Category: Editorial

The Church cannot abstain from politics lest it betrays its mission. Politics – different from partisan politics that clerics are asked to avoid, that, being the field of lay people – pervades and defines our lives. To fulfill its prophetic mission, the Church of Jesus has the duty to exercise vigilance so that the common good is correctly interpreted and pursued, social injustices are addressed and God’s privileged poor are not neglected. Keeping away from political affairs, especially in dictatorial regimes and weak democracies, is in itself a political stance; and when grave injustices are committed, it is equivalent to cowardice and connivance with the perpetrators.  A socially-minded hierarchy in developing countries is not liked by unscrupulous politicians who accuse them of “meddling in politics.” Knowing that the Church lacks resources to maintain its structures and care for the neglected, the politicians may coddle it with cash doles (actually tacit bribes) in exchange for silence about their misgivings. Being a beneficiary of dirty political patrons, the Church loses its freedom to stand for what is right. To be true to its vocation, the Church must uphold the values of independence, truth, accountability, transparency, justice, peace and the common good.  In countries where corruption levels are very high and some politicians are Catholics, the Church may become reluctant to make pronouncements on political issues that affect the community at large. It may concentrate on its religious tasks and on charity. This is a temptation, because it is difficult to see how the Church can effectively help the poor when it closes its eyes to injustice, violence and pillage – when the money supposed to be providing education, health care and public services is siphoned to private pockets. Thus, the poor are robbed and deprived of a future while the Church, hostage of fear and subservience, fails them.  The relationship between the Church and politics is a very sensitive and divisive issue, even among the Church’s hierarchy. It is not a secret that even the Holy See is not sympathetic with outspoken clerics, priests and bishops who put forward fiery criticisms of gross human rights’ violations perpetrated by the rich and powerful. Such matters cannot be left only to non-ordained Catholics, because they do not have enough visibility and sometimes they need support and directions for their political involvement. Can a pastor be the voice of his flock? What solidarity can the victims of injustice expect from their religious leaders? Obviously, in any political intervention, the virtue of prudence has to be tempered with that of courage; the art of diplomacy has to be matched with the duty of truthfulness; charity must be completed with justice; the pursuit of communion cannot compromise one’s freedom. In the face of gross abuse, the Church cannot but side with the poor, vulnerable and destitute people; and cannot be silent, neutral, letting the aggressors evade justice with impunity.  Interesting is the position taken by the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, gathered

The magnificent social work of Columban Father Shay Cullen and his PREDA Foundation constitutes this month’s Special. For 36 years, the intrepid Irish Columban missionary and his team have been rescuing children from drug addiction, petty crime and sex slavery and helping them to secure a better future  with dignity and respect. In their mission, they have to fight a vicious social underground of child abusers, abetted by politicians and policemen, and challenge a pervasive indifference towards an ominous crime against childhood. In an opposite latitude, concretely in the outskirts of the Brazilian city of Fortaleza, Comboni Father Rino Bonvini runs a mental health project to address the needs of people whose life vicissitudes and internalized poverty have burdened them with mental disturbances and depression, the world’s fourth most debilitating illness, according to the World Health Organization. A psychiatrist by profession, he tries to combine spirituality and psychiatric sciences for the welfare and liberation of the poor who are mentally sick.  Both missionaries have heeded the call of reality. Fr. Shay cannot ignore what is happening to thousands of children that abject poverty is casting into the streets where they are exploited or led to crime and, eventually, end up in squalid prisons or youth centers. Fr. Rino started his experience when he woke to the awareness that victims of mental illnesses develop a warped approach to life and God. Both missionaries feel called by a liberating God and cultivate a spirituality of freedom that inspires them to work for the release of captives from evil, poverty, oppression and all kinds of human suffering.  Teamwork is one of their strengths. The image of the Church conveyed by their projects, is that of a dynamic and active Church, attentive to the signs of the times and socially committed to those on the margins of history; a Church with a faith in action, that is at the service of the biblical God who incarnated in history to rescue humanity and bring it to the freedom of His Kingdom; a missionary and outreaching Church which does not resign itself to circumstances no matter how bad they may be but, with faith and courage, aims at building a more humane world. Thus, it is in the antipodes of a devotional and pietistic Church for which faith is a private responsibility, and salvation, a personal gift. Fr. Shay, recalling the insults and hardships he faced along the way – arrest, deportation and even assassination threats – notes: “We had to be prophetic. That is what mission is all about – just do what Jesus did. We felt that we could not cover up any abuse. We had to speak out.” In his faith deeply rooted in the Gospel, he quotes St. James when the Apostle says that “faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:26) and Matthew 25 in the well-known scene of the final judgment where it is affirmed that Jesus identifies Himself with the poor and the oppressed and that what is done for

A friars’ order in Switzerland, whose number has dropped by half in the last ten years, has launched an unconventional recruitment drive by advertising in a classifieds section of a Sunday newspaper normally reserved for high-flying executive positions. The advertisement, according to press agencies, specifies that they are looking for unmarried Catholic men aged between 22 and 35, independent, capable of communal living, curious and with initiative. “We offer you no pay, but spirituality and prayer, contemplation, an egalitarian lifestyle, free of personal material riches and the common model of a couple relationship,” the ad promises the applicants. The ad superbly illustrates how many Church dioceses, religious orders and congregations are desperately exhausting their imagination to attract new members to their dwindling ranks and ensure their survival. In this case, it appears that the call to consecration in religious life doesn’t differ much from the choice of a career. The ad emphasizes the life-long commitment, but all the other requirements are of the professional order. There’s no mention of God’s call to discipleship and to the order’s charism – its specific way of following Jesus. The assumption, perhaps, is that even if the candidates upon entry do not have the right motivations, they will eventually acquire them and will be able to keep the conventual structures and commitments.  It seems a subversion of what a genuine religious vocation is when compared, for instance, to the call of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and the integrity of her answer to God, following the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Her life, as shown in this issue, is a series of unconditional “yes” to God. At the Annunciation, being a simple adolescent, she was far from imagining what her mission entailed of obscurity and suffering – especially the distressing condemnation and execution of her Son. Throughout life, she had to walk in faith, because of the most probable experience of God’s prolonged silence; she had to overcome doubts, fears, insecurities and trials, praying and reflecting, trying to find meaning in apparent senseless events confident in the angel’s assurance that “nothing will be impossible for God” (Lk 1:37). Mary and the other biblical figures – from the prophets to the disciples of Jesus – show that vocation is a leap in the darkness of faith, embracing God’s unforeseeable ways. They showed their availability and readiness knowing very little of what their lives would be, what surprises God had reserved for them. They had to let go of their plans and leave their comfort zones to embrace God’s mission and collaborate in His saving work.  We, like Mary, are called to be Christ-bearers and bring forth a Savior to a weary, hurting world. The Lord waits for our decisive and definitive “yes” to a life of faith and commitment to the poorest, following in His footsteps. As Pope Benedict XVI said, “God asks each one of us to welcome Him, to make available to Him our hearts, our bodies, our entire existence, so that He

Can the Church advocate for the poor, uphold human rights, lobby to remove the causes of poverty and injustice, fight corruption and other social evils without encroaching? Biblical prophets can usher in such reflection. Their approach to religion and politics is still relevant for societies with either great religiosity and inequality as ours. They preached a message of social justice and challenged the wealthy and powerful to share with the most vulnerable in society. They railed against oppression and repeatedly stated that God takes no pleasure in worship that is belied by injustices to the poor. In short, they refused to separate religion and morality, worship and social concern.  Amos is a precursor. He exercised his prophetic ministry in a time of great prosperity, but also of division between rich and poor, increasing social corruption and oppression of the weak and helpless. At the same time, there was a great outward show of religious observance. Through Amos, God expresses his disgust with religiosity devoid of righteousness (See Amos 5: 21.24). The prophets’ quest for social justice keeps its pertinence as we tend to have a lopsided understanding of morality – as referring almost exclusively to people’s sexual-related behavior and relegating to second plan the perversion of truth and justice. Therefore, it is not rare seeing Church people taking a strong stand against abortion, for instance, while they are far less passionate in denouncing graft and corruption and decry the economic crimes that put at stake the survival of many families. Pastors who have the prophetic courage of defending the poor and upholding justice and human rights are likely to enter in a collision route with officials of self-serving regimes. The former are often accused of being leftists and meddling in politics. The late Archbishop Dom Hélder Câmara of Recife, Brazil, had a famous dictum that still rings true: “When I feed the poor, I am called a saint. But when I ask why many are poor, I am called a communist.” Was he going overboard in his commitment? His answer was: “Denunciation of injustice is an absolutely essential chapter in the proclamation of the Gospel. And not merely a duty for the few. It is a human duty for everyone, a Christian duty for all Christians, and an absolute duty for the shepherds.”  In dealing with politics, the Church has to avoid two dangers: let itself be exploited for political ends and seek politicians’ support to further its mission. In both cases its freedom is compromised. But can the Church be neutral in the face of injustice? South Africa’s Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu answered: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” There’s no place for silence and indifference when there’s abuse by the powers that be. It would be either cowardice – a sin of