By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
Today is Valentine’s Day; a day when the word “love” will be uttered by all and sundry across the land. But while we express our love for others, let us not forget that God wishes us to love and respect ourselves also.
Over the next two days T&T will be celebrating Carnival. In fact, the Carnival spirit has been in the air for weeks now with all the pre-Carnival fetes and events. On a flight back from London recently, I looked on in amusement as some passengers danced in the aisles. One of them called out to his friends saying: “Is Carnival, man; time to let yuhself go!”
But “letting ourselves go” should not lead us to depart from the morals and values that define who we are and what we stand for as Catholics. I know of many individuals – Catholics, people of other faiths and some with no religious beliefs, who have a great time at Carnival without losing their dignity and self-worth/self-respect. Sadly, the media rarely focus on such individuals.
One of the core values of Catholic social teaching is the dignity of the human person. We believe in the sanctity of life and the inherent dignity of each human person. Each of us is made in God’s image and likeness and He has imprinted in our hearts and minds a moral order. But He has given us free will and we can choose either to adhere to this moral order or “do our own ‘ting’”.
CCSJ has lead responsibility in the process of implementing the Archdiocese’s third Pastoral Priority: Regenerating the Moral and Spiritual Values of Society. The first step we need to take is to develop our awareness of the morals and values that are integral to our identity and mission as Catholics. As Archbishop Edward Gilbert CSsR reminded us some time ago, “virtues inform values and values influence behaviour”.
CCSJ’s plea to everyone during Carnival is to enjoy yourself without trampling on your dignity. At times it is difficult to swim against what may appear to be “popular culture”, but if we are to transform the country/world to reflect Gospel values, we must believe that each of us can make a difference.
In his article: “Christian counter-culture”, Dr Tim Woodroof says: “Ultimately, a gospel that is counter cultural is a gospel that subverts little things—attitudes, habits, ideas, relationships—at the level of the individual. The culture wars are fought one person at a time, one heart at a time…the real down-and-dirty fighting in this spiritual war goes on at a personal level. The battle line boundaries…are defined by those points where each of us contacts our culture, where our attitudes and habits, ideas and relationships intersect theirs… I think it’s time for us to recover a sense of the gospel that calls us to counter the culture rather than be absorbed by it.”
These words remind me of Fr Joe Harris’ observation at Synod. He said: “We have let the culture shape us instead of being the ones to shape the culture. There can be no doubt that we are in crisis, but crisis is always opportunity for creative ways of forging new realities…the new reality must be a Church which with humility and steadfastness is faithful to its mission of evangelising both people and culture so that a new and morae is an urgent need for personal witness to make visible the presence of Catholics in society. Let us not be absorbed by a culture that urges us to “get on bad” in a manner that causes us to forget that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Remember that dressing immodestly, “jamming and wining” in an inappropriate manner and/or consuming alcohol to such an extent that we are not in control of our faculties will not help us to become who we are – children of God.
During this Carnival season practise the three Rs of integrity: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions; and pray incessantly for God’s grace to live virtuous lives.
Send feedback to: ccsjfeedback@gmail.com. To purchase: The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Take a Bite social justice programme on DVD, and the Responses to 101 Questions on Catholic Social Teaching, contact CCSJ at 622-2691 or 290-1635.
