by Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
In November 2010, Pope Benedict said that the Catholic lay persons must be educated in the Church’s social teaching:
“It is necessary to prepare lay people capable of dedicating themselves to the common good, especially in complex environments such as the world of politics…Lay Catholics must undertake to promote the correct ordering of social life, while respecting the legitimate autonomy of worldly institutions…A profound understanding of the social doctrine of the Church is of fundamental importance, in harmony with all her theological heritage and strongly rooted in affirming the transcendent dignity of man, in defending human life from conception to natural death and in religious freedom.”
To promote the common good we all need to put our shoulders to the wheel to create conditions that will enable each person to realise his/her potential. This means, accepting our individual responsibility to play our part in building God’s Kingdom of truth, justice, love, peace, and freedom.
On Monday, February 21, CCSJ hopes that you will attend our seminar at Living Water Community, Frederick St., POS from 5.00 – 7.00 p.m. to observe the UN World Day of Social Justice.
The World Day of Social Justice (WDSJ), which promotes poverty eradication, full employment and social integration, was declared by a UN resolution in November 2007 and is celebrated annually on 20 February. Last year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his Message to observe the day:
“Social justice is based on the values of fairness, equality, respect for diversity, access to social protection, and the application of human rights in all spheres of life, including in the workplace. As we face the consequences of the global financial and economic crisis, which has led to significant increases in unemployment and poverty and is straining social integration, these principles are more important than ever.”
At CCSJ’s event on Monday 21, Dr Marcia de Castro, UNDP Resident Representative in T&T, will read the UN Secretary-General’s Message for WDSJ 2011. Dr Marjorie Thorpe, Trinidad and Tobago’s former Ambassador to the UN, will deliver the feature address on the theme: Social Justice and Individual Responsibility.
Too often we shout about our “rights” without focusing on our “responsibilities”. We must educate ourselves and others so that we will understand the true origin of our rights and our corresponding responsibilities – towards God, neighbour, ourselves, and all of creation. As Pope John Paul II said: “Every generation… needs to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.”
We have a responsibility to seek the truth, resist sin, practise virtue and to repent when we sin. Sadly, we live in an era when many have lost a sense of sin; of right and wrong. We have a responsibility to promote human life and dignity, to help form the consciences of our people; to build a culture of life and the common good, to promote family values, to be good stewards of our environment, and to act as agents of justice and peace.
All schools should promote responsible citizenship as part of both the overt and hidden curriculum. CCSJ’s Values and Virtues Formation Programme in RC primary schools comprises four modules: self-awareness, relationships, being responsible and balance and wholeness. We must help strengthen family life so that there will not be a “disconnect” between the values that schools seek to foster and those students experience in their homes and communities.
The Gospel of Life may be countercultural, but we have a duty to proclaim it – particularly by the way we live our lives. As Pope Paul VI said in his encyclical, Evangelization in the Modern World: “Modern people listen more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if they do listen, it is because they are witnesses.” To be true witnesses we must be, as St Francis said, as Christ-like as possible. We are called to be holy – but we do not journey alone. We are responsible for the well-being of our brothers and sisters in Christ. I end with the words of Pope John Paul II:
“May God grant the faithful of the Church to be in the front line in the search for justice, in the rejection of violence, and in the commitment to be agents of peace.”
