Statement
Cardinal Tobin Address to U.S. Regional Meeting of Popular Movements (USWMPM)
Cardinal Joseph Tobin's Address to the U.S. Regional World Meeting of Popular Movements, February 16-19, 2017
Cardinal Tobin warns that the United States faces mounting social and economic fractures driven by an “economy of exclusion” that prioritizes profit over people and concentrates wealth and political power in the hands of a few.
Causes highlighted
- An economic system that treats people as consumers or cogs, producing widespread economic anxiety and historic inequality.
- A second “invisible thread” of racism and xenophobia that scapegoats vulnerable groups and fuels populism and nationalism, especially in times of fear.
Consequences described
- Deepened burdens on working and poor families across regions and races.
- Erosion of democratic participation as economically stressed people withdraw from civic life, leaving politics to special interests and demagogues.
- Fear that numbs compassion, justifies exclusionary measures (border and prison walls), and increases cruelty toward marginalized people.
Remedies and moral imperative
- Encounter and dialogue: intentional engagement and listening that cultivate compassion and mutual understanding.
- Solidarity and accompaniment: building community networks where those affected by exclusion share stories, organize, and press for structural change while the Church walks with and sometimes leads them.
- A Church in the streets: Tobin echoes Pope Francis’s preference for a church bruised by engagement rather than sheltered by security, calling clergy and faithful to resist indifference and to speak truth to power.