Millennial reflections
By Father Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem
Holy Week is upon us and we will be immersed in all the rituals and ceremonies celebrating death and life. The legislative session is mercifully over, and the politicians are all out campaigning to get reelected. We still fight for the same social justice issues that so much need to be addressed, but these days, we do it with a fresh spirit. Is it the coming of Spring perhaps? There is some new energy that gets released when the Vernal Equinox arrives.

So, the coming of Easter is a new beginning. We celebrate death and resurrection. We do this so often in our own lives. Spring is a time of letting go – perhaps in the form of “spring cleaning.” Perhaps in the form of a walk outside to witness the transformation of the landscape. Out in the woods around our priory new creatures emerge; birds have staked out their turf. The fresh green leaves, the blossoms and the extended daylight say out loud life continues. Even death is the seed that produces new life.
Endings and beginnings. During my 30-years of work in Chicago, I got to know a lot of folks with roots in Mississippi. One family moved back to Vicksburg in the early 80s. They waited until they heard a blizzard was about to bury Chicago and the temps would plummet to invite me South for a visit. For three years in the 80s I spent the week after New Year’s in Vicksburg eating soul food and talking about the old days. I did not know then that my community would seek to establish a foundation in Mississippi.
We Norbertines came to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1990 at the invitation of the late Bishop William Houck. We took up residence at Jackson St. Mary Parish, 653 Claiborne Avenue. In November, 2004, we moved into the new priory on Midway Road. Bishop Joseph Latino blessed it. From then till now more than 15 Norbertines were part of this community. Mississippi changed all of us, for me – the change was profound.
A lot happened in 29 years. I reconnected with Mississippi people related to Chicago people I knew. I learned so much more about the struggle for justice that shapes my life.
But, as we all got older, no young blood stepped forward to replace us. So, our leadership in De Pere Wisconsin decided to close the priory and move us back to St. Norbert Abbey. This has been in the works for a couple of years and now we are selling the property and moving back by June. People are shocked but I have to get this out there.
We live in a fast-paced changing world. Climate change is going on right now even though we may be unaware. A chunk of a massive glacier in Antarctica, the size of the state of Florida is rapidly coming apart. The sea levels are dramatically rising. Nothing we can do about it now. Scientists are measuring the changes anticipating the outcome. There are pictures from space. There are oceanographer ships out there close by. They write about the warm water hollowing out the glacier until giant pieces collapse. Our planet is changing. We need to reread Laudato Si again. Maybe it is the first time. There is wisdom and a plan to protect our common home.
Lent is so much about mercy and compassion. The Scripture readings for Sundays and weekdays make for great reflection. The prodigal son, the woman awaiting stoning, the woman at the well. The morning I am writing this, at the Carmelite monastery we read from John 5: 17-30. Jesus is describing his identity and mission. In verses 22 and 23 he says, “Nor does the Father judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to his Son, so that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father…” We see just how a merciful judge Jesus is. “Has no one accused you?…Neither will I accuse you. Go and sin no more.”
We will miss our home in the deep South, but we must also embrace our beginnings and our endings. Me? I will move back with my brother Norbertines and then return to Jackson and take up residence at Holy Family Church on Forest Avenue off Watkins with Father Xavier Amirtham, our Norbertine pastor, for another year. I hope to do what I am doing now and be useful. I hope to continue writing for the Mississippi Catholic until I “really retire” up North. There will be more to come. Be blessed everyone.

(Father Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem, lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)

Father Jeremy Tobin

Millennial reflections
By Father Jeremy Tobin, O. Praem
Mark your calendars. Catholic Day at the Capitol will be Wednesday, February 27. This will be a time to further develop Catholic Social Teaching in the broad area of Criminal Justice, in several areas: prison reform, re-entry, ending the death penalty, and how to practice restorative justice in families, parishes, and communities. Sue Allen, coordinator for the office of parish social ministries, wrote a piece that already appeared in Mississippi Catholic, and pointed out that restorative justice “follows the model presented in the Gospels.”
Restorative justice is not new. It has been around for some time. On November of 2000, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued “Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration, A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice.” The idea goes back further. “Defining it can be elusive because it is a philosophical way of thinking about crime and conflict, rather than a distinct model or system of law.”
This view holds that “criminal behavior is primarily a violation of one individual to another. When a crime is committed it is the victim who is harmed, not the state. Instead of the offender owing a ‘debt to society’ which must be expunged by experiencing some form of state-imposed punishment, the offender owes a specific debt to the victim which can only be repaid by making good the damage caused.” (Zehr 1990)
The focus is on the victim, the community and all impacted by the offense. In places where this is used, in conjunction with ordinary methods, a sharp decrease in recidivism has occurred. Further evidence of substantial healing among all parties has been recorded.
Last year the day concentrated on mental health. Angela Ladner, Executive Director of the Mississippi Psychiatric Association and Joy Hogge, Executive Director of Mississippi Families as Allies presented the situation of the state’s mental health plan and its shortcomings. The state still struggles with this. They made a good case that mental health is at the bottom of many other social ills, not the least among those is the criminal justice system.
I worked I in that system and still do, providing church services to inmates at the Federal Corrections Complex in Yazoo City, two other priests of our community serve inmates in the Federal Prison near Natchez, a privately-run prison.
Money impacts all of these systems in turn – the state mental health system, state prisons, the whole criminal justice system. Already I have been to joint senate and house judicial A and B committees over the budget for the state’s system. The meeting was well attended by advocates and others. Advocacy groups such as the ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, and others offered strong presentations on budget priorities. Budgeting is always an issue, but more so when those behind bars are so stigmatized.
As church we fight to abolish the death penalty. Undergirding our views around criminal justice, mental health, and related issues is the Gospel principle of healing and restoring people’s lives.
The climate in the country is so harsh and punitive, split along every line. I wrote here before about the racial impact on criminal justice commenting on Michelle Alexander’s seminal word on mass incarceration.
All of this advocacy is part of Church. As Church we are to be the healing hand of Jesus. We are to be peacemakers not war-makers.
So talking about restorative justice is about healing of victims, of communities of families and, yes, perpetrators. Why? All are human beings.
We have some terrific people this year who will open your minds and even your hearts. We have John Koufos, National Director of Reentry Initiatives for Right on Crime, and Haley M Brown, Oktibbeha Country prosecutor and law professor at Mississippi State University in Starkville. Read more about their presentations on page 1 of this issue of Mississippi Catholic.
I hope to see many of you there.

(Father Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem, lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)

Millennial reflections

Father Jeremy Tobin

By Father Jeremy Tobin
I cannot count the number of times that our democracy is under attack. Institutions that exist to preserve the common values and human rights we take for granted are ridiculed. Their credibility is attacked. Facts are irrelevant. Articles about creeping fascism pop up everywhere. It is like the 1960s all over again. Our current president’s rhetoric is more than shocking. It is unacceptable.
Hate groups are demonstrating freely and openly. If anyone should take the lead in denouncing all this is the president. I am going to stop there.
Those of us who participated in the Civil Rights Movement have seen this all before. We are different now. Americans have done soul searching and developed unity in diversity. The country really has changed since 1950, dramatically so., no better region than the South. People have learned to come together, to embrace diversity , all for the betterment of all. People I have known up North most of my life fled Mississippi during the “Great Migration”, returned in the early 1980s because so much change took place here. They returned home and stayed. Yes, great change took place, and we moved a little closer to becoming the “beloved community” that Dr. King preached about.
The Church changed too. Churches desegregated. Gospel Music, became basic to predominantly African American Catholic churches. This was a major work championed by Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA, Servant of God, now on the way to sainthood., and others like Father Clarence Rivers etc. The Second Vatican Council made possible so many things, enculturation in the liturgy being one of them. The influx of Latino Catholics further promoted this. The Church was looking a lot more like small “c” catholic.
Across the country in many ways people are growing to not only accept, but like diversity. The political experience of these past two years is jarring, not the values we embraced.
The last 50 years saw a promotion of social justice in new and powerful ways. Catholic Social Justice Teaching is well known. Our Catholic Charities has it on hand out cards to make it very clear. Times have changed,
So has the reaction. The country is more divided than ever. Hate groups have multiplied. Students find nooses in their lockers. The KKK holds marches. Neo-Nazi groups stage torchlight marches reminiscent of a past era. Now the worst killing of Jews in the nation’s history took place in Pittsburgh. What could slow down the positive movement of social change is the appointment of federal judges by this administration.
Those of us who dedicated our lives to implement the Second Vatican Council, to promote social justice and human rights say there is no going back..
November 1 we celebrated the Feast of All Saints. The Gospel reading was from Matthew, the eight Beatitudes. Each of them are directed to the weak not the powerful. The “crowds” who hung on Jesus’ words were the poor and marginalized. Pope Francis tells us that’s the direction to go. Lift up those who are persecuted. Reach out to those who are discriminated. The psalms we pray daily are the cries of those who have no voice. Psalm 34, the “Lord hears the cry of the poor,” Mary’s Canticle, we sing at Vespers daily says, “The Lord fills the starving, and lets the rich go hungry.”
Catholic social teaching is not just words. It is action to push back against hate. The New Testament teaches the primacy of love. Only love can melt hate and endure. These times we live in will change. The old ways are really gone. Young people today have new fire to bring positive change. They are diverse. They are literate of the issues. They will make real the hope we old folks have for a new world.

(Father Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem, lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)

Father Jeremy Tobin

Millennial reflections
By Father Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem
Tuesday September 18, a large group of priests, deacons, religious and lay leaders spent the day, together with Bishop Kopacz, at St. Dominic Toulouse Center along I-55 near Lakeland Drive experiencing “Gathering for Mission.” (See page 8 for related story about the event). I participated in this, and, together with Glenmary Father Les Schmidt and FatherTim Murphy, I serve on the board of directors of the Catholic Committee of the South (CCS) which created it. Google Gathering for Mission is a five-year project sponsored by CCS and the Glenmary Home Missioners.
Inspired by Pope Francis, Gathering for Mission makes available to Church leaders practical experience in the dialogic process.
This is a most timely project to fully engage in. Our country, yes our world, is divided, fractured’ uncivil, and the list goes on. Racism, sexism, xenophobia are raging. Much on this I have to say will be for future columns. This one is on the antidote for division, healing for the hurting soul. Thoroughly inspired by Pope Francis, Gathering for Mission is more than learning new skills. It is a way to bring a group of people only partially familiar with each other to bond and form community. If that sounds a bit lofty, it enables a group to say their piece without fear, and to collectively solve problems.
It creates an atmosphere without fear. It breaks barriers
Taking Pope Francis oft quoted saying “Dialogue! And dialogue fearlessly! Never stop the dialogue!” Dialogue breaks down walls. It seeks genuine common ground. It is not winning an argument, it is finding common ground.
To our country faced with double down divisive arguments, Pope Francis says dialogue fearlessly. If we engage all parties in dialogue the goal changes from winning and losing to collaborative solutions. What Gathering for Mission does is to pour cool water on a flaming fire of negativity – even hatred.
Gathering for Mission is about teaching dialogue. We may think we know what that is, but more likely we confuse it for what it is not. It is more than a process it is transformation. It changes the situation as perceived into a new reality. The best way to see this is to compare it to often what we think it is. It is not a debate. It is not about one set of ideas vanquishing another set of ideas. It results in real actual change.
In a debate winning is the goal. In dialogue common ground is the goal. Right here we see a solution in this polarized world we live in. Dialogue is a method to approach issues and arrive at common ground and openness to change.
Dialogue supports open mindedness, and openness to being wrong, and openness to change.
This can be a threat to those who see everything as us against them, but this is precisely a non -violent rather peaceful way to create a new reality of understanding.
CCS is offering Gathering for Mission to dioceses, seminaries, religious groups and more, but I believe it can adapt as a way to confront hostile groups. Dialogue, by its nature, is expansive. It is open. It is flexible. It does not accept winning and losing. It works for common ground.
By learning and experiencing this process we, who are committed to the world view of the Gospel, can reach out to those who promote division in a way that is not confrontational but challenging.
Yes this can be threatening to those who approach us with their divide, rigid, everybody-has-a-label view of the world. This makes it effective.
The website, www.gatheringformission.org, has a list of videos, their titles alone pour soothing balm on polarizing situations. This program is designed for church settings, parishes, diocesan and religious groups , but I suggest that it can be adapted to other less compatible settings to effect a change in perception, in point of view, and even degree of openness to labeled groups.
To take it out of a church setting and use it in the way I suggest means that people have been trained thoroughly in the method, strong enough to wear down opponents. The key is creative patience.

(Father Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem, lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)

Father Jeremy Tobin

Millennial reflections
By Father Jeremy Tobin
Pope Francis clearly is a pope for our time. He has been the voice of those with no voice, the advocate for those on the margins. From the very beginning of his papacy he has urged the church to “Go to the margins, to the outcast…” He urges clergy to immerse themselves in the struggles of their people saying “shepherds should smell like the sheep.” He has blasted clericalism as a new idolatry.
Recently he spoke to the Italian equivalent of the AFL-CIO. He refocused labor and those who advocate for workers in the frame of Pope John Paul II, seeing the social as well as the human dimensions of work, even creativity in doing any work. No job is just a job, it should be the expression of the worker. Further he sees the necessity of leisure. “Leisure is not laziness,” said the pontiff. It is a necessity to fill out the rest of the worker’s life.
He sees work as the product and expression of the worker, not merely tasks to be done for profit. The advent of robotics used to replace human workers only amplifies the problem of profit being the exclusive motive for work. One might surmise companies who choose robots over people have no social purpose other than amassing wealth for their shareholders and owners.
Pope Francis is a firm critic of capitalism. In some circles to criticize capitalism is to espouse Marxism and immorality. This is not the focus of Pope Francis’ criticism. The negative aspects of a Marxist-based economy is to further reduce people to things, not agents of their own destiny. Marxism and predatory capitalism both gouge workers.
In addressing the Italian labor unions he firmly states, “Labor unions are prophetic and innovative.” Unions are prophetic when they give voice “to those who have none, denounce those who would ‘sell the needy for a pair of sandals’ (Amos 2:6) unmask the powerful who would trample the rights of the most vulnerable of workers, defend the cause of the foreigner, the least of the discarded.”
Today labor unions, together with the Church, have been speaking up for immigrants, joined in their struggle for equality and inclusion The leadership of the AFL-CIO under Richard Trumka the labor movement recognized it was not immigrants stealing workers jobs, it was the exploitation of immigrants that drove down wages. It is the ongoing “race to the bottom” that has split groups who should be allies.
A powerful way to combat this is through solidarity. We can go back to the glory days of early 20th Centuries organizing with that hymn, “Solidarity Forever” and chants liker the “Mighty, mighty Union!! The truth is, the works are the union. More than the chief officers away in offices. They can direct, inspire and mobilize, but the union is on the ground. It is the workers, organized and holding management accountable.
Pope Francis’ concept of solidarity is expansive. Unions represent all workers not just their members. True solidarity is respect for the workers, the company’s respect for the larger community. Today these are pitted against each other solely for profit. Today we hear speakers denounce balancing budgets on the backs of the poor. These denunciations often fall on deaf ears.
Our teaching on labor, like so much other issues, is the focus on the human person. From this lens it is people, communities that come before profits. It is seeing workers with respect, not as human machines.
Pope Francis emphasis on the prophetic role of unions is inclusive, reaching outward. He says, “Prophets are sentinels, who watch from their lookout. The union, too, must keep vigil over the walls of the city of work, like a watchman who guards and protects those who are inside the city of labor, but also guarding and protecting those who are outside the walls.” He continues saying, ”Your vocation is also to protect those who do not have rights., those excluded from work who are also excluded from rights and democracy.”
This is why I often write that our Catholic teachings on labor and social justice are well kept secrets. They should not be. At a time when so many people are being attacked and exploited in so many ways we should be preaching and teaching social justice from the housetops.
(Father Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem, lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)

Millennial Reflections
By Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.

Father Jeremy Tobin

The pushback against the liberation of oppressed people, the great strides toward equality, is a constant threat in any society. The completion of what began with emancipation has made great strides. The country began to come together. People began to appreciate and accept diversity. The forces determined to turn back the clock seemed silly to many, but deadly earnest to others.
I believe the election, not once but twice, of the first African American president drove the pushback into high gear. From birtherism, to the tea party to the election of the current president to outright un-American attacks on anyone not white – racism has come out ugly and raucous, ignorant and violent, further tearing the country apart.
After the murders of nine worshippers at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston South Carolina, we saw the confessed killer wrapped in the confederate flag. The confederate emblem on Mississippi’s state flag, long a symbol of hate and oppression to many, but a symbol of the lost cause and heritage to others, only continues to split the state apart.
The issue of confederate symbols whether statues or flags has gone national. Many are re-examining the history of these monuments, looking closely at when and why those statues appeared, which is at the same time Jim Crow laws appeared. Clarion-Ledger journalist Jerry Mitchell wrote about the topic in the Sunday, August 27, Perspective section of the paperI believe these stars and bars have become an international flag of racism and hate. Germany banned all symbols of the Third Reich, so the neo-Nazis took up the stars and bars to replace the swastika. Most recently, we saw that in the demonstration in Charlottesville.
More than 100 years later, we are still wrestling with the issues of the Civil War. Again, many are stating that defense of slavery was the cause and driver behind that war. This is the 21st century. We have not confronted and successfully dealt with America’s original sin of racism. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has formed a committee to deal with these issues and the current state of racism in the country.
Rising above all the debate and arguing, let us remember that the power to love is always greater than the power to hate. We go back to the beginning of the 20th century. Hate and violence ruled. Mississippi displayed its ‘strange fruit.’ Ida B. Wells went to Congress to lobby for anti-lynching laws to no avail. Two World Wars erupted spawning a philosophy of white supremacy that could only be quenched by mass genocide and gas ovens.
The push back was the Civil Rights Movement that preached the power of love over hate. The Movement furthered the call for true justice and human rights and used nonviolence to be the model for change.
Today we have foreigners, immigrants, with or without papers. There are those who would imprison them, break up their families and deport them. We have the poor, who some would judge and blame for their situation.
As Catholic Christians, we hear the Bible read out at every Mass. Recently we read from Isaiah: “The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, ministering to him, loving the name of the Lord, and becoming his servants, and hold to my covenant…them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer. My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.” (Is.56:1,6-7)
We can listen to the arguments about shifting demographics, how the country will become a majority minority country. We can examine what impact that is having on the current majority, but we must, as Catholic Christians, remember to keep love at the center of our discussions.
The power of love is the only power that can extinguish hate. It was the force of love and coming together that made the Movement succeed back in the day. One set of barriers came down, but love overcame fear, and can do it again.
(Father Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem, lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)

Millennial Reflections

Father Jeremy Tobin

By Father Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem.
We have just passed the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, the first official day of summer and the woods are bursting with life. Green is everywhere, even in church. We are back in Ordinary Time, when the color, like the region, is green. Spring and Summer I savor precisely because they radiate hope and life.
I begin with this because there is so much negativity and division – many people are frustrated even mildly depressed. Our religion is ideally suited to combat feelings of negativity, frustration and depression. We just completed the Easter Season and celebrated Jesus overcoming death with resurrection and his promise that he will return. He said each and every one of us will do what he did: die and rise in glory. Despite what we celebrate, whether good times or bad, there is an ingrained optimism in our everyday faith to lift us up, to call us to greater possibilities.
Ordinary Time is when we go through the entire Scripture and reflect on the power and healing word of God. Now we are reflecting on prophets. For example, from the 12th Sunday to the 15th Sunday in our current cycle we hear from Jeremiah, Elisha, Zechariah and Isaiah. We are asked to reflect on prophets and prophecy. In the New Testament we have many references to prophets, those called to witness, to give testimony to the goodness and power of God.
Prophets are called by God. People do not choose to be a prophet. The role is thrust upon them. It is not a prestigious vocation. Prophets are, deliberately or not, misunderstood. They are opposed, reviled and killed. The Bible is filled with the excuses of the great prophets, things like, “I’m too young” (Jeremiah) “I can’t talk right” (Isaiah) “I have a speech impediment” (Moses). God chooses the inept, the handicapped, the poor and the weak to proclaim his good news.
Nobody wants to be a prophet. A prophet is a sign, a sacrament, if you will, of the active power of God confronting evil situations. They do what they are called to do. Often they do not see the success or goal that they strive for.
This leads me to reflect on signs, symbols, sacraments and I add mysteries. In Latin and Greek the words are interchangeable.
 Much of what I say here is based on my study (years ago) of that great Dominican theologian, Edward Schillebeeckx. To keep it simple, he says that a sacrament is an encounter with God. This encounter is both intellectual and emotional. It is God communicating with our humanity and our awareness and responses to that. He goes on to say that Jesus Christ is the perfect sacrament of the encounter with God in both his completely human and divine natures. His disciples experienced all that in being with him, sharing with him, eating with him and witnessing his mighty deeds.
His signs always punctuated and validated what he said. It is through Christ that we encounter God and it is through the sacraments we encounter Christ and in Christ we encounter God. The various signs of the seven sacraments: water, oil, bread and wine and the words and gestures accompanying them are signs of Christ’s active presence in healing, restoring, nourishing and strengthening us. They are Christ present doing specific things. We all encounter Christ in all seven sacraments.
I want to emphasize encounter. What Schillebeeckx and others are trying to say is that in the sacraments there is an encounter, a meeting, a connecting with God and the recipient. These seven are not the only way we encounter or commune with God. We can also have this experience in prayer, in quiet meditation, in being aware of God’s presence in life experiences, in other people or their situation, or what they do.
It is more than intellectual, it is spiritual, emotional – the energy that drives poets and musicians. To say I had a deep encounter with Jesus in prayer and then try and express that is analogous to our connecting with God in the seven sacraments. We are accustomed to hear that “The sacrament(s) work whether you are as focused as you should be or not.” That includes the minister whether deacon or priest. This sense that they are “automatic” adds to the apathy and minimum participation on the part of the recipient.
One has to be schooled in the meaning of sacramental signs to recognize that they are ways that God encounters us. A sacramental way of seeing God is seeing him in many things, even peoples actions. A sacrament is a way we encounter the invisible in the visible. Our prayers say things like, “Now we encounter you in signs but then we will see you face to face, as you are.”
(Father Jeremy Tobin, O.Praem, is the sacramental minister for Jackson Christ the King Parish. He lives at the Priory of St. Moses the Black, Jackson.)