Entering A New Year
Coming to the end of 2022 and preparing to enter a new year of 2023, I was struck by a recent quote from the Daily Reflections of Richard Rohr. He wrote, what is, is the great teacher. A few wonderings came to mind around my responsibility and how I am being called to respond to what it is that is my great teacher today. What is it that I am to learn from these wonderings?
Image: Unsplash/Max Kukurudziak
On the global stage there has been a deepening awareness of oneness with our Ukrainian neighbors. Many of the world powers are sending food and necessities of life as well as the needed armaments to repel the daily attacks on innocent people. In Canada, our country is welcoming Ukrainian women and children and providing safe accommodations, education and emotional support. These expressions of kindness call me to also look at other folks, such as refugees and immigrants from Afghanistan, Somalia, Haiti, Syria, who are also called neighbor. I hope that my small effort in welcoming a single mother and her young son to our transition home will lead to a lasting and long- term friendship.
Image: Unsplash/Matt Collamer
There is the growing concern for safety and well-being of the unhoused. These homeless people live rough in our city parks and on vacant public land. The homeless phenomena are visible in every city in our province and even in small towns. Contrary to what is often spoken or printed in our newspapers, homelessness is not a personal choice. Even I know someone who is one paycheck away from living on the street or in a shelter where she does not feel safe. I realize that solving this crisis will take time and energy on the part of committed citizens in many cities. However, I believe I am being called to see without judgment the person standing in front of me. Stopping for a small encounter or a chat might be welcomed and allow that person to feel connected with another human being even if only for a moment.
“I believe I am being called to see without judgment the person standing in front of me.”
Oftentimes, many of us say or have heard others use the phrase, it is what it is, trying to put into words a response to situations that are happening personally or globally. Entering into the new year of 2023, could we attend to the question what is this event or situation trying to teach me?
Sister Ann MacDonald, CSJ
Advocacy in Action
It has been wonderful to see churches in London stand up and declare that outreach to people living on the street is at the heart of their mission and integral to their ways of doing worship. And there is no doubt Ark Aid Street Mission is doing critical work, meeting needs which are not being adequately addressed.
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Image: Unsplash/Nathan Dumlao
Equally encouraging has been the number of Londoners calling for City Hall to sit down with business owners, church ministers, and social agencies to find adequate solutions to the current situation. Such a dialogue would be more complicated than simply slapping a church with a bylaw infraction, but one hopes it would yield more fruit – and certainly more justice.
At the same time, the current situation begs the question: What is the city’s plan for ensuring the wellbeing of the estimated 300 people who live outdoors? How might the city’s budget surplus of $14 million come into play? How can we better support the critical work of social agencies in the city? And might we, as Londoners and City Hall together, advocate to the provincial government to use the $7.2 billion it budgeted, but didn’t spend (and indeed to add to this total) to boost programs such as OW and ODSP, mental health services, and affordable housing so we’re actually addressing some of root causes of homelessness?
-Sister Sue Wilson, Office for Systemic Justice