Using a Collective Voice to Heal the World
Africa Faith & Justice Network - Nigeria.
by Melody Maravillas, Congregation Chief Financial Officer
On the second floor of Shalom Center, just by the elevator, hangs a banner bearing Mother Teresa’s reminder: “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
I like reminiscing with my children. My childhood in the Philippines is markedly different from theirs. I remember weeks of water rationing and rolling blackouts as El Niño dropped Manila’s reservoirs to dangerously low levels. We learned to be conscientious in using our resources because they were so scarce. Sometimes, I would recount the 1987 coup d’état and hearing the distant sound of gunfire from our apartment or share my mother’s stories about hiding in the forest during World War II. But when I ask my kids what they think, they shrug and say, “It’s not our reality. To us, they’re just stories.” A comfortable life makes it easy to slip into indifference.
There is a glaring contrast of realities in today’s world as well. According to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report of 2023, 46 percent of the world’s wealth is concentrated in 1 percent of the population. At the same time, the United Nations estimates that two billion people, or a quarter of the world’s population, live in conflict-affected areas. Twice that number live in poverty. The world’s wealthiest nations are also the worst at producing greenhouse gases to the detriment of the poorest nations, who are most vulnerable to climate change.
Insulated by glass offices and pressured to generate profits, large corporations can easily slip into apathy. When executives receive lucrative compensation packages, how can they empathize with a worker earning unfair wages in deplorable conditions? When a financial institution profits from the weapons industry, do they truly grasp the devastation of war? When oil pipelines on native land generate financial gain, do businesses see free, prior and informed consent from indigenous people as a necessity or a nuisance? Think about all the turbulence and unrest in the world today; it is because we have truly forgotten each other.
With growing inequity, advocacy is needed now more than ever to remind the upper one percent about their relationship to Earth and the rest of the world. For the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, shareholder advocacy is a crucial component of our Resources for Mission efforts. Each share of stock that we own is a voice. It represents influence and the power to raise awareness when wealth has been blinding.
This year, we will once more use our investments to lift the voices of those who could be harmed by corporate activities. In partnership with Investor Advocates for Social Justice (IASJ) and the Northwest Coalition on Responsible Investing (NWCRI), we will call on food producers, automobile manufacturers, financial institutions, and technology companies to consider the welfare of children, the rights of indigenous people, the suffering of war victims, and the unintended consequences of artificial intelligence.
Sister Susan Francois testifying on responsible investing to the New Jersey State Investment Council and the Senate Environment and Energy Committee.
Recently, we expanded our efforts by providing public testimony on responsible investing to the New Jersey State Investment Council and the Senate Environment and Energy Committee. We stood alongside youth groups, our eco-spirituality ministry Waterspirit, and DivestNJ to urge our government to divest from fossil fuels and use their billion-dollar investments to protect the Earth for future generations.
When more people speak up, it becomes very difficult to ignore them, so we support other advocacy efforts that align with our charism of peace through justice. Last December, the Congregation provided a grant to Africa Faith & Justice Network (AFJN) to help their efforts to empower communities to advocate for themselves and combat systemic injustices. Their Just Governance for Africa program works with communities in Ghana and Sierra Leone to stand against land-grabbing by international corporations. Without intervention, predatory companies lease native land at a price of $5 per hectare (2.47 acres) for 99 years. In addition to displacing populations, their operations also pollute the surrounding land and water. When AFJN steps in, landowners learn to speak up, tribal leaders listen, and onerous land agreements are overturned.
The most successful advocacy efforts rely on a collective voice reminding us about our connections to creation and each other. We repeat it again and again until transformation happens because healing cannot happen without empathy. Advocacy reminds us of who we are at our core. To quote Coldplay’s song “Humankind:”
I know, I know, I know
We’re only human.
I know, I know, I know How we’re designed.
Oh I know, I know, I know We’re only human.
But we’re capable of kindness
So they call us humankind.
This article appeared in the Autumn 2024 issue of Living Peace.