I was very interested to read the following from a reflection by Cardinal Sean O'Malley OFMCap, by all accounts a simple and holy man, on the increasing emphasis in religious orders on 'Peace and Justice' and 'ecotheology'. These are of course, worthy themes, but they are often exclusive of a genuinely rich, Christocentric, theology. Moreover, when the religious education of young people in Britain and Ireland is at an all-time low relative to the overall level of education, and when more and more young people are simply getting by without the Church, surely our priorities should be reconsidered. Cardinal Sean's final sentence packs a punch, and cannot be ignored:
'I have not seen the recommendations for the new Constitutions. I am told that there is a desire to introduce more Peace and Justice and Ecology into the Constitutions. I believe the Capuchins should be very much embodied in promoting the social Gospel of the Church. I would like to express two caveats. First of all there is the danger of a false sense of security. In other words by talking a lot about the social justice themes we might think that we are living a radical form of the Gospel Life. I see many religious communities in my country produce documents worthy of the Green Party, but they are dying on the vine themselves.'
In light of this, I was a little disappointed by the tone of the Presentation Sisters' prospective description of their international gathering in India:
'Presentation Sisters from around the world are en-route to India for an International Presentation Association (IPA) meeting with the theme Cry of the Earth, the Cry of the Poor. The Sisters from each Province will present reflections and questions on their actions for justice and lead the group in prayer using native themes, songs and prayers.'
I'm not trying to denigrate for a minute the fine work of many hundreds of Presentation Sisters, but I wonder whether the cold phrase 'actions for justice', with no mention of the God of justice, will ever inspire zeal in the hearts of young women...
There is in God (some say), a deep but dazzling darkness - Henry Vaughan
1 comments:
Connor, I so confirm your intuition here. Social justice and ecology are the buzzwords of the day, and busy-work for the dissenting. Social justice and care for the environment are, of course, central to the Judaeo -Christian ethos....they have, unfortunately gotten separated from the call to 'repent and believe the Good News'! God is calling us to know and be known by him--to enter into profound personal relationship with Christ, to let ourselves be changed by love, to let love re-order our lives according to the commandments and the teaching of the Church. As a test case, it's worth enquiring with social justice/ecology folks their thoughts on abortion, or Church teaching on any difficult issue such as women's ordination, sexual morality, contraception. What you will often find is that, for all the chatter about the Gospel of social justice, it's the remaining tattered thread of a connection to Catholicism long since abandoned.
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