{"id":26858,"date":"2014-07-15T22:51:42","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T03:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/?p=26858"},"modified":"2014-07-15T22:51:42","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T03:51:42","slug":"from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/","title":{"rendered":"From “Throwaway” to “Encounter”: A Call to Conversion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In the recent opening session of the \u201cMexico\/Holy See Colloquium on Migration and Development\u201d, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, read a message from Pope Francis<\/a> as well as addressing the colloquium himself<\/a>.\u00a0 Both spoke of the need for a cultural conversion, and both specifically mentioned the United States and the particular vulnerability of the waves of children crossing its border.\u00a0 Their messages are both prophetic and nuanced, not dismissing rule of law but balancing the need for just\u00a0and life-affirming public\u00a0policies as well as deeper conversion, reminding us with a moral authority no policy-maker can claim\u00a0that the fundamental issue\u00a0from a\u00a0Christian perspective\u00a0is one of human dignity.<\/p>\n

From the Holy Father\u2019s message:<\/p>\n

Globalisation is a phenomenon that challenges us, especially in one of its principal manifestations which is emigration. It is one of the \u2018signs\u2019 of this time that we live in and that brings us back to the words of Jesus, \u2018Why do you not know how to interpret the present time?\u2019. Despite the large influx of migrants present in all continents and in almost all countries, migration is still seen as an emergency, or as a circumstantial and sporadic fact, while instead it has now become a hallmark of our society and a challenge.<\/p>\n

It is a phenomenon that carries with it great promise and many challenges. Many people forced to emigrate suffer, and often, die tragically; many of their rights are violated, they are obliged to separate from their families and, unfortunately, continue to be the subject of racist and xenophobic attitudes.<\/p>\n

Faced with this situation, I repeat what I have affirmed in this year\u2019s Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees: \u2018A change of attitude towards migrants and refugees is needed on the part of everyone, moving away from attitudes of defensiveness and fear, indifference and marginalisation \u2013 all typical of a throwaway culture \u2013 towards attitudes based on a culture of encounter, the only culture capable of building a better, more just and fraternal world.\u2019<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

And similar themes from Cardinal Parolin:<\/p>\n

In a radical way, Christianity has stated from the very beginning that we are all free, we are all equal, we are all brothers. As a result, the dignity of the person derives not from their economic situation, political affiliation, level of education, immigration status or religious belief. Every human being, for the very fact of being a person, possesses a dignity that deserves to be treated with the utmost respect\u2026.<\/p>\n

It is clear that the phenomenon of migration cannot be resolved solely by legislative measures or by adopting public policies, good though they may be, and far less so solely through the deployment of the forces of security and order. The solution to the problem of migration requires a profound cultural and social conversion that enables a closed culture to transform into a \u2018culture of welcome and encounter\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this context, the Church has always been, and will continue to be, a loyal collaborator. \u2026 By definition, being Catholic means being universal and transnational. Its message is not confined to the private lives of the faithful, but instead seeks conversion, expanding and reaching towards paths of culture and social justice, since it is not possible to define oneself as Christian and then turn one\u2019s back on justice and fraternity, also with non-believers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In a social atmosphere where nearly every human problem becomes politically charged and obscured by the constant temptation to divide and dichotomize full solutions, we need this reminder, spoken from the particularly catholic<\/em> perspective of our \u201cuniversal and transnational\u201d Church, of the reverence for all human life and dignity \u2013 especially where vulnerable \u2013 that is at the heart of our faith.<\/p>\n

May we be converted to such reverence, to become leaven for a broader social conversion.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the recent opening session of the \u201cMexico\/Holy See Colloquium on Migration and Development\u201d, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, read a message from Pope Francis as well as addressing the colloquium himself.\u00a0 Both spoke of the need for a cultural conversion, and both specifically mentioned the United States and the particular vulnerability […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2932,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,728,123,101,52,919,1391],"tags":[1389,1390,5],"class_list":["post-26858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-social-teaching","category-catholicity","category-children","category-human-rights","category-immigration","category-life-dignity-responsibility-of-the-human-person","category-throwaway-culture","tag-mexicoholy-see-colloquium-on-migration-and-development","tag-pietro-parolin","tag-pope-francis"],"yoast_head":"\nFrom "Throwaway" to "Encounter": A Call to Conversion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the recent opening session of the "Mexico\/Holy See Colloquium on Migration and Development", the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From "Throwaway" to "Encounter": A Call to Conversion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the recent opening session of the "Mexico\/Holy See Colloquium on Migration and Development", the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Vox Nova\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-16T03:51:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Julia Smucker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Julia Smucker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/\",\"name\":\"From \\\"Throwaway\\\" to \\\"Encounter\\\": A Call to Conversion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-16T03:51:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-16T03:51:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/e0277cf90bf320044a3256735af342c6\"},\"description\":\"In the recent opening session of the \\\"Mexico\/Holy See Colloquium on Migration and Development\\\", the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"From “Throwaway” to “Encounter”: A Call to Conversion\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/\",\"name\":\"Vox Nova\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/e0277cf90bf320044a3256735af342c6\",\"name\":\"Julia Smucker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8639cd2e58e4ed9c475ff4911dfe4857?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8639cd2e58e4ed9c475ff4911dfe4857?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Julia Smucker\"},\"description\":\"Julia Smucker is a Mennonite who has come into full communion with the Catholic Church, or a Catholic profoundly and gratefully shaped by her Mennonite heritage (depending on who she\u2019s talking to), and has been involved for several years with the ecumenical group Bridgefolk. She holds an MA in Systematics from Saint John\u2019s School of Theology in Collegeville, Minnesota, where her classmates dubbed her the Anti-Dichotomy Queen. In addition to Vox Nova, she has also contributed to Christian Democracy, Life Matters Journal, Feminists for Life, Pro Ecclesia, and Solidarity Hall\u2019s inaugural publication Radically Catholic in the Age of Francis, as well as currently serving on the board of the Consistent Life Network. She lives and works in Portland, Maine as a French interpreter and translator.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/author\/jsmucker\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"From \"Throwaway\" to \"Encounter\": A Call to Conversion","description":"In the recent opening session of the \"Mexico\/Holy See Colloquium on Migration and Development\", the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"From \"Throwaway\" to \"Encounter\": A Call to Conversion","og_description":"In the recent opening session of the \"Mexico\/Holy See Colloquium on Migration and Development\", the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/","og_site_name":"Vox Nova","article_published_time":"2014-07-16T03:51:42+00:00","author":"Julia Smucker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Julia Smucker","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/","name":"From \"Throwaway\" to \"Encounter\": A Call to Conversion","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-07-16T03:51:42+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-16T03:51:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/e0277cf90bf320044a3256735af342c6"},"description":"In the recent opening session of the \"Mexico\/Holy See Colloquium on Migration and Development\", the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2014\/07\/15\/from-throwaway-to-encounter-a-call-to-conversion\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"From “Throwaway” to “Encounter”: A Call to Conversion"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/","name":"Vox Nova","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/e0277cf90bf320044a3256735af342c6","name":"Julia Smucker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8639cd2e58e4ed9c475ff4911dfe4857?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8639cd2e58e4ed9c475ff4911dfe4857?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Julia Smucker"},"description":"Julia Smucker is a Mennonite who has come into full communion with the Catholic Church, or a Catholic profoundly and gratefully shaped by her Mennonite heritage (depending on who she\u2019s talking to), and has been involved for several years with the ecumenical group Bridgefolk. She holds an MA in Systematics from Saint John\u2019s School of Theology in Collegeville, Minnesota, where her classmates dubbed her the Anti-Dichotomy Queen. In addition to Vox Nova, she has also contributed to Christian Democracy, Life Matters Journal, Feminists for Life, Pro Ecclesia, and Solidarity Hall\u2019s inaugural publication Radically Catholic in the Age of Francis, as well as currently serving on the board of the Consistent Life Network. She lives and works in Portland, Maine as a French interpreter and translator.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/author\/jsmucker\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2932"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26858\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}