Catholic Commission for Social Justice
By Renessa Tang Pack, 2011 Graduate of University of Dayton/ CREDI Certificate of Social Justice Course
This May 21st, UN World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development will be celebrated the world over. First declared in 2001 by the United Nations General Assembly for the purpose of highlighting the values of peace and solidarity it was first observed two years later on 21st May 2003.
Gospel John 15:9-17
Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
Not to promote the interests of prisoners would be to make imprisonment a mere act of vengeance on the part of society…For all to play their part in building the common good they must work, in the measure of their competence, to ensure that prisoners have the means to redeem themselves, both as individuals and in their relations to society.” (Blessed John Paul II, July 2000 – Message for the Jubilee on Prisons)
Gospel Jn 15:1-8
Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. 0You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches.
“There is something shifting in our value system and we must do something about it.”
These words were uttered by Rebekah Ali-Gouveia, founder and director of the Elpis Centre, as she addressed more than 200 persons at the opening of last week’s two-day Caribbean Conference entitled: “Life and Family Values: Stabilizing Our Future”.
The Elpis Centre, a Christian organisation which opened in 2009 in Freeport, T&T, is a pregnancy and family resource Centre.