What Should the Church's Role in Politics Be?

While the US is often thought of as hyper religious, particularly in comparison to our European counterparts, and this regularly seeps into our political sphere, the brand of religion often in the press is right-wing evangelical Christianity. When the Catholic Church does take an active and public role, it is generally around the issue of abortion.

For that reason, it was particularly refreshing to see the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) take a vocal stance during the debt ceiling debate.

Both the Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-OH), and the chair of the House Budget Committee, Paul Ryan (R-WI), along with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are Catholic, so it provided the Bishops, and Catholic progressives, a unique opportunity to remind them of Catholic Social Teaching, namely, the preferential option for the poor. (In fact, 30% of the 112^th Congress identifies as Catholic.)

It's important to note the Catholic Church is considered a powerful lobby in the U.S., so the Bishops' letter was a strong message. Their work did not happen alone, of course, numerous religious organizations, Catholic and otherwise, continued their fight to elevate the progressive, religious voice in the debate. A Pax Christi USA activist was amongst other religious leaders that were arrested in the Capitol during a pray-in.

All this has made me think about what it means to be a progressive Catholic, particularly in the American political context.

Coverage of the role of the Church in US politics in the media is almost solely relegated to the issue of abortion; stories around denying communion to pro-choice politicians immediately come to mind. While an especially engaged Catholic could tell you other issues the Church has taken a position on, I'm not sure that your average citizen could. It is sad that pro-life in our country has been defined as abortion, not a range of life issues including stances on economic & racial justice, access to affordable health care, and the death penalty, to name a few.

As a result of this perception that the U.S. Catholic Church is active of abortion and silent on other issues that effect people's everyday lives, coupled with what many view as more conservative messages coming from the pulpit, there is a serious crisis with the US Catholic Church being able to maintain members. And the fact is, the more people leave in frustration, the more conservative the remaining body gets. It should be noted, that a growing Latino population and immigration are helping stem some of the losses in numbers and growing conservativism within the Church.

It often surprises those who first know my politics, that I'm Catholic, even more so when I explain it is my Catholic faith that informs my politics, not that I am Catholic despite my politics.

I do think the Church should play a role in politics, it does not exist in a vacuum and religion has been a part of our political framework for ages, so I would hope the institutional Church takes stances on the many issues our faith touches on, truly embodying what it means to be pro-life. Additionally, more progressive Catholics (and religious progressives generally) should raise their voices as a counterweight to the right wing, capitalistic Christianity that seems to have taken hold, because the Church is only as powerful as its members.

What do you think?

Is there a role for religion in politics? What should it be?

Do others in the US find themselves grappling with these same issues?

For sisters & brothers in other parts of the world, does Catholicism, or religion generally, play a factor in the political system in your country? How so?

London Riots Put Spotlight on Troubled, Unemployed Youths in Britain

NYT/LONDON — “I came here to get my penny’s worth,” said a man who gave his name as Louis James, 19, a slightly built participant in the widening riots that have shaken London to its core. With a touch of guilt on Tuesday, Mr. James showed off what he described as a $195 designer sweater that he said he took during looting in Camden Town, a gentrified area of north London.

In recent days, young rioters and looters like Mr. James have dominated front pages and television reports around the world, prompted a recall of Parliament to a special session and forced the deployment of thousands of police officers.

Widespread antisocial and criminal behavior by young and usually unemployed people has long troubled Britain. Attacks and vandalism by gangs of young people are “a blight on the lives of millions,” said a 2010 government report commissioned in the aftermath of several deaths related to such gangs. They signal, it said, “the decline of whole towns and city areas.”

The government investigation revealed that though only a quarter of such incidents were reported, 3.5 million complaints were nonetheless made to the police. An iPhone app is available to track attacks, and one enterprising inventor marketed a device, called the mosquito, that emits a high-pitched noise that can be heard only by young people as a means for store owners to keep gangs away.

Politicians from both the right and the left, the police and most residents of the areas hit by violence nearly unanimously describe the most recent riots as criminal and anarchic, lacking even a hint of the antigovernment, anti-austerity message that has driven many of the violent protests in other European countries.

But the riots also reflect the alienation and resentment of many young people in Britain, where one million people from the ages of 16 to 24 are officially unemployed, the most since the deep recession of the mid-1980s.

The riots in London began when protesters gathered outside a north London police station after the shooting of a local man by officers. The police have long had troubled relations with racial and ethnic minorities in Britain and have sought to repair these relations, although the protesters have come from all backgrounds. Days later, in Hackney, where some of the fiercest riots took place, a young man in a gray hooded sweatshirt shouted directly into the faces of riot police officers: “You know you all racist! You know it.”

The combination of economic despair, racial tension and thuggery has “a devastating effect on communities,” said Graham Beech, an official at the crime-prevention charity Nacro. “It’s something that ordinary people see on their walks to work — street drunkenness, vandalism, intimidation — and that affects the general fear of crime.” As the British government’s austerity measures begin to take effect, young people will also see their chances of employment dwindling and their financial and community support cut, Mr. Beech said. “Boredom, alienation and isolation are going to be factors,” he said.

In many ways, Mr. James’s circumstances are typical. He lives in a government-subsidized apartment in northern London and receives $125 in jobless benefits every two weeks, even though he says he has largely given up looking for work. He says he has never had a proper job and learned to read only three years ago. His mother can barely support herself and his stepbrothers and sisters. His father, who was a heroin addict, is dead.

He says he has been in and out of too many schools to count and left the educational system for good when he was 15.

“No one has ever given me a chance; I am just angry at how the whole system works,” Mr. James said. He would like to get a job at a retail store, but admits that he spends most days watching television and just trying to get by. “That is the way they want it,” he said, without specifying exactly who “they” were. “They give me just enough money so that I can eat and watch TV all day. I don’t even pay my bills anymore.”

To read more, visit HERE.

Were is the greek money ?

As we all know Europe it’s in a hot spot, it all started on Greece but it won’t stop there, even my country it’s struggling to get out of the market speculation.

But what that’s have to do with the the youth forum or even the youth conference ? As we all remember the topic for the conference was “Military budget vs humanitarian aid” , a few months ago I was surfing the youtube looking for videos about the greece crisis and i found this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQGkP68AVTI.

Well i suggest you first read this fact’s before watching the videos:

• Keep in mind that Greece is a country with an incredible deficit ( Greek deficit for 2009 was 15.4% of GDP ) in:. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/nov/15/greek-deficit-bigger-than-thought.

• Greece as aprox. 11 million people and 100.000 thousand troops.
• Portugal as aprox. 10 million people and 18.538 thousand troops.

-Last but not least, “we” (E.U) lend money to the Greek's in we return they had to buy weaponry.

In conclusion, the million dollar question is why does Greece need’s so much weaponry?

In one to be said the most peaceful continent’s on earth, Europe as forgotten that Greece and Turkey are in a full weapons race each one competing for the upper hand, forgetting the most basic aspects of their own population sutch as a sustainable economy.

So were is the Greek money? It’s in the weapons that the fellow E.U partners sold them and now they ask their money with interest above the market.

Best Regards,

Simão Saco, Portugal.