Social justice and Catholic thinking

Sydney
19 January

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Social justice and Catholic thinking

Treatment of refugees shocks new Jesuit leader

Year of Pope John Paul II

Social justice and Catholic thinking

By Bruce Duncan

Pope John Paul II, like Pope Paul VI before him, has published a short statement on peace at the beginning of each year.

Yet few Catholics would have any idea of what these statements are saying, and fewer still would have seriously studied them in the light of contemporary political and economic trends.

In my view this reflects a continuing failure in Australia to appropriate the tradition of Catholic social thinking in a mature and robust manner.

The world is engaged in a great debate about the direction of globalisation, articularly between the advocates of US-style neo-liberalism with its growing inequality and individualism, and those calling for greater equity and social ustice.

The Catholic Church stands firmly in the latter stream, armed with a long tradition of social thinking on the meaning of social justice and the common good.

Few have done more to articulate this view and relate it to contemporary social problems than Pope John Paul II. His statements and speeches on these issues are voluminous, and are taken up consistently by Vatican spokesmen in the United Nations and other international organisations.

Yet they receive little attention in our media.

I suspect many Catholics even would be surprised how vigorously the Vatican has tried to promote a closer engagement by Catholics with the great social problems of our world, especially global poverty, peace and disarmament, development with justice, and dialogue among the world religions.

The Pope sees this as one of the most important aspects of evangelisation today and not as something peripheral to the mission of the Church.

As he told the bishops of Brazil in November, the aim must be to help form a lively Christian social conscience prepared to wrestle with the task of developing more just and humane societies.

But where in Australia are our lay Catholics imbued with a strong sense of commitment to carrying through these projects?

Where are our social commentators able to think through these questions philosophically, in terms of social justice, and contest the march of the

US-style neo-liberalism?

Where are our public intellectuals?

Are we encouraging a new generation of thinkers able to engage in social debate while drawing intelligently but critically from the Catholic social tradition, particularly in relation to human rights, the common good and social equity?

Why are our theological colleges and universities not producing more scholars of the calibre of, say, the US Jesuit social philosopher David Hollenbach?

I confess to being deeply puzzled by these questions. It is not a matter of seeking a superficial 'relevance', but of reflecting the passionate concern of

God to feed the hungry, care for the sick and see justice done for all people.

As Matthew 25 reminds us, this is at the very core of the Gospel, and hence should also be in the consciousness of the Church.

Is this how people see us, or do they instead see a Church preoccupied with its internal issues, important though they may be?

Bruce Duncan CSsR co-ordinates the program of social justice studies at Yarra Theological Union in Melbourne and is a consultant for Catholic Social Services Victoria.