In an article entitled “Climate Change is a Poor People’s Issue” (Common Dreams, July 11) Mallika Khanna talks about the lack of advocacy for change by some people even when deeply affected by a social issue.  She goes on to describe “least resistant personality profiles,” a term used in a 1984 study done by a consulting firm to determine where a waste board could build a plant without local communities complaining.

According to the study, the people least likely to protest having their health put at risk were typically “longtime residents of small towns in the South or Midwest, high school educated only, Catholic, uninvolved in social issues, and without a history of activism, involved in mining, farming, ranching, conservative, Republican, advocates of the free market.”  Wait, what?  Catholic?

All of that is fine but Catholic?  Why does that show up in there?  And if true, what a disgrace that our faith be considered an obstacle to legitimate and much-needed advocacy?  If true, what happened to the wonderful prophetic tradition of our faith?

But I’m not buying it.  It must be a flawed study.

I see so many examples of courageous Catholic advocacy.  Without looking back into history, I see the “nuns on the bus” taking issues straight to the corridors of power, and I hear Pope Francis vigorously challenging the whole world to do something together because “the earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.”  And what about the many Vincentians around the world speaking up for the poor—and better, helping the poor to speak up for themselves—without recognition, and even at great personal risk.  And look at our Family NGOs working diligently at the UN to provide a moral compass as governments debate the great issues of the times.

But even if false, does that “Catholic” comment hold something for us?  Maybe it points to a certain passivity, a hesitation, a lack of boldness in our advocacy.  And maybe this reminds us that too often Catholics do not hear homilies about social justice, or advocacy, or Catholic Social teaching.

And if we think closer to home, it might especially challenge those of us in the Vincentian Family.  Our vocation drives us to those trapped in poverty.  How can we do that without being moved to advocate for change?

The Vincentian Family, devoted to the poor, should be one of the loudest voices advocating for real and permanent change of the systems and structures and decisions that make and keep people poor.

Yet another reason to appreciate that the Vincentian Family has adopted Systemic Change as our methodology, complementing the charity we are known for, in the pursuit of greater justice, especially for the many forced to live in poverty and misery.  Advocacy is a big piece of systemic change work.  But clearly it needs to be bold, and clear, and consistent.  Like charity, little nudges towards justice are not sufficient to bring about significant change.

Advocacy is both science and art:  it calls for solid research and preparation on the one hand, and creativity and a compelling presentation on the other.  It is a type of social charity.  It involves significant networking and nonpartisan, nonviolent action.

So there is nothing about being Catholic that invites passivity or lukewarm-ness.  Quite the contrary.  But that some may not think so could be the start of a rigorous reflection on how well we are living the prophetic dimension of our faith.

Jim Claffey,
Commission to Promote Systemic Change

Note: An example from the daily news.