Please read the entirety of the January issue here or here.
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
This month we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as we do every January on the anniversary of his birth. I share with you this month some reflections on Dr. King that I offered last year at an Interdenominational Service to honor his memory. I pray these few words may help us to keep his memory and his dream for a better society alive today:
Nearly 55 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the United States remains divided by issues of race and racism, economic inequality as well as unequal access to justice. These issues are stopping the country from developing into the kind of society that Martin Luther King, Jr., fought for during his years as a civil rights activist.
King’s words and work are still relevant. How can we address divisions along race, class, and political lines? On August 16, 1967, in a speech entitled “Where Do We Go From Here,” Dr. King spoke these words:
“And I say to you, I have also decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s problems. And I’m going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn’t popular to talk about it in some circles today. And I’m not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love; I’m talking about a strong, demanding love. For I have seen too much hate. I’ve seen too much hate on the faces of sheriffs in the South. I’ve seen hate on the faces of too many Klansmen and too many White Citizens Councilors in the South to want to hate, myself, because every time I see it, I know that it does something to their faces and their personalities, and I say to myself that hate is too great a burden to bear. I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love. And the beautiful thing is that we aren’t moving wrong when we do it, because John was right, God is love. He who hates does not know God, but he who loves has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality….”
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s understanding of the role of love in engaging individuals and communities in conflict is crucial today. For King, love was not sentimental. It demanded that individuals tell their oppressors what they were doing was wrong. King spent his public career working toward ending segregation and fighting racial discrimination. For many people the pinnacle of this work occurred in Washington, D.C., when he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
Less well-known and often ignored is his later work on behalf of poor people. In fact, when King was assassinated in Memphis, he was in the midst of building toward a national march on Washington, D.C., that would have brought together tens of thousands of economically disenfranchised people to advocate for policies that would reduce poverty. This effort – known as the “Poor People’s Campaign” – aimed to dramatically shift national priorities to address the health and welfare of working people.
Why does this matter today? In the face of violence directed at minority communities and of deepening political divisions in the country, King’s words and philosophy are perhaps more critical for us today than at any point in the recent past.
As King noted, all persons exist in an interrelated community and all are dependent on each other. By connecting love to community, King argued there were opportunities to build a more just and economically sustainable society which respected differences. As he said:
“Agape is a willingness to go to any length to restore community… Therefore, if I respond to hate with a reciprocal hate, I do nothing but intensify the cleavages of a broken community.”
In the Spirit of the Redeemer,
Paul J. Borowski, C.Ss.R.
New Provincial Government Elected for 2023-2026 Term
The Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province elect a new leadership team to serve during the 2023-2026 term. Rev. John Collins, C.Ss.R., is elected Provincial Superior; Rev. John Olenick, C.Ss.R., is elected Provincial Vicar; and Rev. Kevin O’Neil, C.Ss.R., is elected Provincial Consultor. These members of the Ordinary Provincial Council (OPC) will guide the missionary activities of the Baltimore Province with five additional Redemptorists who will be elected to the Extraordinary Provincial Council during the Provincial Chapter the weeks of March 13th and March 20th.
The elected leadership team brings new enthusiasm and assumes leadership under the Redemptorist theme “Missionaries of Hope in the Footsteps of the Redeemer.”
“Coming into Provincial leadership under the theme of Missionaries of Hope in the Footsteps of the Redeemer is a humbling entry point,” Father John Collins, C.Ss.R., newly elected Provincial Superior, says. “The Message of Capitulars from the 26th General Chapter of the Redemptorists states: ‘We are part of this wounded world, but we are also aware of many signs of hope emerging in the world, in the Church and in our Congregation.’ I look forward to walking in hope with my confreres in this upcoming term with the Redeemer guiding us each step of the way.”
All have served the missionary charism of St. Alphonsus de Liguori, but each brings a different background and a variety of ministry experience. To read more about them, please refer to the January 2023 issue of The Baltimore Beacon above.
