Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty

(START)

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) welcomes the signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation. They urge the U.S. Senate members to come together across party lines to ratify the new START treaty.

What is in this treaty?
Reduces deployed strategic warheads to 1,550, 30% below the existing ceiling.
Limits the United States and Russia to no more than 700 delivery vehicles
Includes new verification requirements

What Does This Have To Do With My Faith?

The possession and maintenance of nuclear weapons are a grave threat to human life and dignity.
Nuclear war is rejected in Church teaching because the use of nuclear weapons cannot insure noncombatant immunity and their destructive potential and lingering radiation cannot be meaningfully proportionate.
With fewer nuclear weapons in the world, the likelihood of one falling in the hands of a terrorist group would be reduced.
Pope Benedict XVI in January 2006 said “In a nuclear war there would be no victors, only victims.”
Jesus believed in non-violence and peacemaking, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Mt 5:9)
“But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you...do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Lk 6:27-31).

Quotes from Catholic Social Teaching

The Challenge of Peace, 1983 Pastoral Letter by the USCCB:
“The dangers of modern war are specific and visible; our teaching must be equally specific about the needs of peace. Effective arms control leading to mutual disarmament, ratification of pending treaties, development of nonviolent alternatives, are but some of the recommendations we would place before the Catholic community and all men and women of good will.” #202
Peacemaking is not an optional commitment. It is a requirement of our faith. We are called to be peacemakers, not by some movement of the moment, but by our Lord Jesus. The content and context of our peacemaking is set, not by some political agenda or program, but by the teaching of His Church.” #333

Urge members of the Senate to support ratification of the New START treaty.
Urge the House members to support the Global Security Priorities Resolution (H.Res.278)

The last “source of transition” that we will address is Joy. Often, as we begin our spiritual journey it can weigh on us as an obligation. We don’t feel very joyful. However, as we grow in each of the other sources of transition, and as we progress on our faith journey we begin to experience great happiness and joy.
As we grow in our lives of stewardship, we can experience joy, either as a result of our interaction with others, or as a result of our own inner peace. As knowledge of the faith grows our joy can grow as we become more comfortable with our lives as Christians. As our communal participation grows we experience the joy of appreciating others and being appreciated. As our personal experience of stewardship changes we become joyful as we see the affect we have on others, or we recall how others have affected us. As we grow spiritually, we become more joyful as we grow closer to God. Finally, joy can be an indicator of the degree in which stewardship has become a part of our lives
The joy we experience through stewardship is a strong positive reinforcement. When we live our life of stewardship we receive the joy of Christ in return. For next week, think about those times when you were a good steward and think about the joy you felt. When we live out our Attitude of Gratitude, God rewards us with JOY!

From the Stewardship Committee

We don't often think about how our personal experience shapes our life of stewardship; however, personal experience is another of the "sources of transition".
A person can be a recipient, an observer or a practitioner of stewardship. Each of these vantage points influences our level of stewardship. Many people are in need and receive help as a result of others' stewardship. Some people see their steward­ship as "giving back" in repayment for when they received help. Many people learned stewardship from watching positive role models. Other people have never been exposed to good stew­ardship therefore stewardship is a hard thing for them to prac­tice. These examples show how personal experience can shape stewardship. Furthermore it is important to realize that present behavior can strengthen or weaken a life of steward­ship. For good stewards, the acts become easier and habitual; the positive emotions and the feelings of gratitude reinforce the positive behavior. If however we turn our backs on an opportu­nity to help, it becomes easier to reject the next call to help; furthermore any guilt or anxiety can have a bearing on our over­all outlook on life.
The key is to think through our experiences and present conditions and understand how our outlook on stewardship has been shaped. For next week, think about how your personal experience has shaped your life of stewardship, and look for ways that you can strengthen your Attitude of Gratitude.

Child Abuse Awareness Month

It is most appropriate that Child Abuse Prevention Month is held during the Easter season. There is no better time than Easter to celebrate the protection of our most valuable gift from God—our children.
We consider our homes to be safe places for our children but being home alone can also pose risks as well.
Never answer the door if alone.
Do not invite anyone into the home without permission from parents or babysitter.
Don’t tell anyone on the phone that your parents are not home. (www.kidsafe.com)
Safety Tips for the Computer and Cell Phone

Chat Rooms: Child molesters use chat rooms to gain easy and safe access to teens. Warn your teens never to provide anyone with private information, personal information and especially their specific physical location.
Cell Phone Cameras: Yes, they are a wonderful convenience but there are dangers. Child abusers use them to take pictures of unsuspecting children, adolescents, and adults in compromising positions without their consent. Digital photographs can be placed on the Internet very quickly within minutes of taking the photo and distributed around the world. Some websites have been created just for this purpose.
TIP: Be suspicious of anyone using a cell phone in an awk ward way. Be cognizant of suspicious cell phone use in dressing or restrooms or where children are gathered.
Webcams: This video camera connected to person’s computer permits the user to transmit video images of oneself or others in real time. They can be useful when families are connecting with one another through video connections. The webcam is used also by child abusers to search out unsuspecting children. The webcam is the single most dangerous peripheral device that can be attached to a child’s computer. Making and enforcing certain rules to protect your family should be established.
Internet Lingo: Do you know Internet lingo? Monitoring your child’s Internet use and becoming familiar with the multitude of abbreviations, acronyms, instant messaging systems and text message devices is so important in keeping your child safe while on the internet. (www.virtusonline.org).
Internet Spammers: Does your child know what to do when they receive and e-mail from an unknown source? Be aware that your child will be exposed to spam. The easiest way to avoid spam is to make sure that your children do not give out their personal information or e-mail address to anyone they do not know. Adjust the security settings on their email account to filter or block unwanted messages. When downloading make sure they scan for viruses.
Remember 1 in 5 children do get solicited over the Internet. Report incidents to www.cybertipline.com or call 1-800-843-5678

Child Abuse Awareness Month

In America over 3 million reports of child abuse are made every year! These reports can include multiple children. In 2007 approximately 5.8 million children were involved in these 3.2 million child abuse reports.

General Statistics:
A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds.
Almost 5 children die everyday as a result of child abuse. More than 3 out of 4 are under the age of 4 years old.
It is estimated that between 60-85% of child fatalities due to maltreatment are not recorded as such on death certificates.
90% of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way, 68% are abused by family members.
Child abuse occurs at every socioeconomic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education.
Over 60% of people in drug rehabilitation centers report being abused or neglected as a child.
About 80% of 21 year olds that were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder.
The estimated annual cost of child abuse and neglect in the United States for 2007 is $104 billion.
Abused children are 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy.
Children who experience child abuse and neglect are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult and 30% more likely to commit violent crime.

Did You know?

Approximately 60% of abusers are men, 15-20% are women and 20-40% are men and women acting together.
Among educators, 57.2% are male, and 42.4% are female.(Charol Shakesshaft, Hofstra University)
Changes in behavior, extreme mood swings, withdrawal, fearlessness, excessive crying, bed-wetting, nightmares, fear of going to bed, sleep disorders, and a fear of certain places, people or activities can be signs that a child has been traumatized. (Philip J. Lazarus, “Trauma and Children”)
Teach your child to respect the word “STOP”! Reinforcing this excellent lesson gives your child the power to recognize—and to stop—”bad touching” by others if it should happen. ( “Know the Rules...After School Safety Tips for Children Who are Home Alone”)

Web Sites:

Www.kidsafe.com
Www.childwelfare.gov/preventionmonth
Www.childhelp.org
Www.StopitNow.org
Www.austindiocese.org

The Right to Work and Human Development

Job creation is a key agenda item for our country right now. This is a moral task as well as an economic necessity. From a theological perspective, authentic human flourishing can only be realized when all members of the human family are able to participate, through effort and engagement, in the process of the ongoing creation of the world. (Education for Justice)

Since the beginning of the modern tradition in Catholic Social teaching, the right to work has been a central tenet because of its importance to human development. (On the Condition of Labor)

All people have the right to work, to a chance to develop their qualities and their personalities in the exercise of their professions, to equitable remuneration which will enable them and their families to lead a worthy life on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level and to assistance in case of need arising from sickness or age. (CA #14)

Pope John Paul II states in "Work as Key to the Social Question" that man can and must take responsibility in a creative way for the changes that are happening, to ensure that they promote the growth of the person, of the family, of the society in which one lives and of the entire human family. Work is one of the essential components in realizing the voca­tion of man who, in fulfilling himself, always discovers that he is called by God. Work is the key, to the whole social ques­tion.

To deal with these problems, new forms of solidarity must be created, taking into account the interdependence that forges bonds among workers.

Pope Benedict XVI in his latest encyclical "Caritas in Veritate" The dignity of the individual and the demands of justicerequire, particularly today, that economic choices do not cause disparities in wealth to increase in an excessive and morally unacceptable manner, and that we continue to priori­tize the goal of access to steady employment for everyone. (#32)

Pope Benedict XVI also addresses the connection between unemployment and poverty by advocating meaningful labor with a just wage. This vision demands that government, civil society, and businesses all understand that full employment policies are not simply economics.

In order to protect the relationship between family and work, an element that must be appreciated and safeguarded is that of a family wage, a wage sufficient to maintain a family and to allow it to live decently. Such a wage must also allow for savings that will permit the acqui­sition of property as a guarantee of freedom. (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church #250)
www.educationforjustice.org