This past summer, representatives of Jesuit social research
centers in 13 countries came together at Georgetown University under the
sponsorship of the Woodstock Theological Center's project, Global Economy and
Cultures (GEC). For a week in late June and early July, they reflected on
narratives compiled by the project, stories of how people are encountering
often-ambiguous global forces in their own cultures. And, they took the
project into its next-to-last phase For example, some of the narrative accounts follow people as they
leave behind their farms and villages for work in rapidly expanding urban
centers, a now-familiar path of migration in the developing world. Some are
angry and depressed, others are hopeful. The circumstances and human values at
stake are tremendously varied, but those involved in the project underlined
the importance of cultural values and communal relationships, as well as
spiritual resources, in making these and other transitions in the global
economy. Responding to stories from Mexico and Brazil, the Rev. Jorge
Cela, S.J., who directs Centro Bono in Santo Domingo, noted the presence of
strong civic and church groups in the stories of protagonists. "This community
support makes a difference," said Cela, one of 23 participants including six
Woodstock fellows and staffers. The ultimate purpose of GEC is to help empower the poor to
exercise control over how globalization affects their lives within the context
of their own cultures. The project's raw materials are the narratives
contributed by sixty participating Jesuit social centers. These narratives
look especially at the situations created by market-driven policies and the
opening of borders to international trade and investment. In the project's next phase, GEC will craft explanatory texts
that build on the narratives with cultural insights clustered around six major
themes. Simultaneously, participants will refine and put into effect action
plans for addressing issues raised by globalization, plans emphasizing
collaboration among protagonists and their communities, Jesuit social centers,
local Catholic universities, and other institutions concerned with
development. Finally, there will be a fourth and last international
consultation in November of next year, where participants will discuss a
semi-final report of the GEC project. Central to this endeavor is a keen awareness of God's activity
in our world. "Spirit is at work in different spheres of life, in different
peoples and places - creating struggle and pain, a new world of justice,
brotherhood and sisterhood, and equality," said A. Xavier John Bosco of the
Center for Information, Training, Research, and Action in the Secunderabad
region of India. "Evil forces are powerful. We need to listen and discern, and
discover God's compassionate heart in the midst of the people. All that
happens is an open invitation to join in the universe's groaning."
October 2003
It was the third international consultation held by GEC in the
past four years, and like previous consultations, it highlighted a method of
social reflection that borrows heavily from Ignatian spirituality.
Each day began with prayer and ended with thoughts about the day's
progress ("consolations"), difficulties ("desolations"), and unanswered
questions. In between, participants engaged in structured analysis and
dialogue, grappling with themes ranging from consumption and migration to
political power and religious experiences, all flowing from their own written
narratives of shifting patterns in the lives of protagonists touched by
globalization.
Though the forces of globalization are powerful, and not all for
the good, the discussions ultimately turned to the equally powerful realities
of human transcendence.
"In the midst of the turmoil of change, one sees a basic humanity
that makes the person refuse to be reduced, and to achieve in spite of the
turmoil. One sees a humanity of authenticity and interiority," Rita M.
Rodriguez, an international economist and Woodstock senior fellow, said of the
accounts given at the meeting. Dr. Rodriguez co-directs GEC along with the
Rev. Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J., Woodstock's director.
In the first two consultations, participants discussed and refined
written narratives of how globalization is connecting with their local
cultures, stories that relate the experiences of a single protagonist or
community. At this consultation, the primary task was to analyze these
experiences, as a prelude to the development of explanatory texts that probe
more deeply into the meaning of these global processes in the lives of
protagonists and their communities.