Raising a Voice for The Voiceless
As we re-launch our website, I am happy to invite everyone to the space we call Liz’s Voice. This week’s post was inspired by two men who might be surprised to find themselves on the same side in the same sentence-Famous Atheist, Bill Maher and Pope Francis.
Friday night I was watching Bill Maher’s show. One of the guests was explaining that her family arrived as immigrants. They came with very little and with hard work, determination and an entrepreneurial spirit they achieved social mobility in a single generation. After acknowledging what had been accomplished, he cautioned that her story was for those that had the ability to do so. He then referenced a scene from The Poseidon Adventure, a disaster movie that took place on an overturned ship. He described Gene Hackman’s arduous rescue plan which entailed climbing through pipes and steel. He tried to convince everyone to join him. When he reached the old chaplain, the chaplain replied that Hackman was only speaking for the strong. He chose to remain behind and comfort those who were not strong enough for the climb.
This scene recalled for me the most recent words of Pope Francis. I was raised Catholic, attended Catholic Schools, up to and including Fordham University, and taught my entire career in Catholic schools. I left the church years ago, for many reasons, however, I have found myself newly inspired by this Pope. First, he selected as a name, Francis, in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, who gave up a life of privilege and focused his compassion on nature and the most vulnerable in society including the poor and the sick. Secondly, his words seem to reflect the spirit of Francis as well as those of Jesus and the original spirit of the Church in which I was raised.
In a recent interview Pope Francis said:
It asks us – the Church, the city of Rome, the institutions – it demands that no-one should be in need of a meal, of a temporary shelter, a legal assistance service, to enable the recognition of his or her right to live and to work, to be recognized fully as a person”.
“To serve and to accompany … mean “to place oneself on the side of the weakest. How often are we unable or unwilling to echo the voices of those who have suffered and suffer, to those who have seen their rights trampled, who have experienced so much violence that it has even suffocated their desire for justice? The Lord calls us all to live with more courage and generosity”. [Emphasis mine]
It is his call to echo the voices of the suffering that spoke to me. In our work at What BETTER Looks Like, we have two projects that focus on raising our voices for those who are voiceless. Our 100,000 Voices project was inspired by our visit to HEAL Africa hospital in Goma, Congo. When we asked the women what we could do to make an immediate difference, they asked us to get loud and tell people of the horrific violence facing the women of Çongo. We began our campaign of awareness in response.
Additionally, this year we are launching a new campaign, the Voices Project. This campaign focuses on young people and helping them discover and use their voices on behalf of those most vulnerable in society.
I am hopeful about this focus on compassion for the weak and vulnerable and I look forward to using this space to continue to be a voice for the voiceless.