By: Jay Sorgi
Meg Bowerman has spent decades offering loving presence to those on the margins, and empowering Oakland Catholics to do the same
The hometown of proud Oaklander Meg Bowerman is Detroit, Michigan. The song “This World” by fellow Detroiter Audra Kubat states “Each time you open your mouth and walk out the door, you make a mark, leaving a trace, changing the face of this world.”
The faith and life story of Meg Bowerman has traced upon Oakland and the East Bay the artistry of changes made in Christ’s love, the etchings of compassion, social justice and companionship beside those whom the world often calls “the other” as she puts it.
For that reason, the Diocese of Oakland honored Bowerman, a retired volunteer coordinator of JustFaith Ministries in the East Bay. with the Diocesan Order of Merit on September 14 at a special gathering at St. Mary Magdalen Norton Hall in Berkeley.
“I think one of my favorite comments is ‘You should have a Bible in one hand and a news newspaper in the other,’” says Bowerman.
“Let’s examine today’s news and its relevance with the Gospel, think of others and think of the common good, and the Gospel message and what that meant in everyday life.”
Bowerman didn’t need a newspaper or 11 p.m. newscast to understand her need to meet a greater calling. That sense of mission came from within her home just outside Detroit, in Dearborn, Michigan.
“I had wonderful parents who had nine kids, and I was in the middle,” she says.
“My younger brother Bob had special needs, and later schizophrenia. We learned the element of people treating him in a different way, and how that affected us and how sad and sometimes angry you could be. Yet my parents lovingly modeled how we can get through this. All of us say Bob, who died in 2004, was a huge influence on us, because he weathered the ‘othering’ that was happening.”
After college, she worked as a nurse in Detroit before moving to Southern California, then to UCSF and eventually USCF Benioff Children’s Hospital.
In discerning her “next” with retirement from her nursing career, God delivered a now 20-year pathway for her calling to be present to “the other.”
Bowerman’s entered headlong into JustFaith Ministries, a national group which activates churches into social justice ministries that focus on people “who have been exploited, impoverished, and abandoned.”
“JustFaith really promoted to me a knowledge of the various organizations that a lot of Catholics don’t know about,” she said.
“I learned more through JustFaith about Catholic Relief Services in particular, Catholic Charities locally, and then the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. People still get them confused.”
She made her life’s work to help parishes build JustFaith groups, beginning with an already-established effort at Christ the King Parish and then eventually throughout much of the diocese.
“Where this event took place, St. Mary Magdalen, has had JustFaith ongoing for at least the last 10, 15 years. So I’m real proud of all the people who do it,” she says. “The facilitators come forth as either former teachers or people who feel comfortable facilitating a group. But the group, there’s no per se hierarchy. Everybody is contributing.”
Her calling has been to connect those who make the contribution to social responsibility with parishes doing similar work, and amplifying each parish’s efforts.
Bowerman’s focuses have involved everything from Catholic anti-racism initiatives to immigration and reformation of the justice system. Yet her efforts most often involved being a companion in empowering others to be difference makers.
“I was a facilitator in a group on prison reform. Our guidelines always ensure respect and the value of listening. Everyone agrees to the guidelines,” she said.
“One session, a member started disparaging a political party as the one to blame. I was so proud that a member of the group immediately cautioned the member who said the disparaging comment, ‘Remember, we aren’t talking about political parties, we are always referring back to the Gospel message of love and justice.’ I was glad that the group felt comfortable to guide each other on the journey.”
One of the visions that has fueled Bowerman’s life of faith and social responsibility comes from belonging to St. Columba Parish in Oakland, where worship focuses on African American spirituality within the framework of the Catholic Mass.
Bowerman, who is also a wife, mother and grandmother, attended such a Mass where a Jesuit priest called five different groups who attended for the first time to stand up.
“He said something like ‘I want you to look around. You came for the music. You came because it’s a Black church, but I want you to look around and notice that everybody is here,’” she said.
“He said, ‘This is what Heaven will be like.’”
Meg with JustFaith and Pax Christi friendsUntil then, Meg will continue to work her life in giving tastes of Heaven to those whom the world calls “the other,” living the mission of the song that was played during her merit award ceremony, “O God, As Troubles Here Increase” by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette.
“O God, as troubles here increase, we wonder what to do: Can people who are seeking peace still change the world for you?” the lyrics ask
Bowerman’s life has responded, through faith via social responsibility, with an emphatic and empathetic “yes.”