by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
On this Pentecost Sunday, let us open our hearts and minds to allow the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, to work in and through us to renew the face of the earth. It is the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us that will make us credible witnesses.
By the time you read this article, I would be in the presence of the Holy Father at St Peter’s Basilica as he celebrates Holy Mass on the Feast of Pentecost. I was invited by Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (PCJP) to attend an International Conference in Rome from May 21 – 24 entitled: Women and the post-2015 development agenda – The challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations (WUCWO) and the World Women’s Alliance for Life and Family (WWALF) will be partnering with the PCJP to organise the Conference.
This follows the Conference organised by the PCJP in 2009. I also attended that Conference which was entitled: Life, family and development: the role of women in the promotion of human rights, as well as the PCJP Conference held in Rome in 2005 entitled Women, Development and Peace.
As Cardinal Turkson wrote in his letter of invitation: “2015 is a crucial year for the international community. Indeed, the UN is elaborating a new post-2015 development agenda, which will be carried out through a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). All the currently proposed SDGs have relevant implications for women.”
The UN website states that “The United Nations is in the process of defining a post-2015 development agenda. This agenda will be launched at a Summit in September 2015, which is the target date for realising the MDGs. It is currently being elaborated through informal consultations of the UN General Assembly.”
This Conference in Rome will enable participants to reflect on the issues from a Catholic perspective and ensure that our voice is heard as part of this global consultation. See the UN website for the Targets in the proposed SDGs framework.
The Agenda for the Conference in Rome includes sessions on:
- Women as agents of change (Anthropology of women and modern culture. Semantic changes in the basic terms of reference; Women’s role in Education today; Interreligious dialogue, road to a lasting peace –the women’s role)
- New millennium slaveries
- Women and Work
- Education and Work
- Poverty and environment
- Peace and Development
- Human Ecology and women’s dignity.
On Pentecost Sunday, as the conference comes to an end, we will join Pope Francis at St Peter’s Basilica for Holy Mass. We live in a world in which God’s justice is denied to so many. Let us pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that we Catholics will play our part to build just and peaceful societies.
As Pope Emeritus Benedict said in his encyclical: God is Love, the Church “cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice. She has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper.”
I know that the Holy Spirit will give us the wisdom and courage we need so that we, who are the Body of Christ in the world, will discern what part we should play and how we can spread the Good News in today’s troubled world.
I end this article with the words of our own Archbishop Joseph Harris who said in his 2013 Pentecost Homily: “All powerful and ever-loving God we thank you for the gift of your Spirit who changed the disciples from cowards who betrayed your Son into men willing to die for the project of your Son. Give us also your Spirit so that we too will be able to dedicate our lives to the pursuance of your project, a world of total harmony because of the justice, peace and love which your Spirit brings. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our mother and your Son, Jesus. Amen.”
