Since the last time we spoke, not too much has changed. To be quite honest, I don’t really have a life changing moment, revelation, or monumental development in my volunteer work with which I could attempt to enlighten you all. Thus, I would like to discuss something of a more pragmatic matter that I think applies in some way to all our lives.
As we have all committed ourselves to a year of volunteer service with various organizations, it is apparent that we all have a pretty good sense of the needs for the less fortunate people of our society. The ideas of social justice and a greater inclusion into such a system of justice clearly permeated from our discussions during orientation week at the Villa. It must be pointed out that we all decided to pursue this year of service through a charitable Catholic organization. In our case it is the Sisters of the Humility of Mary Volunteer Service. Thus, it is safe to say that as a group, we believe that the Church and charitable organizations that represent the church are indeed a meaningful way to empower those so often excluded from the purview of social justice and equality.
Getting to my point, the work of religiously affiliated charities and volunteer services like our own HM Ministry is certainly necessary and has a beneficial place in our society. However, I think it is an absurd notion that our country should rely on such organizations as the sole provider of services for those in situations of dire need. Not to get political (but to get a just a wee bit political), the comedic gem of a GOP candidate Michelle Bachman made a contradictory statement to said idea a couple weeks back. While I cannot remember her exact quote in its entirety, she basically said that we need to get rid of all government run entitlement programs and that the country should rely on the Church to help certain populations with medical and food costs.
If we want to go back to the Gilded age, then I think this is a fabulous idea. But this is 2011, a solid 100 years withdrawn from the Progressive era of American history. The government and political involvement should be seen as a tool to help alleviate the societal suffering with which so many of us have a heartfelt gripe. Yes, the Church plays a crucial role in helping people in unfortunate situations everyday of the year; we, through our commitment as an HM Volunteer, are living proof of this. However, to relegate such responsibilities to only the Church and forget about our fraternal responsibility as an inclusive American society through government is something that I simply deem as crazy.
As you know by now, Americans for Immigrant Justice was formerly known as the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. As I was told, the reason for the switch was that, as an organization, we wanted to make more of a push in Washington for policy changes in immigration. The Board felt that the new name AI Justice would garner more clout in this political arena, but that is not the point. The point is that on the ground, face to face work that helps to propagate social justice is only one half of the equation. The Church, and organizations such as our own HM Volunteer Service are of the utmost importance; but while this work can be characterized as a “bottom-up” approach, we must not forget about being politically active in the “top-down” processes that can be implemented to help propagate the themes of social justice so prevalent in our conversations during orientation.
My apologies for the late post.
-Anthony
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