INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

- Right Living, Right Relationship Series
- Hate Crimes in Hamilton
- What Rome is Saying
- Our Ever-Popular Kudos
- Pat McNeice and Father Gus Smith on Athe Bridge@
- and much more!

COMMENTARY: Another Wake-Up Call from Rome

The Church=s moral teaching has two poles: the salvation of souls and respect for human dignity. In the year designated by the United Nations as the year of Adialogue between civilizations@, it is good to remember that the basis of dialogue is the existence of values common to all cultures. Pope John Paul II has written: AThe different religions too can and ought to contribute decisively to this process (World Day of Peace, 2001).@

- AThe Church & Racism@, Pontifical Council for Justice & Peace, August, 2001

AClimate change is more a threat to the earth than any Ben Laden or elkajid ... We=re worried about anthrax in Canada when Canadians are more at risk living by toxic waste sites.@

- Elizabeth May, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, Waterloo, Nov. 5, 2001

The year 2001 is/was the United Nations year of a Adialogue between civilizations@. Instead, the world is at war, one in which some critics call a Awar of civilizations@. There is much secular analysis of the root causes that led to this situation and of its consequences and many Christian and other leaders of world religions have commented on it.

These are dark times, even when a war and terrorism problems do not dominate headlines. Ergo, few Catholics noticed that the world=s bishops and our Holy Father held another synod in Rome between September 30 and October 27 B their tenth ordinary general assembly. They discussed ways to become better bishops. The resulting English translation of their final document, released by the Vatican Press office, subtitles the meeting as AThe Bishop: Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World.@

Cynics might wonder why the world=s bishops discussed professional self-improvement when the global rich/poor gap and environmental degradation reached alarming proportions, with millions of people dying as a result. But it is worth accessing the 12-page document through the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops= web site to see how the bishops, as Aservants of the Gospel of Jesus Christ@ see themselves in relation to the people in their dioceses and beyond, Afor the hope of the world.@ For instance, after their preamble about the origins of evil, they express horror at the September 11 atrocity against the innocent Americans, condemning all forms of terrorism to boot (#9). Then the bishops quickly add that they cannot Aclose our eyes to many other collective tragedies... and keep in mind... the structures of sin, if we want to point new ways forward for the world.@ This includes the fact that 80% of the planet=s population gets only 20% of the world=s income. Thus, such Aendemic evils, when they are too long ignored, can produce despair in entire populations. How can we keep silent when confronted by the enduring drama of hunger and extreme poverty, in an age where humanity... has the capacity for a just sharing of resources? (#10-11).

This direct line of thinking between the power of evil, September 11, and how the unjust sharing of the world=s resources breeds despair among entire peoples, is not a new message. The Pope, the Pontifical Commission of Justice & Peace, the Canadian bishops= and other bishops= conferences have issued so many commentaries on our Astructures of sin@ in recent months that your social awareness director is having trouble picking isolated passages from them for this issue. They touch upon other evils, including the desecration of creation, religious intolerance, xenophobia, all of which feed into the current Aculture of death@.

Rome thus continues its wake-up call to us in regard to our personal piety. Generally, Agood Catholics@ understand one half of the Church=s two Amoral poles@ B the salvation of souls as described above. But what about the second pole, the Arespect for human dignity@ B the basis of Catholic Social teachings? Especially since it is one of the major pillars in Pope John Paul II=s key blueprint for the direction of the North American Church B Ecclesia in America. Rerum Novarum (1981), - Diane you had 1891 - Vatican II, the 1971 Synod of Bishops with the document, AJustice in the World@ had previously entrenched the promotion of the common good and human dignity as part of the Church=s Official Teachings.

Some day, we will be called to task in regard to the Church=s universal call to social justice. AWhy do you call me >Lord, Lord= and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46).@

The bishops= message gave additional hope at a time when we need it. They reaffirm the existing hope they see, of laity who Aseek a world of justice, love, truth, and peace@ in building a Acivilization of love@ and A@encouraging respect for God=s creation@ in order to Abridge the gap between faith and culture@ (#13, 23-24).

Yours in the Hope of Christ,

Diane P. Baltaz

 

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

AOne year, I had a light bulb experience ... I realized that the majority of the world=s people are non-white, non-Christian, and non-Western... and that (for world peace) we have to learn how to live together.@
- Senator Doug Roche on ABread not Bombs!@, Waterloo, October 26, 2001

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

Former heavyweight boxing champ Mohammed Ali visited the ruins of the World Trade Center on Thursday. When reporters asked how he felt about the suspects sharing his Islamic faith, Ali responded pleasantly, AHow do you feel about Hitler sharing yours?@

- from an October 4 e-mail sent to the
Social Awareness Office

AA culture that does not measure itself by nature ... becomes destructive of nature and thus of itself.@
- Wendell Berry

AThose of us who see that wilderness needs to be preserved are going to have to understand the dependence of these things upon our domestic economy and our domestic behaviour.@

- Wendell Berry

BULLETIN BOARD

Saturday, What Are We Celebrating? Presents or Presence? The annual Social
December 1 Awareness Office Advent Retreat. An opportunity to reflect upon how we can joyfully celebrate our faith during the Christmas commercial rush and beyond. Led by Joy Warner, co-ordinator of the Spiritans= Justice, Peace, and Reconciliation Committee, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Regina Mundi Church, 631 Mohawk Road West, Hamilton. $20 (includes fair trade organic coffee and vegetarian lunch). Pre-register by November 27. For details contact (905) 528-7988, ext. 233.

Thursday, Henry Koch, interpretive naturalist of the Guelph Arboretum and an eco-lifestyle
December 6 activist on AGETTING PAST OUR AUTO ADDICTION@ at the Working Centre, Queen Street South, Kitchener, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Dorothy McDougall, Toronto School of Theology, ATHE SACRAMENT OF THE
January 15 EARTH@, Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1107 Main Street West (at Cline Avenue), Hamilton, 7:30 p.m. McDougall=s thesis at St. Michael=s College was, AThe Cosmos as the Primary Sacrament: the Horizon for an Ecological Sacramental Theology@. She currently heads the Doctor of Ministry Program at the TST. For information call (905) 528-7988, ext. 233.

Wednesday, Jim Profit, SJ, Jesuit Ecology Project, Guelph, ALIVING PEACEFULLY ON THE
February 20 EARTH, A NON-VIOLENT APPROACH@, Working Centre, Queen Street South, Kitchener, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, AOUR ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT@, Fr. Paul Hanson, formerly of the
March 13 Redemptorist Office for Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation in Rome. Holy Rosary Church, 175 Emma Street (off Stevenson), Guelph, 7:30 p.m. For information, call (519) 824-1250, ext. 233.

Wednesday, AObservations of An Optimistic Christian@, Elizabeth May, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, is well-known for her environmental activism on issues such as the Sydney Tar Ponds and cosmetic pesticides. She=s also an optimistic Anglican who sees hope that we ........

AOUR ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT@, Fr. Paul Hanson, formerly of the Redemptorist Office for Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation in Rome. Holy Rosary Church, 175 Emma Street (off Stevenson), Guelph, March 13, 2002, 7:30 p.m.

This series is co-sponsored by the Diocese of Hamilton Social Awareness Office/Justice & Peace Commission; the Working Centre, Kitchener; the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice, Ecology Project, Guelph; and the St. Jerome=s Centre for Catholic Experience.