This is a story I produced for Davidoff Communications and the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE).

Standing up for dignity and respect at Walmart. Participants in SCUPE and Interfaith Worker Justice’s joint conferences traveled to three Chicago-area Walmart stores to stand in active solidarity with the Making Change at Walmart Campaign and the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) who are working for justice at their work. The 2014 Congress on Urban Ministry: Together Building a Just Economy is proud to join IWJ in calling on Walmart executives to share their immense corporate wealth with their hard working workers by providing them with living wages, benefits and safer working conditions in the spirit of Jubilee.

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Full Program, 56 minutes
This hour-long documentary I shot and edited for the Chicago Sunday Evening Club explores the impact of current US immigration policies on Amy and Carlos, a young family from West Chicago. The program first aired on WTTW, Channel 11, PBS, Chicago on October 16, 2014.

Because Carlos was brought to the US illegally from Mexico as a child, they encounter severe penalties and barriers as they attempt to gain his resident status. Like thousands of families in this situation, they want to do the right thing, but there seems to be no path to follow. We tell the story of their decade-long struggle, and highlight the work of faith organizations across Chicago that are working to help families like theirs stay together.

Sun Times Article: Country says ‘you can’t be a family’

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Here is a story by reporter Marlen Garcia in the Chicago Sun Times about a new documentary I shot and edited for the Chicago Sunday Evening Club. The 1 hour program aired last night on WTTW Channel 11, PBS Chicago at 9:00 p.m.

By MARLEN GARCIA October 16, 2014 5:58PM
Shortly after Amy Godoy-Guerra married husband Carlos in 2007, the couple sought to remedy Carlos’ status as an undocumented immigrant.

Carlos’ best chance to obtain legal U.S. residency required the end of his unlawful stay here, and the couple decided to ride out the wait for his green card together by living and working in other countries. Stops included Spain, Mexico and South Korea.

Seven years later, they live in separate countries. She’s back in West Chicago, and he’s in Mexico. They are still in love and resolute on being together, yet drained financially and emotionally as they continue maneuvering through a complex, outdated immigration system.

Their story is part of the documentary “Divided Families: Responding with Faith” scheduled to air Thursday night on WTTW-Ch. 11 and produced by the Chicago Sunday Evening Club. The documentary also focuses on support for immigration reform from faith-based organizations and churches, which colleague Sue Ontiveros highlighted earlier this week in a Sun-Times column.

I met Amy, 32, this week at her parents’ home, where she stays when she is not globe-trotting the world to be with Carlos. He is currently teaching English in Monterrey, Mexico.

Living together in other countries didn’t work out. Carlos wasn’t authorized to work anywhere but Mexico; Amy found temporary or low-paying jobs that didn’t sufficiently cover rent, food, college loans and the arrival of son Lucas, now 5, and daughter Carolina, 22 months.

“You feel trapped,” Amy, a dual-language elementary-school teacher in West Chicago, said of their circumstances.

Immigration-reform advocates have been vocal about the damaging effect separations have on families, including U.S.-born children and spouses. The scars are usually long-lasting. “It’s like your country is saying, ‘You can’t be a family,’” Amy said.

Even Amy’s mother seems emotionally spent. Once, in a moment of frustration, she asked Amy why she stayed involved with Carlos after finding out he was undocumented.

“Amy said, ‘Was I supposed to not love someone because of his status?’ ” her mother recalled. “It’s not been fair. To see her hopes dashed . . . ”

Carlos’ immigration case is complicated by an attempt his mother made in the 1990s to send Carlos, then a minor, into the U.S. from Mexico with a birth certificate that belonged to an American cousin.

He was caught and slapped with a lifetime ban from the U.S. for a false claim of citizenship. His mother later paid a ‘‘coyote’’ — a smuggler — to bring Carlos to the U.S., his lawyer says in the documentary, and he made a life in the Chicago area.

Advocates of immigration reform say the lifetime ban is too severe for actions by a minor. U.S. officials came around on this last year, cracking open a door for exceptions for some who broke the law as minors and giving Carlos and Amy hope.

Houston-based immigration lawyer Laurel Scott, who has appealed Carlos’ case to immigration authorities based on the revision, said by phone they must prove Carlos lacked the mental capacity to understand the consequences of his attempt. He also has a strike against him for his unlawful presence in the U.S., though he ended it voluntarily in 2007.

“At least now we have a shot,” Scott said.

The hopes of an American family are riding on it.

Email: MarlenGarcia777@gmail.com

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I had the privilege of working with Reuven Firestone, Professor of Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College this spring in Pakistan with Intersections International. How many Jewish Rabbi’s do you know who hang out in Pakistan working to build peace and understanding? Rabbi Firestone is a mensch.

Rabbi Firestone published this article on Intersections website today, regarding the Israel/Palestine conflict in Gaza. It’s a good word. Perfect Storm

We are experiencing the perfect storm for violence between Jews and Muslims in Israel/Palestine. It’s the convergence of certain factors in religion, which when combined with the particular political impasse there cause many religious Muslims and Jews to see the conflict as religious, existential and life-threatening. This encourages a high tolerance for brutality in the name of religion, which then heightens the perception of impending destruction – which in turn encourages increased brutality.

Religions function like complex organisms. The cells of their bodies are the believers, tied together through the arteries of communities and sinews of shared ritual. Their muscles are movements of common cause, their brain a complex neural mix of theologies and counter-theologies, and their heart the center of moral vision. Like all organisms, religions seek homeostasis. Left to themselves, they pursue positive relations with their environments; they seek a state of peace.

Religions contain within them different vectors of religious thought and action. When undisturbed, the dominant vectors strive for meaning and balance with nature by providing for the physical needs of the body and the spiritual needs of the soul. With these needs met, believers care for the full environment in which they live. They act out the religious imperative by feeding the hungry and serving the needy both within and outside of the community of believers. This in turn radiates the expectation that humanity and nature can live together in harmony. In other words, religions are equipped and are eager to expend great spiritual, physical and material effort to bring real peace to all humankind.

But religions can also feel threatened. When the threat is perceived as serious, they react by promoting a different set of vectors that also convey authentic religious thought and action. These vectors support defensive actions, such as lashing out against perceived enemies through invective and verbal attack. When the threat is considered life-threatening, religions can unleash all their resources against it. History has shown how religious communities that feel threatened can engage in unthinkable brutality.

But feelings are not always an accurate assessment of reality. Sometimes an organism misperceives a threat and then endangers itself by reacting foolishly. Sometimes, in fact, an organism can err by aggravating a real but non-lethal hazard into a fatal deathtrap.

This is what we see happening these past weeks in Israel/Palestine. The essential conflict there is one over competing expressions of nationalism, neither of which accepts the legitimacy of the other. Nationalism exists in the world of politics where all things are negotiable. But the conflict has morphed over the years into one that is increasingly defined as religious, existential and absolute. This unfortunate development has infiltrated the political discourse on both sides even among those who are not religious. It leaves virtually no room for negotiation.

For the sake of their own survival, both sides must reconsider how they define their grievances. Classifying the conflict as existential makes it absolute, provoking and threatening horrible destruction. Re-evaluating the meaning of the conflict can move it toward something that is resolvable.

The political, social, cultural and counter-cultural leaders on both sides need to reconsider the narratives that they have created. They need to bring their communities back to a less threatening discourse. That requires re-summoning the traditional vectors of religious thought common to both Judaism and Islam which seek homeostasis and value dynamic relations with the Other. Such a move can bring the discussion around to enable positive problem-solving.

The confluence of events in this perfect storm will eventually pass. It will then be up to those on the ground to make the necessary repairs in order to stay afloat. That will require giving up certain dogmatic absolutes and accepting the reality that life requires negotiation.

Reuven Firestone is Professor of Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles and Senior Fellow at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at USC. His books include Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam, and Holy War in Judaism: The Fall and Rise of a Controversial Idea.

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This is a video I produced for Mark Brown and the Lutheran World Federation Jerusalem‘s Augusta Victoria Hospital. There is an urgent need for elder care and palliative medicine in Palestine and Israel. Augusta Victoria Hospital is responding to that need by building a 120-bed facility for elder care and palliative care on the east side of the hospital. This facility will help both patients and their families cope with the difficulties of their circumstances.

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With the natural beauty of the peoples and culture of Pakistan as the backdrop, UPIC delegates share their thoughts about the need to dispel the fears and misconceptions Americans have of Pakistan and to continue efforts to build relations between our two countries. Reflecting on the importance of this vital goal are; Rev. Dr. Dick Hamm, Former General Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Rabbi Dr. Reuven Firestone, Professor of Medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, CA; Kelly McGrath, a George Mason University, PhD Student, Rabbi Amy Joy Small, Director of Deborah’s Palm Center for Jewish Learning and Experiences in Morristown, NJ; Riaz Siddiqi, Founder and Managing Partner of Denham Capital and Board Chairman of the American Pakistan Foundation and Fred Johnson, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Intersections International.

Facilitated by Intersections International — in collaboration with the International Islamic University in Islamabad (IIU), the US-Pakistan Interreligious Consortium (UPIC) spent March 11-14, 2014 in Pakistan. UPIC is an initiative undertaken by Intersections that seeks to bring together religious leaders from the US and Pakistan to build relationships, shatter stereotypes, and create an action agenda that will help build bridges of mutual respect and understanding between our two countries.

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In this new documentary I produced for WTTW Channel 11, the Chicago Sunday Evening Club presents the stories of three faith communities that are doing the difficult, but necessary work of healing the lives of ex-offenders, and standing with them as they reenter society. Our hope is to engage with communities of faith in deep dialogue around these issues.

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In addition to recording stories about LWF’s amazing work in Jerusalem including Augusta Victoria Hospital, vocational training, fare housing and emergency assistance for Syrian refugees, I’ll be recording the Palm Sunday procession from Bethany to the Old City on Sunday, 13 April. There will be big crowds in 2014 because the Eastern and Western Easter liturgical calendars coincide. According to Mark, “It is a very lively, musical and colorful event with pilgrims from around the world and from around Palestine”.

Augusta Victoria Hospital is located on the top of the Mount of Olives, overlooking the old city of Jerusalem. Augusta Victoria’s tower is among Jerusalem’s most iconic landmarks.

Here is a video I produced in 2008 at Augusta Victoria Hospital.

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Sanctuary: Refugee Chirstmas is a documentary produced by the Greater Chicago Broadcast Ministry and Tim Frakes Productions.

Follow three Chicago area refugee families as they share their stories and reflect on Christmas in America. With feature commentary on the scriptural theme of displacement by Rev. Phil Blackwell, First United Methodist Church, Chicago Temple, Rev. Lillian Daniels, First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn and Rev. Bassam Abdallah, The First United Lutheran Church, Hammond, Indiana. The program aired on Sunday, December 30, 12:30 p.m, ABC 7 Chicago

Here is a promo:

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