VOLUME: 34 ISSUE: 29 DATE: 20040106 SIZE: 17249
Translating Moral Convictions Into Meaningful Actions: The Church and Urban Sprawl
Bishop Anthony Pilla
"We who are people of faith must show that it is still possible for moral convictions to be translated into meaningful actions," Bishop Anthony Pilla of Cleveland, Ohio, said in a Nov. 20 address to the National Pastoral Life Center's annual parish convention, held in Cleveland. Pilla discussed the impact of the Cleveland Diocese's Church in the City Initiative, dating back to the early 1990s. The initiative reflected a concern that urban sprawl was disconnecting the people of the church and of the metropolitan area: the urban poor and the residents of suburbs and rural areas. "Whether people belong to an urban, suburban, exurban or rural parish, we are all called to be one," said Pilla. "I do not believe we can continue down this path of wasteful, irrational, subsidized sprawl that pits community against community," he explained. Pilla said he hoped that the Church in the City Initiative "could help motivate an attitudinal change. I hoped it could be a lens we could look through to see our church, our community, our region and ourselves in fresh, new ways." The role that the church is able to play in community development was discussed by Pilla. "Religious institutions can marshal resources, express values and focus priorities so that good things can happen," he said. A new recognition is emerging, said the bishop, "that no institutions in the United States produce as much social capital as religious institutions. People who are active in their religion are far more likely than others to volunteer time and money to civic and community activities." He said that "the bubbling activity that is going on connected with the Church in the City Initiative is happening not because of some mandate but because so many different kinds of people have made a real commitment in ways that make sense to them." Pilla described partnerships that have developed within the community in light of the initiative. For example, he said, "there are several economic redevelopment partnerships where we as the diocese are partnering with government, business and banks. Our role as convenor, as catalyst, as honest broker is crucial for those partnerships." (For past discussions in Origins of the Church in the City Initiative, see: Vol. 30, pp. 237ff; Vol. 26, pp. 12ff; Vol. 24, pp. 789ff.) Pilla's text follows.
Thank you. I am pleased that the National Pastoral Life Center is having this parish conference in Cleveland and glad that I could be with you once again. The last time we were together was Nov. 16, 1993. That was the first time I spoke publicly about what has come to be known as the Church in the City Initiative. A lot has happened since then, which you have asked me to talk about today. I do first want to thank all the organizers of this wonderful gathering, especially Sister Donna Ciangio and Father Lauer. And I recall fondly, with gratitude, the founder of the National Pastoral Life Center, Msgr. Philip Murnion.
For those of you who are not familiar with this area, our diocese encompasses eight counties with nearly 1 million members. We have three urban areas, including the city of Cleveland, which is now the poorest city in the United States. We also have prime farmland and the most affluent communities in Ohio.
As I, together with my staff, reviewed research and data in the early 1990s, I became increasingly worried that development patterns, commonly called sprawl, were disconnecting us, were making us more separate instead of more united and interrelated. In the context of our faith, we are called to be one people, one body with a common mission.
This call to unity is not an option. It is who we are as the Catholic Church. We talk about being brothers and sisters in Christ, about being a family of faith. Does our lived reality match those professed values? Do we walk the talk?
It became clear to me that those development patterns were simultaneously isolating people in our cities, weakening older first-ring suburbs and adversely affecting the character of rural life across northeast Ohio. At the same time our overall population of about 2.5 million people was not really increasing. We experience sprawl without growth. For me sprawl was not primarily an economic or political issue, it was and is a moral issue. I think our civic decision makers need to hear from people of faith, need to hear voices of values, principle and conscience in the public arena. We need to do that in constructive ways appropriate to a pluralistic democracy, but we do need to keep lifting up the moral dimension of important public patterns and issues.
It also became clear to me that the church was ill-equipped to handle the ramifications of such uneven and inequitable development. I hoped to spur new cooperative efforts that could bring together very different kinds of people and parishes in responding to the human needs of those negatively affected by sprawl as well as strengthen the unity of the living body of Christ. The social and economic pattern referred to as sprawl is a problem not only because of its unfairness and its harmful impact on communities, but also because it is costly - costly for everyone, including the church. Many of our city parishes have large, aging buildings and fewer parishioners to support them. At the same time dramatic growth is straining the resources of even affluent parishes in farther out areas.
We have 235 parishes in our diocese. But whether people belong to an urban, suburban, exurban or rural parish, we are all called to be one. The eucharist is the sacrament of unity. As a pastor and teacher, I hoped that the Church in the City statement and process could help motivate an attitudinal change. I hoped it could be a lens we could look through to see our church, our community, our region and ourselves in fresh new ways.
Increasingly our fates are intertwined economically, socially and spiritually. Increasingly we share one regional economy and one environment. We are already far more interdependent than our various political or organizational boundaries lead us to recognize. Whether we live in a city, suburban or rural community, we are one metropolitan society. It is foolish to think we can have a thriving region and a weak or declining urban core. I am convinced that at this time in American history, and even more with a global economy, regions that are divided against themselves will languish.
In the Church in the City Initiative we are asking for a better balance between new development and redevelopment. Sprawl has been subsidized by billions of public dollars. Such unbalanced public spending has harmed our urban neighborhoods, begun to imperil our first tier of suburbs and threatens more of our beautiful open spaces. It also aggravates expensive environmental problems. In fact, the academic assessment conducted by Case Western Reserve University here in Cleveland identified restraining sprawl as the No. 1 regional environmental priority.
I do not believe we can continue down this path of wasteful, irrational, subsidized sprawl that pits community against community. Even those who think they are strong now will wind up having built upon sand. Our situation with sprawl reminds me of Albert Einstein's famous observation about the nuclear arms race: "Everything has changed except our way of thinking." I know there are powerful political, economic and social incentives to continue business as usual. But, I submit to you, we have to change our way of thinking. We need a conversion of mind and heart.
Now let me be candid with you. When I say these kinds of things with political and business leaders present, they often nod their heads in agreement. But I have been around long enough to realize that many in positions of real power in our society question the competency of any religious leader to speak out on these kinds of issues. There are those who say we are naive or pious meddlers or mere sermonizers. Yet who else really knows as much about the hopes and fears, the aspirations and anxieties of the people of a very diverse region than their pastors and pastoral staffs?
Further, I might add that some of us who are in religious leadership also head institutions that have a considerable impact on our communities. The Center for Urban Policy in Indianapolis, which is run by Purdue and Indiana universities, completed an economic valuation study of selected activities of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese. That independent analysis found that the presence of our parishes, schools or agencies in a neighborhood added approximately 11 percent to the market value of an owner-occupied house. Their research concluded that educational and social services provided by the diocese contributed an annual economic value of over $11 billion to the wider community. I think that demonstrates in economic terms a deeper truth we should not forget in these times: We are a real asset to our community, our region and our society.
Religious institutions can marshal resources, express values and focus priorities so that good things can happen. They are not only important for their members, but are also noteworthy community anchors, hubs of activity and resources. I am talking not only about buildings but about networks of gifted lay people, so often referred to today as social capital. Volunteerism is not a new approach for faith communities. What may be new is the emerging recognition by scholars that no institutions in the United States produce as much social capital as religious institutions. People who are active in their religion are far more likely than others to volunteer time and money to civic and community activities. Religious networks enhance democratic skills, leadership development and participation in the civic arena. They also serve important bridging, convening and communicating functions that span social cleavages and divisions. They are tremendous assets.
The Church in the City implementation over the past decade has depended very much on trying to mobilize that kind of social capital: first among Catholics but also with other faiths and in the overall community. It is very much an initiative of the laity. Frankly, I never expected so much to happen as has already taken place. The progress we have made I attribute to very diverse kinds of people coming together out of their faith commitment in response to a vision that resonated with them.
So the bubbling activity that is going on connected with the Church in the City Initiative is happening not because of some mandate, but because so many different kinds of people have made a real commitment in ways that make sense to them. They range from bankers to environmentalists, builders to union workers, farmers to academics, a range spanning the social spectrum of our church and region. That says to me that we have touched a real chord in people's lives, one that touches their hopes for a better pattern of development and living that is more fair, more healthy, more sustainable and more wise, and more connected with other people - fellow believers, but also fellow citizens.
I see that spirit especially in over 100 partnerships that have formed so far. I find this very encouraging. Most are parish-to-parish partnerships. Rural-urban-suburban parishes. Urban parishes in one part of town with urban parishes in another part or with neighboring suburban parishes working together for the first time. Church people from very different realities and backgrounds have been coming together regularly and taking action that serves the common good. There are also school-to-school partnerships bringing young people together across racial, economic and geographic lines. Partnerships between Catholic Charities, parishes and neighborhood groups have resulted in tens of millions of dollars in new investment in city neighborhoods while expanding much-needed social services and housing.
There are several economic redevelopment partnerships where we as the diocese are partnering with government, business and banks. Our role as convener, as catalyst, as honest broker is crucial for those partnerships. They concentrate on job training and placement, housing, small-business development, neighborhood revitalization and the redevelopment of urban commercial and industrial properties. Second-Growth Institute, which grew out of Church in the City with a mission to work on brown-field economic redevelopment and create jobs in neighborhoods, is a good example of that kind of community-based, collaborative redevelopment effort. In just a few years it has already reclaimed, remediated and restored to productive use over 1 million square feet of previously abandoned eyesores. Over 550 jobs have been created. Most are held by neighborhood residents who walk to work.
All of the partnerships, especially the parish-to-parish ones, stress mutuality, inclusivity and respect for the wisdom and talents which each person has to offer, no matter who they are or where they live. No one is too poor to participate; no one too rich to benefit. The emphasis is on what we can do together for the common good - and the process of working together in a spirit of true collaboration is valuable in itself, fostering understanding and new bonds of trust. I believe little of real substance happens between strangers; but if we know each other, and especially if we become friends, a great deal is possible.
Through the partnerships, and indeed throughout all of Church in the City, we have tried to emphasize that everyone has a responsibility to help build up the common good. Our moral duty supersedes the pursuit of narrow, individualistic self-interest. In a very real way the moral measure of any community is how the weakest are treated. Every person has God-given, intrinsic human dignity. I felt in November of 1993, and still feel, that too many of our sisters and brothers have their human dignity demeaned by powerful economic and social forces of development in our region. Too many are left out and left behind. I believe that weakens all of us, no matter where we live, and weakens our entire region.
That's why out of the initiative we established a diocesan land-use task force to do advocacy and civic education on regional land-use issues. That task force formulated ethical principles for land-use decision making. Those principles call for public policies and regional actions that place a primary value on advancing the common good, interdependence and social justice. They link our rich tradition of Catholic social teaching to balanced development, smart growth, good stewardship, farmland preservation, open space conservation, urban revitalization and solidarity with those adversely affected by the prevailing present patterns.
There's much more that's going on; much more that should go on. For me, and for many others I'm told, Church in the City is a real sign of hope. It shows what very diverse persons and communities can do together cooperatively for the common good when they are convened around a vision that invites them to reach out, to go beyond where they are and creatively build on the best of our shared values. It demonstrates that the barriers that too often divide us can be overcome. It illustrates that there is a hunger for community in our society and in our church. It shows we can strengthen community bonds. That is very important. I believe we desperately need a renewed commitment to the spirit of community in our country. I thought that before Sept. 11, and I think it is even more timely since then. We need to preserve, restore, renew and strengthen community in all its forms at all levels of our society. That means being more and more inclusive.
We who are people of faith must show that it is still possible for moral convictions to be translated into meaningful actions. We can redevelop our cities, revitalize communities and strengthen whole regions. Finally, in trying to do that, we will be coming closer to the biblical vision of the new Jerusalem, "the holy city, the place where God is encountered, the promise of the city which comes from on high." That new Jerusalem, as I said at the end of the Church in the City statement, is both a promise and a challenge. Even as we wait for the new heaven and the new earth, let us build communities of justice and peace.
Jesus loved the city of Jerusalem. He wept over its impending destruction. May we imitate Jesus in his concern for the city as we work to rebuild our cities as places where people can dwell in life-giving relationships with God and one another. That is our challenge, our responsibility, our opportunity and, my brothers and sisters, that is our call as the people of God. Thank you.