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Pax Christi connections in the latest Michael Moore movie |
by Johnny Zokovitch
Last week, my wife Kelli and I went to see Michael Moore’s new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story. Despite being a major release documentary, I am doubtful it will play in your local theaters long, so see it while you have a chance. It is a gripping exposé of the wholesale failure of our economic system and it will alternately amuse you and enrage you, especially when uncovering the rampant injustice of the powerful over the rest of us. (Since that first viewing, we've taken about 12 other friends and guests within our Catholic Worker community to see it.)
But interestingly enough, I think the thing that will really grab Pax Christi members is the positive portrayal of our Catholic faith as a critique of capitalism. Michael Moore includes his own very personal musings on the role his Catholic faith has played on his formation and his politics, but he also elevates the voices of longtime members and partners from our own movement for justice and peace.
In the middle part of the movie, Moore decides to ask his own pastor about his feelings toward capitalism and how capitalism jibes with the teachings of Jesus. Getting a very pointed response about the incompatibility of Jesus’ proclamation of the gospel with the capitalist system, Moore decides that he better consult with another priest. And that other priest is Fr. Peter Dougherty, Pax Christi USA’s Teacher of Peace in 2002. Peter’s words to Moore were prophetic and strong, and to anyone who takes the gospel seriously, the truth of his faith-based critique of capitalism will leave you applauding in the theater.
But Moore wonders aloud if maybe he should just doublecheck all of this anti-capitalist sentiment with the bishop first. So he pays a visit to Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, founding bishop-president of Pax Christi USA. In his usual humble and generous fashion, Bishop Gumbleton says unequivocally what Jesus would think of capitalism. It is a quietly powerful moment in the film, showing just how clearly the heart of our faith tradition stands in contrast to the values at the heart of capitalism.
The movie goes on to feature others who should be familiar to Pax Christi USA members: Members of the organization LIFFT (Low Income Families Fighting Together), who shared their testimonies with our young adults and students while in Miami for the 2003 Pax Christi USA National Conference, and alongside whom many of you protested with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers at the conclusion of that conference; protestors outside Republic Doors and Windows in Chicago, holding signs provided by our friends at Interfaith Worker Justice, with whom we share a board president, Bishop Gabino Zavala; and in the closing credits, we see thanks being extended to Catholic Worker Houses, Pax Christi member Kim Redigan and other names many of us would recognize.
The message that Pax Christi USA has been proclaiming for 37 years is all over this movie. It is the gospel of peace and justice we proclaim in word and deed. It is a 2-hour articulation of Catholic Social Teaching, proclaimed not in a church, but in theaters everywhere, reaching an audience of millions so far.
If you have yet to see Capitalism: A Love Story, do so this week. Documentaries don’t stay in our cineplexes very long. Most importantly, bring someone along with you who might not be able to afford to see it. You’ll be proud of all the work that we have done together as Pax Christi USA and how the larger culture is opening more and more to our message. You’ll be proud of the prophetic voices from our movement in this film.
Michael Moore ends the film by asking us to join him in the struggle. He says he’s tired and he can’t do it alone. Our own Dorothy Day called it a “revolution of the heart.” Many of us have been there in the struggle all along. This movie will reenergize us for the work ahead. And hopefully, add to our ranks. Amen.
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