The common thread through all of them is the Catholic belief in dignity of every human life.
“We wanted to bring everyone together to reflect on some of the many issues and challenges that impact our society but for us all flow from one belief – that all human life is sacred and must be protected,” said Sister Chilee Okoko, D.M.M.M., Director of the Diocesan Department of Life, Dignity and Justice, which organized the Conference.
The Conference featured three keynote addresses beginning with Edward “Ned” Dolejsi, Executive Director of the California Catholic Conference, who spoke about the call to Faithful Citizenship and evangelization through good works. Dolejsi spoke about the extreme political partisanship in the nation leading up to the Nov. 8 election and challenged Catholic voters not to be defined by either party.
“As faithful disciples we don’t have a home [in either party] but it doesn’t mean we don’t engage,” he said. “We have to talk about politics and religion but we have to do it through the eyes of humility, through the eyes of understanding, through the eyes of suffering.”
Dolejsi was followed by Brian Levin, a criminal justice professor at California State University, San Bernardino, who spoke about emerging trends in hate and extremism. Levin presented recently compiled findings on the rise of terrorist attacks and hate crimes in the world, nation and in California. Levin, who serves as Director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State, revealed that hate crimes rose in California at double the national rate, that hate crimes against Muslims in California have increased by 122 percent and the number of hate groups has increased by 14 percent nationally.
He also spoke about the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and its specific targeting of Catholic Christians.
“We are facing the most severe terror threat that we have faced since 9/11,” Levin said. “You are part of their target as well.”
Sister Geneva Berns, who attended the Conference, said Levin’s information was sobering but important to hear.
“California is very divided,” said Sr. Geneva, who ministers in the Coachella Valley. “We have a lot of violence, a lot of hate groups and racism.”
Sister Rose Miles said she liked Levin’s message that faith communities together have an important role in combating hate crimes and terrorism.
“There has to be that integration and that outreach among faith tradition,” she said.
Among the workshop presenters at the Conference was Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio Elizondo of the Archdiocese of Seattle. Bishop Elizondo, who chairs the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration, presented on the issue of immigration in the context of the Jubilee Year of Mercy. He also celebrated the morning Mass at the Pastoral Center.
Other workshops included “Poverty in the Midst of Plenty,” led by Catholic Charities San Bernardino-Riverside CEO Ken Sawa, and “The Challenge of Pope Francis’ Environmental Encyclical,” led by Dr. Glenn Patrick Juday, PhD.
The day closed with the final keynote address “Authentic Christianity: Being the Salt and the Light to the World Through Charity, Justice and Service,” given by Father Chigozie Nnebedum, PhD., ThD, from the Diocese of Linz, Austria.