While waiting for some wiki help to change the cover picture on this web page and make some other changes, I have thought of two project that, if I have the time and ability, might be worthwhile. One is the Works of Mercy Vs Works of War project which will highlight the research and writing done on two projects. The Works of Mercy will be on why the Archdiocese of Milwaukee should use the 1.1 million dollars it received from closing the merged parish of Blessed Trinity to establish a sustainable fund to provide beds, stoves and refrigerators for persons in need in North Central Milwaukee.
The second project is related. It will be the MAPS (Milwaukee Area Poverty and Segregation) which will visually demonstrate how the public and private neglect for North Central Milwaukee, the most segregated part of the most segregated city and the poorest part of the fourth poorest city in USA is in part responsible for high homicide, unemployment and imprisonment rate of this area. We cannot change persons but we can build an “environment which it is easier to be good”.
The Works of War will highlight the role Marquette University, Jesuit Catholic, is a major contributor to Works of War. I will try to highlight lots of research and action done on this issue over the years to get Marquette to Stop Teaching War and Killing.
One can say that both of these issues are Catholic Church related and ask why I, a Catholic, am picking on these two issues for Works of Mercy Vs Works of War project. There are many reasons why but the best one for me is something I learned from the lives of ‘saints’ I admire, like Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Dorothy Day.
In the essay Conversations Between St Ignatius of Loyola and Mahatma Gandhi I have Gandhi describe what he means by ‘Swadeshi’ which is somewhat like our word sustainability. In his autobiography he says “Swadeshi is the use and service of our immediate surroundings over those more remote or foreign.” In other words, as our Moms taught us, “charity starts at home”. If we cannot love and make our immediate environment more just and peacefully doing the works of mercy and resisting the works of war how do we expect to do it in other places.
In an article sent to me this morning, Who is my neighbor? the prosecutor of the three persons protesting nuclear bomb manufacturing asked the three if they “ protested nuclear weapons by traveling to nuclear powers other than the United States.” They gave various good answers but I would say “I did it out of love for my country.” As St. Ignatius of Loyola says, “Love is best expressed in deed over words”. Thus before we can preach to other countries about not building new nuclear weapon factories we must stop doing it in this country. These three persons called The Transform Now Plowshares are pointed a basic truth of humanity, change starts with self and country. How do expect people to respect us when we send Killer Drones to destroy their homes and lives.
Often doing the works of mercy can be inconvenient and difficult and resisting the works of war can bring hardships. But what is new? Anything worth struggling for is that way and without working on it, doing the works of mercy and resisting the works of war, it does not happen. We can start with the war and mercy at home.
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