Obama at Notre Dame

Rather than protest at a speech, I prefer to support life by looking to the life of Dorothy Day for my guidance.  She was a devout catholic journalist who became a social activist and worked to create a better world by using the corporal works of mercy as a basis for her life.

The corporal works of mercy:

• feeding the hungry
  
• giving drink to the thirsty 
  
• clothing the naked 

  
• offering hospitality to the homeless 

  
• caring for the sick 

  
• visiting the imprisoned 
  
• burying the dead 
  

Dorothy Day did have an abortion as a young woman, just like many young women today. She later regretted it and spent the rest of her life supporting life by helping those who were poor, homeless, and hungry. She founded the Catholic Worker movement and opened a "house of hospitality" in the slums of New York City in 1933. To this day similar "houses of hospitality" exist all over the United States.

Do we work to find common ground among those with whom we disagree? Do we reach out in love to those who make us uncomfortable? 

"What we would like to do is change the world. And by fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly for the rights of the workers, the poor....we can to a certain extent change the world. We can throw our pebble in the pond and be confident that is ever widening circle will reach around the world. We repeat, "there is nothing that we can do but love, and, dear God, please enlarge our herarts to love each other, to love our neighbor, to love our enemy as well as our friend."

The above picture is part of an online exhibit on Dorothy Day at Marquette University. 

 

Healing a Broken World

I woke up this morning remembering that there are so many ways to repair our broken world and so many people who are doing their best to do so. I am deeply moved by Katrina Browne's documentary Traces of the Trade - A Story from the Deep North, which I watched on PBS last night. Watch Trailer

It is the compelling and honest story of nine members of a Rhode Island family who discover that their ancestors were the largest slave trading family in the history of the United States. As they revisit the sites of the trade route, they face extreme sadness, confusion, and anger. They ask many questions and look for ways to bring about reconciliation.  See Katrina's letter to viewers.

While the dialogue and the healing continue. I will continue to look for ways to make sure that I am not enriching myself at the expense of others. I don't want to buy products that are produced by those who work for next to nothing and can't  afford to feed their children. That's why I buy only Fair Trade coffee and gifts, and volunteer at the local fair trade store. Perhaps some of the daily choices we make might help promote the dignity of others.

And as Katrina said in a sermon in her church, if "we really show up for the conversation" and take each other's hurt to heart as much as our own, perhaps we can create a better world.  See how to get involved.