Self-test for Catholic Schools
By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice Last Saturday, Jan 9, I had to privilege, as one of CREDI’s Directors, to address CREDI’s students at a conference entitled: “CREDItable Conversations: Integral human development”. Msgr Jason Gordon, Fr Joe Harris and Dr Launcelot Brown also presented papers. Inter alia, I shared insights […]
Catholic family, become what you are
By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) The Archdiocese’s pastoral priority this year is: The New Evangelization. The sub-theme is: Catholic family, become what […]
Pope’s Peace Message
By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice As we begin a new year, let us reflect on Pope Benedict XVI’s message for the 43rd World Day of Peace on the theme: “If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation.” The Holy Father draws on Articles 48 -51 of his 3rd encyclical, […]
Our Prayers Go with Hanna
By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children” (Nelson Mandela). I thought about Mandela’s words as people called in to a Television programme on which I was a guest. They called to donate […]
Standing in solidarity to promote unity
Today, Sunday 20 December, the world marks International Human Solidarity Day to celebrate unity in diversity; to remind people of the importance of solidarity in working towards eradicating poverty and to remind governments of their commitments to international agreements. The Millennium Declaration identified solidarity as “one of the fundamental and universal values that should underlie […]
Beware of anti-life strategies for dealing with climate change.
By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of The Catholic Commission for Social Justice As we prepare for the coming of the Christ-child, let us act on the advice of Pope Benedict XVI, who said recently: “Advent, this intense liturgical time… invites us to pause in silence to grasp a presence. It is an invitation to understand that […]
The Challenge of Copenhagen
The UN Climate Change Conference begins in Copenhagen, Denmark, tomorrow, Monday 7 December, and will run until 18 December. Climate change has many dimensions, for example, it can exacerbate poverty and economic recovery. At the recent Commonwealth People’s Forum (CHOGM), the Assembly on the Environment and Climate Change listed a number of areas that leaders […]
After CHOGM, what?
By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice The CHOGM website states that “CHOGM is all about bringing people closer together to share ideas and create partnerships to address some of the most critical issues of the 21 Century.” Let us pray that the deliberations between the Leaders who gather for CHOGM, […]
Nature – not a heap of scattered refuse
By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice Today I continue to focus on environmental issues in the lead up to the UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen in December. One of the most profound statements made by Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical, Charity in Truth, is that […]
Nature, the fruit of God’s Creation
By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice The countdown is on to COP 15 – the 15th meeting of the parties of the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, from Dec 7-18. Prime Minister, Hon. Patrick Manning, rightly reminded youths present at […]
