Take a Mindful Franciscan Pause to Thwart Bias
Carolyn Townes, OFS, national animator for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation
Matthew (13:54-58) recounts how, when Jesus came to his hometown and began to teach in the synagogue, people were as- tounded, and even took offense. They knew him as the carpenter’s son; not this new Jesus.
“This image of him in the synagogue did not fit the Jesus they had in their heads,” Carolyn Townes, OFS, told National Chapter attendees. They couldn’t reconcile the image of the Je- sus they knew with the one standing before them, said Townes, national animator for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation and a member of the International Commission for JPIC.
It reminded her of a quote by George Bernard Shaw: “The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor. He takes my measurements anew each time he sees me. The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them.”
A person in the latter case preserves an image as a way of keeping his thoughts in harmony. The harm in this selective perception is that it becomes the basis of bias; that is, a preference for or against a group or individual, Townes said.
“It can be positive or negative. Conscious or unconscious. Assumptions and stereotypes. It can be based what we iden- tify as labels — skin color, ability, age or gender preference.
“Unconscious bias is far more prevalent than conscious prejudice and is often incompatible with one’s conscious val- ues,” she noted. This makes bias in oneself harder to identify, especially when working under time pressure or in a per- ceived threatening situation, Townsend said. In those cases, we react automatically with what we already know. As a result, we use shortcuts based on prior knowledge to process the 11 million pieces of information coming at us at any one time.
For example, Townes used some sentence starters that members of the audience automatically answered:
“An eye for an…”
“What goes around…”
“Fight fire with…”
“Better late than…”
“An apple a day…”
“Birds of a feather…”
“Let sleeping dogs…”
Responses to these are part of the millions of bits of information that are stored in our subconscious mind.
“We have heard them so many times, we don’t even need to think about the answer,” Townes said.
This type of thinking can lead to snap judgments while making important decisions.
“This leads to hiring someone based on our personalpreference and not on the candidate’s skill. It also causes us to cross the street when we see someone as threatening.”
Our minds formulate shortcuts to make it easier and faster to make decisions. If these are based on biases, preferences against groups or individuals, they need to be changed.
“Two things I want you to know about biases. Number one, everyone has them. Number two, they can be disrupted or changed,” Townes said.
How do we reverse our biases?
“Ask yourself: Why am I so dead set on maligning this person? What if I took an opposite view?”
First, pause. “As Franciscans, we are called to pray for right judgment and right decision. Before you make a judg- ment based on that subconscious judgment in your head, take a Franciscan pause. We form our impression of a person in that first millisecond. Remind yourself that you are aware of your first impression.”
“Second, when you know you already have an image in your mind, make yourself come up with two pieces of opposite information about that image.”
“Third, define your inner focus. Once you become aware of your bias, do your counter activity until it becomes habitual. Do it mindfully, with prudence, caution and right judgment.”
“Fourth, be curious and cultivate conversations. Conversations help us find what we have in common,” Townes said.
Townes cited Article 19 of the Rule as a way of changing our bias. She calls it “taking a Franciscan pause.”
“Mindful that they are bearers of peace which must be built up unceasingly, they should seek out ways of unity and fraternal harmony through dialogue, trusting in the presence of the divine seed in everyone and in the transforming power of love and pardon…”
https://secularfranciscansusa.org/2020/02/28/take-a-mindful-franciscan-pause-to-thwart-bias/
Service Project Aids 1,000 Immigrants
(This article originally appeared in Winter 2019 Issue #99 of TAU-USA)
By SHARON WINZELER, OFS
Up to 18 boxes at a time were delivered for days to the home of Patsy Cueva Philipps, OFS,in Corpus Christi.
The spending spree on Amazon was fueled by a response to a call to help refugees being released from detention centers in Laredo, McAllen and San Antonio, TX. Philipps, regional minister of the Los Tres Companeros Region, had spent more than a year dreaming of a way to help people who were crossing the border to seek asylum.
She was inspired to organize a Secular Franciscan service project to aid 1,000 men and women with drawstring backpacks filled with hygiene items and other supplies. Those packs were put together by some 80 Secular Franciscan leaders attending their annual chapter at Pax Christi Liturgical Retreat Center in Corpus Christi.
It all started when Philipps discovered that on her way to work she was passing a detention center in Corpus Christi that housed 120 teenagers. When Philipps called to find out if the Secular Franciscans could help the residents with anything, she was told the government takes care of food and daily living items.
What they could use, she was told, was art supplies, books and games. Working with a wish list that included crayons, coloring books, and prayer cards, the local Secular Franciscan fraternity worked in cooperation with the diocese.
They also hosted a Christmas party. Bishop Michael Mulvey celebrated a Mass at the detention center and directed his homily toward the teenagers.
“He talked about the hard journey they had taken,” Phillips said. “He told them they brought a special gift to us in the same way Jesus and his parents did when they had to leave their country. He told them that they had to deal with more in their short lives than others face in their lifetime.”
After a presentation by an immigration attorney in July that highlighted the severity and urgency of the need to help the immigrants, she felt the call to action. In July, she consulted regional Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) coordinator Valerie Laubacher.
Both Franciscans knew it was the right time to launch the project. “I knew that the Holy Spirit planted this idea in Patsy’s heart,” Laubacher said. “The Holy Spirit was blessing this.”
Together they brainstormed with members of their region on items that would be helpful for the released immigrants who were legally crossing the border, awaiting a court hearing and traveling to their U.S. destination. Laubacher consulted with her niece on how to start an “Amazon Wish List.”
The women were texting each other at 11 p.m. with ideas. They ordered such items as socks, water bottles, hair brushes, combs, lotion, tissues, toothbrushes, notebooks, pencils, notebooks and wipes.
Another vendor was required to purchase shoelaces because they were not available for bulk purchase from Amazon. Shoelaces are important to immigrants departing from detention centers because they are required to remove them as a safety precaution when they enter, and the items are never returned to them.
Enough health and beauty care items were entered on an Amazon Wish List to fill 1,000 drawstring bags. An appeal for donations was sent out to Secular Franciscans through regional ministers throughout the U.S.
Within two days, most of the items on the initial list were purchased. Philipps added more items. Within a week, 50 fraternity and individual donors from the United States and Guam had purchased all $20,000 worth of items. Another $5,000 was spent on food and household items, such as corn and flour tortilla mix, rice, beans, wipes, laundry soap and floor cleaner.
These grocery items were sent to Catholic Charities to directly distribute to immigrants.
National Minister Jan Parker, OFS, described the effort this way: “Pope Francis says, ‘Love isn’t words, but works and service; a humble service performed in silence without seeking acclaim.’ Our outreach here is simple, handson, Franciscan love in action. With God’s grace these bags of blessings will not only bless those in need, but help open hearts of others to hear the cry of the poor. Our Secular Franciscan Rule challenges us to be instruments of joy, hope and healing, but to also take courageous action in the field of public life. Our bishops explain it this way – we are to walk with both feet of love: the foot of charitable works, which we are doing here, but also the foot of social justice, addressing systemic, root causes of problems that affect many people.”
https://secularfranciscansusa.org/2020/02/26/service-project-aids-1000-immigrants/