Rich place, cheap talk

There was a lot of talk about "inclusion" of the poor and marginalized at the recent symposium, "Gaudium et Spes at 40," held at the "exclusive" Wilshire Grand Hotel.


"We need especially to be critical of the privileges of class, gender, ethnicity, wealth and national origin," said a very white and pleasantly plump Barbara Busse, dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts at Loyola Marymount University, which co-sponsored the event along with the Archdiocese and Mt. St. Mary's College.



Another panelist, Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), looking rather well fed herself, stated: "Poor people must work tirelessly, often working two or three jobs, forced to make the economy the purpose of their lives."



"Gangsta priest," Father Greg Boyle, engendered a collective "wow" from the conference participants with his observation: "The measure of our compassion lies not in our willingness to serve those on the margins but in our willingness to find ourselves in kinship with them."



At the end of the symposium that "kinship" was in evidence when one unnamed attendee, slipping a few bucks into the hand of the valet, was heard saying, "Oyes, muchacho. Go fetch my Mercedes."

These "peace and justice" gatherings are always a scream.

See my previous post regarding Gaudium et Spes HERE.