Today was one of those days when a long, deep conversation with an old friend the length of U.S. Route 1 away from me reminds me why we do what we do. After the promise of #Sanctuary for #Mount Desert this past Tuesday and the debacle of the renunciation of truly Affordable Care yesterday, I needed to hear Mark’s voice and share some of our common Jesuit-educated and IPM-driven passion. So, I end a long and remarkable week with words from #DorothyDay that seem to capture everything I feel about the USA right now and how we need to figure out ways for all of us, not just the like-minded, to come together: “Love casts out fear, but we have to get over the fear in order to get close enough to love them.” And that is just as true in Golana, India (below with my colleague Himat) as it is on MDI or in DC. Peace, Joe
Sanctuary
For more than twenty-five years I have lived and worked internationally… while living in Europe when I was younger I remember being pulled over and asked to prove who I was simply because I had a beard, tan, & afro, and was driving around with Sudanese refugees on a basketball team with me, without cause or due process, I don’t want the U.S. to be like that for me, my family, or anyone.
I could speak as the CEO of IPM–an international non-profit with its Executive Office here in Mount Desert—telling you how the deputation of our local police could lead to uncomfortable situations with our International Executive Board members, Staff, and Partners who visit here often.
I could speak as a University Professor who invites my international students to visit our home in Somesville and worries about what they might encounter on their way on or off this Island we call home.
I could speak as the Pastor of a Congregation based in Northeast Harbor & Seal Harbor, Seaside UCC, which was a Sanctuary Congregation in the 1980’s and will likely take that stance again as an appropriate living-out of the biblical mandate “for I was a Stranger and you welcomed me.”
But I want to speak as a citizen, the spouse of a gainfully employed and community-involved green card holder who many of you know and who gets pulled over all the time off this Island for driving while black, the father of multi-racial children, and the great-grandson of immigrants who were once called WHOPS—without papers!
So I’d ask you to turn to page 79. You see that child in the bottom middle who I imagine you couldn’t tell (unless you knew him) if he was Sudanese, Syrian, or Salvadoran? That’s my son.
“I don’t want our local police to be put in the position of having to determine if my son is ‘legal’ when he goes to school, walks down the street, or simply sits at home: That’s not their role nor is it the country I love.”
This was my response at the Mt. Desert Island Town meeting after which the town voted 101 to 59 in favor of a resolution that declares the town a sanctuary community.
The Maine Municipal Association says this is the first resolution of its kind in Maine.Sanctuary communities welcome everyone regardless of nationality.The idea came about through a citizen’s petition from a group of local residents.It’s in response to the Trump administration’s recent immigration policies.
http://wabi.tv/2017/05/04/mount-desert-declared-first-sanctuary-community-in-maine/
Celebrating Our Common Holiday Dreams
Dear Friends,
This past weekend, as we decorated our Christmas tree while listening to my still favorite Holiday Album, Peter Mayer’s “Stars & Promises,” I was reminded of the remarkable ten days in November that I spent with dear friend Peter, my colleague Mahesh Upadhyaya, and other friends of IPM in India. After everyone else went to bed, my thoughts that night also drifted to my just concluded IPM Immersion Experience in El Salvador where a delegation from across the United States came together with countless others to commemorate the 36th Anniversary of the martyrdom of Maura Clark, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford, and Dorothy Kazel.
While I sat beside the tree, I reflected on the beauty of the early winter evening juxtaposed with the injustice that still stalks our world. Peter’s lyrics filled my mind. Songs of Harmony and Joy at a time when I know so many people across this country and world, are feeling desolate and forgotten.
This past month, those of us from the Christian tradition celebrated Advent together. It’s a special time of the year when we—like so many adherents of other faiths around the world do on other occasions throughout the year—reflect on the insatiable need for Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love in our lives.
On December 11, we encountered a passage from the Scriptures that reflects the words of the Hebrew Prophet Isaiah but are uttered by Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Magnificat proclaims: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God” who has “lifted up the lowly” and “filled the hungry with good things.” Surely, this same sense of vocational purpose guided the lives of Dorothy, Ita, Jean, and Maura just as it continues to inspire all those who work for justice and peace in our world.
My time with IPM—as a former Project Partner, a onetime Board Member, and for the past fifteen years as CEO—is a constant reminder of how love and hope are, as Peter sings, “loose in our world.” Through IPM’s Project Partners, Immersion Experience Program, generous supporters, and incredibly dedicated International Board & Staff: we continue a rich tradition of faithful partnership in a country and world where hope, peace, and love are so often in short supply.
As I write this, I am convinced more than ever, that it is not naive to believe that another world is possible. Nor is it irresponsible to remain committed to a vision of humanity that is grounded in the belief that we all have more in common than can ever truly divide us. The vision that animated IPM’s founders and continues to inspire tens of thousands of people the world over is, in fact, more essential now than ever.
So this Hanukkah, Christmas, & Kwanzaa, my prayer for each of you is that you find deeper meaning in your connection to IPM, that our remarkable work together continues to inspire your support, and that the joy of this Holiday Season remains with you and all those you hold dear throughout the coming year.
Peace, Joe
Finding Purpose in Thanksgiving:
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
I write this special note of Thanksgiving to each of you well aware of the irony of a holiday predicated upon events that never happened and at a time when our native brothers and sisters continue to be betrayed by us at Standing Rock and throughout our system of Mass Incarceration.
It’s also two weeks since a divided election that once again laid bare the economic, environmental, and racial injustice which has plagued this nation since its founding.
At times like this, we must dare to dream that another world is, in fact possible. Each and every one of us can make a difference for all those on the margins of our society who are fearful right now because their color, creed, and immigration status seem unwelcome. We must find a way to join our hands and hearts together to counter bigotry with hospitality and fear with love.
My life and work consistently remind me that shared purpose and common endeavor are the answer when fear breeds hate. Our common humanity calls to wake-up and respond to the sense of despondency so many of our fellow citizens feel no matter how they voted. We must remember that no society can thrive when so many folks feel isolated when they can’t seem to work hard enough to get ahead, or when they are scapegoated for the very real failings of our broken political system.
Our nation and our world may feel divided this Holiday Season. We may rue extended-family meals together. We may rightfully worry about what the next four years have in store. But when we come together across the borders of culture, faith, and economic circumstance that so often divide us, another world is possible.
For our children, our grandchildren, our brothers & sisters around the globe, that’s a world still worth fighting for.
On behalf of all of them, and the entire IPM Family, best wishes for a joyful Thanksgiving Holiday!
Peace,
Joseph F. Cistone
Cleveland, OH, USA
#IPM
#IPMFamily
#StandingRock
#MassIncarceration
#AnotherWorldIsPossible
#AWorldWorthFightingFor
#Thanksgiving
India Reminds Me
Breaking down walls with some engaging Muslim students on the road to Nagercoil, with Peter Mayer.
In many ways it has been cathartic to be in India during these post-election days. The world beyond our borders continues to remind me that love and solidarity are the answer when fear only breeds hate. I know that Mahesh Upadhyaya, Peter Mayer, and everyone with us in #india is feeling the same. Somehow, we will get through what has been such a difficult wake-up call for so many. While our nation may be more divided than it has been in some time, we have made incredible progress the past 1/2 century. It may not always feel that way, but our brothers and sisters around the world constantly remind me that much. In so many ways, the United States remains a beacon on the hill for all those yearning to breathe free. With much work ahead, I join with all people of goodwill in the hope-filled promise that we can make our country and world a more tolerant and loving place. Call me naive, but I have the suspicion that this election may have just been the wake-up call we have needed to shake us from our complacency and remind us exactly what is worth fighting for. Join me! Peace, Joe
Who would you trust to nurture and respect our daughters and the women we love?
Dear Friends,
I landed in India just past midnight Tuesday morning to be greeted by my colleague and old friend, Mahesh Upadhyaya. Mahesh and I are together to accompany an IPM Immersion Experience Delegation co-facilitated with the noted musician Peter Mayer—son of IPM co-Founder Jim Mayer.
Flying from Munich on my connecting flight, I was struck by the anxiousness of even the German flight crew whenever CNN or EURONews came on my screen with talk of today’s US Election (it’s now just past 4am here and Mahesh and I are headed to a connecting flight to South India). Having lived and worked in Europe for many of my formative professional years and reading the Italian daily, La Repubblica, on the plane I am reminded of just how important US Elections are.
While I may now be in the world’s largest democracy, my home nation of the United States calls itself the world’s oldest. How we govern ourselves continues to set an example for the world.
Many of you know, that neither of the two many party candidates has my complete support. One’s record as Secretary of State was not what I had hoped for—especially in backing the coup in Honduras and her approach to the seemingly endless war in Iraq. The other has a history of business failure to rival each success and a track record of insults and demeaning behavior unlike any other we have encountered in someone running to be the President of the United States.
While my varied professional roles temper my ability to comment on partisan matters, my network of colleagues, friends, and family around the globe is made up of people from almost every ethnicity, race, and religion one can imagine. So I am political! Despite my many failings, I have always sought to stand for the inherent human dignity of all persons, especially those less privileged than me, with an unwavering commitment to relationships across borders of culture, faith, and economic circumstance.
Every human person deserves the same dignity and respect we want for our own children. The Golden Rule that is consistent across all the world’s great religious traditions—that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us—remains the core of my belief system.
I, and you, know that God calls each of us to love the orphaned, the widowed, the hungry, the imprisoned, and the stranger. Only one of today’s two main candidates has demonstrated, despite her many imperfections, a life-long commitment to care for rather than demonize the least among us.
Today, millions of people around the world look to the USA once again for an example of what representative democracy is all about. Will we stand for inclusivity and hope or will we succumb to division and hate?
As those of us from the United States choose our next President, I ask you to answer one question and simply this: who would you trust to nurture and respect our daughters and the women we love? If your answer is like mine, we will all be able to hold our heads high tomorrow, begin the process of healing the deep divisions that separate my country, and get back to the real work of building justice, peace, and hope in our world.
Faithfully Yours,
Joseph F. Cistone
Response to Violence
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We are on the edge of a precipice. We can either stop the hate and answer with love, or we are going to witness the further division and militarization of our country and world. Joe
Dear Partners & Friends: My oldest daughter shocked me out of another day of work and summer camp juggling of her younger siblings’ schedules with a text message that did nothing to hide her anger at the USA. Born in Europe she is horrified by the rising tide of gun violence and mass shootings across this country. What nation are we creating for the generations to come? While she was particularly upset by the killings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, she knows that our national horror goes much deeper than that. Mass killings, acts of terror, and the targeting of people based on color, religion, and sexual orientation are tragic symptoms of the divides that are ripping our nation apart. White vs. Black, Conservative vs. Progressive, Police vs. Community, the list goes on and on. And it seems to be no different internationally. Paris, Turkey, Bangladesh—we are being rift open by acts of violence often perpetrated in God’s name and which have absolutely nothing to do with the core spiritual values Christianity, Judaism, and Islam share: love of neighbor, hospitality for the stranger, care of the most vulnerable. But from Brexit to blatant racism and anti-Semitism in our Presidential Campaign, our political leaders and “wanabees” only continue to drive wedges of hostility between us. Fear and hate sell. Audacity and offensive behavior dominate headline news. So when anger and hate is what predominates in campaigns and on our airwaves, why are we surprised by mass murder in Charleston, Orlando, or Iraq? The killing of Alton and Philando—just as Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, John Crawford, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, and Tamir Rice before them—offer further, tragic example that there is something terribly wrong with how we see one another and how we police this country and one another. They prove once again that black lives don’t matter. If you don’t believe me, try walking a few days in the shoes of my bi-racial nephews, black graduate students, or African spouse. The murderous response in Dallas today reminds us that while there are definitely people who should never be given the responsibility of policing us, there are also plenty of other folks who will murder simply and solely on the basis of color. A few weeks ago when discussing the brutal massacre in Orlando, a friend of mine who serves a Secondary School Principal in Connecticut said to me: “when a third grader on our playground picks up a stick and starts to beat another kid we take the stick away. We don’t give all the kids sticks.” And, why can’t so many of our police find a way to do their essential and courageous work without racial profiling and the excessive use of force? I don’t have the answers to much of what I’ve written his evening, but I know we are on the edge of a precipice. We can either stop the hate and answer with love, or we are going to witness the further division and militarization of our country and world. No amount of bombast or walls will keep the world at bay. No amount of settlement money will ever bring Eric or Tamir back. And, no one claiming to believe in God can simply sit by and watch this path to ruin without a broken heart tonight. In Peace and with Love, July 8, 2016—Mount Desert, Maine, USA |
Forging Connections on #Giving Tuesday
4 in the morning at Boston’s Logan Airport may seem like an odd time and place to reflect on gratitude and significance of what has come to be known as “Giving Tuesday” but as I head out of the country again it seems completely apropos.
Original mural commemorating the martyrdom of four North American Churchwomen in El Salvador
I am on my way to El Salvador for the December 2nd commemoration ceremonies and related IPM activities held in conjunction with the 35th Anniversary of the martyrdom of four North American Churchwomen—Maura Clark, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford, and Dorothy Kazel—murdered by a Salvadoran junta that was backed with significant financial and logistical support from the USA.
Despite the profound tragedy of their murder, the families of the Dorothy, Ita, Jean, and Maura quickly learned, their sacrifice was not in vein. Their deaths shed new light on the United States’ longstanding policy of backing dictatorial regimes across Latin America at the expense of representative democracy and human rights. These were not “gun-toting” Sisters as Alexander Haig proclaimed on behalf of incoming the Reagan Administration. Quite the contrary: they were deeply spiritual women who chose to say in El Salvador even after the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero knowing that their lives were at risk but confident that this was a risk their faith required of them—to be willing to lay down their lives for their friends.
While the deaths of four North American women—just as the martyrdom of six Jesuits their housekeeper and her daughter nine years later—should not overshadow the more than 75,000 Salvadoran lives lost during the 80’s, they both drew heightened international attention to the wars carried out in our name.
Moreover, they galvanized the actions of IPM and so may other organizations and individuals whose sense of solidarity was honed during that tumultuous decade. Many of us—I know I was one of those—found that our faith was in direct conflict with US Foreign Policy as we sought to shape and effective and integral response to the cry of the people rising up throughout our hemisphere.
A vivid mural depicting their sacrifice in art and poetry is being reinstalled in Zaragoza this month through the support of IPM and our local Partners as a reminder that while the vast majority of us will never be martyred, each of us is called to live out our role in the world in a uniquely transformative way.
For me, reading the writings and biographies of the martyred churchwoman, particularly Dorothy and Jean from my hometown Cleveland’s Diocesan mission team, were watershed moments. Thirty-five years later, their witness continues to inspire thousands of us who could imagine ourselves in their shoes—murdered simply for siding with those on the margins of our societies.
Today, the sacrifice of these four remarkable women, Oscar Romero, and all the Salvadoran martyrs continues to inspire a new generation of Latin and North American citizens who know that the struggle for justice and peace continues.
In Armenia, El Zaite, Mejicanos, Zaragoza and countless other places, IPM Partners and friends live out the witness of Dorothy, Ita, Jean, and Maura in a manner that reflects their passion for life and their commitment to accompany the poorest of the poor in their quest for liberation.
For this I continue to be grateful and remain inspired. For the hundreds of you who have travelled with IPM to this remarkable country, I know the sense of inspiration and gratitude is the same. Knowing that more than four decades since our founding, IPM continues to embody accompaniment, solidarity, and trust with our Salvadoran Partners is a gift for which we all should be deeply thankful.
There are countless organizations we can support this Giving Tuesday and many who join with IPM in the important work of cultivating justice, peace, and hope in El Salvador, India, Kenya, Nepal, Nicaragua, and so many other countries around the world.
Please know how grateful we are for your work with us as IPM”s continues to immerse, inspire, and invest in all those who seek to live out our common Abrahamic call to act justly, love mercifully, and walk humbly with our God.
Paz, Joe
We must counter hate with love, terror with hope, and evil with good.
Dear Friends,
I write you from New Delhi, awaiting a flight to Nepal, with the world on edge after the Paris terrorist attacks of yesterday. With over 100 people killed across the City of Light, the anti-Muslim rhetoric is rancid here in India and bigotry is all over Facebook, but I’ve spent the past few days with my colleague Mahesh Upadhyaya meeting with friends and IPM Project Partners across the faith spectrum.
As we approach the US Thanksgiving holiday, moments like this are a particular reminder for me of all that the IPM Family has to be thankful for and, particularly, how our intentional, interfaith posture remains so important in our world.
On October 29, our International Executive Board held its first in-person meeting since being constituted at IPM’s inaugural General Assembly in October of 2014. While our meeting pre-dated the tragic events in Paris, we reflected intentionally on IPM’s mission in the context of increasingly strident inter-religious conflict around the world and the racial injustice that continues to torment the USA.
That meeting, my time here in India, the recognition of Oscar Romero in El Salvador last May, my teaching of Liberation Theology in the Context of Colombia this semester at Yale, and our plans for Nepal this coming week all provide a vital reminder that IPM’s uniqueness lies in our ability to work across the boundaries that so often divide our human community. Seated alongside two women in interfaith marriages at Gandhi’s Ashram in Ahmedabad this past Thursday was a personal reminder of that same revolutionary stance: IPM’s belief that when we truly and humbly enter into partnership with one another we learn and gain more than we can ever give.
When I landed in Delhi earlier this week, the night sky was awash in the color of Diwali fireworks. The smell of sulfur engulfed the cabin and for those newer to flying the whole landing process was rather nerve-wracking. But there, in the Delhi night sky, were the colorful lights celebrating the festive triumph of good over evil.
Tonight, awaiting our flight to Nepal, my backpack is full of solar lights that your generosity helped IPM provide to bring light back to the earthquake stricken villages where IPM Partners in Nepal. Yet another small triumph for IPM in our rich history of bringing light to the world.
My thoughts, however, are with the people of that beautiful City of Light on the River Seine where so much of my love of Europe and connections to work for justice have been nourished through friends and gatherings over the years. The terror in Paris is not a triumph of evil over good. It is a sickening reminder that our collective work for justice, peace, and hope is far from complete. Another frightening example of how global solidarity continues to be threatened by those who would choose violence in the name of God as there means to force us into further war.
We simply can’t let them win. We must counter hate with love, terror with hope, and evil with good.
That’s what IPM has been doing for more than four decades. It is what your partnership with us makes possible. And, it is how we will continue to fight for what is right in the world when others would have us strike out or retreat into a shell.
Thank you for all you do to sustain and nurture this beautiful, counter-intuitive, movement we call IPM and best wishes for a reflective and peace-filled Thanksgiving Holiday.
Gratefully Yours,
Joseph F. Cistone
November 14, 2015
FORGING CONNECTIONS WITH WOMEN & DAUGHTERS
One of the great joys of my fifteen years as IPM’s Chief Executive has been the opportunity to travel with my eldest daughter Francesca. These “extended daddy-daughter dates,” as she refers to them, have provided some of the most moving moments of our life together.
This past May, as a celebration of her graduation from the College of Wooster, we travelled to El Salvador. It was far from our first time there together, but it was the first in many years. Francesca grew into her sense of self and her roll in the world during our many weeks together in that tiny and tortured country at the heart of IPM’s mission. As a father, our sojourns there provided particularly special moments to share our faith and for me to challenge her to be the woman for others I knew she could be.
In August-September we sent Francesca off to Homestead, Florida, for a year of volunteer service with City Year, and I headed back to El Salvador to work alongside one of my newest colleagues, Fatima Pacas (see page 14) and our local Partners (page 4). While in El Salvador, the first Pope to bear Francis of Assisi’s name made his inaugural journey to Cuba and the USA.
Pope Francis and Francesca share with me a special connection to Francis of Assisi—Francesca’s namesake and my baptismal name. I was moved to joy as I read the Pope speak prophetically from the White House and the ever-dysfunctional Capital Hill about environmental and social justice. I was moved to tears when he cited four of my heroes—Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, and Thomas Merton—and my dad simultaneously texted me that this was an affirmation of everything I have worked for.
But I was also deeply torn. Here was this Argentine octogenarian making statements I could hardly imagine a Pope enunciating during my lifetime. This first Pope from the “new world” was rebuilding my nation’s tortured relationship with Cuba and finding a way to solidify a peace agreement in a country, Colombia—where IPM has a growing presence and about which I am teaching a course on Liberation Theology at Yale Divinity School this semester. All of this in the span of a ten days!
Yet here in DC, New York, and Philadelphia he also repeatedly denied the inherent equality of women and girls. His refusal to even entertain women’s ordination and gay marriage pushes another generation of young women like my daughter to abandon the church of their upbringing. And, as I accompanied the powerful women and girls in El Salvador with whom IPM Partners—many leading figures and the backbone of their respective Catholic parishes—I could only feel that they were being slapped in the face yet again.
The noted author and Benedictine Sister, Joan Chittister, summarized my feelings perfectly when she wrote on September 21: “It is impossible, Holy Father, to be serious about doing anything for the poor and at the same time do little or nothing for women.” The faithful and faith filled women and girls in my home and, as you will read throughout this issue of Connections, with whom IPM Partners in El Salvador and around the world deserve so much more.
Joseph F. Cistone
October 8, 2015
Joe Cistone 