Catholic Commission for Social Justice
Congratulations to the CREDI students who graduated on Thursday, November14. One of our Board Members, Sr Angela Ann Zukowski, Dayton University, US, delivered an outstanding graduation address entitled: The Catholic Teacher in a Rapidly Developing Digital World. Her paper, as well as papers from speakers at CREDI’s excellent Symposium on November 16 at Capital Plaza, will be made available on CREDI’s website. She has given me permission to share a few extracts from her lengthy presentation:
On Saturday evening I attended a Divali/Christmas celebration organised by the Inter Religious Organisation. The feature speaker was Acting President, His Excellency Timothy Hamel-Smith. His words of wisdom to those gathered were truly inspirational. Inter alia, he applauded the IRO for prioritising parenting programmes in its plans for 2014.
I thank His Grace for allowing me to represent the Archdiocese at two major events at the Vatican recently. Since I had planned to be in London around the time of these events, this facilitated my trip to Rome. The first event was a Conference held during the October 23-25 21st Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Family (PCF) on the theme New Anthropological horizons and the rights of the family.
Today we celebrate the Feast of St Martin de Porres ,who was born in Lima, Peru, in 1579. His father was a Spanish gentleman and his mother a freed slave from Panama. Inter alia, he is the patron saint of social justice and race relations. I recall my childhood days when my mother would show us a picture of St Martin while telling us stories about his life. How many of you tell your children stories of the saints?
“Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality.” (Alfred Painter)
On behalf of CCSJ, I would like to thank all those who helped to make our 4th Respect for Life Week a memorable one. Our theme this year was: Regenerating the Moral and Spiritual Values of our Society. Presentations such as Archbishop Harris’ and Dr Terrence Farrell’s – delivered at our opening Conference – will be uploaded on CCSJ’s website. DVDs of the Conference and of most of the panel discussions that took place across the country can be obtained from CCSJ’s Office (Tel: 290 1635).