Tag: society

Covid-19 crisis from the perspective of providence: A call to creative love

Post author By stefan
Post date April 3, 2020

Friday 3rd April 2020

The CHC @ The Catholic Universe

Covid-19 crisis from the perspective of providence: A call to creative love

Fr José Granados

In these days of Lent, we re-read the story of Israel’s departure from Egypt, when God delivered them from the scourge of plagues.

The scene is poignantly brought to life by the epidemic that we are experiencing at the moment. It reminds us that God is no stranger to anything that happens to us. “My times are in your hands”, says the psalmist (Ps 31:15).

Whoever lives the totality of their life according to faith in the Creator, must also live the Covid-19 crisis according to faith in the Creator.

Why the virus? What are its causes and effects? The biologist and the doctor can tell us something about these, as can the psychologist and the economist. But only faith offers the ultimate horizon that unifies these partial perspectives. The believer does not have all the answers, but knows who does. He knows Him and knows how to invoke Him, to help him live this hour with meaning. Believing in God means that our “why?” can be transformed into “what for?”

“In the programme of the kingdom of God”, St John Paul II said, “suffering is present in the world in order to release love, in order to give birth to works of love towards neighbour” (Salvifici Doloris 30).

The suffering caused by the virus is also present in order to revive love in ourselves. It is towards this love that providence leads all things. So, whoever believes in providence does not respond with negligence or irresponsibility, but with the intelligence of love.

We discover how precious are our relationships, which are lived out in the body. This is why this virus is a threat to our communal life. This is why we are afraid to be together, to work together, and why we isolate ourselves. Thus, the virus wounds us at the heart of our humanity, which consists of the call to communion.

At the same time, we understand the greatness of the good that is threatened. For we experience that we have no life if it is not life together; that we cannot flourish as solitary individuals, but only as members of a family, school, neighbourhood. The virus unmasks the lie of individualism and testifies to the beauty of the common good.

The reawakening to love continues, secondly, because we suffer as our own the suffering and anguish of others. Pain unites us. In a certain sense, we have all been infected by the virus because our community, our city, our nation has been infected. Hard times are on the way for many families, for the elderly, for the most vulnerable, but these sufferings will have the effect of increasing amongst us the works of love carried out for others. The difficulties of having physical contact will require an intelligent love, which will invent new ways of being present. Technology will help us to express that closeness and that affective support which, far from spreading the virus, vaccinates us against it.

Reawakening to love will also, and thirdly, consist of the discovery of new ways of working together. For the pain of the virus, in addition to that caused by the physical disease, will be the pain of anxiety, of not knowing what to expect or how to get on with the thousand things of everyday life, and the fatigue of remaking plans and of enduring the waiting. An intelligent and creative love will be that of teachers who do not interrupt their educational work and their support for their students; that of parents who create tasks and games for their children; that of pastors who continue to bring food to their faithful; that of families who inspire and share their creativity with other families.

Finally, this creativity of love will help us discover that love has an inexhaustible source. And so, fourthly, our suffering will reawaken us to love if we turn our gaze to God, who is the source and channel of all love.

The forced isolation caused by the virus is an opportunity for us to delve more deeply into the big question, the “why?”, that lies behind everything.

The virus, in threatening the life-giving air that we breathe and the presence of those we love, invites us to ask ourselves about the ultimate secret of this very life and love. What is its origin and destiny? This question will lead us to discover the face of

“Let us remember, therefore, that the grace of God continues to act, even when we cannot receive Communion. For at every Mass that a priest says, even if he is alone, we will all be present and God’s grace will touch us. “

the God who wanted to respond to suffering, not with a theory, but with a presence: His suffering with us. For He became flesh, taking on our suffering in order to heal it; and, in the Sacraments of His Body and Blood, He gave us the gift of health.

It is precisely at this time that access to the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, has become difficult. Let us remember, therefore, that the grace of God continues to act, even when we cannot receive Communion. For at every Mass that a priest says, even if he is alone, we will all be present and God’s grace will touch us. Faith in providence will arouse an intelligent love so that the Eucharist continues to be present in our lives.

We will be able to strengthen our communal prayer, our reading aloud of the Word of God, our family recitation of Sunday Lauds or Vespers, our invocation of Mary in the Rosary…

It has already become clear that many will have to live this Lent fasting from the Eucharist. If, however, this awakens in us a love for the living Bread that comes from Heaven, if it teaches us that we cannot live when deprived of the Eucharist – the medicine of immortality – then this fast will have a saving effect. For in the Eucharist is the resurrected Body of Christ: immune to any virus, and inexhaustible source of our common life. Thus, the threat of the virus will awaken in us not only a concrete love for those who suffer, but a hope for the Love that never ends. The psalmist’s plea will sound anew: “You shall not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day, because you have the Lord for your refuge and have made the Most High your stronghold” (Ps 91:5-6:9).

Nothing escapes the providence of God, and God relies on our prudence (which is the intelligence of love) to face the epidemic, supporting each other in a generous and creative fashion.

Fr José Granados is the Superior General of the Disciples of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Tags covid, faith, family, love, providence, society, theology of the body

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Leo XIII’s historic encyclical offers own solutions to today’s problems

Post author By stefan
Post date December 6, 2019

Pope Leo XIII depicted in official Vatican portrait

Friday 6th December 2019

The CHC @ The Catholic Universe

Leo XIII's historic encyclical offers own solutions to today's problems

Br Samuel Burke, OP

In his eponymous encyclical of 1891, responding to the societal upheaval and profound economic changes of the industrial revolution, Pope Leo XIII prophetically addressed ‘Rerum novarum’ – those “new things”, new challenges which confronted the world, particularly concerning capital and labour.

Advancing a biting critique of the dire conditions of the working class while strongly upholding the importance of private property, in terms neither socialist nor capitalist, the Pope proposed an authentically Christian synthesis. His prophetic message stood in opposition to an apathetic ‘business as usual’ approach on the one hand and calls for revolution on the other.

Leo found some things to be abundantly clear: immoral behaviour by owners, the appeal by social movements to workers’ greed and envy, failure by political leaders to satisfactorily address the issues, and violent and otherwise immoral actions by some workers.

He proceeded to condemn these actions all as violations of justice. Prophetic though his message was, it wasn’t exactly new. When Pope Leo emphasised the imperatives of social justice, for example – “once the demands of necessity and propriety have been met, the rest that one owns belongs to the poor” – he was merely following a principle found in the works of his intellectual hero, St Thomas Aquinas.

St Thomas taught several centuries earlier that private property was a good thing but that it should be put at the service of the common good. The novelty of Rerum Novarum lies in Pope Leo’s application of long-standing principles to new realities. More than many modern politicians and trade unionists would credit, the many improvements in industrial relations made since its publication owe a significant debt to Rerum Novarum and the subsequent corpus of social encyclicals in which at least four cornerstone principles can be identified: common good, human dignity, subsidiarity, and solidarity. They inspired individuals, collectives, corporations and government policies the world over.

This historical observation provides no grounds for complacency, still less triumphalism, today. When it comes to knowledge of Catholic social teaching (CST), the shocking reality is one of pervasive ignorance. Generations of Catholics, especially young Catholics, have at best the vaguest awareness of this great treasury of Catholic wisdom. I’ve lost count of the number of people who remark that the Church’s social teaching is the best kept secret! And although there are some insightful thinkers who draw upon CST such as Maurice Glasman, Philip Blond, and Adrian Papst, the general rule among otherwise informed policy-makers of all political stripes is one of woeful illiteracy.

This is all the more lamentable because of the urgent challenges we face in society. In our own times, across the developed and developing world, many of the same challenges from the late 19th century remain with us in new forms. One thinks of the banking crisis, human trafficking and other scourges. And beyond these continuing challenges, the present age is confronted by new crises, threats and obstacles. The list is hauntingly familiar: the destruction of human life in the womb, illness and old age; climate change; challenges to the family; nuclear weapons; de-industrialisation, etc. Indeed, if Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum was a response to the industrial revolution, we might now reflect upon how to respond to a certain revolution of de-industrialisation.

Tackling social and economic issues, the Church typically takes the middle ground. On the one hand its teaching is sensitive to the role that markets can play in fostering initiative and innovation, creating jobs, and lifting people out of poverty. Equally, it is not blind to the damage that market activity can cause and the structures of power that preclude proper participation. Economic liberty, like political liberty, in other words, can both foster and undermine the common good. Both liberties must be defended but used responsibly.

Only last week, Pope Francis restated the Church’s trenchant stance against calamitous nuclear weapons. He said: “The use of nuclear weapons is immoral, which is why it must be added to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Not only their use, but also possessing them: because an accident or the madness of some government leader, one person’s madness can destroy humanity.”

These prophetic calls need to be understood fully, and therefore to be read not in isolation but in the context of the sources from which they emanate: the Gospel and the demands of justice. CST is at once and the same time prophetic and responsible; idealistic and realistic; theological and political. For all the noble words the documents contain, they cry out to be put into concrete action. They guard against a fatalism that only confirms the drift of events towards greater tragedy.

This involves hard choices for families and governments about how we are to live together. This is the great thing about social encyclicals: they explain how Revelation and principles of natural law can be lived out and the impetus for doing so.

As a cornerstone of its mission, the Christian Heritage Centre seeks to form Christian leaders schooled in both the texts of the social encyclicals – classics of applied theology and political philosophy – as well as the principles of which underpin them, so as to better tackle old challenges and new in the public square. In pursuit of this mission, next month the CHC will convene an international colloquium in Rome for young people engaged in political life to read, discuss and work out how to apply Catholic social teaching in their own countries.

The Church is sensitive to the role that free markets can play in fostering initiative and innovation, creating jobs, and lifting people out of poverty… but it is not blind to the damage that market activity can cause and the structures of power that preclude proper participation.

Amidst the wonders of the Eternal City and close to the heart of the Church, we will analyse the ‘new things’ of our present age: issues like artificial intelligence, the rise of populism, and human trafficking.

For a few special days, we will immerse our minds in this rich intellectual tradition while nourishing our souls with prayer and fellowship.

The result, we hope, will be a solid formation which seeks to unlock the unnecessary secrets of CST, and thereby to sow the seeds today for noble Christian action tomorrow.

Br Samuel Burke, O.P. is a Dominican friar and deacon, and chaplain to the University of Edinburgh.

Tags catholic social teaching, Christianity, economics, Leo XIII, politics, rerum novarum, social justice, society

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A life of service comes from the Gospel and the heart of Christ

Post author By stefan
Post date December 7, 2018

Friday 7th December 2018

The CHC @ The Catholic Universe

A life of service comes from the Gospel and the heart of Christ

Lord Alton of Liverpool

The principle of serving others is a central tenet of citizenship. For Christians it is at the very heart of the Gospel; and for all of us, service of others, changes lives, changes society, and changes us; all for the better.

Before I became a member of parliament I was a school teacher in Liverpool, where I soon learnt that inspiring young people to read, study and learn was far more effective than either simple reward or punishment. I witnessed how young men and women, inspired by all sorts of people, have made great contributions to their families, neighbours, society and world.

As a young boy, along with millions of others, I walked past Winston Churchill’s coffin in Westminster Hall. He has been lionised as the man who saved democracy, and he certainly inspired me. Nearly 2,500 years before this Aristotle warned that “he who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must either be a beast or a god.” And a little late Hillel asked, “If I am not for myself who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I?”

Nelson Mandela often reflected on the idea of ‘Ubuntu’ – a person is a person because of other people, while Archbishop Desmond Tutu explained that “A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good…”

For many who come to the Christian faith as adults, the first exposure is seeing an individual or group of Christians in service – teachers, medics, aid workers, judges, politicians. We are first inspired by people, and only then by their ideas. The Gospels tell us that the first Christians were inspired by Christ, and only then by what He taught them. For us to encourage the next generation to serve, we must do so by setting that example of service, and by doing so we become instruments by which others are inspired.

If we want to change the world, we need to change our nation; if we want to change our nation we must change our communities; if we want to change our communities, we must change our families; and if we want to change our families we must change ourselves. Change does not come about by itself – it comes through active participation and voluntary service.

Churchill insisted that,“The flame of Christian ethics is still our highest guide. To guard and cherish it is our first interest, both spiritually and materially… Only by bringing it into perfect application can we hope to solve for ourselves the problems of this world and not of this world alone.”

In 1993 St John Paul II, in Veritatis Splendor, wrote that, “If there is no ultimate truth to guide and direct political activity, then ideas and convictions can easily be manipulated for reasons of power. As history demonstrates, a democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism.” While, in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI, in Caritas in Veritate, wrote that, ‘Many people today would claim that they owe nothing to anyone, except to themselves. They are concerned only with their rights, and they often have great difficulty in taking responsibility for their own and other people’s integral development. Hence it is important to call for a renewed reflection on how rights presuppose duties, if they are not to become mere licence.’

Inspiring and channelling religious adherents into public service is transformative of individuals and of society. If the imperfect system of democracy is to function and survive, there must be a continuous cultivation of virtue and an upholding of those values that enrich and underpin a system that can so easily be subverted. Inspired political service can put right more than minor injustices, Wilberforce, who with Clarkson, the Quaker ladies and others campaigned for 40 years against the slave trade. Political service, legal service, medical, spiritual and many others, all better society and those who serve.

As a teenager I was inspired by Robert Kennedy and Dr Martin Luther King – both murdered for their beliefs. Kennedy insisted that every person could make some sort of difference: “Few will have the greatness to bend history, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events”, while King insisted that “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

I was recently in Pakistan, raising the case of Asia Bibi – who has thankfully been released, though not yet been able to find sanctuary outside Pakistan. In 2011, after championing her case the Christian Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, was murdered. He knew his potential fate: “I want to share that I believe in Jesus Christ, who has given his own life for us. I know the meaning of the Cross. I am following the Cross and I am ready to die for a cause.”

When people take up a mantle and fight for something good, they often have a twofold effect. First, of moving their cause forward, but also inspiring those around them. They inspire others to realise that they can improve the lives of others and made a difference in our world. In a moving letter, the last he wrote, John Wesley told William Wilberforce to use all his political skills to end slavery and to fight for human dignity, to be like the fourth century Christian bishop Athanasius, an ‘Athanasius contra mundum’ or an ‘Athanasius against the world’.

We see a long line of inspiration of one Christian to another, parents to children, teachers to pupils. At the Christian Heritage Centre at Stonyhurst’s Theodore House, we are proud to encourage this long line of inspiration, that begins and always points to Christ. We remember the many Saints and Blesseds (many old boys of Stonyhurst College) who have been faithful against the odds and have both enriched the world they lived in, and also inspired the next generation.

We continue in this long tradition by inviting young people from around the world to Lancashire to learn about the Christian story, and the many heroes of it – how they served in their time, and allow the freedom of young minds to discover how they may serve in their word and in their time.

‘I want to share that I believe in Jesus Christ, who has given his own life for us. I know the meaning of the Cross. I am following the Cross and I am ready to die for a cause.’
Shahbaz Bhatti (below)

Tags Christianity, gospel, service, society, witness