First learning for this week was about Catholic Relief Services, a big charitable organization. They spent almost a billion dollars last year in emergency relief, health, and agriculture with an efficiency of 94% of funding going to programs. That means very low administrative and fundraising expenses compared to the less effocient 75% for March of Dimes or 50% for the American Breast Cancer Association
(Charity Navigator) They respond in crises like the hurricanes and Rwanda crisis. Turns out - they also do advocacy and awareness. Catholic Family Relief services put together a new website and 3 min videos based on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops documents. The videos are easy to digest, small, and surprisingly watchable. Notably missing is that cheese factor you come to expect from Christian movies (i.e. anything Kirk Cameron produced, though the corny factor has lessened in newer movies) as the videos are really well-filmed, with cameos from Fr Jim Martin, and you get to see Br Mickey O'Neill McGrath make art during the clips. https://www.crs.org/resource-center/CST-101
To my more liberal-leaning friends (who are quick to post every Bernie article): you might be surprised to see how much you have in common with these 7 themes such as options for the poor and rights of the workers. And to my more conservative friends: catholic social teaching is 6 themes more than the big topic of right to life. Oh and there is so much language about compassion and love, balanced with the suggestions for action that my analytical side was begging for.
Okay - A lot of preamble to get to this point, but I was kept up until 2am on Tuesday night when I saw that FERMI, the lil ole satellite I got to work on, had helped measure and confirm gravitational waves, for the first time from two nuetron stars!! I got to join in (along with the 5,000 others involved with production of the satellite) to be a part of scientific history! These two neturon stars who were each in the process of dying, were very, very dense. So dense that it would be like compressing our sun into an object the size of Chicago. What!?! There are two of them!
They had been circling each other for 11 billion years, and 130 million years they finally collided. They are so very far away, that it took that long (130 million years) for the photons (and gamma rays) to reach us! Wow! LIGO, a detector on earth, and FERMI, a satellite in space alerted their scientists of the event where they could triangulate the event to a portion of space, so astronomers took to the sky and started searching. They found the object! Sadly, to a layperson it doesn't look all that exciting, but scientists were near ecstacy.
Why though? Why did the scientists care? Well in addition to confirming more about gravitational waves (great video here) that Einstein proposed back in 1916 (yes 100 years ago!!), they confirmed suspicions that heavy element like gold and platinum are formed in the nuclei of these kilanova collisions. So - kiss your gold ring and thank the neutron stars (not just any type of star but specifically a neutron star) that had to crash into another neutron star for you to wear that.
This is where I start to feel the Catholic Social Teaching on Care for Common Home. Drawing from Laudato Si, Papa Francis' document about care for the earth, our earth - a mere 4.5 billion years old has fossil fuels and ores which we know are non-renewable. When we run out of coal or oil, there's no more. It's gone. But this - do you realize how hard God had to work to provide these different elements for us? No wonder that churches are lined with gold or that the Isrealites made a golden calf to worship! Gold comes from the death of so many stars over billions of years. Everything we see and touch on this earth is part of a majestic unfolding love God has for us. In Genesis in both creation stories, we are called to be stewards of the earth and care for it. Party lines and personal views aside, the same science that predicted the second when the eclipse would occur a month ago, the same science that confirmed Einsteins's theories 100 years ago - that same science is telling us our future is short and grim unless we do something. Flat earthers, climate change deniers, and Phoebe on Friends who tells Ross she doesn't believe in gravity (clip here), take a second look. We can change the future, but only if we are aware of what's happening around us.
A second big event this week (and probably more visible for most people) was the #metoo event . For those of you less techie, hashtags (#) are used almost like a hyperlink. If you search for a specific hashtag, you get responses from people all over the world who are all writing about that topic. #throwbackthursday is an example where people post old photos of themselves (on Thursday). #metoo is a movement for women who have experienced sexual harassment and assault to let others know - no details needed, just a show of solidarity that the domination and power-craved behavior of too many men has affected women everywhere. The power of #metoo is it is inclusive of the different levels of struggle - from terrible violent assaults to the barrage of daily violations of personal and emotional space.
I had no intention of participating, despite knowing so many of my friends who have been subject to the violent events so rarely spoken about. When they started posting and sharing their stories of recovery and bravery, I knew I had to post as well, in solidarity of them, and because I had a ridiculous moment when a man violated my personal and emotional space just last week. What I find ridiculous is that I didn't connect that this was included in #metoo because it was so common place, and in public. I started to identify with the posts from others, that they (and I) seemed to think of the event every day since.
I must say I was surprised at the outrage people felt for me. Really? You can't say youtoo? I hope that's true but wonder if, like me, you are unaware because of how regularly it happens. Here are some examples: my smaller friends complain about being picked up, physically lifted, by their male friends. They are too small physically to fight and found it easier just to let it happen. Hearing stories from elders who were flashed many times over the years, with a slight laugh because it was so common. I still get whistled at walking down the street, even recently while walking into a church. That is a kind of subjugation - making me feel like an object to be evaluated rather than a human with my own dignity.
Last summer, at a meeting with many women and only a few men, where I was supposed to feel welcome and safe, while I was eating lunch, a man walked by, grabbed my ponytail and while laughing, moved my head around. With his wife standing right beside him, he said he does this to his grandaughters and calls their ponytails handlebars. Though at the time I thought this was small and not a big deal, uncomfortably laughing it off until he stopped and walked away, later that day when I couldn't stop thinking about how powerless I felt in that moment, I became aware. Really aware. It wasn't small. It wasn't nothing. It was reasonable to be upset. This man - whom I didn't even know his name, felt like he was empowered to enter my space and direct where my head should be, without a warning to me, or any remorse. This was a kind, godly man, as so many of them are, and was completely unaware of how belittling that was: subjegating me to a toy for him as he walked by. And he did this to his granddaughters! Never would I ever consider grabbing his ears as I walk by and turning his head around - that's a fantastic wild notion, so how was this any different? Recognizing that I had a responsibility to his granddaughters and to defend myself, I got the courage and confronted him the next day, apologizing the whole time for the uncomfortable situation (which I am now disappointed in my lack of confidence), but really confronted him. He and his wife apologized and thanked me, totally unaware. I don't know that he's thought of it since, but I have. I don't think about what he did but rather how strong and capable I feel for having told him and maybe changed something.
Aligned with the Catholic Social Teaching for Solidarity, recognizing that every human is valued and when we stand together we make a difference, I am glad to be a part of something that brings hope. #metoo has been used by guys who are dawning awareness in the magnitude of how many of the women in their lives have joined in. Publicly posting that they are willing to do better, try harder, and teach their sons to be different, the best part of this campaign is the hope and dialogue it has started. Perhaps then, the 'regular, small' harrassment will be seen for what it is - unwanted harrassment and not acceptable. Hopefully, too, on the other side of the spectrum, the men who perform the terrible violent acts can see the outrage from society and change their ways. Every person should be respected, regardless of race, gender, or creed, and we can all learn to love each other like God loves each one of us - going back to the golden rule.
In this very long post of three seemingly unlinked topics, I appreciate the wealth of lessons I learned this week, of the awe and wonder of God's creation, dignity for every person, and desire to reach out and do good in the world, informed by a framework that's part of my faith. As month two of formation comes to a close, I am so grateful for where I am and the many hands that are 'forming' me.
No comments:
Post a Comment