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Modern Thinking

Modern Thinking. The society in which we live. The Dilemma. “Do you begin to see then, what kind of world we are creating?It is … a world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself”

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Modern Thinking

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  1. Modern Thinking The society in which we live

  2. The Dilemma • “Do you begin to see then, what kind of world we are creating?It is … a world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself” George Orwell 1984

  3. Benjamin Barber 2007Consumed:How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilise Adults and Swallow Citizens Whole. We are increasingly governed by impulse. Feeling dominates thinking. Me dominates us. Now dominates later. Egoism dominates altruism. Entitlement dominates responsibility. Individualism dominates community. Private dominates public.

  4. Politics of Fear The Right in politics have forgotten what sort of past they wish to preserve and the Left has forgotten what sort of future it wishes to realise so we are caught in a paralysing present. Most politics, therefore, lack any sense of purpose, perspective and meaning. Both the right and the left, cultivate a politics of fear. Citizens are infantilised and we have become both politically and socially paralyzed.

  5. Logic of Dominance There is a dominant logic in power and politics which is the logic of dominance. Most people however operate on a quite different logic which is the logic of relationship which rests on empathy, altruism, love, and compassion. This is the logic which generates survival through time. The logic of dominance generates the four horseman of the apocalypse

  6. The apocalyptic vision

  7. Catholic Thinking So…. What are the alternatives?

  8. Building a Peacable Kingdom/Community

  9. Starting with Family and Community

  10. Working together in true communion

  11. Pope Benedict XVI, June 2009 Love – caritas – is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace.

  12. One of the deepest forms of poverty a person can experience is isolation. Caritas in Veritate

  13. The development of peoples depends, above all, on a recognition that the human race is a single family working together in true communion, not simply a group of subjects who happen to live side by side. Caritas in Veritate

  14. The unity of the human family does not submerge the identities of individuals, peoples and cultures, but ...links them more closely in their legitimate diversity.. Caritas in Veritate

  15. Cooperation for development must not be concerned exclusively with the economic dimension; it offers a wonderful opportunity for encounter between cultures and peoples. Caritas in Veritate

  16. In the search for solutions to the current economic crisis, development aid for poor countries must be considered a valid means of creating wealth for all. Caritas in Veritate

  17. While the poor of the world continue knocking on the doors of the rich, the world of affluence runs the risk of no longer hearing those knocks, on account of a conscience that can no longer distinguish what is human. Caritas in Veritate

  18. The Common Good To love someone is to desire that person’s good and take effective steps to secure it.  Besides the good of the individual, there is a good linked to living in society: the common good.  It is the good of “all of us”, made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who together constitute society…. 

  19. …It is a good sought not for its own sake, but for the people who belong to the social community and who can only really and effectively pursue their good within it… The more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real needs of our neighbours, the more effectively we love them. Pope Benedict XVI: Caritas in Veritate, 2009

  20. Social services and social justice SOCIAL JUSTICE Asking why people are poor and working to change society. SOCIAL SERVICES Meeting people’s immediate needs.

  21. Working together in true communion Some ways Caritas works in partnership for justice and peace • ADVOCACY • Education and awareness raising • Submissions– Select committees and • government departments • Lobbying– letters, delegations • Media – statements, articles, debates

  22. Advocacy on New Zealand issues • Economic Justice • Social security, low waged workers, poverty • Cultural diversity • Treaty of Waitangi, refugees and migrants, culturally inclusive church communities • International law and human rights • New Zealand’s compliance with international human rights agreements, rights of prisoners, children’s employment • Peace and environment • Environmental migrants

  23. Working in partnership ecumenically ECONOMIC JUSTICE • Easter Sunday trading legislation • 10 attempts to change legislation in past 20 years. • Defeated by coalition of Church, union and Māori groups.

  24. Working in partnership with the community ECONOMIC JUSTICE • Benefit advocacy groups, Church social service groups • Social security legislation

  25. Working in partnership with Māori CULTURAL DIVERSITY • Te Rūnanga o Te Hāhi Katorika ki Aotearoa • Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples • Foreshore and seabed

  26. Working in partnership with other church agencies • INTERNATIONAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS • Prison chaplains • “Three strikes”

  27. Working in partnership with Dioceses and parishes Studying Catholic social teaching – Deus Caritas Est seminar Wellington 2006

  28. Palmerston North JPD CommissionSocial Justice seminars

  29. Prayer, action, donations, study,solidarity…

  30. Making a start How do we decide what issues to work on?

  31. THINK/PRAY

  32. Learn about an issue. Choose something that inspires and moves you. SEE

  33. THINK/PRAY Take time and effort to really consider, personally, what you think and feel about the issue. Pray. Talk about it with friends and people who challenge your thinking and/or opinions

  34. Consider what Catholic social teaching brings to consideration of this issue. How does it affect the most poor and vulnerable? What principles of Catholic social teaching apply? JUDGE

  35. What is one action we can take together to work on this issue? ACT

  36. SEE, THINK/PRAY, JUDGE, ACT SEE: Learn about an issue – choose something that inspires and moves you THINK/PRAY: Take time and effort to really consider, personally, what you think and feel about the issue. JUDGE: Consider what Catholic social teaching brings to consideration of this issue. What principles of Catholic social teaching apply ACT: What is one action we can take together to work on this issue?

  37. Change the World! Start with you

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