by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
The theme for Human Rights Day December 10, 2012 is: Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Part 1, Chapter 3, IV of the Compendium on the Social Doctrine of the Church focuses on Human Rights.
“The Church’s Magisterium”, states the Compendium, “has not failed to note the positive value of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948, which Blessed John Paul II defined as ‘a true milestone on the path of humanity’s moral progress’.
“…the roots of human rights are to be found in the dignity that belongs to each human being ( Gaudium et Spes ). This dignity, inherent in human life and equal in every person, is perceived and understood first of all by reason.
“The natural foundation of rights appears all the more solid when, in light of the supernatural, it is considered that human dignity, after having been given by God and having been profoundly wounded by sin, was taken on and redeemed by Jesus Christ in his incarnation, death and resurrection (Pacem in Terris).
“The ultimate source of human rights is not found in the mere will of human beings (Pacem in Terris ), in the reality of the State, in public powers, but in man himself and in God his Creator.
“These rights are ‘universal, inviolable, inalienable’ (Pacem in Terris). Universal because they are present in all human beings, without exception of time, place or subject.
“Inviolable insofar as ‘they are inherent in the human person and in human dignity’ (Blessed John Paul II) and because ‘it would be vain to proclaim rights, if at the same time everything were not done to ensure the duty of respecting them by all people, everywhere, and for all people’ (Pope Paul VI). Inalienable insofar as ‘no one can legitimately deprive another person, whoever they may be, of these rights, since this would do violence to their nature’ (Blessed John Paul II).
“Human rights are to be defended not only individually but also as a whole: protecting them only partially would imply a kind of failure to recognise them. They correspond to the demands of human dignity and entail, in the first place, the fulfilment of the essential needs of the person in the material and spiritual spheres.
‘These rights apply to every stage of life and to every political, social, economic and cultural situation. Together they form a single whole, directed unambiguously towards the promotion of every aspect of the good of both the person and society…The integral promotion of every category of human rights is the true guarantee of full respect for each individual right’”(Blessed John Paul II).
In Centesimus Annus Blessed John Paul II drew up a list of “rights”: “the right to life, an integral part of which is the right of the child to develop in the mother’s womb from the moment of conception; the right to live in a united family and in a moral environment conducive to the growth of the child’s personality; the right to develop one’s intelligence and freedom in seeking and knowing the truth; the right to share in the work which makes wise use of the earth’s material resources, and to derive from that work the means to support oneself and one’s dependents; and the right freely to establish a family, to have and to rear children through the responsible exercise of one’s sexuality.
“In a certain sense, the source and synthesis of these rights is religious freedom, understood as the right to live in the truth of one’s faith and in conformity with one’s transcendent dignity as a person.”
Over the past decade we have been fighting a veritable battle to protect our nation and T&T citizens from a Gender Policy that purports to promote so-called “rights”. In a media release dated June 20, 2012, issued by Msgr Robert Llanos and the CCSJ, we outlined the kind of Gender Policy that we would like to see – not one that will threaten the very fabric of our society.
Catholics will continue to reject any Policy that seeks to: redefine the term “gender”; legalise abortion; or open the door to allow same-sex unions. We agree with the Holy See that the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court contains the only binding definition of gender. This Statute states: “the term ‘gender’ refers to the two sexes, male and female, within the context of society. The term ‘gender’ does not indicate any meaning different from the aforementioned definition.”
