Sojourners Magazine

Periodicals are not my favorite type of media because I frankly find it hard to keep up with them. There are already so many things to do without adding to the list. But Sojourners magazine is worth it. They have challenging articles on social justice issues with a decidedly Christian perspective.

In my experience, at least some who embrace or are lumped under the label of “progressive Christian” do not recognize the divinity of Jesus, seem to borrow greatly from other faiths, and/or view Jesus as simply a wise teacher. That is certainly fine for them, but personally that is not quite my cup of tea. I think Jesus was more than just a nice guy or even a prophet. I’m admittedly more “conservative” and “traditional” in that way. As a result, I am sometimes wary of writers and writings that get placed under the “progressive Christian” label. However, Sojourners has a perspective that is “Christian” in the traditional theological sense of the term. Their articles reference Scripture to analyze various social issues. The cover story this month involves biblical insights in favor of health care reform under the title “Lord, When Did We See You Sick?” The current issue also has great articles on building a sustainable peace in Afghanistan and on George Schultz’s vision to eradicate nuclear weapons.

To me, another appealing aspect of Sojourners is that it is ecumenical. The writers and the people featured come from a variety of Christian faith traditions. The magazine features insights from Catholics, Evangelicals, Methodists, nondenominational Christians, and Mennonites, among others.

Sojourners magazine is published 11 times a year. It is also available on-line at the link below.

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.home

Luke 14:13-14 (New American Standard Bible)

"But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Matthew 5:9 (New American Standard Bible)

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Deuteronomy 15:7-8 (New American Standard Bible)

"If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.”

...So Goes the Nation (2006) (Discounting Bush's Intelligence)

Another interesting aspect of this film was the discussion of the fact that many Democrats disrespected George W. Bush because they considered him to be dumb. Former Clinton administration advisor, Paul Begala, explained that many Democrats discounted George W. Bush’s intellect even though he actually had tremendous campaign insight. Begala noted Bush’s great talent was that he could “connect with people.” By contrast, Begala said that the Democrats tend to take a “more intellectual” approach to campaigns.

The film showed footage of Kerry supporters holding campaign signs with caricatures of Bush and the label “idiot.” A Goth young woman snickered that Bush’s SAT scores were lower than hers. She complained it was ridiculous that she felt she was smarter than the president of the United States. And a scruffy looking young man screamed at the camera, “Two [types of] people vote for Bush, rich people and *&%^$#@ idiots.”

Affable Kerry supporter, Evan Hutchinson, pointed out that this type of campaign message was incredibly “insulting” and “patronizing” to a lot of Americans. He noted that Bush came across as a normal guy, so picking on his foibles conveyed an elitist tone. Hutchinson said it was equivalent to picking on many of our fellow Americans who also liked trucks and guns.

Similarly, Begala expressed exasperation with pro-Kerry supporters who whined about Bush’s lack of smarts. He noted that we don’t cast our votes based on intelligence.

Leviticus 26:19

I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.


Proverbs 11:2

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.


Proverbs 16:18

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

...So Goes the Nation (2006) (Exploitation of Evangelicals, Hypocrisy)

In great detail, the film recounts the 2004 presidential election, and explains how George W. Bush narrowly beat John Kerry. The film’s title refers to the political truism: As Ohio goes, so goes the nation. Ohio has long been a bellwether state reflecting the political sentiment of the nation. In 2004, the state was critical to Bush’s reelection. He narrowly won Ohio, which gave him the requisite number of electoral votes to beat Kerry.

The filmmakers interviewed a number of people—famous and not—who were involved in the 2004 presidential election. The film particularly documents the election via the contrasting experiences of several campaign workers in Ohio. Leslie Ghiz was a charming, well-heeled middle-aged woman with a drawl, who described the influence of her late father in drawing her to the GOP, as well as her admiration for George W. Bush as a “father figure.” By contrast, Kerry supporter, Evan Hutchison, was a very amiable, grungy-looking twenty something from Brooklyn whose beat-up car had only one functioning door. They both worked around the clock for months in Ohio to bring victory to their respective candidates. Ghiz worked directly for the Bush-Cheney campaign; Hutchison worked for Votemob, a 527 organization.

Also in Kerry’s camp was Miles Gerety, a Connecticut baby boomer public interest lawyer who came to Ohio for a few days before the election to serve as a legal advisor to the campaign. He noted the parallels between the presidential elections of 1968 and 2004. He characterized them as pivotal because in both years the decision about the next president was going to determine the direction the country would go while it was quagmired in a misguided war. Gerety worked largely in minority neighborhoods in Ohio where the Democrats were concerned about potential efforts to disenfranchise new voters. Amidst the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gerety asked with incredulity whether we as a nation were seeking to spread democracy abroad while trying to stop it at home.

Early in the film, there was a brief visit to rural Ohio. Among others, small business man, Larry Hawkins, was interviewed. He shared that when he was a child his grandfather had explained the differences between the two major political parties: Republicans were for the rich and the Democrats were for the working man. As Hawkins himself never got rich, he had aligned with the Democrats. The film interviewed a few other small town residents before shifting to the highly organized campaigns in the major urban centers of Ohio.

The climatic moments of the film showed the election night parties in the urban centers. The Kerry campaigners were jubilant; the whole election had come down to Ohio and Kerry was doing very well. Meanwhile, the mood amongst the Bush supporters was very tense and worried; things did not look good for their candidate. Late in the evening, however, everything shifted as results poured in from rural Ohio. It became apparent that Bush had actually won. The film explained that rural Christians had come out in great numbers for Bush. The filmmakers went back to talk to Larry Hawkins; he and his wife had just voted for Bush. The couple explained that the election had come down to a choice between a “full wallet or a live child.” Hawkins elaborated that God was not going to bless an “immoral country.” Meanwhile, back at the urban GOP campaign party, Ghiz confessed to having consumed “a bottle of wine,” expressed disappointment that there was no cabernet, and insisted on a new glass for her merlot.

The end of the film describes how the election came down to rural people who felt their values were threatened. Intriguingly, earlier in the film, Ghiz had noted the Bush campaign’s exploitation of the gay marriage issue and its promise of an amendment to the Constitution to “protect marriage.” She noted Gavin Newsom’s granting of marriage licenses to same sex couples in San Francisco had really spurred a backlash across the nation, and she rhetorically asked what his goal had been in trying to advance gay rights in one of the most liberal parts of the country. Speaking well after the 2004 election, she said:

Notice there’s no marriage amendment. I mean, where is that now? This is all about strategy. It’s how you win people over. This has nothing to do about right and wrong. And you know, it’s all about how you keep a Republican in the White House. And that doesn’t make it right, unfortunately. But politics just isn’t fair.

Psalm 34:12-14 (New International Version)

Whoever of you loves life

and desires to see many good days,
keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from speaking lies.
Turn from evil and do good;

seek peace and pursue it.

Proverbs 6:16-19 (New International Version)

There are six things the LORD hates,

seven that are detestable to him:
haughty eyes,

a lying tongue,

hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked schemes,

feet that are quick to rush into evil,
a false witness who pours out lies

and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.



Matthew 12:33-37 (New International Version)

"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

Messengers: Portraits of African American Ministers, Evangelists, Gospel Singers, and Other Messengers of the Word by David Ritz and Nicola Goode

Author David Ritz and photographer Nicola Goode have compiled a beautiful and inspiring coffee table book that would work well as a daily devotional. The book contains twenty-five vignettes of African Americans who have devoted their lives to serving the Lord in various ministries. These “messengers” speak frankly of struggles they have had in their lives and difficult challenges they have had to overcome. They describe their faith journeys; they explain why they believe in Jesus and why they chose to devote their lives to God. Their honesty and sincerity are both humbling and encouraging to the reader.

Author David Ritz has assembled a diverse collection of individuals to feature. The “messengers” included in his book come from a variety of faith traditions—African Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, the Church of God in Christ, among others. Those featured include scholars and professionals, as well as those with only a rudimentary education. They include people who teach in higher education, lead congregations, are gifted in music, as well as those who minister to the poor and the grieving. They include men, as well as women (several of whom initially struggled against God’s call to them to serve in church leadership). Ritz also features individuals who have personally struggled with their own sexual orientation, and the condemnation of homosexuality and bisexuality by many Christians.

Accompanying the vignettes are Nicola Goode’s simple black and white photographs of the featured “messengers.” Ms. Goode’s photography not only helps put a face with a name and narrative, it also adds an elegant, artistic accompaniment to each vignette.

I found David Ritz’s own Introduction to the book to be quite compelling. He describes his faith journey beginning as a Jewish boy who first embraced Jesus at a Mahalia Jackson concert, through an adulthood plagued by demons and addictions. He explains that he became a Christian as he wrote Messengers, and describes how his faith sustained him through a cancer diagnosis shortly after his baptism.

Messengers is a relatively short, but beautifully compiled book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it highly.

Proverbs 2:20 (Today's New International Version)

“Thus you will walk in the ways of the just

and keep to the paths of the righteous.”

Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk About Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning by Kerry Kennedy (Continued)

Although many vignettes in Kerry Kennedy's book were inspiring, others had a vastly different impact. I found Bill Maher’s profile to be extremely sad. Politically, I agree with Maher on some points. But his hostility towards God and Christians is heartbreaking to me.

I was even more profoundly saddened by the profiles on Gabriel Byrne, Frank McCourt and Dan McNevin, who each described their horrifying childhood experiences of sexual abuse by priests. Understandably, the impact of such unimaginable trauma at such a young age is devastating to the victims’ faith in God, as well as their trust in the institution and the people who comprise the church. I actually read this book just before the death of Frank McCourt, and have been haunted by his words in Being Catholic Now:

Now I believe that when you die there’s nothing--oblivion and memories.

If we could prove conclusively that your life ends with your last breath, it would change the whole course of history. Nobody would give a shit if there’s no afterlife.

...I saw the antics of the Church and began to think more and more about the contradictions. I began to find a great lack of love and too much fear, in the Irish Catholic Church especially. It was inconsistent, because love is the central theme of Catholicism. I didn’t find it, and I had to go another more human direction.

I feel more and more aware of the mystery, and I am reconciled to the oblivion that is coming. I see no proof of anything else, if it is a matter of faith. I admire people who have faith in God. It must be a great comfort to them, but I had to get out from under the fear and the guilt.

I pray that the bitter hostility of people like Bill Maher and the utter despair of people like Frank McCourt instill in all of us who make up the Christian church that our failures and any hypocrisy have profound consequences. When we who comprise the Body of Christ fail so dramatically to reflect the selfless love and compassion of our Lord, not only do we fail to be the light of the world as we’re called to be, but we also condemn others to hopelessness and misery. This is particularly the case with respect to children, who are among the most vulnerable and most impressionable in our society.

Mark 10:14 (Amplified Bible)

“Allow the children to come to Me--do not forbid or prevent or hinder them--for to such belongs the kingdom of God.”

Luke 6:42 (Amplified Bible)

"Or how can you say to your brother, Brother, allow me to take out the speck that is in your eye, when you yourself do not see the beam that is in your own eye? You actor (pretender, hypocrite)! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye."

Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk About Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning by Kerry Kennedy

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author, Kerry Kennedy, is one of Robert and Ethel Kennedy’s daughters. She describes her own faith journey as a Catholic Christian in the book’s preface. I was moved by several portions of her autobiographical narrative, including the description of her reaction to the news of her own father’s death:

I ran into my room, buried my head in my pillow, and instinctively began to pray. For my father and mother. For our family. And then I remember clearly, praying, ‘God, don’t let them kill the man who killed Daddy.’

Preventing vengeance is a mainstay of the Catholic faith, even to an eight-year old.

Kerry Kennedy has compiled profiles of thirty-seven other Catholic Christians. In so doing, she has chosen a real cross-section. There are famous people and many who are not in the public eye. There are people who fall to the left on the political spectrum and others who fall to the right. There are lay people, clergy and religious. There are practicing Catholics (of various degrees of devotion), and those who have drifted away from the church or affirmatively embraced other faiths.

From a spiritual perspective, some of the profiles are frankly more interesting than others. I found the narratives describing the spiritual journeys of Bill O’Reilly and Dan Aykoyd, for example, to both fall flat. O’Reilly describes his childhood “cat-and-mouse game” with the nuns who taught him, and the fact that he considered the priesthood for “maybe ten minutes.” In explaining what Catholicism has meant to him, Aykroyd describes raiding an abandoned Catholic orphanage of religious art to decorate his apartment as a young man, and the reactions of the Ottawa narcotics police who later raided the home.

Nonetheless, many of the other profiles were much more compelling. I found Donna Brazile’s narrative of growing up as an African American Catholic in the Deep South (before and after integration of the churches) to be fascinating, as was her reaction to learning that she was not eligible for the priesthood. I also found her personal description of her continued faith and its influence on her life’s work to be inspiring. Martin Sheen’s description of his slow but passionate return to his Catholic Christian faith was very moving as well. Similarly, I was even encouraged by Peggy Noonan’s own return to her Catholic roots, and the influence her renewed faith has had on her life.

I was also fascinated by the profile on Robert Drinan, with whom I was not previously familiar. He died in 2007, and appears to have been quite a Renaissance man: a lawyer, priest and a progressive congressman. I was equally impressed by the profile on Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick who stated:

You can’t be an authentic Catholic unless you’re committed to the right to life. And this right is more than just being born. It involves the right to grow, to be educated, to have a family, to exercise your dignity, to work for a living, and to make a contribution to society. You can’t forget about people once they are born.

Romans 12:19 (Amplified Bible)

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave the way open for [God's] wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay (requite), says the Lord.


James 2: 1,15-16 (Worldwide English)

My brothers, you believe in our Lord, the wonderful Jesus Christ. So you must not think one man is better than another.

Perhaps a brother or a sister needs clothes and has no food. Perhaps one of you says to them, `God bless you. Be warm. Eat all you want.' But what good is that if you do not give them what they need for their bodies?

Romero (1989)

In college, I was baptized in a Paulist parish in Austin, Texas. It was a terrific parish near the state capitol and the University of Texas campus. Both famous politicians and some of the city’s homeless residents were parishioners of record.

The Paulists are a wonderful order. Their mission statement is dedicated to reconciliation, ecumenicalism and evangelization. When I was in college I did not perceive them as being particularly “liberal”--they were mainline Catholics when it came to church doctrine on abortion and homosexuality, for example. But the “L” word is sometimes used to describe the Paulists by particularly conservative Catholics, who tend not to be very fond of them. At the retreat just prior to my baptism, I do remember the presiding priest touting Martin Sheen as an example of a “good Catholic,” which is probably something that one would not have uttered in a more conservative context.

The next year, our parish welcomed a new Paulist brother just out of seminary, who took his vows at our church. At that mass, he lay prostrate on the ground as the congregation sang a beautiful “Litany of Saints” to ask for the prayers of saints the young Paulist admired. Within the Litany, he had included the names of Dorothy Day and Oscar Romero—neither of whom had been canonized. I was not really familiar with Oscar Romero at the time, but there was an independent film about his life that had come out a few years before. It happened to have been produced by Paulist Productions.

Raul Julia, a Puerto Rican actor better known for his work in Kiss of the Spider Woman and the Addams Family movies, played the title role in Romero. Sadly, just a few years after Romero, Julia was diagnosed with stomach cancer, and died of a stroke at the premature age of 54.

When Romero was released, it received lukewarm praise. But again, I’m not a film critic and thought it was beautiful. The movie tells the story of Oscar Romero, a quiet, bookish, aristocratic Salvadoran priest with a reputation for conservatism. In 1977, he was appointed archbishop of San Salvador, a move that was welcomed by the government. By contrast, his appointment disappointed local priests dedicated to the plight of the poor, who aligned themselves with Liberation Theology and/or Marxism.

Soon after Romero’s appointment, Father Rutilio Grande, a Jesuit friend who had been ministering to and organizing the poor, was assassinated. This proved to be a pivotal event in the archbishop’s life. He subsequently became vocal on issues of social justice, speaking out against poverty, torture and assassination of political opponents. He brought attention to the persecution of the church in El Salvador including the torture and murder of priests, nuns and lay people. As Romero sought and received international attention in highlighting these issues, he became more and more of a thorn in the side of the government. Nonetheless, in the film, he is depicted as also unequivocally rebuking priests who embraced violent means. He consistently spoke out for biblical values such as nonviolence. Romero knew the danger he was in due to his vocal opposition of the government’s abuses, but he did not waiver in speaking out. In 1980, he was assassinated dramatically and publicly while celebrating mass. That assassination is dramatized in the climactic moment of the film.

John 15:9-10, 12-13 (New International Version)

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”