By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
On Thursday, May 6, Msgr Michael de Verteuil was CCSJ’s presenter at our Seminar on the theme: Living Christian Values and Virtues in a Secular Society. TCN taped his excellent presentation and we will send copies to all parishes to be used as a study guide. Parishioners came from all over the country. We hope that many of you will attend our second session in the series (Assumption Parish Hall, Thursday, May 20, 6.00-8.30 p.m.).
Now more than ever we need to remind ourselves of the values and virtues that make us who we are as Catholics. Ask candidates who knock on your door seeking your vote where they stand on key issues – to determine whether or not they share our values.
Where do our candidates stand on issues relating to the main principles of Catholic Social Teaching? For example:
• The Sanctity of Life and the Dignity of the Human Person: How will they demonstrate respect for all life from conception to natural death e.g. by maintaining our laws against abortion same-sex union, and opposing euthanasia and human cloning? What are their views on the death penalty? What policies and programmes will they put in place to promote the dignity of each citizen e.g. the elderly, the sick, the disabled, those affected by domestic violence, incest, and substance abuse? What are their plans for reducing crime and violence and creating safe communities?
• Family, community and participation: What will they do to promote/strengthen marriage and family life in your community/in T&T? How will they “build” community and promote participatory governance? Family life is under attack from various social ills. If we want to fix our nation, we need to fix our families and individuals within our families. Social exclusion prevents citizens from being able to participate meaningfully in society.
• The common good: How will they ensure that they/their party will work to protect/promote the good of society as a whole and not only those who vote for their party? The rising tide in T&T does NOT lift all boats. Love of neighbour propels us to be concerned about the well-being of all. The common good refers to the “good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all” (Pope John Paul II).
• Option for the poor and vulnerable: What policies and programmes will they implement to alleviate poverty and social exclusion (which is wider than poverty)? What is their responsibility to the world’s poor? “As followers of Christ, we are challenged to make a fundamental ‘option for the poor’ – to speak for the voiceless, to defend the defenseless, to assess life styles, policies, and social institutions in terms of their impact on the poor…Government has a positive moral responsibility in safeguarding human rights and ensuring that the minimum conditions of human dignity are met for all.” (US Bishops: Economic Justice For All).
• Rights and Responsibilities: How will they promote the rights of citizens? Every citizen has certain basic rights e.g. food, drinking water, shelter, clothing, healthcare, education, employment. “To safeguard the inviolable rights of the human person, and to facilitate the fulfillment of each one’s duties, should be the chief duty of every public authority.” (Pope John XXIII said in Peace on Earth).
• Stewardship of God’s Creation: How will they safeguard and protect our environment? We have a moral obligation to respect/protect our environment – God’s gift to us.
• How will they promote the dignity of work and the rights of workers? As the US Bishops say in Faithful Citizenship: “The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation. Employers contribute to the common good through the services or products they provide and by creating jobs that uphold the dignity and rights of workers—to productive work, to decent and just wages, to adequate benefits and security in their old age, to the choice of whether to organise and join unions, to the opportunity for legal status for immigrant workers, to private property, and to economic initiative.
“Workers also have responsibilities—to provide a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay, to treat employers and co-workers with respect, and to carry out their work in ways that contribute to the common good. Workers, employers, and unions should not only advance their own interests, but also work together to advance economic justice and the well-being of all.”
May God give us politicians who will serve with integrity and impartiality.
