![\"\"](\"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/capitol-hill.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Pat Schneider is a poet, author, and teacher of writing, One of Schneider\u2019s core beliefs is that, That\u2019s why today\u2019s reading from Sirach is so important. I\u2019ve often spoken with parents over the years who were worried Have you ever felt that you weren\u2019t listened to? Everyone has a need to be heard.<\/p>\n Sadly, there are entire groups of people The same thing is true about the poor. About a year and a half ago, For three days, The culminating event of the gathering As part of the Eastern Washington delegation, Why did we do this? \u201cThe LORD is a God of justice, who knows no favorites.\u201d God is the Great Listener. We were not there speaking for ourselves. The reason our bishops call people to DC every year Pat Schneider the author knows what it means to listen to the poor. This week we can take comfort in knowing Pat Schneider is a poet, author, and teacher of writing, whose has a mission to help people discover their voice. Her most well-known book is called Writing Alone and with Others, and she begins the book by saying, \u201cEveryone is a writer. You are a writer. All over the world, in every culture, human beings have carved into stone, written on parchment, birch bark, or scraps of paper\u2026 Those who do not write stories and poems on solid surfaces tell them, sing them, and, in so doing, write...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Great Listener: #Homily for the 30th Week in Ordinary Time Year C","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[349],"tags":[1042,361,1134,497,297],"class_list":["post-7416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homily","tag-catholic-social-ministry-gathering","tag-gospel-of-luke","tag-pat-schneider","tag-sirach","tag-usccb"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/capitol-hill.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pOucj-1VC","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7416"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7420,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7416\/revisions\/7420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nwhose has a mission to help people discover their voice.
\nHer most well-known book is called Writing Alone and with Others<\/em>,
\nand she begins the book by saying,
\n\u201cEveryone is a writer. You are a writer.
\nAll over the world, in every culture,
\nhuman beings have carved into stone,
\nwritten on parchment, birch bark, or scraps of paper\u2026
\nThose who do not write stories and poems on solid surfaces
\ntell them, sing them,
\nand, in so doing,
\nwrite them on the air.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cEveryone has a strong, unique voice.\u201d
\nNo matter who we are,
\nno matter what our age is, we each have important things to say,
\nand we each have a deep need to be heard.<\/p>\n
\nJust as each of has a deep need to be heard,
\nwe learn today that God is a listener.
\nGod has had many titles over the years,
\nAlpha and Omega, I Am Who Am, Abba Father,
\nbut one that we might propose today is the Great Listener.
\nGod is the Great Listener.
\nAnd listening is something we all need.<\/p>\n
\nthat their teenage son or daughter was losing their voice.
\nNot that they were unable to speak physically,
\nbut that they were silencing themselves
\nbecause no one would listen to them.
\nThe parents worried that their children had stopped speaking up in class,
\nafraid of being misunderstood
\nor made fun of for their questions or comments.<\/p>\n
\nHave you ever tried to tell someone your problems or worries
\nonly to feel like they were simply nodding along politely,
\nwaiting for their turn to speak?<\/p>\n
\nwhose voices are routinely ignored.
\nThe voices of women have been disregarded for centuries,
\nand while strides have been made in this country,
\nthere are still parts of the world
\nwhere the voices of women are silenced.<\/p>\n
\nTo be heard in our culture you either need to have money or power,
\nand the poor have neither.<\/p>\n
\nBrenda and I were invited to Washington, D.C.
\nto attend the annual U.S. Bishop\u2019s Social Ministry Gathering.
\nThe Catholic Social Ministry Gathering is an annual major event
\norganized by the U.S. Bishops\u2019 Department of Justice, Peace
\nand Human Development.<\/p>\n
\nhundreds of Catholic lay people, deacons, priests, and bishops
\nfrom all over the country came together
\nto attend workshops, seminars, and forums
\non topics as diverse as poverty, nuclear arms, and the Farm Bill.<\/p>\n
\nhappened on a cold Tuesday morning in February,
\nwhen all of us left the conference center together
\nand traveled to Capitol Hill
\nwhere we all had appointments
\nwith our various Senators and Representatives.
\nThe Catholics had come to Washington.<\/p>\n
\nwe had three meetings scheduled:
\nfirst with our Representative from the 5th Congressional District,
\nand next a separate appointment
\nwith each of our two Senators.
\nAt the exact same time that we were meeting
\nwith our representatives from our state,
\nCatholics from all the rest of the 50 states
\nwere meeting with representatives from their states.
\nWe tried to speak one message in one voice
\nto make sure that our voice was heard.<\/p>\n
\nWhy did the U.S. Bishops host this Social Ministry Gathering
\nand send us to Capitol Hill?
\nWe might also ask,
\nWhy do Catholics march on Washington, D.C. each year
\non the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision?
\nThe answer to both questions is the same,
\nand can be found in today\u2019s scriptures.<\/p>\n
\n\u201c\u2026he hears the cry of the oppressed.\u201d
\n\u201cThe Lord is not deaf to the wail of the orphan,
\nnor to the widow when she pours out her complaint.\u201d
\n\u201cThe Lord hears the cry of the poor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAnd if God hears the cry of the poor,
\nthen we should, too.
\nWe were in Washington, D.C.
\nbecause the bishops asked us
\nto hear the cry of the poor
\nand carry it to our nation\u2019s leaders.<\/p>\n
\nWe were there to speak on behalf of the poor, the immigrant,
\nand the oppressed.
\nWe were there to speak for those whose voices have been silenced
\nor drowned out in all the other political noise.
\nAnd in Washington that\u2019s unusual.
\nIn fact, one of the representatives commented
\nthat that\u2019s one of the unique things
\nabout meeting with Catholic delegations:
\nthey rarely are there to speak on their own behalf,
\nbut instead come to speak for the sake of others.<\/p>\n
\nto the Social Ministry Gathering
\nis because through our baptism,
\nwe become one with God through Christ,
\nand if God listens to the poor and the oppressed,
\nthen that is what we are to do, too.<\/p>\n
\nNot only does she teach others how to write,
\nshe makes it a point to reach out specifically
\nto those whose voices are in danger of being silenced forever.
\nShe leads writing workshops for low-income women like Robin.
\nWhen Robin attended one of Pat\u2019s writing workshops,
\nPat had no idea that Robin and her three small children were homeless
\nand living in a car.
\nPat had no idea that Robin and her children got showers and food
\nfrom whatever shelter they could find each day.
\nBut through the writing workshop, Robin found her voice, her confidence.
\nAs Pat puts it,
\n\u201cBefore an abused or neglected child can entrust painful secrets
\nto a caring adult, he must experience having his story honored.\u201d
\nIn that writer\u2019s workshop, Robin had her story honored.
\nShe was heard.
\n\u201cNow, after 15 years, Robin has her Master\u2019s Degree in Social Work.
\nShe is the author of a book of resources for leaders of writing workshops
\nfor youth at risk…\u201d<\/p>\n
\nthat we have a God who listens.
\nBut we are also challenged
\nto embrace our baptismal call
\nto listen to others,
\nespecially the poor and the oppressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"