The Sport and Prey of Capitalists

The front cover of the 2019 book by the brilliant journalist, Linda McQuaig, captures in six words and one picture the theme of her latest work, an exposé of the blatant betrayals the Canadian people have endured at the hands of their own governments.  The words SPORT and PREY above the dying Canada goose plummeting to earth, its feathers trailing behind it, encapsulate a century of greed, arrogance, and robbery of our nation’s public institutions.

The phrase “the sport and prey of Capitalists” was coined by James P. Whitney, Premier of Ontario in 1905. He was expressing his wish that the Hydro system in Ontario forever remain in the hands of the citizens and not fall victim to privatization.

McQuaig introduces her examination of 20th-century institutions transferred from public to private hands with this story of the scandalous current case of the Canadian Infrastructure Bank promised by Justin Trudeau following his election in 2015.

The Prime Minister’s team to head up the creation of the bank was led by Bill Morneau, former Canadian finance minister, who chose for his advisors several Wall Street profiteers anxious to lend their millions to a project that would bring them ample returns. Consequently, the plan presented to Parliament for approval was molded to fit the dream of the private investors for significant returns.  The original plan to borrow from “the people’s bank” the Bank of Canada, at a modest rate was replaced by one that suited the greed of a small team of avaricious millionaires from the United States. Thus, Canadian citizens will be required to pay unnecessary millions for their own roads and bridges while a few investors proceed to, as Kevin Page, the first parliamentary budget officer, declared, “rob us blind”. (p.30)

Following this example from our own time and place, McQuaig plunges into the scandalous historical details of some of the worst deals done by prime ministers and premiers against the best interests of the citizenry. The sale of the Connaught Laboratories,  and the privatization of Hwy. 407 are two examples.  

The give-away of Alberta’s oil for the most meager of royalties, combined with the Alberta government’s deference to Big Oil, resulted in massive losses for Alberta’s citizens who owned the resource but were denied the profits.

McQuaig compares successive Alberta governments to the national government of Norway that insisted that the oil in Norway’s territories belonged to the Norwegian people, not the big oil companies. “…Norwegians have managed to save up about one trillion dollars more in their rainy-day fund than Alberta.” (pg. 198)

Thankfully, when the reader has turned the last page of chapter seven, now scandalized and outraged, she or he will find that Linda McQuaig sings the praises of “the common”, which Canadians know, have experienced, and are good at. In most of her examples of Canadians being sold out, the institutions in question were being well run, were self-sustaining, and sometimes made a profit for the people. Once in private hands, it was the share-holders that mattered. The workers and the general public mattered not a whit, as we all witnessed at the closing of Sears Canada on December 18, 2017.

The author's last words are to urge us who care to practice the courage of the Norwegians who realized early on that even if a corporation left because it didn’t like how the government defended its citizens, it couldn’t take the oil with it.

Reviewed by Joan Tinkess

Our guest blogger, Joan Tinkess, is an avid book club participant of nonfiction. Her years of empowering women’s groups in the Dominican Republic broadened her local and worldview.

For a deeper dive, and some interviews with the author

Praying during the Pandemic

I knew, eventually, I could no longer ignore that persistent little voice within urging me to write a blog about praying. I do not mean writing about praying per se, but about praying during this pandemic. Don’t worry, I am not about to write a dissertation or manual about prayer. People much better equipped than I am have literally written millions of books about prayer.  In my small eclectic collection of prayer books and books about prayer, you can find the writings of Joyce Rupp, Thomas Merton, Margaret Silf, Anne Lamott, Anthony Bloom, Nan Merrill, and others.  I also have a copy of the impressive anthology, Prayers for a Thousand Years.

During my forty-plus years as a Missionary Sister, I have done a fair amount of praying.  Yes, there is a time for everything. There is a time for “doing praying” as we do in formal communal prayer.  People gather and pray in groups in a vast array of different ways. Think of the Sufi Whirling Dervishes who whirl in communal prayer, on the one hand, and the sedate prayer form practiced by those who prefer the Taizé form of prayer or the contemplative prayer of women and men in religious communities, in small groups, and by individuals around the world.

“prayer is not a contest but, “a doorway … into thanks and a silence in which another voice may speak.””

Mostly, we tend to use words when we pray, and therein lies the rub.  I should think all of us have experienced how easily words can be misunderstood.  However, I would think we have also experienced how loudly and clearly silence can speak.  In her poem Praying, the wonderful poet Mary Oliver concludes that when we pray there is no need for elaborate words.  For her, prayer is simply patching a few words together since prayer is not a contest but, “a doorway … into thanks and a silence in which another voice may speak.”

Some might say this is an oversimplification of prayer.  I, however, have come to view her description of prayer as a wonderful invitation to pause and pray as we are, where we are.  It confirms what I discovered long ago; prayer is more listening than speaking with God. While musing and praying during these pandemic times of quarantines and lockdown, I have often thought how apt these words by C. S. Lewis are, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”  I would say during this pandemic God is doing a great deal of shouting, a shouting which seems to fall on deaf ears, unless we spend time in “a silence in which another voice may speak.”  God shouting during these days of the pandemic may not only threaten to burst our eardrums; for many this pandemic is more a space to doubt God or prayer.  When we do listen, underneath the “shouts in our pains”, and easily missed, we will hear that small, still voice reaching into our hearts. It is only when we pause in silence and listen attentively, and not turn a deaf ear, that we may hear what God is really saying to us during this graced time of enormous global and personal upheaval.

““God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” - C. S. Lewis”

None of us is immune to the impact of this dreadful pandemic nor remains untouched by it in every aspect of our lives.  It most certainly has touched and transformed the way I have communed with God during these past six months. Yes, at times these weeks and months have been incredibly challenging, however they have also been surprisingly graced.  In her book on prayer, “Help, Thanks,Wow” Anne Lamott offers us her insight into grace, “I do not understand the mystery of grace -- only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.” Indeed, so true.  Whether I sit silently on my balcony bathed in the early morning light or in the glow of a candle at the end of the day, these intimate moments of mostly silent communing with God, these times of prayer are a great source of comfort and strength.  Here, grace has met me and has not left me where I was.

- Sr. Magdalena Vogt, CPS

Praying

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

Mary Oliver, Thirst, Beacon Press 2006

The Power of One

No doubt you know, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States died on Friday, September 18. May the “Notorious RBG” now rest in peace after her years of loving labours fighting for justice for all. 

What is it with Fridays?  They keep tripping me up.  Here where I am, we first went into lockdown on Friday, 13 March.  RBG died last Friday, just as our Jewish neighbours were ushering in Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. As of Friday 24 September we are once again back in lockdown.

My latest lockdown is of little significance compared to the significance of the phenomenal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dying on Rosh Hashanah.  Immediately after her death, “A number of prominent Twitter users began to circulate the notion that, when a Jew dies on the holiday, it is testimony to the fact that he or she is a zaddik [or a zaddika] a righteous person.” (washingtonpost.com)

““All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart.  To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:2) ”

I started these scribbles on Tuesday, and it so happened the Scripture reading from the Old Testament that day was from Proverbs, “All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart.  To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:2 NRSV) This verse, in a nutshell, describes what the righteous RBG did all her life. From all we have learned this week about this incredible, tiny wisp of a Jewish woman, I would say she can easily be summed up in these few words: she lived and breathed justice and equality for all.  “Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, who leads the Adas Israel Congregation [where the late RBG worshiped], eulogized Ginsburg at a ceremony in the Capitol's Statuary Hall where the late justice became the first woman and first Jewish person to lie in state.” Among other things that the Rabbi said about her was, "Justice did not arrive like a lightning bolt, but rather, through dogged persistence, all the days of her life. Real change, she said, enduring change, happens one step at a time." (thehill.com)

I would say this phenomenal, living legend of a woman personified the human being the great Abraham Joshua Heschel describes in his words, “…God is absent, invisible, and the task of a human being is to represent the Divine, to be a reminder of the presence of God.”  Tiny, polite, with a soft-spoken voice belying a steely mind, she was a reminder of the presence of God.  Was she ruthless in her work for justice throughout her many years as a Justice?  Certainly, but never without compassion.  Ruth is a perfect example of the power of small. Small as she was, she is a huge inspiration, a hero to many, especially to women of all ages.  Women may now feel “Ruthless” but undoubtedly many are inspired to take up the torch from her. 

-Sister Magdalena Vogt, cps

The Rural Libraries of Cajamarca - A Peruvian Dream Realized

Since the early 1960s, the Sisters of St Joseph have had a presence in Peru.  During those years a priest from England, Father John Metcalfe ministered in the Andes in Cajamarca with primarily the Indigenous population located in small subsistence farming communities.  Focusing on education, he wondered why anyone would want to learn how to read when they did not have access to newspapers or books.  As a result, he creatively evolved a lending library system, simple but effective, with a presence in every small community.  Fifty years later his dream still promotes and encourages reading to enhance education and critical thinking.  Critical thinking that included indigenous land rights with ecological protection.

The present administrator of the Rural Libraries of Cajamarca, Alfredo Mires Ortiz, has contributed a blog focusing on the continual evolution of that broadened educational dream.    - Sr Mabel St. Louis, csj

The Rural Libraries of Cajamarca

In memory of Fr. Gerardo Prince St. Onge, ever-present.

Modern times only give the impression of being modern and make us believe that we live in the future. But the old injustices prevail; the iniquity is still there, even if we don't want to see it.

There are words that have been in fashion around here for quite some time: development, competitiveness, success, entrepreneurship, empowerment, acceleration, celebrity, etc. And there are other words whose use is becoming outdated: poverty, hunger, exploitation, love, solidarity, fraternity, spirit, etc.

But hiding the words does not liquidate the realities, because there are still poor people and because of hunger they continue to die, and because love continues to be lacking. The pain of those who suffer is not relieved by covering their mouths or averting our eyes.

And never more than today - when the continuity of the human species and nature are at risk – is competitiveness or celebrity more shameful, when what the world requires is commonality.

That is why we continue the journey with our Rural Libraries of Cajamarca: because books can also be the bread that nourishes our memories and our hopes. Rediscovering words, rewriting our stories, and re-creating ourselves with, from and to the earth is a way of building tomorrow without having to stumble over the same stone so many times.

Reading is decanting and discerning, attracting the world and projecting oneself onto the world. And we have been doing this for 50 years, trying to understand and unlearn. It is not an empty path: we are an independent organization and we are not guided by ideology or motivated by a reward. We are a community, we are family. We are children of marginalized memory, unappreciated history, and pursued dreams. And we learn from the most humble, from the prodigious presence of those whom society does not value and does not take into account.

-Alfredo Mires Ortiz

In this wonderful fifteen minute video​, Alfredo Mires Ortiz, head of the rural library program (RED), shows us the creative ways the people of Cajamarca participate in the "moving libraries" with their local 'librarian' holding books at home, and the volunteers who carry the books on their backs in backpacks to the next village in the hills.  The books not only provide practical knowledge. As Alfredo explains in the introduction and the conclusion, the library  reclaims Peruvian history from the false claims  of the Spanish conquest, replacing it with the truth. The library then, informs and supports, celebrates Peruvian history, culture, values,  and dignity. 

-Sister Wendy Cotter csj

Las Bibliotecas Rurales de Cajamarca

A la memoria de Fr. Gerardo Prince St. Onge, tan presente.

Los tiempos modernos solo dan la impresión de ser modernos y nos hacen creer que vivimos en el futuro. Pero las antiguas injusticias prevalecen; la iniquidad sigue ahí, aunque no queramos verla.

Hay palabras que por aquí andan de moda hace bastante tiempo: desarrollo, competitividad, éxito, emprendimiento, empoderamiento, aceleración, celebridad, etc. Y hay otras palabras cuyo uso va resultando anticuado: pobreza, hambre, explotación, amor, solidaridad, fraternidad, espíritu, etc.

Pero escondiendo las palabras no se liquidan las realidades. Porque pobres sigue habiendo y porque de hambre se sigue muriendo y porque amor sigue faltando. El dolor de los que sufren no se alivia tapándoles la boca ni volteándonos los ojos.

Y nunca como hoy –cuando la continuidad de la especie humana y la naturaleza están en riesgo– resulta más vergonzosa la competitividad o la celebridad, cuando lo que requiere el mundo es mancomunidad.

Por eso seguimos caminando con nuestras Bibliotecas Rurales de Cajamarca, porque los libros también pueden ser el pan que nutre nuestros recuerdos y nuestros anhelos; redescubrir las palabras y escribirnos con la tierra es una forma de construir el mañana sin tener que tropezar tantas veces con la misma piedra.

Leer es decantar y discernir, atraer el mundo y proyectarse al mundo. Y en eso andamos ya hace 50 años, tratando de comprender y desaprender. No es un camino vacío: somos una organización independiente y no nos guía una ideología ni nos mueve una recompensa. Somos comunidad, somos familia. Somos hijos de la memoria marginada y de la historia despreciada y de los sueños perseguidos. Y aprendemos de los más humildes, desde la prodigiosa presencia de aquellos a los que la sociedad no valora y no toma en cuenta.

Make (Good) Trouble

On July 17, 2020, John Lewis died in Atlanta, Georgia.  Don’t know who John Lewis was?  I didn’t.  Only after his death did I learn what an amazing man he was.  In a nutshell, though nothing about this giant of a man could fit in a nutshell,  “Lewis … fulfilled many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States.”  Also from Wikipedia, I learned that in his later years, Lewis, a Baptist Minister, “was a politician and civil-rights leader who served in the United States House of Representatives … from 1987 until his death in 2020.” And that’s merely the tip of the iceberg of all this Congressman accomplished in his 80 years of life.  Reading more about him, would be well worth your time. 

While I read about this man, I was in awe of who he was, but what really struck me was his ability to cause “good trouble.”  One might be tempted to call him, Mr. Good Trouble.  Ever since I read and heard about Mr. Lewis causing “good trouble” I have been cogitating what causing “good trouble” looks like.  I mean, doesn’t “good trouble” sound like an oxymoron? It does, at first sight, though of course, there are many folks, among them good, holy men and women, who caused “good trouble” and were even canonized for causing “good trouble.” 

Perhaps you can guess where this is going.  You might think I’m prejudiced, however, none other springs to mind as a perfect example of someone else who caused “good trouble” than Mary Magdalene whose Feast we celebrated on July 22.  Indeed, while reading about John Lewis’s fierce commitment to ending racial segregation, at huge cost to his life, I had to think of my beloved patron who stood by Jesus when he died, who did not run, who was faithful to the end.  Who knew a Baptist Minister and a Jewish woman, separated by more than 2000 years, have something in common?  Both were extraordinary people who were exceptionally good at making “good trouble.” I mean, think of Mary Magdalene, a Jewish woman, mentioned by name in all four Gospels, not once but twelve times.  If that were not enough proof, she is the woman who loved Jesus fiercely and fearlessly, until the bitter end.  When the disciples left, after a large rock was rolled across the entrance of the tomb where Jesus was laid, “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary stayed, sitting in plain view of the tomb.” (Eugene H. Peterson; The Message) The disciples left. She remained.  Furthermore, as Cynthia Bourgeault conjectures, it was, “No wonder Mary Magdalene came so unerringly to the tomb on Easter morning; she’d stood by in silent, unflinching vigil the whole time Jesus was being laid to rest there. Maybe she never left . . .” (Mary Magdalene: Back to the Gospels July 20, 2020; Center for Action and Contemplation) 

And then there is the poignant moment Mary Magdalene’s fierce devotion is reciprocated by Jesus who endearingly calls her by name, “Mary.”  This moment sealed their relationship forever.  Dissuaded from clinging to him, reassured, confident and radiant, the bearer of stunning news, Magdalene hurried to proclaim to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.” 

Though commissioned by Jesus himself to be his messenger, to be the first Apostle, over the centuries, as well we know, Mary Magdalene was much maligned. Seemingly forever, she was described as a “penitent” or “sinful woman.” Because she was suspect of being a prostitute, Mary Magdalene was depicted as the “sinful woman” who scandalized the Pharisees when she bathed the feet of Jesus. Finally seeing her for who she really was and officially acknowledging her status as the first Apostle only happened in our lifetime.

Similarly, John Lewis was finally honoured by President Obama in 2010 when he awarded him the Medal of Freedom. Despite being brutally beaten as a young man during the riots Mr. Lewis remained steadfast all his life to causing “good trouble.” As he tended to say, “I was in bad shape. I had concussion.  I thought I was going to die. I thought I saw death.  But with … the help of the Almighty, I’m still here.” (Democrat & Chronical) None of this, however, deterred him to stand up and cause “good trouble” all his life.  What about Mary Magdalene?  I would say unwittingly she, too, caused “good trouble.” Far reaching “good trouble,” and with the help of the Almighty, she is also very much still here. 

Recently, I watched the Mass for the Feast of Mary Magdalene on TV.  Fr. Henk van Meijel, SJ, the celebrant, spoke eloquently about Mary Magdalene, pointing out that she was not only an admirable woman, but that she in fact represents all women in the Church, making her feast a celebration of all women, “who are the pillars of the church, women who always pick up the pieces.”

I would like to add that, like Mary Magdalene, many women quietly go about “causing good trouble” in multiple ways.  All of us probably are blessed to know many such women who, without much fanfare, “cause good trouble” which often goes unnoticed and at other times speaks loud and clear for all to hear.

-Sister Magdalena Vogt, cps