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Blaming the Poor for Poverty
We announce a new series of articles under the general title of La Salette – Let Us Respond to the Cry of the Poor. This new set of reflections is in response to a recent letter from the La Salette General Council members in Rome, Italy. We have heard the concerns of their Justice and Peace Commission, which asked all La Salettes to “denounce the atrocities, and other forms of injustice perpetrated in countries like Myanmar, Madagascar, Mozambique, Haiti, and Ukraine.”
As part of this decision, the General Council “challenges us to be more open and generous in identifying the needs, praying for the suffering, and offering humanitarian help” and training more La Salettes and La Salette Laity in the area of Catholic Peace and Justice, especially applying it in own ministries around the world.
Healing and reconciliation between Catholic Church and Canadian indigenous peoples
A national framework for a five-year, $30 million (US$23.5 million) fundraising campaign to help with healing and reconciliation of residential school survivors and their communities is coming in the new year, Bishop William McGrattan, vice president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, told The Catholic Register weekly.
Church officials hoped that plans for the campaign, first announced Sept. 27, 2021 would be complete by November, but getting the framework in place for a national diocese-by-diocese effort has turned out to be more complicated than first thought. "We realize that it has taken longer than expected, but it's important that we do this right and that we make sure that it is both transparent and that it demonstrates accountability," Bishop McGrattan said.
Read more Healing and reconciliation between Catholic Church and Canadian indigenous peoples
What does Catholic Social Teaching say about Peace, Justice and the Poor?
What is the Church’s understanding of “peace”?
- The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “Peace is the work of justice and the effect of charity. (#2304)”
- Pope Paul VI added: “For peace is not simply the absence of warfare, based on a precarious balance of power; it is fashioned by efforts directed day after day toward the establishment of the ordered universe willed by God, with a more perfect form of justice among people.” (Populorum Progessio, #76).
Why is the effort at attaining peace tied so closely to justice?
The subtitle of Pope Paul VI’s message of the Day of Peace in 1972 was, “If you want peace, work for justice.” To take this idea a step further, Pope Saint John Paul II in his encyclical, “Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (The Social Concern of the Church),” states that:
Read more What does Catholic Social Teaching say about Peace, Justice and the Poor?
What does Catholic Social Teaching say about the Dignity of Human Beings?
Why is human dignity the starting point of Catholic Social Teaching?
We find a description in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, #149&153:
Made in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26), and made visible in the universe in order to live in society (cf. Gen 2:20,23) and exercise dominion over the earth (cf. Gen 1:26,28- 30), the human person is for this reason called from the very beginning to life in society: “God did not create man as a ‘solitary being' but wished him to be a 'social being'. Social life therefore is not exterior to man: he can only grow and realize his vocation in relation with others”… The ultimate source of human rights is not found in the mere will of human beings, in the reality of the State, in public powers, but in man himself and in God his Creator. These rights are “universal, inviolable, inalienable”.
What are the human rights that the Church endorses today?
In his speech before the United Nations in 1979, Pope Saint John Paul II provided an updated list of some of the most important human rights the Church endorses:
- …the right to life, liberty and security of person;
- the right to food, clothing, housing, sufficient health care, rest and leisure;
- the right to freedom of expression, education and culture;
- the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and the right to manifest one's religion either individually or in community, in public or in private;
- the right to choose a state of life, to found a family and to enjoy all conditions necessary for family life;
- the right to property and work, to adequate working conditions and a just wage;
- the right of assembly and association;
- the right to freedom of movement, to internal and external migration;
- the right to nationality and residence; the right to political participation
- and the right to participate in the free choice of the political system of the people to which one belongs.
Read more What does Catholic Social Teaching say about the Dignity of Human Beings?
What is the Place of Charity, Justice and Human Rights in Catholic Social Teaching?
Why not just our charity by giving to those in need?
In 1937, Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical, Divini Redemptoris, explained:
“ … charity will never be true charity unless it takes justice into constant account... let no one attempt with trifling charitable donations to exempt themselves from the great duties imposed by justice” (#49).
How does Charity still need Justice?
The social mission of the Church is something that we are asked to embrace as followers of Jesus Christ. This social mission has “two feet”, both of which are necessary for moving forward to be in relationship with God’s people and thus with God.
Read more What is the Place of Charity, Justice and Human Rights in Catholic Social Teaching?
Pope Francis launches 7-year Laudato si’ action plan
On May 24, 2021, Pope Francis launched the Vatican’s seven-year Laudato si’ action plan to implement environmental sustainability in different sectors of the Church from religious orders to Catholic schools and hospitals.
“We need a new ecological approach that can transform our way of dwelling in the world, our styles of life, our relationship with the resources of the Earth and, in general, our way of looking at humanity and of living life,” Pope Francis said in a video message May 24.
The pope marked the end of the year celebrating the fifth anniversary of his environmental encyclical, Laudato si’ with the message announcing the initiative.
Read more Pope Francis launches 7-year Laudato si’ action plan
What is Catholic Social Teaching?
How did Jesus see his mission (and ours) in this world?
Empowering Haitian Communities to Empower Themselves
It’s been just about three years since Unlocking Communities was founded, but already their work in Haiti—which is based in part on the premise that community members know their own needs best—is helping Haitians to help themselves through access to clean water, clean-burning stoves, and training in hygiene and entrepreneurship.
Read more Empowering Haitian Communities to Empower Themselves
Let us awake from the Culture of Death to a Hopeful Resurrection
The gospel of Mark (16: 1-7) reminds us: Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised. May the peace and blessings of Easter, the day of Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus fill all of you dispelling all darkness of death and destruction. Christ is risen, Hallelujah!
I know it is difficult to say Happy Easter in Myanmar today.
Our own Way of the Cross
This online notice in the Burmese language (with its Chinese and Tibetan connections) by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar (CBCM) is an announcement of Mass for the First Sunday of LentThe greatest Feast of Christianity comes during the saddest days in Myanmar history. For the last two months our people have walked through a real Way of the Cross. They continue to be on the Mount of Calvary. Hundreds have been killed. A blood bath has flown on our sacred land. Young and old and even the children have been mercilessly killed. Dark days. Thousands are arrested and thrown into prisons. Thousands are on the run escaping arrests. Millions are starving.
Read more Let us awake from the Culture of Death to a Hopeful Resurrection
Rethinking Christian Mission in This Pandemic Time
If you’ve ever refinished an old but beautiful wooden table, you know what hard work it can be—but how great the reward is! It takes time, dedication, and elbow grease, but if you persevere in stripping away the aged, distorting layers of varnish, you will see the beauty of the creator’s original intention.
The First Era of Christian Mission –First to Fourth Century (from the bottom-up)
In a similar manner, I believe that successive eras of history distort our understanding of the God’s mission to the world. In fact, if we divided up the history of the Church in mission into three major segments, we would see that from the time of the persecution and scattering of the Early Church in Acts, chapter 8 in the first century C.E. (Christian Era) until roughly the early fourth century, the Good News of Jesus Christ was carried primarily by refugees, migrants, and persecuted Christians.
Read more Rethinking Christian Mission in This Pandemic Time