New v.p. for mission & ministry at the Jesuits’ St. Louis U. The post is not new. It caught my attention because the same appointment was made last March at Wheeling (WV) Jesuit U., where it is new, apparently in anticipation and certainly expectation of Wheeling Jesuit’s hiring its first non-Jesuit president.
The position allows educationally experienced Jesuits who do not want to head a college or university and/or would not be considered for such a job to help shape one in the Jesuit tradition.
This one at St. Louis U. held a similar position at Wheeling Jesuit, in fact, as director of campus ministry — maybe also as director of Mission and Identity, as the release has it. Hmmm. “Campus chaplain” begot “director of campus ministry” begot “director of mission and identity” in the ever-vibrant world of denominating people assigned to college or university.
Point is, the fellow is supposed to steer the institution — St. Louis U. has a Jesuit president, by the way — in direction of its “Catholic, Jesuit identity, character, history and heritage,” which by no means can be taken for granted in the ever-vibrant world of Catholic, Jesuit higher education. Stay tuned, my friends, stay tuned.
Another budget-issue article, from NCReporter, all about damage from cuts:
Responding to the demands of new tea party-backed members of Congress and concerns among independent voters about the growing federal deficit, the White House and congressional Republicans proposed steep cuts in the federal budget, many of which will affect programs that aid the poor and vulnerable.
Many Catholics have warned that the budget is being balanced on the backs of the poor and the U.S. bishops conference has urged Congress to maintain funding for programs that aid the poor.
In a letter to members of Congress released last month, Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, Calif., chairman of the bishops Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, called on Congress specifically to spare cuts to community health centers, job re-training and affordable housing programs, as well as aid to migrants. We remind Congress that the poor and vulnerable have a priority claim on our limited, although still substantive, financial resources, Blaire wrote.
Is there a bishops’ committee on fiscal responsibility? How government spending hurts poor people by encouraging inflation and endangering the fiscal well-being of the nation? Tell me which of these Departments & Programs has or provides room for such a committee?
Even bishops with heart in right place — we can’t assume that of all of them, fallen human nature being what it is — are caught up entirely in results of de-funding. Except for abortion and same-sex marriage, have they ever objected to government interference or complaisance? Are there no moral issues bound up in the statist approach?
Chi Trib’s Vikki Ortiz Healy comes up with featurization of real problems, a tear-jerker well done. But something’s missing as it is in many, I’d say most, such stories, namely any nod towards the fiscal insanity that has led to this situation and the need to cut the budget before worse things happen, far worse than this loss to young apparently unwed parents in Cicero.
Parents and child at Morton East (Trib pic)
Thank heaven for little girls, sang boulevardier Maurice Chevalier, and thank it for a culture and perhaps religious motivation that leads them to have their babies in the first place. But is it hard-hearted to ask for a little balance in such stories?
Pro-choicer Frances Kissling urges retrenchment for tactical reasons.
Writing Feb. 20 in the opinion section of The Washington Post, Kissling said abortion rights advocates can no longer pretend the fetus is invisible. … We must end the fiction that an abortion at 26 weeks is no different from one at six weeks. … We need to firmly and clearly reject post-viability abortions except in extreme cases.
“We all sleep together [in the statehouse], and we all wake up to the sound of the drums,” says protester Damon Terrell in a pull quote atop the picture.
Hinkel had spotted Terrell looking “as if he were headed off to his bedroom at home.” Instead, he was heading for what the protesters were calling “the people’s house.”
It was happening in “famously liberal-minded Madison — sometimes derided as an island of idealism in a sea of reality” — in a protest of “sustained intensity” such as Madison’s “longtime activists” could not remember.
Not only that, it had “diversity” — “construction workers wearing hard hats, firefighters playing bagpipes, liberal activists waving placards, students scooting into sleeping bags.”
Teachers too, as we know. Terrell wants to be one, and “so many teachers have protested that schools throughout the state have been forced to shut down.” But they are not part of this story, which is mostly a celebration of youth and activism. Hinkel is a UW-Madison alum, ’04, so you can’t blame him for getting nostalgic.
As for editors who asked for the story (I presume) and gave it such play (I know they did that), please: What kind of world do they live in and who do they think their readers are?
Nostalgia not from Hinkel directly, but from former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, who is running for mayor:
“There’s nothing like it,” said former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, who says he was tossed to the ground and beaten by police with nightsticks at a bloody war protest in 1967. [Three years before the UW
physics department was blown up and a
researcher killed as antiwar protest]
“In a decade of antiwar protests, we were never able to reach the building trades, the Teamsters and the nonunion people that this touched in the first 48 hours,” said Soglin, who is again running for mayor.
Money, money, money, Paul. The market has determined response. It’s the way people are. Teachers have a good deal and want to protect it. Unionists see theirs in jeopardy. Antiwar protests fizzled as soon as the draft was ended, Paul. No market for protesters seeking not to get killed or serve in Army. It’s as clear as the bushy mustache on his face.
Messing with unions in Madison is like messing with Notre Dame football in South Bend. Think twice, no matter how many votes you got in the last election.
These folks don’t give a hoot about no stinkin’ election but truly believe that democracy has its limits.
Action in the streets and in the capitol are what does it. Brown shirts help but are not always necessary. In the case of Wis. Gov. Walker eating out, all you have to do is boo.
February 26, 2011 …socks, clutching a toothbrush. Protesters of a proposal that would defang public…dozens, scores and even hundreds of protesters have bunked overnight in the 94-year…that has lured hundreds of thousands of protesters. Unlike some causes, such as wars…
February 24, 2011 …legislators will return. The crowd of union protesters in the Capitol building appeared somewhat smaller…committee. michael.muskal@latimes.com dan.hinkel@tribune.com Hinkel, a staff writer for the Chicago Tribune …
By Dan Hinkel and Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times
February 24, 2011 …Unions have flooded state capitals to oppose the legislation. On Wednesday, the Capitol in Indianapolis was swarming with protesters, who chanted, sang, ate pizza donated by well-wishers, and hoisted signs that proclaimed, “Stop corporate greed…
February 22, 2011 …Ohio, an estimated 5,500 protesters stood elbow to elbow in and…as drums and chants from protesters outside echoed through the…winter cold. Among the protesters was Jeri Hendricks, 56…simon@latimes.com Hinkel reported from Madison and…
By Dan Hinkel and Richard Simon, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times
February 18, 2011 …stick to his guns. “The protesters have every right to be heard…passed out bratwurst. Protesters carried signs, including…Democrats still in hiding, protesters saying they would stay the…riccardi@latimes.com Hinkel reported from Madison, Wis…
By Dan Hinkel and Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times
February 19, 2011 …Capitol rotunda echoed with drums and chants while pro-labor protesters outside chanted ?Kill the bill.? The tea party-led activists…Andrew Breitbart, as he took the stage before the pro-Walker protesters. ?It?s the battle of our times.? dhinkel@tribune…
February 19, 2011 …crowd of supporters of Walker’s state budget measure. The Capitol rotunda echoed with drums and voices while pro-labor protesters outside chanted, “Kill the bill.” “Tea party” -led activists responded with chants of their own: “Do your job…
By Dan Hinkel, Chicago Tribune
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MADISON, WI FEBRUARY 18: Protesters join a chant to kill Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s bill during a rally at the Capital Building on February 18, 2011 in Madison, Wisconsin. Many schools were closed for a third day as teachers remained absent from the classroom and protests continued at the state capitol as legislation slashing collective bargaining rights for public workers stalled in the state senate due to Democrats avoiding a quorum vote on the measure. (Photo by Mark Hirsch/Getty Images)
[Protestors and supporters of Republican Governor Scott Walker’s proposal to to curb the bargaining rights of public employee unions to make immediate budget savings, gather at the State Capitol grounds as members of the Wisconsin state government discuss the proposed bill in Madison, February 19, 2011. Supporters of the legislation in Wisconsin were far outnumbered by opponents on Saturday, as the two sides shouted competing slogans under clear skies. REUTERS/Darren Hauck (UNITED STATES Tags: EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)] *** []
Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel said Friday hes looking for a partner in reform, and he is heartened if Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) is prepared to forge that alliance.
No, Fran Spielman, or whoever to whom you call in your stories, he’s looking for a partner and would be heartened if etc. etc. There is more to life than the indicative, is there not?
And I’m saying this even if you, and to some extent I, have a mayor who also is stranger to mood changes:
Im looking for a partner in reform. If hes ready to do that, Im heartened because we must reform. This is the era of reform, Emanuel said.
Your Honor, attention please: if he’s ready (a big if, very big if), you would be heartened etc. etc. It’s in doubt, Your Honor. In a lot of doubt, in fact. Can you respect that (publicly)?
Continuing:
I want to turn the page and usher in that era, and Im pleased that the alderman is gonna be part of that [you don’t know
that, but say it anyhow] because City Council, the mayor, people I appoint must participate [now you’re talking: this is indicative with a dose
of imperative] in the reform and changes necessary to put the city, its economy, its school system and its public safety on a different course.
And if they do not, then what, Your Honor? Wait. Do not tell us. We want to see this thing work out in its own time. There’s this optative mood in Latin, for hoping and wishing. We could try that.
Ald. Burke might cooperate:
Given the crises that Chicago is confronting right now, we dont have the luxury of engaging in those kinds of divisive matters. Weve got to all pull together. We owe it to the people of Chicago” [he says].
Uh-oh. Those kinds of matters, eh? How many kinds would that be, Alderman, and which ones have priority? Listen, there’s one kind of matter that you are talking about, and it’s white-knuckles economic-catastrophe, let’s-not-fall-in-the-lake matter.
Yes, I like that optative for now. It’s the best I can manage.
The changes that Emanuel is likely to pursue could put him on course for conflict with the citys large unionized workforce. The labor unions representing the rank-and-file members of the two biggest components of city government the police and fire departments endorsed Gery Chico over Emanuel, as did the union for city garbage-crew laborers. Emanuel angered them but may have scored points with the broader, tax-paying public with a campaign ad in which he said City Hall is not an employment agency.
I picture him — he’s for hope and change, isn’t he? — calling for major cuts and finding teachers and others lining up outside The Hall for doctors’ permits for missing work, aldermen heading for Michigan City or Evanston, the whole kid and kaboodle (sp?) of labor-union democracy. Fun times ahead as he (we hope) tries to keep Chicago from falling into Lake Michigan.
Blithe Spirit 