KCP - Catholic Diocese of Broome

This edition of the KCP ‘hits the streets’ soon after the release of the Social Justice Sunday Statement for this year. For 2005, the Catholic Bishops of Australia have chosen to address themselves to the challenges that individuals face today in our nation to live out their commitment to be Christians in the midst of a society that is
more and more embracing values that are at best unsympathetic to the Good News that Jesus Christ brought to the world and at worst in direct opposition to it.

There have been criticisms of the Statement that have accused the Bishops of ignoring the ‘big ticket’ issues. Some have said that the Bishops need to speak out with one voice more strongly on areas like abortion, extreme capitalism, workplace reform, government overseas aid and engagement in conflict. Those who make these criticisms have not been keeping up with previous Social Justice Statements, ignore the work of organizations like the Catholic Social Justice Council, Catholic Welfare and The Australian Catholic Commission for Employment Relations. They have also misread the intention and the content of this year’s Statement.

This Statement is aimed at individual Catholics – and other Australians who might be sympathetic to our values – and is attempting to support and challenge them as they go about their daily lives. Not that the Statement exalts individualism; that is another matter altogether. It aims to give courage to those striving to find the way, the Jesus way, to navigate the sometimes dark and winding paths we must travel. What is to give us light on the journey? The answer the Bishops propose is the example of Jesus who is our light.

The Bishops are convinced that it is only by looking to Jesus as our light that we can be helped to make the choices we must make in our lives between being responsible partners and collaborators with each other or becoming selfish and aggressive competitors; between being self-centred and greedy consumers or ecologically responsible co-creators; between being personally ambitious and acquisitive and being generous and compassionate fellow travellers; between being fearful, suspicious and distrustful isolates and being warm and welcoming international citizens.

While the big issues are important and in urgent need of attention, it is once again a case of both/and rather than either/or. We are not so disabled surely, that we cannot tackle things on an individual level and a national level at the same time? In any case, to be realistic, the big issues will not receive the attention and political resolve they require unless, and until, we are individually convinced by, and converted to, the Jesus way, the humanely responsible way, the way that seeks the ‘common good’. Surely this Statement, with its practical examples and everyday challenges, is both timely and necessary. The time is here, even in the Kimberley,
when the time available for making these choices is fast running out. This Statement deserves the full attention of anyone who claims to be Christian and wants to live this out in a practical way in today’s Australia.

A detailed supplement of the Social Justice Sunday Statement will be included in the next issue of the Kimberley Community Profile.