.

“Justice and charity are like two feet,” says Sister Gabrielle. “Both are needed to walk. One foot is charity or direct service to help people survive their present crisis. The corporal works of mercy fit well into this category. You must, however, move to the other foot to walk. Justice involves social change to remove the causes of the problems faced by people in need. The works of justice tend to be more controversial and it takes a longer time to change the structures that keep people in poverty.”

Sister Gabrielle (pictured on the left) and the network facilitate efforts and give direction to our community members. By providing sisters with suggestions of specific actions and ways of responding individually and corporately to the grave injustices afflicting many, especially the most vulnerable, we encourage sisters to act and pray for justice and peace.

Our focus on behalf of justice and peace is threefold: prayer, education and action. Prayer is the focus of our lives, and daily we pray for the needs of the people of our world. Petitions at our morning and evening prayers always reflect our concern that the dignity of the human person and life be respected at every level, from conception to natural death, and upheld by social, economic, political and ecclesial systems. We participate in “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by praying for each condemned person on the day of execution, for an end to the death penalty, and for all victims of violence.

Our education starts within the community as we study the Catholic social teachings, the pastorals of the U.S. bishops and other Church documents. We have workshops and speakers for ourselves and invite others to join us. Each year we sponsor the Fellin Lecture series at Benedictine College and the Guilfoil Justice Day for the high school students and people of the local dioceses. These events focus on current issues and how we as Catholic Christians are called to respond.
Our action comes from our prayer and study and focuses on our obligation as Christians to confront social injustices, particularly violence and war, and support institutions and structures that promote Gospel values. Some of our current actions include working with local agencies in Atchison to assist the poor, feed the hungry, counsel the troubled, visit and advocate for those in jail and prison, teach those who have dropped out of high school, assist the domestic violence emergency center, care for uninsured people who are ill, and act justly and charitably to our employees.

We sponsor our Keeler Women’s Center, dedicated to assisting women in need in the urban core of Kansas City. We also sponsor efforts to stop human trafficking by supporting, with other communities, the “Stop Trafficking” anti-human trafficking newsletter.

We respond to action alerts on legislative issues. We have set up a network within our community of sisters who regularly e-mail and call members of congress concerning current legislative issues. We partner with other Benedictine communities and work on socially responsible investing and offering shareholder resolutions. We have made many changes in our buildings and our practices to promote ecological sustainability.

We can’t do everything but we can all do something, with God’s help, to promote God’s reign of peace and justice here and now.

Sisters Carolyn Rohde and Barb Conroy tracking legislative issues.

For Whom the Bells Toll

The sisters have decided to make a loud and clear proclamation to their neighbors about the issue of capital punishment. On each night when there is to be an execution in this country, the bell is tolled at 6:00 p.m. to mourn the victims and perpetrators of violent crime.

Mount St. Scholastica is part of a national movement called “For Whom the Bells Toll.” Member church congregations and religious communities throughout the nation participate in this ritual of mourning.

Just prior to the bell ringing, at evening prayer, the sisters include the following petition:
For ___, who is scheduled to be executed by the state of ___, for all victims of violence, and for an end to the death penalty.

List of coming executions at: http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/listpending.do

Pictured at right is Sister Laetitia Chavez tolling the monastery bell for a condemned prisoner.