response

I work in IT and have for almost 5 decades. One of the intellectual exercises we perform when "something has gone wrong" or as we sterilely say an "incident", is called "root cause analysis". That exercise is not beloved of most because one has to ask hard questions and often get hard answers, unpopular questions and unpopular answers.

In the case of the current federal, state and local government budget crises, trying to do that, in almost all cases, causes a political outcry. So it is avoided. It was certainly avoided in your editorial "State of the Unions." To your credit you did mention "get long-term entitlement costs under control."

The problem far exceeds that.

The scandalous financial crises over the years have laid bare the unsustainable nature of government policy at all levels going back decades. The state workers feel like victims - they are. But then so are and will be present and future citizens of the state and the nation - our children and grandchildren. It is difficult to name any public (or more than a few private) policies that are sustainable. As I write this, the price of gasoline is soaring. Nobody's budget for fuel costs going forward is adequate. That will ripple through the world economy.

Until realistic analysis of the future costs and available resources are made, the most endangered species is humanity. The root cause is a failure to understand and act on the insight of Gn 1:28a - God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it."

One can only fill what is finite. What is finite has limits. When you get to the limit, that is all there is. When you get near the limit, the scramble for the diminishing amount left is not pretty.

stimulus: State of the Unions

The newly elected Republican governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, wants to balance his state's budget by slashing the wages and benefits of state employees and eliminating most of their collective-bargaining rights for good measure.

This deeply cynical attack on workers' rights brought tens of thousands of protesters to the Capitol in Madison and induced the Democrats in the Wisconsin senate to flee the state, thus denying Republicans a quorum and stymieing the governor's plans, at least temporarily. These tactics are not likely to stop Walker's legislation in the long run, however, and its passage will be a blow both to economic justice and to good government.

Few knowledgeable people doubt that the medical and pension benefits of most unionized state employees need to be renegotiated if the states are to balance their budgets and get long-term entitlement costs under control, a fact already conceded by Wisconsin's unions. For decades, too many governors have signed off on generous benefit packages for state workers, leaving their successors to figure out how to pay for it all. But to suggest, as Walker and a number of other Republican governors have, that the current fiscal problems in the states have been caused by the unions is scapegoating. The states have been plunged into the red by the ongoing effects of the recession, which was caused not by unions but by the financial skullduggery of bankers (see Charles R. Morris, "The Two Economies"). The worst recession since the Depression dramatically reduced tax revenues while simultaneously increasing the need for social services. Stimulus money from Washington helped the states balance their budgets over the past few years, but Republicans in Congress have put an end to such "bailouts." A combination of higher taxes and government belt-tightening is now needed--in other words, shared sacrifice, not political pandering. Illinois and Connecticut are trying to implement such fiscally responsible policies. Governor Walker has chosen the low road, exploiting the economic fears of voters by demonizing public employees. (Or most public employees: his legislation shamelessly exempts the unions that supported his candidacy, such as firefighter and police unions.)

The right of workers to unionize and bargain with employers for a living wage and decent medical, disability, and retirement benefits is a long-standing principle of Catholic social teaching, enunciated in unambiguous terms in encyclicals issued by nearly every pope from Leo XIII to Benedict XVI. Wisconsin's Catholic bishops and other religious leaders have voiced their opposition to Walker's proposal and their support for the unions and the rights of workers to collective bargaining. Economic justice, not economic growth, is the cornerstone of the church's social teaching. It condemns the social and material damage done when employees and their families are treated as voiceless underlings or disposable parts. It understands unions to be vital mediating institutions between the state or corporation and the otherwise isolated individual, who would be ineffective if she or he acted alone. The defense of the rights of workers is also one of the important ways in which the church supports and strengthens democratic institutions and government. Unions, like churches, civic and voluntary organizations, professional and business groups, families, and a host of other associations, are essential in creating the "social solidarity" we need in order to recognize what actions best promote the common good. It's true, of course, that unions sometimes abuse their power, and when they do they must be held accountable. But, without them, who holds employers accountable?

In the 1950s, a third of all American workers were union members. Today that number is less than 12 percent. Public employees now account for more than 50 percent of all unionized workers. As union membership has declined, so have all working- and middle-class incomes. At the same time, the concentration of wealth among the top 1 percent of earners has reached levels not seen since the 1920s. As Peter Steinfels points out in his review of Winner-Take-All Politics ("The Great Reversal"), "our democracy has become the most economically unequal nation in the advanced world." This did not happen by accident. Over the past three decades, business and corporate interests have spent billions to limit taxation, constrain the reach of government, delegitimize unions, and attack any effort to distribute the nation's wealth more equitably. Institutions that used to look out for the welfare of the average American worker have disappeared or looked the other way--and that includes the Democratic Party. Is it any wonder that the average citizen is so alienated from government or that the nation's politics have become so bitter and confrontational?

For democracy to work, citizens must organize to defend their legitimate interests. For the market to work--for everyone--workers must have a say in the decisions that affect them and their families. That is what unions are for. The weaker the bargaining power of unions, the fainter the voice of the people becomes.

- the Editors cw2011Mar11

Preaching to bishops

Preaching to bishops, is like farting at skunks. You'll win some battles, but lose the war. - a long-dead churchman q.Thomas Lynch Commonweal ©2010Jan15 CXXXVII.1

resurrection?

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/16/the-popes-newspaper-goes-pop/

the new compassion

kicking someone while their down

yet another blaming the victim

http://www.parentdish.com/2009/12/09/christians-to-blame-for-secular-christmas/?icid=mainhtmlws-main-ndl3link4http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parentdish.com%2F2009%2F12%2F09%2Fchristians-to-blame-for-secular-christmas%2F

you don't have to agree with everything this woman has to say, but

most of it is good and she says it well.

my reply

Well written Ms Goldstein. I do not agree with some of the asides, but the thrust is appropriate.

The bottom line is his child and that child's inheritance from his father. Which is better: to have money or self-respect and dignity?

The root value is: it is better to teach your child values than to give gold.

Or are "values" a dirty word?

sing a new song unto the Lord

I am just getting around to the August issue and have been pondering the articles on liturgy.

It seems to me "reverence" is a code word for "quiet."

I am registered in what I think is the largest parish in my diocese 6000 families (give or take), 2/3 Spanish speaking. I have been in multi-lingual / multi-cultural parishes before. Most non-US and non-European liturgies are quite lively. Emotion is on the surface. I have heard criticism of that and "reverence" is one of the words in the conversation. Are we afraid of the "otherness" that goes beyond mere language and into culture?

While I dislike music with excessive percussion, I find all music styles appropriate for worship. As the choir director in the parish I sing at says, "as long as it is good music."

The article by Ted Rosean appears to be dismissive of diversity of worship styles. I surprised that in IL he has not experienced the various Byzantine liturgical styles. While I lived in Pittsburgh, the Byzantine archeparch lived just down Perrysville Ave. The Roman Rite bishop lived on the other side of the Allegheny River.

Our church has wonderfully diverse history from Jesus to the present. Would that we would not disown any of it.

coming attraction - another culture war

http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/slavishly-literal-translation-missal-criticized

after reading the article, search for the word Joseph as in St Joseph Missal.

my reply to that post (which was suppressed) was roughly:

roflmao

I would buy such a book as described for my children and grandchildren. We could call it the Bl. Angelo Giuseppe Roncali Missal.

Or maybe try one of those new churches that use the Book of Common Prayer. They take liturgy VERY seriously.

further thoughts

Nothing can stop this steamroller except Ruah - the Spirit of God. Oremus!

pax Christi resurrexit (probably wrong ending) vobiscum

have a cow man!

http://www.uscatholic.org/blog/2009/10/simpsons-vs-donohue-whos-gone-too-far

I belong to a prayer group

Over the 8 weeks it has met, the number attending has dwindled by 1/2 for various reasons. I said tonight that we should call everyone who has ever attended or expressed interest to attend, and invite them next. Consensus was that we tried a couple of times and that is enough.

Well it isn't. The "new evangelization" is not a half-hearted try.

And while I'm on my high horse, having the group meet in upscale restaurants in the vicinity of the church is neither a good group maintenance practice nor even Christian. When Christ fed the people he neither charged nor met where people could not afford to meet.