Visible and Valuable
Fr Jim Martin posted the following video on his Facebook page in a response to the horrible murders of up to 50 people in Orlando last Saturday night.
Fr. Martin says that for too long the lgbt community has been regarded as ‘other’. For too long they have been invisible in church, even in their deaths they are invisible if we are to judge by the lack of expression of solidarity with the lgbt community in their time of grief and fear in the statements issued by most bishops who commented on the murders.
For Christians, for Catholics, he says, there can be ‘no other’ and everyone has to be regarded as ‘visible and valuable’.
https://www.facebook.com/FrJamesMartin/videos/10153544268041496/
Yes, well said, Fr Jim.
“Those women and men who were mowed down Sunday were all made in the image and likeness of God. We teach that. We should believe that. We must stand for that.” (from the Bishop of St Petersburg, Robert Lynch’s blog.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/06/13/florida-catholic-bishop-it-is-religion-including-our-own-that-targets-lgbt-people/
Being born in the 70’s, I can honestly say I’ve witnessed a grand development and have experienced first hand the advent of modern media and its seamless transition to the world wide web.
The pinnacle of this transition has culminated in the ongoing reportage of the militarisation of society; broad-based militarisation as a justified response to a threat, an economic indicator of how affluent a society has become or within the vigilante who seeks to bring about a perceived justice on a target group.
Does it upset anyone to see how random acts of violence which target a minority demographic can be so terribly described in media as terrorism when these random acts of violence are carried out all over the world on a daily basis and do not go described as such? It doesn’t but it should.
My point is if your country has spent billions on weapons of mass destruction, has sold billions worth of these said weapons, and also manufactures weapons designed to eliminate scores of individuals at a time, how are we citizens any different from this shooter in Orlando?
Should we seem surprised when we read about one person who lashes out at a group that he finds to be either morally bereft or intrinsically evil when last year alone, the combined military expenditure of the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and the United States) totalled 817 billion dollars? Those aren’t made up numbers. It’s truth. Close to a trillion dollars world-wide was contributed to the loss of life.
To put this rampant militarisation in perspective, the cost to end world hunger is estimated at 30 billion per year.
We all seek protection and in doing so, directly fund this whole ordeal. Could it be that our planet is in the hands of a group of sociopaths? That is a question for my generation (X) to answer. If it is, how are we to evict these people from positions of power and authority? Do we not owe it to the coming generations to ensure this happens in our lifetimes so that it doesn’t persist and become a problem for them to deal with?
The problem : our governments over time have become wimpy and ultra-pathetic. How could this be assumed since we are spending so much on military might? Because this leadership is not a reflection of middle class society as a whole; government has become nothing more than a simple instrument of a wealthy and corporate elite who throws billions at military thinking it is going to protect them from an uprising, which to them, is the real enemy, not terrorism as we are led to believe. The greatest terror in the elite’s mind is and always will be, their loss of power. Terrorism, as we know it, reinforces the agenda to provide security and divert investment to this industry.
Pray for Orlando. Pray for the world. Pray we get this figured out and the sooner the better because this type of random occurrence should make us question where we are and how we got there. There is no better time to be alive but we are all spiritually dead if we don’t continue to examine the reasons why the motives of one man are called in question yet the trillion dollar “death” industry is not.
If the general population doesn’t start to actively participate in the humanization of the planet, this type of random act will surely grow in the generations to come.
“For Christians, for Catholics, there can be ‘no other’ and everyone has to be regarded as ‘visible and valuable’.” James Martin SJ
As it happens next Sunday 19th June is the day for the monthly ALL ARE WELCOME MASS in Avila Carmelite Centre( Bloomfield Avenue,off Morehampton Road,Donnybrook, Dublin 4)
All are truly welcome,with a particular welcome for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered) people, their parents, family members and friends.The organising committee would like all to feel we belong in a praying community and to experience full participation when celebrating the Eucharist.
Mass starts at 3.30 pm,followed by coffee/tea, biscuits and chat. Our monthly Sunday Masses started in July 2012. They have been held in Avila since November 2013,on the third Sunday of the month. Further information from:allarewelcomemass@gmail.com
“we are all spiritually dead if we don’t continue to examine the reasons why the motives of one man are called in question yet the trillion dollar death industry is not”.
Very well said Lloyd @2. Thank you for that analysis. The next time at confession, let’s forget “missing Mass on Sunday” and remember our “unquestioning or at least passive support for the global arms trade”.
You’re right Llyod when you say, we the general population, need to find ways to “actively participate in the humanization of the planet”.
See:
https://cruxnow.com/cns/2016/06/16/catholic-charities-picks-pieces-orlando/
On the Orlando massacre religious roots https://newwaysministryblog.wordpress.com/2016/06/20/examining-the-orlando-massacres-religious-roots/
And to sign a statement of global catholic solidarity https://newwaysministryblog.wordpress.com/2016/06/20/sign-the-statement-of-global-catholic-solidarity-with-orlando/
What an excellent piece by Robert Michens.
http://ncronline.org/blogs/roman-observer/church-statements-keep-door-closed-gays