Back to Exponent Menu Printer Friendly Page   LOCAL FEATURES Friday, November 08, 2002 Diocesan Ministry Convocation Speaker: Global solidarity, not globalization, should be aim YOUNGSTOWN — Globalization, solidarity with the poor and evangelization were key themes of this year’s Diocesan Ministry Convocation held Oct. 26 at Youngstown State University’s Kilcawley Center. In addition to 35 workshops on various topics of interest to parish leaders, the Convocation included two keynote addresses. Holy Spirit Father William R. Headley, Ph.D., gave the morning keynote focusing on the Catholic Church’s role in international peace making and global solidarity. Father Headley is Deputy Executive Director of Policy and Strategic Issues of Catholic Relief Services in Washington, D.C. The afternoon keynote speech was delivered by Patrick Madrid, publisher of Envoy Magazine and author of the popular “Surprised by Truth” books. Madrid’s speech, entitled “Search and Rescue,” is based on his new book of the same name which helps Catholics to witness to their faith to both inactive Catholics and non-Catholics. Globalization may be the ‘buzzword’ of the day, but the Church has always been a global institution, Father Headley told the Convocation audience. While globalization seems a good and positive thing from the point of view of those in developed countries, most of the world’s people have been left out of advances in technology. Only one in one hundred people in the world owns a computer. “Globalization does not touch the vast majority of the poor and, to the extent that it does, it is a negative thing,” Father Headley said. He added that almost all the improvements in our modern world “do not speak to the majority of people in this globalized age.” Rather than boast of globalization, Father Headley said he prefers to speak of global solidarity — action on behalf of all members of the human family. That, he said, is what Christians are called to. They must see all human beings as part of the family of God and be concerned about the suffering of their brothers and sister in other parts of the world. He added that an exchange of cultures would benefit both the poor and ourselves. For instance, Americans could learn a great deal from how poorer people handle their social problems. He cited a village he visited in Zimbabwe which refuses to institutionalize its elderly and its many AIDS victims. Instead, the village has trained some of its adults to take care of the needs of these people so that they can continue to live in their homes in the community until they die. For those Catholics who feel overwhelmed by talk of a spirituality that encompasses the whole global family, Father Headley said, “There is good news. We don’t have to do it alone. We are urged in a spirit of solidarity to take up the task with the whole Church. Each of us has different gifts. The world needs them, and if we give away our gifts, the world will give them back. … Globalization is too big to be done by one person or group of people. It must be participatory.” The universal character of the Church is one of God’s greatest gifts, the speaker said. In a way, we are already practicing global solidarity by being part of the Church. Finally, Father Headley said, the Church’s role is not merely to perform works of charity, but to engage in real peacemaking. He cited the example of Catholic Relief Service’s successful charitable work in a certain African nation. Then a genocidal civil war broke out. “It wiped out all our work in one day,” he said. Catholic Relief Services knew it had to go beyond charitable works and relief efforts and work to build peace. The Church’s role in peacemaking must be practical conflict resolution, he said. In a later interview with the Exponent, Father Headley said that ordinary Catholics can do much to advance global solidarity, especially by educating themselves about the issues and about the Church’s teaching on social justice. He said the poverty of people cannot be reduced to an assumption that they are unwilling to have a better life. “Sometimes the structures in which they are living — social, economic, political, and cultural — are like walls around them. Justice calls us to recognize those walls and to see if there is something we can do about them. That is the movement from charity to justice. Catholics must educate themselves and go beyond what they have come to believe about life and about poverty, a belief that leads them to say, ‘There is nothing I can do about that.’” During Patrick Madrid’s keynote address, he interspersed his practical points about evangelizing non-believers and non-Catholics with humorous anecdotes about his own experiences and mistakes in that area. His talk was a 10-point “plan” for ordinary Catholics to be better evangelizers in their families, workplaces and neighborhoods, based on his new book, “Search and Rescue.” “We Catholics have to do a better job of sharing our faith,” Madrid said. “We have to become bolder and more willing to speak up about our faith. Many times we shrink from our opportunities.” He added that many Catholics have the idea that priests and religious are the ones who evangelize, and that is part of their job. However, he said, “That does not exempt us from our task of sharing the faith. There are people in our lives, in our neighborhoods, workplaces and families, who will never turn on a Catholic program on television or go into a church or into a Catholic bookstore. But they will meet us. God has put you there for the purpose of helping them get to heaven. We are called to be apostles to the people around us.” Madrid added that Catholics, while not becoming obnoxious about sharing their faith, must always keep a sense of “joyful urgency” about them and be ready to share their beliefs when circumstances call for it, when people ask questions, and when those around them seem willing to listen. “We are not out to win arguments or browbeat anyone,” he said. “We have to have an authentic sense of humility and charity and realize these are people whom Christ loves.” First and foremost, Madrid said, Catholics have to educate themselves before they have anything to share with anyone else. He compared the situation of most Catholics’ knowledge of the faith with having nothing to offer if someone who is starving asked them for food. “You can’t give what you don’t have,” he said. “There are people starving for the truth all around us. If we don’t have it inside, we can’t give them anything. Madrid suggested that every Catholic begin a program of educating themselves and developing a Catholic intellect by taking 10-20 minutes a day to read sacred Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He suggested that one chapter of Scripture and three paragraphs of the Catechism per day would cause a dramatic difference in both knowledge and confidence in a very short time. Catholics should also prepare to become evangelizers through prayer. “Study is good, but if it is not built on a life of faith, it will be counter productive,” he said. “If we don’t have that relationship with Christ, it will be empty. [But] if we are making even basic efforts at prayer — morning and evening prayer, examination of conscience, spiritual reading — we will have the necessary knowledge of Christ the person; he who is the heart and mind of the Church.”   Back to Exponent Menu Printer Friendly Page   Other Articles of 2002   Christmas letter from El Salvador missions thanks diocesan Catholics   Bishop shares views, discussion with Central students   ETC slates Christmas specials throughout the season   My Favorite Christmas Memories   Guidelines on religious ed homeschooling are issued   Local Catholic radio station targets Feb. 1 date   HMs end 98-years of service to Salem St. Paul Parish   Learn ‘language’ of young, youth meet speaker urges   Bishop Tobin: Meeting in D.C. on norms was ‘anxious, tense, difficult’   Priests must ask one another the tough questions, speaker says   Catholic death and funeral rites   Deacons mark 25th with Mass, dinner, memories   Diocesan Ministry Convocation Speaker: Global solidarity, not globalization, should be aim   Jusseaume inaugurated as sixth Walsh president   Diaconate marks 25th anniversary with Oct. 27 fete   New norms sent to priests, deacons on Communion under both kinds   Ashtabula parishes are ‘one Catholic community’   Jusseaume to become Walsh’s sixth president   Charismatic speaker: ‘Church being tested in faithfulness’   Lutheran/Catholic covenant event draws 140 to Walsh   Canton St. Joseph Parish observes centennial celebration   HMHP CEO Michael Rowan   Stewardship speaker: It’s about gratitude and thanking God first   Imagination is key to resolving crisis, priests told   War with Iraq? 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C&M school razed, but memories remain   Pastor, 80, keeps busy with ‘lots of interests’   Ravenna IC boasts 5 high school valedictorians for ‘02   Humility Sister Sandy Pedone to profess perpetual vows July 21   NRLC convention filled with good news   ‘Capture the Romance’ is theme for NFP Week   Question of moral evil discussed at Walsh symposium   Notre Dame Sisters will celebrate jubilees July 14   ‘A great lady’ retires   Statement of Bishop Tobin on the meeting of the U. S. Conference   Haladej, Celuch ordained to priesthood, diaconate in Slovakia   Bishop plans implementation of norms on sexual abuse   Kevin McCaffrey, Robert Miller are newest priests   Theologian: ‘Behave toward others as though God were there’   Fr. 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