Catholic Commission for Social Justice
It is significant to note that Respect For Life Week ended shortly before the Feast of Christ the King, today. Last week, through CCSJ’s various activities and those planned e.g. at parish and school levels, we all had an opportunity to reflect on ways in which we are promoting, protecting and enhancing life at all stages and in all circumstances, and ways in which we are acting as good stewards of God’s creation.
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):
At the third sitting of Synod in 2009, our Archdiocese agreed on a Mission statement and adopted three Pastoral Priorities (PP): The New Evangelisation; Revitalising Catholic Culture and Identity; and Regenerating the Moral and Spiritual Values of our Society.
Under each of these PPs, there are a number of resolutions that were adopted. Certain strategies were suggested by the faithful as to how these resolutions can be implemented.
The Community of Sant’Egidio invited me to attend The First International Conference on The Death Penalty in the Great Caribbean. It was held in Madrid from 17 – 19 October, 2011 and was organized in collaboration with the International Commission Against the Death Penalty, the International Academic Network for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, the Bar Association of Puerto Rico, The Puerto Rican Coalition Against The Death Penalty, and the Death Penalty Project. The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation sponsored the Conference.
There are about five million people worldwide who suffer from Lupus. If you know anyone with this chronic disease you will know how debilitating it is, particularly when it flares up. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that causes an individual’s immune system to attack its own tissues, cells, and organs. It is not contagious.