Contributors Do unto others

Jubilee journey must start with grappling with questions

Tim Rives is the community outreach coordinator for the office
of social justice. You can email him at: trives@archkck.org.

by Tim Rives

Hey you! And by you, I mean me, Tim Rives, community outreach coordinator for the archdiocesan office of social justice. How can I — an average guy trying to live up to his baptismal promises — give hope to those needy persons and knotty problems identified by Pope Francis in his recent bull of indiction, “Spes Non Confundit” (“Hope does not confound”)?

The Holy Father outlined threats to peace, life, planet and the common good in the document, and illumined hardships facing prisoners, the sick, the young, migrants, the elderly, the poor, the dispossessed and the preborn. And he asks me to give them hope. As one who admittedly fails frequently in his attempts to help the least of these, “Spes Non Confundit” discomfits me and raises uncomfortable — indeed, unwanted — questions as I start this Jubilee journey.

Here are just three questions (there could be many more) I feel called to consider. Questions to infuriate me, to insult my narrow sense of justice, and to inspire me to action. I hope they bother and move you, too.

Abortions in Kansas rose 58% in the year after the defeat of the “Value Them Both” amendment in that “annus horribilis” 2022. Globally, abortionists killed 45 million children in 2024, making the act the world’s leading cause of death. What am I going to do about it? (Hint: Walking in the Kansas March for Life on Jan. 29 would be a good first step for the hope of the unborn.)

As I write, the overnight temperature will be well below zero. Lethal cold.  More than 2,000 Kansans are unhoused, including more than 250 homeless in my own affluent Johnson County neighborhood. And yet the only cold weather shelter is too small, and the area’s last best hope for a permanent shelter was killed by the Lenexa’s city planning commission a few months ago. I understand the reasons why. What I don’t understand is why that doesn’t bother enough of us. And why, Lord, am I among the  insufficiently bothered? I will pray on the question of my resistance in 2025.

Here is one guaranteed to start a fight in many hearts and minds, including my own. How can I be a pilgrim of hope to the millions of migrants, documented or otherwise, as the change in presidential administrations promises to bring the issue to the forefront of national politics? Like many of you, I get the arguments, pro and con, both sides. No question. Lord, please, in this and in all the issues challenging and dividing me — dividing us — show us your way forward in this Holy Year of Jubilee!

About the author

Tim Rives

Leave a Comment