November 16 marks the 22nd anniversary of the 6 Jesuits and two women martyrs at the UCA in El Salvador. Remembering these men and women – who would certainly have been a powerful force in the 99% – over 1,000 students and teachers from Jesuit high schools and colleges came together in Washington DC last weekend for the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice.

Three of us from NETWORK – Lobbyist Marge Clark, BVM, Education Coordinator Shannon Hughes, and myself (Field Coordinator Jean Sammon) – were happy to be a part of it. We were all re-energized by the young leaders from around the country who engaged with us in breakout sessions and at our display table.

I facilitated a Mind the Gap! workshop on Saturday night that was filled to capacity, and Shannon facilitated a second Mind the Gap! session on Sunday. The students were very aware of the wealth gap in the U.S. (and the global wealth gap) and came with questions about whether capitalism makes this gap inevitable. We talked a lot about the reasons that wealth disparity has grown so much in the past 30 years, which was a lifetime for most of the workshop participants. We saw that it doesn’t have to continue this way. Together, we identified policies that affect the wealth gap, such as tax rates, minimum wage, labor rights, and campaign financing. And we convinced ourselves that we have the power to change these policies, if we are dedicated to educating, organizing and advocacy.

Marge worked with the 70 participants from Oregon and Washington, in preparing for their Hill visit the next day.  They were clear on the basics of a visit and had great ideas about how to persuade legislators to support the DREAM Act and to support students who had lived in the U.S. virtually all of their lives.  They were excited to talk about the School of the Americas, and funneling of our tax dollars to that – when it could be going to support work-study programs for students struggling to stay in school.  They were prepared for a vibrant day on the Hill.

The Teach-In closed Sunday night with Mass. After such rich conversations and time spent envisioning an economy that works for all of us, it seemed ironic to hear the gospel proclaim, “For to all those who have, more will be given . . . but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” Our presider, Fr. Don MacMillan, asked that we consider the behavior displayed and consequences received by each individual in the story, but wondered aloud what might have happened to each servant if they had invested and grown together.

TODAY and TOMORROW, join Mind the Gap! activists around the country and call (202) 224-3121. Ask to be connected with House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, members of the tax package conference and your representative to tell them that you OPPOSE funding the payroll tax credit on the backs of working families and their children. See below for more information.

The House is pushing legislative action that would deny child tax credit refunds for those filing taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) rather than a Social Security Number (SSN). ITINs are issued to non-citizens who are present in the U.S. on valid, temporary visas or are present without papers. They do not replace the need for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). Nonimmigrant aliens and undocumented persons do not qualify for a SSN so they are issued the personal ITINs, which merely enable the worker to pay his/her federal taxes. The IRS states that it does not exchange any information with the Department of Homeland Security.

Presently, the Child Tax Credit allows taxpayers to file for a credit that is generally computed pursuant to the number of minor, citizen dependents. An impoverished person, who qualifies for some relief in the form of a tax credit, could file for the credit and be eligible for a refund of a portion of their taxes. For those already living on the margins, the cash refunds, called the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) are an income supplement and anti-poverty tool, much like the older, more established Earned Income Tax Credit. see:http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71370_Page2.html#ixzz1l8x0DooQ. The proposed legislation would remove the possibility of cash refunds from those filing with ITINs.

Given that their income is already so low, the credits typically allow for a refund for those living in poverty. Further, the proposal makes no distinction between the lawfully present and working person with an ITIN and the undocumented immigrant who uses an ITIN. Neither would be able to receive this credit refund. In the end, we will have another piece of legislation that further marginalizes the people in poverty instead of taxing the wealthiest.

It has been estimated that two million families are headed by undocumented workers. They have been paying taxes without hope of SSI or Medicaid/Medicare assistance in their futures. All of them will be denied this credit which, in turn, will plunge many impoverished people into further poverty.

Alternatively, it will push more desperate families further into the shadows and force them to refrain from paying taxes just so they may feed their citizen children. Some Members of Congress fiercely protect the tax breaks for the wealthy and move to balance the budget on the backs of the poor. It is time to say, ENOUGH!

If I were to start in my driveway at home, I could walk for an hour before the percentage of white inhabitants would dip below 75%. If I were to walk in a certain direction during that hour, I would end up at the all-girls school I attended for eight years. In the time that I went to school there I could count the number of practicing Jews and Muslims I knew personally on one hand. Of those I knew with sexual orientations other than straight, only two had come out to the general public and the rest, previously closeted as I am now aware, could have probably fit comfortably in a closet. If you had used the word cisgender in conversation, I would have blinked confusedly at the accepted term for my own gender identity.

Naïve, idealistic and incurably curious, I headed off to Phillips Andover Academy and found an atmosphere of unmistakably intentional diversity. On my first day, I met a greater social variety than I had previously encountered over the course of my entire life. That day was two years ago. Sitting here, now, I know that I would not have become the person I am today without my experiences there. Even if I had gone to a school that was equally academically rigorous and with less diversity, I would not be as socially intelligent now. What made me the person I am today was living in community with people of completely different backgrounds than I had, who always had different stories to tell. Doing so made me realize the extent to which peoples’ lives range past mine in both directions. As long as I live, I intend to learn from as many different experiences and opinions as I can, not limit myself to growing from my own triumphs and mistakes.

Diversity like this, breadth of culture and opinion, is a gift that can be appreciated on earth exclusively by human beings. We are intelligent enough to disagree and developed enough to communicate our disagreements with each other. What a shame it is, then, when we become trapped in deserts of coequal social standpoints and similar life experiences, safe from floods of overwhelmingly diverse human interaction and ignoring what I have found to be a burning thirst for powerful and thought-provoking conversation. What a blessing it is when we can live and learn in a community of people with varied backgrounds and skillsets. President Obama is taking steps to implement the kind of intentional diversity in cities like Baltimore and Chicago that I was lucky enough to encounter as early as sophomore year of high school. Is it out of pride that we would fight this kind of positive social engineering? Can I really say that I have nothing left to learn, as much as there is to be taught in our nation? I, as a human being, have so much to gain from learning about the lives of others—their struggles, their triumphs. I had been given abilities like compassion and adaptability and was entirely ready to squander them on the same not-quite-conversations in elevators and while waiting in line with people from the same socioeconomic, sexual and racial backgrounds — people with so much less to teach me.

If, to speak of my human ignorance in addition to my pride, I am hesitant to welcome strangers into my home environment based on generalizations as sweeping as those often made about races, it is because I am programmed, in many ways, to fear things that I do not understand. As an intelligent human, fighting this fear is something of a life mission. In doing so, I have to ask myself, am I so ignorant and generalizing as to assume that I have cause to shy away from anyone who is black? …who is gay? …who is male? How can we, the home of the brave, fear someone for something as inconsequential as the color of their skin? It is the automatic assumption that any person who is different from me cannot understand me, fears me, and therefore wants to hurt me. We are on a path now. Every year, we can become more and more content to live in community with people just like us, or we can take the leap and strive to accept people regardless of their differences. Only once we conquer that fear of the unknown can we begin to do accept people because of them.

Some policymakers believe the more support the government provides the less motivated people in poverty will be to work. They couldn’t be more wrong. As Congress begins the annual appropriations process, it is crucial to point out the major flaws in this line of thinking, because legislators who buy into this narrative are less likely to allocate sufficient funds to human needs programs. This is not what people in the United States need, especially those living at the margins. In order to combat poverty in the U.S., it is necessary, as Pope Francis says, to “always consider the person” recognizing the dignity of the human person as our first priority. The narrative that economic insecurity motivates people to have a better work ethic is a dangerous myth and an attack on the human dignity of families and individuals who have been pushed into poverty.

All human beings want to flourish and, according to the Catholic Social Teaching principle of human dignity, we all deserve to flourish. Because we are made in the image and likeness of God, there is dignity inherent in all human beings so concrete that nothing – behavior, birthplace, income, race, or sex – can deny it. Being human is the only prerequisite for having dignity, and it is instructive for how we are to treat one another on this Earth. A person made in the image of God is worthy of having enough to eat, having meaningful work, expressing him or herself through art and creativity, and having access to what is necessary to live out his or her potential. We are called to flourish by God and any act or system that prohibits this flourishing must be challenged. The structure of society, therefore, must be founded in a firm respect for humanity that acknowledges and provides the resources that every human needs to live out his or her potential.

There’s a beautiful song that captures the intensity of the human desire and need to flourish called Bread and Roses. My favorite line is “our hearts starve as well as bodies,” because it illustrates that a well-fed body is not a comprehensive human experience. Our hearts must also be well-cared for in order to have a truly human life. In his ministry, Jesus Christ recognized earthly goods as the means to life, not the end of life. He said, “One does not live by bread alone…” We also live by roses like spirituality, love, beauty, and the appreciation of life. Don’t we all want not merely to have our personal needs satisfied, but to experience the wonder and amazement of life? The words of Rose Schneiderman from the women’s labor movement in 1912 that inspiredBread and Roses encapsulate this human desire. She said:

What the woman who labors wants is the right to live, not simply exist — the right to life as the rich woman has the right to life, and the sun and music and art. You have nothing that the humblest worker has not a right to have also. The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.

People struggling with poverty do not have the opportunity to live out their potential or have “roses” when humanitarian programs are not appropriately funded. According to psychological studies, slashing benefits does not provide any motivation to work harder. Instead, it actually generates more stress on the brain, which results in inadequate decision-making that can exasperate a situation of poverty. Thus, cutting poverty programs leads to the opposite of the spouted “less government aid equals harder work” argument. Furthermore, a permanent underclass, what Pope Francis calls a “throwaway culture,” is perpetuated by blaming people in poverty for an economic situation that they cannot create solutions for without the satisfaction of their basic needs. This treatment of our sisters and brothers is gravely unjust.

Therefore, I admonish those in Congress and society that blame people in situations of poverty. Jesus said, “I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10), and he recognized a design for living that embraces the human capacity to thrive. We must foster human thriving through a society that structures itself to make human dignity a priority, which includes adequate funding of human needs programs. Pope Francis recently spoke of the right humans have to rest, experience leisure, and flourish. The “occasion to live one’s own creatureliness” the pope speaks about is the joyful consequence of a human dignity-centered society. We as a nation must focus our energy on creating this society rather than blaming those who are poor for being poor.