The Church and Alternative Structures

Alternative Structures        

Back in 2010 I was talking with a number of prominent Catholics who were wringing their hands over the impending Affordable Care Act passage.  They indicated that many of its provisions would make it difficult for Catholic hospitals to remain competitive, that many would be absorbed into larger for profit conglomerates, and the mission of Catholic health care would be diminished.  

My response to this hand wringing was perhaps startling to them:  it’s our own fault.  The Church had the opportunity at one time to use its vast network to create a national insurance system for employees and members of the Church in all of its entities.  Using our hospital system as the link, we had the opportunity to create a national network of care and insurance for millions of people, one that would have been portable and provide great health care that reflected our Catholic values.  But we did not do that.  We went along with the system and now we are paying the price.  Our parochialism did not allow us to think beyond our own individual concerns and we lost sight of our own duty to the common good and our call to solidarity.

We can learn from that mistake in four important areas in which we have the ability to partner with others in creating effective alternative structures to the ones that currently exist.  Alternative structures provide us with the opportunity to model good behavior in the marketplace instead of just complaining about bad behavior that exists.  Properly done, alternative structures can be powerful tools for social change that can affect an entire industry.  In each case, we can see the great potential for social change.

1.  Finance and banking:  Throughout the United States there exist untold numbers of small Catholic Credit Unions.  Started generations ago to assist Catholic immigrants from the great waves of migration, they continue to operate, providing great models of banking that can create powerful change.  Many of them offer accounts and services to undocumented immigrants.  They provide low cost wire transfers to families overseas.  They provide small dollar loan programs at just rates that counteract the negative effects of the payday lending industry.  And they provide financial education and budgeting classes to people in many different languages. 

In Missouri community organizing groups have attempted for years to enact regulations to the payday lending industry in a state where almost no regulations exists and many are exploited.  All such attempts proved unsuccessful.  However, when we began to expand the scope and work of our Catholic credit unions, legislators took notice and saw that institutions can provide low dollar loans at just rates.  Consequently, modest reforms have begun in Missouri, due in large part to setting an example.  We have the ability to expand Catholic credit unions nationwide and to create a structure that reflects our values instead of doing business with banks who do not reflect our values.

2. Energy:  Imagine if every single Catholic parish, school, and property were fitted with solar panels.  Now, calculate how much carbon is reduced from our atmosphere if we had every Catholic property fitted with solar panels.  Also calculate how much savings would take place in the Church from reduced energy consumption.  The effect would be tremendous.  Happily, Catholic institutions are already beginning to switch and to be leaders in this movement.  Pope Benedict XVI installed solar panels on the Vatican and made the tiny entity the first carbon neutral nation on earth.  The Benedictine Monks of Conception, MO and the Benedictine Sisters of Clyde, MO led the way with wind turbines by placing them on their rural properties.  This led energy companies in Missouri to begin installing wind farms in Northwest Missouri and elsewhere.  We can continue to drive social change in alternative structures by being more aggressive in moving to renewable sources of energy.
3. Food:  Urban agriculture is sweeping across the United States.  More and more cities are allowing larger scale food production in the urban core, which enables greater access to healthy food to low income populations.  It is also a way to create an alternative structure that is not subject to agribusinesses that dominate our food production. Community urban farming also provides jobs, especially to immigrants who come from agrarian societies and are great resources to urban farming movements. 

The Church has a great deal of property in the urban core on which community gardens and larger scale operations can exist.  Again, many Catholic parishes are leading the way in creating such gardens and helping their communities create them so that people have access to healthy foods, especially in food deserts and to poor communities that often do not have access to healthy foods.  Such a movement can create jobs, provide food to the hungry, and improve the overall health of the community.

4. Housing:  Cooperative housing represents an opportunity for the Church to provide affordable housing in urban areas.  Many cities have land trusts or land banks in which not for profit entities can acquire a vacant or abandoned dwelling for $1.  Parishes can then work with Catholic credit unions to loan money for rehabilitating the structure.  So, for example, say a house needs $50,000 in repairs.  A non-profit can take out a loan for that amount to fix the property, then that loan become the mortgage for a person to assume in acquiring the property for living.  This model has the potential to create quality, affordable housing to low income populations while at the same time returning many of these properties to local ownership rather than out of town land owners who care little for the community.  Such a model has the potential to transform neighborhoods and rebuild local economies and tax structures.

Each of these alternative structures currently exist.  As a Catholic community we have the potential to expand these initiatives exponentially in order to do a great deal of good for communities across our nation.  Social development is part of the mission of the Church; it is part of the evangelization of peoples, as Pope Paul VI reminded us decades ago.  Let us embrace this mission and truly be a light to all peoples.