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By Priscilla Greear, Staff Writer
MARIETTA—At the 44th annual AACCW conference, women explored
new methods to build Gospel bridges of inclusion with Hispanic, Asian and other
immigrants in need in their parishes and to cross over the waters of judgment
and indifference that divide them.
Keynote speaker Katharine Boucher, LCSW, challenged women to
embrace the growing immigrant and ethnic communities in their parishes. Learn
from them what their needs are in order to better meet those needs and help
empower newcomers, instead of giving them pre-packaged programs, she said. And
the first bridge to cross is internal, as women open themselves to welcome all
God’s children. “One of the ways we bridge (between ethnic groups) is
talking to one another. You can’t build a bridge from one side ... You
have to do it from both sides ... We are finding out what other people need ...
rather than what we’ve decided to give them and that’s how bridges
get built,” she said. “Every change begins in us. Nothing changes in
our behavior until it takes place in our soul and mind.”
The annual archdiocesan Catholic women’s conference, hosted
this year by the south deanery led by president Ann Marie Mullen, was held the
weekend of Sept. 22-24 at the Wyndham Gardens Hotel-Atlanta North-west,
Marietta. Some 170 women from 43 churches, including two parish junior
councils, came together to explore ways of “Bridging the Gap, Unity
through Diversity.” New officers were installed at a Mass on Sept. 24
celebrated by spiritual moderator Father Paul Berny.
Boucher, a licensed clinical social worker with a consulting
practice in Annapolis, Md., who was a practicing psychotherapist for 25 years,
spoke on welcoming the growing Catholic immigrant population. She spoke of how
the earliest generations of immigrants had smaller mountains to climb in that
they settled uninhabited regions where they created their own communities,
while newcomers over the past 50 years are setting up communities in
established areas. She called women to create for them the same opportunities
they’ve had. They, in turn, may sip not from a melting pot, she said, but
a multicultural cup of knowledge with distinct seasonings, where they may learn
from and be enriched by distinct cultures.
Boucher said some Anglos believe the church revolves around them,
yet in a few decades in some regions Latinos will comprise half of the church.
And only 50 years ago in some parts of the country, non-whites were excluded
not only from golf courses but churches.
Reflecting the church’s increased understanding of and
attention to the needs of unique cultures, she spoke of the multicultural
Encuentro held last summer in Los Angeles involving dialogue, forgiveness and
reconciliation. Various ethnic groups shared painful experiences of racism as
well as stories of healing.
Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston asked forgiveness for the
church’s sins of racism, hostility towards Protestants and Jews,
tolerating sexual misconduct by clergy and ignoring those with AIDS and other
disabilities, and immigrants. “The point is that the institutional church
is awakening to its need to bridge the gap,” she said, adding, “I am
a believer that the church continues the sin of sexism, that in the next
Jubilee we’ll be apologizing for.”
She said age is another increasing factor in diversity, with a
growing elderly population. The AACCW, which lacks many young adult members, is
challenged to attract them. “One of the ways is seeing what they need ...
If the organization doesn’t change, they won’t be met.”
She compared a Catholic cold shoulder to one’s unfamiliar
neighbor to an engaged man declaring deep love and devotion to his
fiancée, but refusing to meet any of her family members.
“(Jesus) loves each of us and each of the people in our
community, no matter how diverse they are. He wants us to ask what would Jesus
do to bridge in the area of diversity.”
Bridge construction can begin with simple gestures like a personal
invitation to church, offering a sign of peace during Mass not just to friends
but to new faces, and making eye contact. Whether to a homeless person or a bus
driver, “by acknowledging (that person), we give respect ... To groups
that are trying to come in and aren’t feeling individually part of
community, that makes them feel more so,” she said.
She also urged Catholic women to get out to vote, mindful of the
needs of minorities, the powerless and the poor. “How do I act as their
advocate in the voting process—to look at the issues, to look at the
people, to look at where we’re headed as a community and as a
society?” she said. It’s important “that I use my power to vote
to bridge the gap of Christ’s kingdom on earth, that I take advantage of
the organizational programs we can develop ... that I use my self-will and my
prayer life to recognize the diversity that Christ brought on earth.
That’s how you bridge the gap.”
In a workshop on “Global Citizenship,” Jane Carter,
chair of the international concerns committee of the Knoxville, Tenn., Catholic
women’s council, asked women to view the world through the lens of global
justice.
“Talking about advocacy, responsible citizenship and global
solidarity are tough subjects ... Making sense out of international issues,
such as debt relief, is not easy. Speaking out in the public arena is difficult
for most of us, but who ever said being a faithful Catholic was easy?” she
said.
Reading from the U.S. bishops’ statement “Called to
Global Responsibility,” she said, “(The) Catholic community of faith
should measure their prayer, education and action by how they serve the dignity
and rights of the human person at home and abroad.”
While charity is necessary and important, she called Catholics to
also tackle underlying problems of poverty. “We are not all moving to the
second step, that of actively working for social change, which is to challenge
and change the systems and institutions that are the causes of injustice ...
The second step is equally important and much more difficult because it
requires that we reexamine our life choices and be open to change,” she
said. “Your job is to participate, to be committed and compassionate,
standing in solidarity because your faith demands it and celebrating our unity
because faith demands it.”
She then reviewed the bishops’ statement, which shows
Catholics how to better serve globally. Carter encouraged guilds to foster
education and formation at meetings and to do smaller things like putting
social justice quotes at the bottom of meeting agendas and to reevaluate yearly
their stewardship.
“We are stewards of all our resources, not only our money. We
are also called to be good stewards of our time, our energy and our special
gifts and talents.”
The statement calls the faithful to participate in parish
collections and to support companies that don’t exploit workers or natural
resources but promote international justice. Carter said there are many global
outreach programs through the National Council of Catholic Women and Catholic
Relief Services like a Stop Sweatshop Campaign supporting international
workers. In practicing justice, the speaker urged women, who are more
relational than men, to stay involved in parish decision-making groups. She
recommended participating in the AACCW legislative day, writing letters to
state and federal representatives and learning about legislative issues through
Catholic and other web sites.
“Citizenship is a lot more than registering to vote. We need
to be informed voters. Your job is to participate in the debate and the vision
of campaign issues and legislative initiatives,” she said. “No matter
what the legislative chair does, if you don’t participate it doesn’t
work ...What counts is voters, not ideas of bishops ... We bring with us a
wealth of experience as a church and faith. We bring with us education,
hospitals, welfare.”
International debt relief is one cause worth fighting for as it is
the underlying way to resolve many other problems in the Third World, she said,
referring to the U.S. bishops’ “A Jubilee Call for Debt
Forgiveness.” Now is the time to write Congress asking that they fully
fund the country’s $435 million commitment to contribute to debt relief
this year through the Cologne Debt Initiative, she said.
“We have tools and programs available. The question is will
you take up the calling?” she said. “As you continue to do good
works, pray to grow in understanding the causes of poverty and injustice that
come from a world divided, not united in its diversity ... As you continue to
pray, challenge yourself to take that second step to grow and to be willing to
change.”
In a workshop for church, family and community commissions,
Boucher spoke about her own growth through years spent as a volunteer at
hospices visiting families and training volunteers, where she has learned more
about the dying process.
“Our Christian faith brings us to what comes after, to look
forward to what comes after. The anxiety, the fear (comes from) a lack of
understanding involving the process of dying. ‘How do I go from being
healthy to being sick to not being here?’”
Volunteering involves being there for and listening to patients
and family members, responding to their needs, helping with simple things like
relaying their questions to doctors. Describing holding a dying woman’s
hand, she said, “I felt for the first time that’s what we’re
here for, to accompany people on the journey. It’s not to do the right
thing, to restore their faith, it’s just to be there.”
Before her elderly mother died, Boucher said her mother expressed
her wish not to be resuscitated after her breathing stopped or to take other
life-extending measures. The family acted on her decision, she said, as the
sick have the right to decide how they want to die. The family stayed by her
bedside and sang hymns and said the rosary with her as she died. “It
wasn’t suicide. It was she was ready to go. She was old and tired and we
were there.”
She said hospice care for the terminally ill, which came about in
the last century and may be either for profit or nonprofit, helps the sick to
die better, and that before they were being isolated from others in remote
hospital wings.
Hospice involves a team approach, which includes a doctor, nurse,
social worker, clergy and volunteers, who support families in various ways.
“To me it’s a very Christian spiritual concept—that
death comes at the end of life, but we should live until we’re dead and we
can’t live with pain ... The primary purpose of hospice is palliative
care, not to cure but keep comfortable until death, so that people can live
until death.”
Boucher urged women’s guilds to invite hospice workers to
speak at their parishes where they can learn more about hospice and more about
volunteer opportunities.
In an interview following the workshops, Joan Lucas acknowledged
the need for more unity in her parish, Holy Family in Marietta, between the
Hispanic and Anglo communities, which are “so separate.” She said
refugee resettlement is a good volunteer area for Catholic women, particularly
helping refugee women and children and teaching English to refugees.
“There are a lot of retired teachers that can help with ESL,
help in the schools. I’ve done that before and I loved that,” she
said. “We are a global church and we need to be more aware of the needs of
other countries and other areas.
“We (the NCCW) do have national programs that address
this,” she said, mentioning the Water for Life program which brings
drinking water to arid parts of the world and the Madonna Plan, which provides
prenatal care in Third World countries.
She agreed that Catholic voices need to be heard in Washington
through the voting process and advocacy.
“I think it’s so important in taking an active part in
doing this and knowing our issues, getting behind the issues,” she said.
“I think people become very afraid of advocating to their congressman ...
I think they listen more to the voice of women. (Women) are great advisors on
programs that they see need help. Maybe we need to get more ecumenical with
this ... working with other faiths.”
The south deanery president, Mullen said the event allowed women
to come together and renew their goals for the upcoming year.
“I think it was an excellent conference and I think the
speakers spoke of the challenges facing us in the future,” she said.
“It energized local women’s groups. We gave each other ideas so that
we can go back and re-energize what we’re doing.”
“This conference was our first step in bridging the gap and
achieving more unity and it sets a tone for where we need to go in the future
regarding diversity and multicultural understanding and all parts of the
minority (population) in the community,” she said. |
