Dear Editor:
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) appears to lack unity in dealing with the birth-control issue with the Obama administration.
The basis for this lack of unity appear to be found in its end goal. Initially, the bishops wanted a broader exemption from the contraception mandate for religious institutes; now the leadership appears to be moving into a political mode by seeking roll back the entire regulation. They are hoping to position themselves for the fall election in which they hope to be able to help the GOP defeat the Obama Administration. This is not a wise course of action for the Church.
In our opinion, the bishops should stay out of politics, the last time they got involved was the French Revolution and we all know how badly that turned out for the Church. It is time for the leadership of the USCCB to turn its vision to the future: What happens if Obama gets re-elected? What type of a relationship will the bishops have with the government then? We are suggesting that the leadership of the USCCB use Catholic social justice as its standard, and put the poor ahead of organizational ego in this matter.
The bishops started this journey by initially seeking broad conscience-related protections, but they are losing this debate solely based on the fact that most Catholics are dismissing what they have to say in the political arena—because of their insignificance when it comes to political leadership of Catholics.
The bishops support the "Taco Bell rule," which allows for individual business owners to be exempt because "If I quit this job and opened a Taco Bell, I'd be covered by the mandate."
The major problem is that this won't fly with either the White House or Congress.
One of the major issues facing the USCCB is that its organizational operating style only allows for two meetings a year, and during the rest of the year they supposedly have an administrative committee that can run things in between meetings—except the bishops are so suspicious of each other that they have not given this committee the power and authority to work on their behalf. One only has to remember the fiasco of getting the document "Always Our Children" approved. This signaled the end of any real power for the Administrative committee, now it is more about bloated egos than real management authority.
Clearly, the bishop's allies are fragmented in their support. Catholic social organizations such as hospitals and universities are not behind the bishops. The Rev. Joe Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, described the Obama compromise as a welcome step—a view other Catholic universities echoes. Sister Carol Keehan, head of the Catholic Health Association that represents a sprawling network of Catholic hospitals, also hailed the accommodation.
Lacking the Church's institutional muscle behind the bishops' position, their stance has become much weaker.
Even conservatives in the Church are quickly realizing the bishops may be losing the debate. "If the bishops reject this deal, they don't have a lot of options," Russell Shaw wrote in Crisis Magazine, a conservative Catholic outlet. "Closing down thousands of Catholic institutions and programs isn't likely. Remedial legislation pending in Congress has little chance of becoming law with Democrats controlling the Senate and the White House. As for simply refusing to obey the ... rule, it's a last resort."
The elephant in the room for the bishops is that the 67 million Catholics do not support their position—whatever it turns out to be. Surveys show that U.S. Catholics, including the most devout, do not heed the bishops' teachings against artificial birth control, and framing the issue as a threat to religious freedom hasn't moved Catholics to mass opposition.
In reality, the state of the economy, not birth control or religious liberty, is likely to determine the outcome of the election, and that is out of the hierarchy's control.
What is going to determine the election is the state of the economy, and not birth control or religious liberty, no matter how much Cardinal Timothy Dolan and his clueless USCCB administrative committee want to change the political reality. Are the bishops ready to jump ship?
Bill O'Connor
Rainbow Sash Movement
Beyondmedia transition problems
Dear Editor:
As a group of Chicago-based activists and longtime supporters of Beyondmedia Education, we are writing this letter to the editor of Windy City Times to publicly express our extreme disappointment regarding the way that the process of closing the organization and transitioning the programs is being handled.
In light of Beyondmedia's mission to give voice to marginalized people in Chicago and their indispensable work in creating unique opportunities for people to reclaim their lives, share their stories and impact their communities, we are committed to preserving the ongoing work of the organization even as the corporation is being dissolved, and we ask that Beyondmedia's board demonstrate this commitment, too.
We find it ironic and tragically poetic that an organization whose mission is to amplify underrepresented voices has not had a media voice in this historical moment. The process has been secretive and certainly not in keeping with Beyondmedia's collaborative mission, spirit and practice for the past 12 years. Beyondmedia's board has made no formal announcement to the organization's partners or the wider community.
Further, the very people who created and maintained the organization's award-winning programs and projects for all these years—the staff, including Beyondmedia's founding director—have been left out of the decision-making process regarding the preservation and transfer of programs.
The loss of Beyondmedia is a loss for Chicago. They provided media literacy and anti-violence workshops for underserved youth, video services to nonprofits to build their media and organizing capacity, screenings of first-voice films in festivals, schools and universities worldwide, gatherings of people committed to social justice for dialogue and movement building, and so much more. The media treasures they produced constitute an important archive of women and youth organizing in Chicago and belong to everyone.
On Jan. 11, 2012, more than 30 people gathered at Las Manos Gallery to discuss the decision by the Beyondmedia board to close the organization, which many felt was rushed and unnecessary, and was acted upon against the advice of both the organization's banker and auditor. In addition to representatives from a wide range of partnering organizations, the meeting included former board, staff, youth leaders and interns who contributed a total of more than 60 years of service to Beyondmedia. The meeting was framed in terms of brainstorming—thinking about ways that Beyondmedia's social justice values, vision and mission could be kept alive and thriving despite the dissolution of the corporation. We saw this not as a death, but as transition.
In what was experienced by those in the room as a miraculous moment, Craig Harshaw, founder and executive director of Insight Arts, and Aislinn Pulley, Insight Arts board president, stepped up and offered to provide the space and infrastructure that would allow Beyondmedia programs to be maintained. Everyone present voiced enthusiastic support for the transition.
Since that time—more than two months ago—Insight Arts has been locked in an arduous and seemingly never-ending process with the Beyondmedia board and its consultant. Insight Arts has devoted countless hours to transition the programs in a timely fashion to uphold Beyondmedia's commitments and requests, which include exhibitions of Beyondmedia's Chain of Change installation; copies of Beyondmedia videos; the postings of hundreds of articles, interviews and poetry by and about women in prison to Beyondmedia's womenandprison.org; and requests for meetings and project support by members of Beyondmedia's Youth Leadership Council.
Meanwhile, the work is not being done, but the need is still great. We have been patient throughout this process. Now, we are at our wits' end, and this is why we turn to the media, as we know the power of a media voice to effect positive change.
We urge the Beyondmedia Board to immediately complete the process of transferring all of the organization's assets so that the programs may become active and self-supporting again. Further, we demand that Beyondmedia's rapidly dwindling funds be used for their legitimate purpose: to support programs serving women and youth.
Signed,
Michelle Peterson Albandoz, Joanne Archibald, Davey Ball, Aimee Bass, Maritza Bautista, Dalida Maria Benfield, Christine Bespalec-Davis, Ronit Bezalel, Lara Brooks, Shawn Campbell, Clay Chalupa, Salome Chasnoff, Thom Clark, CL Cole, Rebecca Connie, Patricia Coonan, Tim Coonan, Rachel Durchslag, Tiara Epps, Marissa Faustini, Simon Fisher, Cheryl Graves, Dawn Hancock, Craig Harshaw, Joe Hollendoner, Jessi Lee Jackson, Alexis Jennings, Mariame Kaba, Njoki Kamau, Jacob Klippenstein, Craig Kois, Elias Krell, Lauren La Rose, Lisa Lee, Manwah Lee, Riva Lehrer, Laurie Little, Lynda Lopez, Michaela Lovegood, Mickey Mahoney, Tara Malik, Jeff McCarter, Ethan Michaeli, Cheryl Miller, Madsen Minax, Daria Mueller, Brenda Myers-Powell, Kelly Noah, Jane Nolan, Susan Nussbaum, Aislinn Pulley, Taina Rodriguez De Velarde, Jerzy Rose, Francesca Royster, Rachel Rozycki, Ann Russo, Jane Saks, Zaida Sanabia, Carrie Sandahl, Ellen Schumer, Gail Smith, Mary Sommers, Melissa Spatz, Stacia Spencer, Ann Stanford, Shannon Sullivan, Nancy Tartt, Paul Teruel, Roxy Trudeau, Daniel Tucker, Jaimie Turner, Jorge Valdivia, Tiffany Mae Witkowski and Denise Zaccardi
