Taking the Time to Make a Difference

It’s a common sentiment, but I can’t say I agree with it: “Christmas is for children.” My first reaction is to think, Christmas is about the birth of the one who was human and divine, the word made flesh. But perhaps our experience of any child’s joy somehow evokes the pleasure every Christian ought to enjoy, as we come to know the ultimate gift of self God has given us. But here is a shocker by the Zenit news agency, from Vatican City, Nov. 11. “For many of the world’s kids, childhood is more about war and work than toys and fun,” the story began, “and the Vatican intends to consider what can be done about this.” Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, provided statistics at a conference on “Pastoral Care in the Treatment of Sick Children.”

• Poverty is the principal cause of childhood sickness. “Even in the richest countries, one child in six lives under the poverty line.”
• 250 million children under 15 don’t go to school or out to play. They go to work, including some 60 million who work in dangerous conditions.
• In the last decade more than 2 million children have been killed in the course of armed conflict.
• 6 million children have been left handicapped as a result of armed conflict; tens of thousands have been mutilated by antipersonnel mines and 300,000 were recruited as child soldiers.
• More than 4,300,000 children have died of AIDS. Is it all too much? Or can you make a difference? Here are ways you can.
• The Catholic Campaign for Human Development uses contributed resources to help people break the cycle of poverty, supporting self-sufficiency and self-determination as the best strategies for change. You can find out more from www.usccb.org/cchd.
• Many toys, books, and clothing items that are made for children are made by children. As you consider a gift, can you determine where and how it was made? Can you make a decision to purchase or avoid purchase depending on the conditions?
• Among many ideas for teaching the spirit of Mission, the U.S. bishops’ committee on world missions suggests starting a creative recycling project that helps children to identify with their peers in mission countries. Ask students to make a toy or game using only recycled materials. Children in other countries use creativity to utilize what they have on hand to make balls, musical instruments, dolls, cars, and other playthings. See www.usccb.org/wm/bestpractices.shtml.
• The U.S. bishops’ office for Migration and Refugee Services reports that each year up to two million people worldwide are victims of trafficking, including 20,000 men, women, and children who are brought into the United States, one-third of whom are under the age of 18. Find out how to raise your voice, how to get involved as a parish or as an individual volunteer, at www.usccb.org/mrs/howtohelp.shtml
• “Jobs at home cannot justify exporting the means of war abroad,” said the U.S. bishops in 1995. “As Christians, we believe we are called to build an authentic peace that is based on respect for human dignity and a commitment to the common good, not on the balance of weapons.”

Lesson plans and resources to bring about change are offered by the bishops’ office of Justice, Peace and Human Development, www.usccb.org/sdwp/foreducators.shtml.

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Whether you choose to send a gift of money to an agency, or to raise your voice to your elected representatives, or to influence an industry by what you purchase, you can do your part to make this Christmas truly one “for the children.” It’s what we do for “the least ones” that will truly make a difference, as we celebrate the one who makes the ultimate difference. May Christmas be for all of God’s children!

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