Social activists discuss Boston's urban status

When has anything that Kip Tiernan and Fran Froelich done been conventional? Last night in a program sponsored by the Women's Resource Center and campus volunteer programs, the pair referred to as "the conscience of Boston" spoke about their outsider political theology in their book, Urban Meditations.

This novel comes after nearly 40 years of continued social activism during which the pair worked to produce "an infrastructure of social change."

Tiernan and Froelich met and discovered their mutual passion for activism at St. Phillip's in Roxbury, Mass., which they described in their book as "a war-zone waiting to happen, and it happened frequently." From there, they went on to co-found The Poor People's United Fund, a nonprofit organization committed to ending suffering.

"[Programs like this] were a felt need," said Tiernan of Boston outreach programs during this time.

A statistic from the Boston Rescue Mission showed a 33 percent jump in the number of homeless people in Boston from 1995 to 2005, a number which is only increasing.

"Realities were created for them by someone else," Froelich said.

Throughout the lecture, Tiernan and Froelich covered issues as diverse as volunteering, Catholicism, and government inactivity.

Central to their shared social ideology is the concept of systematic change.

Systematic change, Froelich said, is not addressed in today's society. Instead, people and organizations create temporary and superficial solutions for serious issues.

"People try to fix a problem but not solve a problem," Froelich said.

Tiernan said that millions of Americans are falling through the cracks created by the economy and society and are regularly using aid organizations to survive. Reliance on these charities would create a culture of dependence, Froelich said.

"You can open up all the shelters and all soup kitchens, but it won't change a thing," Tiernan said.

Instead, the pair advocated mass social activism

"Change is being made in small incremental ways; however, it's up to us, not up to them, to do it," said Tiernan. "On our own, we can't change anything, but together we can change a lot."

In Urban Meditations the pair poses the rhetorical question "Qui Bono," or who benefits? In the past, Tiernan used that phrase to question the government's role in providing aid to the suffering.

"Even reform needs reform after a while," said Tiernan.

As the book purported that "the hands of the poor in Boston had been held by the policymakers for too long," the pair called for consideration of the rights of all citizens.

"People have a right to eat, a right to a place to sleep, a right to a job, rights to medical services. Then why don't they [have these rights]?" said Tiernan. "Today, it's hard to speak out and to speak up." She reasoned that this is necessary to make a different noise and from "the racket in the government."

"Volunteering is an integral aspect of the Jesuit mission. [Students] really want to volunteer and give the best BC has to offer," said Michelle Sterk Barrett, assistant director of the PULSE Program.

Familiar to many students who take PULSE and volunteer, Rosie's Place, a non-profit organization devoted to sheltering women, was established by Tiernan in the mid-'70s.

Froelich and Tiernan agreed that it will be the next generation's responsibility to take on these issues. "This is your time, your world, your decade," Tiernan said. Tiernan, however, is quite confident in the abilities of a younger group to continue social activism: "I have met so many incredible young people who are willing to take that on."