Everyone knows the saying that “those who can, do, those that can’t, teach”. Well, I decided to do something bold- to apply the Old Catholic “both-and” paradigm in my life. I am a Catholic religion teacher and I have been campaigning for public office- in my case Florida State House of Representatives. During the workday I try to inspire my students to be Christian disciples who care deeply about the world and to be willing to take on leadership responsibilities, starting with self-mastery. Teaching is fine and noble work, but when a teacher must consistently point out how we are failing as a community, as a nation, and as a global society, there comes a point where that teacher needs to “put up or lighten up”. I made my choice to try to do more, not less, and directly address the social realities faced by our current and future generations.

Cindy Sheehan -- whose tireless efforts to pursue meaning and justification for her son's death in Iraq made her the face of the peace movement -- stepped out of her active role in the anti-war movement on Memorial Day.

Cindy signed out of her campaign in a letter she posted in her blog at DailyKos.com. To prevent loss of this letter, I uploaded a .pdf version of it to our server. It can be found here.

This is a letter written by a woman who has been through hell and back. Cindy comes across broken and disillusioned; and she deserves our prayers and support.

I am not upset that Cindy is stepping down from her active role in the peace movement. People often burn out in justice work; even without having sacrificed so much. Cindy has given up everything to be a standard-bearer of peace and accountability. How many among the peace movement can really say that? Cindy has galvanized the timid and moved the hesitant. Now she deserves her rest.

The vitriol which Cindy had to put up with -- and which still gets slung her way -- is reprehensible. The peace movement we see today consists of coalitions representing diverse ranges of groups; not all of which are solely or even primarily motivated by the desire to promote peace. There are groups which pursue justice at a broader spectrum. Then you have groups which have their own particular causes, and which find the peace movement to be an unprecedented opportunity to attract attention to those respective causes. And, let's not forget the young anarchist, neo-hippie wanna-be groups who simply want an excuse for excitement and rebellion. Then there are groups of ordinary citizens who just want what Cindy wanted: either justify this war or end it.

When:

Wednesday, May 30, 2007 10 am

Where:

Wow, it's overwhelming to try to include all the Catholic websites related to understanding political and social issues in light of our faith. Beautiful and inspiring, yes. But it also provokes questions such as "Why are there 6 Catholic news agencies?" as well as "Do all these Catholic advocacy organizations and publications know each other exists?" Incidentally, I suspect the answer to the latter could shed some light on the former..

Another thought that comes to mind is--maybe we Catholics should be spending as much time doing as we are writing! I know, I know, I know... but I still think there's some truth to that. And that thought afflicts my own conscience as well, as I write this entry for so few readers.

I also began to wonder what possible justification there could be for limiting the listings in the sidebars of this site to (1) Catholic sites which are (2) related to political issues. Aren't secular organizations and publications worth our attention too? Shouldn't politically active Catholics be rooted in faith, prayer, and culture? (..so that those sorts of sites should be listed too, perhaps more prominently than the explicitly political ones..)

The best rationale I could come up with has to do with the likely audience of this site (if any). On the one hand, there could be Catholics who are politically active but wouldn't describe themselves as, say, devout. The links gathered here cater to their curiosity about political affairs, and most of them have the potential to draw a casual Catholic into a deeper understanding and engagement with our faith, with the Word. On the other hand, there could be devout Catholics who are disengaged from "the social question", unfamiliar with Catholic Social Teaching, who stumble upon this site and are drawn into faithful citizenship through one of these Catholic sites.