CHANGING TIMES - APRIL 2019 - from the SSVP National Newsletter

Johanna Cross is the new Social Justice rep for BC and Yukon. This is an article she posted on the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul - National Council of Canada website (https://www.ssvp.ca) with the subtitle, "I’m the New Social Justice Rep for BC and Yukon… Now What?"
(https://www.ssvp.ca/newsletters/social-justice/changing-times-april-2019). Click on this link to go to the original post where you can also download a PDF version if you wish. 
The article is reproduced below for your convenience.

A few months ago my name was put forward to be the new Social Justice rep for BC and Yukon.  I fully admitted that I didn’t know much about social justice but I’d be willing to take a huge leap of faith and say YES - so here I am!

Papal documentation of the importance of social justice dates back to Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891 which stressed the dignity of every human person as well as the common good. Each pope, since, and up to Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudate Si, has written about social justice, laying the foundation of what is The Social Doctrine of the Church.

At the BC and Yukon Regional SSVP AGA in May 2019, the importance of social justice as part of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul mandate will be put forward. The expected result is that social justice will become a Rule; that is every conference will be required to have social justice on their regular agenda.

Ontario’s cuts to legal aid will hurt the poorest

On Good Friday this year, as on every Good Friday, I read about the trial of Jesus Christ before Pontius Pilate and how, in a travesty of justice the Roman Governor caved to the demands of the ruling religious elite in Jerusalem and sentenced Christ to execution with two rebel bandits. This year on good Friday I also read in the Toronto Star how legal aid, already meagre, will be further cut to Ontario's poorest and most vulnerable.

Syrian Refugee Children (globalnews.ca)

For Christians who believe that the risen Christ hides in plain sight in the poor, the weak and the vulnerable, Good Friday is a very fitting occasion to publicise this cut in services resulting in further travesty against those without the means to represent themselves in court, refugee claimants and, often, the victims of such horrific crimes as child abuse, murder, manslaughter and sexual assault against minors because the perpetrators are not being tried soon enough and are simply being set free by the courts.

Read the full opinion piece here: Ontario’s cuts to legal aid will hurt the poorest.
https://spon.ca/ontarios-cuts-to-legal-aid-will-hurt-the-poorest/2019/04/20/

The health of immigrant and refugee children after their arrival in Canada

As Vincentians, we not only want to help the poor, but we need to work with others to find and address the root causes of poverty and its effects in all its forms.

The first comprehensive research project in Canada examining the health of immigrant and refugee children after their arrival in the country was published on the web in May 2018.

The study found a number of things. For starters, it emerges that research studies over the past 15 years have found that immigrants arrive in better health than Canadians — with a lower incidence of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes — but suffer a decline in their health as their time in Canada increases.

A  highly readable digest of this study was published recently (April 9, 2019) by Vatanparast and Lane under the title: Immigrant children’s health declines rapidly after arrival in Canada.
https://theconversation.com/immigrant-childrens-health-declines-rapidly-after-arrival-in-canada-114421

Study authors:
Hassan Vatanparast
Professor of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan

Ginny Lane
Postdoctoral Fellow in Public Health, University of Saskatchewan

April 8, 2019 - Encounter with the Suffering Christ

On Palm Sunday we will hear in the second reading from Philippians: "Though he was in the form of God, Christ did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:6-8)

Blessed Frederick Ozanam found this humble and fragile Christ, stripped of honour and dignity, present in the poor and the outcasts, in those without a voice and in those exploited by society.

​Volunteers or Servants in Ministry?

​

by Timothy Schmaltz

A couple of weeks ago I attended an evening for those in liturgical ministry in St. Elizabeth Seton Parish. Fr. Roy gave a presentation where, among the many things he shared, he stressed that we need to see ourselves and each other as ministers serving the Body of Christ. We do this because we have been called by the Lord who has given us the necessary gifts and talents needed to perform this work of service. St. Paul has a lot to say about this in 1 Corinthians 12 and also in Romans 12. To us, our gifts and talents may not seem like much more than a few loaves and fishes, but the Lord can and will multiply them as needed.

A corollary to understanding ourselves as servants who have been called to ministry by God is that we need to cease considering ourselves as volunteers. This is true, regardless of the ministry, whether social, educational, liturgical or care and compassion.