Address given by Archbishop Edward J Gilbert, CSsR in Port of Spain, Trinidad, at the Sir Ellis Clarke Memorial Conference, 12 November 2011
One of the serious pastoral responsibilities of the Catholic Church is to help individuals and groups of individuals form their consciences. The Church fulfils this responsibility in many ways e.g. by teaching during liturgies, through catechetical programmes, through value formation programmes on the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, through diplomatic contacts with representatives of Nations and through the involvement of the Church in the written and electronic media.
The relevance of the Synod Document “Justice in the World” today
Address given by Victor Scheffers in Port of Spain, Trinidad, at the Sir Ellis Clarke Memorial Conference, 12 November 2011
Dear friends of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice.
I am very pleased to be here with you in this conference.
This conference is a significant undertaking that does honour to the first president of your country, Sir Ellis Clarke who died last year. And it is by means of such initiatives that we are able to make manifest the importance of catholic social teaching for our personal life, for our work, for our society.
Jesus told his disciples this parable: “A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one– to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five.
During Respect For Life Week, please reflect on the following statement:
“The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men and women of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts… whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or wilful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are supreme dishonour to the Creator.” (The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: Gaudium et Spes: 1, 27 (Pope Paul VI, 1965):
Respect Life: Promote Justice is the chosen theme for this year’s Respect for Life Week. The week-long series of events begins with the Sir Ellis Clarke Memorial Conference. Here is the full calendar of events. Please return regularly for updates.
