By Michele Dunne, OFS
Re-posted with permission from the Center for Action and Contemplation
How do you practice your faith? What are the actions that take you beyond belief and into being?
The Alternative Orthodoxy emphasizes orthopraxy over orthodoxy, teaching that love and action (right practice) are more important than speculative truth (right belief). In this article, Michele Dunne, executive director of the Franciscan Action Network (FAN), explores her practice of speaking up against racism. Here, she shares her experience at the recent Poor People’s Campaign March on Washington and to the Polls.
Preparing to Walk Humbly
We set up dinner in a plaza close to the White House during a blistering hot evening, wondering if anyone would come to eat. Before we knew it one thousand were there, local people in need of a meal and travelers from all over the country dining and chatting companionably.
“I wish we could do this all the time—just feed people and eat together,” said the volunteer next to me, as we served the June 17 communal meal hosted by the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington DC.
Thank goodness the weather changed during the night, and June 18 dawned cool and sparkling. My colleagues and I at FAN, one of hundreds of mobilizing partners to the Poor People’s Campaign, had worked for weeks to organize. We met on the steps of St. Patrick’s Church for a prayer that included Jesus’ central teaching — to love our neighbors as ourselves and the ancient prophet Micah’s exhortation to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”
Acting Franciscan 
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