By SISTER JUDY Posted on July 15, 2008
Hello Everyone.
I wanted to take some time to tell about my weekend at the Convention for the Common Good. This is what it was about: “Over 800 Catholics and faith leaders across the country gathered in Philadelphia this summer to engage with elected officials and develop a Platform for the Common Good. The Convention for the Common Good is only the beginning. We invite you to join the movement.”
I went there with Srs. Lisa Paffrath and Betty Sundry. Since I usually travel alone to these things, it was nice to have some people from my community with me. They were registered to attend the conference, but the reason I was there was to host a table to promote the Providence Companions in Mission program. So, as an exhibitor I did not get into all the talks, but I caught the spirit of the event, and got to meet some very dedicated people to the causes of faith based justice. I also got to hear a presentation by Sr. Helen Prejean, author of “Dead Man Walking” and two other books. She was as dynamic and captivating as she could be and if the only thing I did there was to hear her talk, the trip would have been worth it.
So, here are some photos.
This is the guy at the table next to me. His name is Nathan
Fishman and he was there representing the Jubilee USA Network. Jubilee is a group that works to break the chains of debt amongst the poorest nations in the world. Nathan
is also a recent convert to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and will be traveling in a couple of months to Ethiopia where he will study Scripture.
To me, he was simple, gentle, and yet passionate, enthusiastic and dedicated to his Christian faith and 
his
cause of debt relief to poor nations.
Nathan is the kind of person I would love to have for the Providence Companions in place on Mission (only of the female persuasion). Here I am holding a sign for Nathan’s photo petition to legislators who will have influence on the United State's position on global debt. All of the photos that were taken of people holding those signs at the conference (and other places too I suppose) will be sent along with a petition to cancel debt.
My other neighbor was a very nice woman named Pat. Pat was selling books for Sr. Joan Chittister and Benetvision. Sr. Joan Chittister is a wonderful writer and an even better speaker who looks at the development of spirituality from a feminist and a global perspective. Pat has dedicated herself to aiding Sr. Joan in this cause and so travels around to sell her books. This table was here to spread the word about closing theSchool of the Americas (SOA). If you have never heard of this school, I would strongly encourage you to check out this website: www.soaw.org and find out what the SOA is. If you look on the site, you will see that there will be a demonstration outside the gates of
Fort Benning, Georgia (where the school is) in November. I am considering going to that if it is at all possible. A number of our Sisters have been in years past and it is important that whatever pressure that can be brought tobear on the government to shut this place down be maintained.
Here on the left is the Friends Committee on National
Legislation.
This is the largest peace lobby in
This woman was here with Oxfam
These two women on the right were there working for poverty relief in Haiti, but I unfortunately did not get the name of their organization in my photo. If anyone reading this knows what group they represent, I would love to know so that I can post their website on here.
Here we have Bread for the World, which is a faith-based
group that works to end hunger. In looking at their literature, I saw something
that kind of jumped out at me and it was this: “Food prices are soaring
worldwide, and people are going hungry. Some have labeled the current hunger
crisis ‘a perfect storm’, as threatening economic and environmental factors
crash together.” It’s hard for many of us in more affluent nations to absorb
the idea of having to fight in the street in order to have enough food to eat,
and yet there are already hunger
riots in
The Center of Concern
table was pretty crowded, so I didn’t get a great picture there, but this is a
group with which I am well-familiar.
The COC is a Catholic group that attempts to give a prophetic voice to issue of
social justice around the world. I often used stuff from their site when I
taught religion.
On the left here is a
not-so-good picture of a banner that was part of a presentation done by some
children who were at the conference. There was a special program for them, and
they were able on the last day to get up and express their new understanding of
what is meant by working for the common good all around the world.
And lastly, was the concluding talk by Sr. Helen Prejean. She spoke of her journey from someone who basically resisted the call to address issues of social justice in religious life to one who completely embraced it. She talked about the idea that if Jesus’ message were all apple pie and motherhood, he would never have been crucified… that is was his challenge to the powers that were on behalf of the poor and oppressed that got him killed. She also spoke so convincingly against the death penalty that if I weren’t already staunchly against it, I surely would be now. She also spoke a little bit about finding your few priorities in life and doing them with as much passion and commitment as you can possibly muster. She said that we are all a mosaic and if she is to be just one little green tile, she is going to REALLY BE that green tile. (I also have some photos of Sr. Helen Prejean, but they refuse to be transferred to the computer.)
Anyway, I know I went on and on, but I really feel that it
is important for people to see what kinds of things some of us Catholics and
some of us Sisters stand for and where we put our energies as disciples of
Christ.
So, peace to all,
Sr. Judy
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