By Mary Frances McCarthy
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 4/29/04)

Last weekend 200 people from Connecticut to Florida gathered in Portsmouth, Va., to learn how to "Be a Prophetic Voice" and "Live a Prophetic Faith" at the three-day regional parish social ministry assembly sponsored by Catholic Charities USA.

The planning team included representatives from the dioceses of Arlington, Richmond, Greensburg, Pa., Pittsburgh, Pa., Wilmington, Del., Charleston, S.C., Raleigh, N.C., and Charlotte, N.C., and the archdioceses of Washington, Atlanta, Ga. and Baltimore.

Participants met with several nationally known speakers, including Thomas DeStefano, president of Catholic Charities USA; Jim Wallace, executive director of Sojourners magazine; Gina Hens-Piazza, professor of biblical studies at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley; and Father J. Bryan Hehir, cabinet secretary for social concerns for the archdiocese of Boston and former Catholic Charities USA president.

Retired Richmond Bishop Walter Sullivan was scheduled to attend, but was on an "ad limina" visit to Rome.

Andy Zampini, from Catholic Charities USA in Delaware, said the conference was a "great opportunity for people involved in parishes to be exposed to national speakers and get practical feedback and knowledge to take back."

In his keynote address Friday night, Wallace, a protestant preacher, discussed how spirituality and politics relate. Raised in an evangelical church in Detroit, Mich., Wallace was first "saved" at age 6. At 14, he realized there were differences between white Detroit and black Detroit. He heard about people who were hungry and homeless. When he visited their churches, he saw that "they loved the same Jesus we did, read the same Bible we did, sang out of the same hymn book we did — they just made it sound better." What Wallace described as his second conversion briefly took him away from his church.

Wallace was told, "Christianity has nothing to do with racism. That’s political and religion is personal." But, Wallace said, God is never private.

"By privatizing religion, we deprive the nation of a resource," he said. "Separation of Church and state does not require separation of values and morals from public life. In the public arena it’s almost as if our faith is stolen. How did Jesus become pro-rich, pro-war and pro-American?"

Wallace said it is evident that there is a new generation of Christian activists creating a movement. He described them as "politically homeless." These Catholic advocates cannot side with the left because of their pro-choice beliefs. They cannot side with the right because of their lack of support for the poor and suffering.

In the upcoming election, Wallace said, there are four keys: national security, economics, voter registration and religion. All of these link to social justice.

"Unless you drain the swamp of poverty where the mosquitoes of terrorism breed, you will not rid the world of terrorism," Wallace said. Economic justice, healthcare and housing need to be understood as moral issues so that the right-wing Christians will fight for these rights. Encouraging voter registration and turnout, especially among low-income people, should be seen as a service project, devoid of political preferences. And while church and state should be separate, legislation should never be devoid of morality.

"Reclaim a Gospel faith that says our faith challenges the powers that be to help people overcome and escape poverty," Wallace said. "Make sure the issue of religion in this election is much broader, much deeper. Religious issues like justice and peace making remind people that in America religion has fueled social movement."

Saturday’s keynote by Gina Hens-Piazza addressed how people become prophetic. While dispelling many myths of what a prophet is, she explained what prophets are called to do and how a person can speak with a prophetic voice.

Hens-Piazza said a prophet is not a fortune teller, a social activist or simply a spokesperson for God. None of these descriptions includes the whole picture.

A prophet is an intermediary, not only between God and the people, but between themselves and God and themselves and the people. "It requires being one with God and one with the people," Hens-Piazza said.

"We forget we are one with those we are ministering," she said. A minister cannot know what a community needs until they are part of the community.

"If all you know is theologizing, it’s great, but it will never address the messiness, the chaos of the human state."

The life of a prophetic minister is far from glorious. "To be a prophetic minister, you are called to something you will never accomplish," she said. But, "On some level, the voice of God invades your heart … and you cannot do otherwise."

On Sunday, Father Bryan Hehir described the role of the Church in the world, especially its role in protecting the rights of all people.

"We are a Church that believes God has put us in the world," Father Hehir said. "We are to be a transformative force in the world. The social teaching grows out of this sense that we belong in the world."

Father Hehir described the three sources of Catholic social vision — the Bible, papal teaching and the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.

"The Bible is full of rich powerful insight," Father Hehir said. "This vision is like a horizon you move toward but never really get to.

Papal teachings "complement the vision of scripture." It is a "more precise language to help us relate the Biblical vision to a world that is not of Biblical vision."

"Justice and peace goes with life and human life. Catholic Social Teaching comes from a Church that believes we are responsible for how those issues are worked out."

Throughout the weekend, participants attended group sessions based on different aspects of social ministry at the diocesan and parish level. Session topics included, sessions on how to get parishes more involved in social ministry, sessions on specific social justice issues, and several session on the JustFaith program that has grown rapidly over the last three years. The sessions reaffirmed what was said in the keynote addresses — working with, not only for, those in need and encouraging dialogue.

Emmanuel Penn, a young adult from Notre Dame D’Haiti Parish in Miami, said he learned that "Living simply doesn’t mean you have to give up your lifestyle. You can be charitable with your art for others." He attended the conference with other youths and young adults from Miami in order to get ideas for how they could make their parish’s social ministry more successful, how to make it more fun, and how to better involve the youth so they can "change society."

On Saturday, about 50 people took action at Gate 15 of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth. Norfolk Catholic Worker, Pax Christi Virginia and the Tidewater Sowers for Justice sponsored a Vigil for Peace and Economic Conversion to connect large military spending and hunger and homelessness in the country. The shipyard is refitting a submarine to carry 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles and special operations forces. According to the Catholic Worker, the project will cost almost $1 billion per submarine and decommissioning the watercraft would save more than $15 billion over 20 years.

A group of teenagers with Voices that Challenge in the Tidewater area and the Outer Banks energized the vigil with songs and cheers.

<photo credit>HERALD Photos by Mary Frances McCarthy

<photo caption>Tim McCarthy from Virginia Beach, Sr. Mary Joan Kentz, S.N.D., and Renee McCarthy join hands and sing during the prayer service on Saturday night. Sr. Kentz who admitted to being "85 and a half" years old held the distinction of being the oldest attendant at the conference. She has worked with social justice issues since about 1970 and is trying to start a JustFaith group in Baltimore.

<photo caption>Fr. Bryan Hehir, cabinet secretary for social concerns of the Archdiocese of Boston, delivers the keynote address on Sunday morning. In his address, Fr. Hehir outlined the origins and history of Catholic social teaching and where it should lead Catholics in the future.

<photo caption>Michael Stone, associate director of the office of Justice and Peace for the Diocese of Richmond, and Mary Anne Keller, from Virginia Beach, facilitate a discussion on increasing parish involvement in social ministry.

<photo caption>Sr. Marilyn T. Lieber, D.W., of Virginia Beach performs the role, "Old Turtle," in a play performed by children from the Mission of the Holy Spirit in Norfolk at the Saturday night prayer service.

<photo caption>Conference participants gather outside Gate 15 of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard to protest refitting submarines to carry cruise missiles.