Sign of hope at environmental management conference
by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ “Treasure the environment and use it wisely. Preserve the environment as a legacy for the future… Environmental issues can no longer be regarded as a luxury…Government must partner with all stakeholders. If there are human-induced causes to the problems, there must be human-induced solutions…Trinidad and Tobago, as a responsible member […]
Empowering our youth
Archbishop Edward Gilbert blesses CCSJ’s booth at the Catholic Youth Expo. Photos courtesy Raymond Syms CAMSEL Catholic News by Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice “Youth Ministry is the response of the Christian community to the needs of young people and the sharing of the unique gifts of youth with the […]
Pope’s peace message for 2011 – Pt 2
by Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice Today I continue to share some extracts from Pope Benedict XVI’s Peace Message for 2011: “Religious Freedom, the Path to Peace”. At the press conference when the Peace Message was released, Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace said: […]
Martin Luther King Day
by Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice We have just said farewell to someone who will go down in the annals of history as a remarkable human being – Sir Ellis Emmanuel Innocent Clarke. I hope the momentum will be maintained as we think about ways of honouring him. Tomorrow is […]
Pope’s peace message for 2011
by Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice Pope Benedict XVI’s message for the 44th World Day of Peace (Jan. 1), focuses on the theme: Religious Freedom, the Path to Peace. Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, says that the Pope chose this theme “because the […]
Farewell 2010, welcome 2011
by Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice On this last Sunday of the year, let us reflect on how we have developed over the past year. Ask yourself: During 2010, how have I developed each dimension of myself e.g. spiritual, moral, social, cultural, physical, and mental? What have I done to […]
Dreaming of a just society
by Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice “…a society unable to accept its suffering members and incapable of helping to share their suffering and to bear it inwardly through ‘compassion’ is a cruel and inhuman society.” (Saved in Hope, Pope Benedict XVI, 2007) How long will it take before we become […]
Building pillars of peace
During this Advent season, let us open our hearts and minds to welcome the Prince of Peace more fully into our lives. Jesus came to “give light to those who live in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:79). Sadly, conflict, war, and crime […]
Human development in T&T
by Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice Recently I attended the launch of the UNDP’s 20th Human Development Report (2010). The report, entitled: “The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development”, opens with the words uttered by Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen, in the first report published in 1990: “People are […]
Addressing human trafficking
“The trade in human persons constitutes a shocking offense against human dignity and a grave violation of fundamental human rights. Already the Second Vatican Council had pointed to ‘slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children’…as ‘infamies’ which ‘poison human society, debase their perpetrators’ and constitute ‘a supreme dishonour to the Creator’ (Gaudium et Spes, […]