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Teaching young about human dignity promotes peace, justice, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS)—When young people recognize the dignity and beauty of every human life, including their own, and are supported in their natural desire to make the world a better place, they become agents of justice and peace in the world, Pope Benedict XVI said. Peace and justice are built on “a profound respect for every human being and helping others to live a life consonant with this supreme dignity,” the pope said in his message for the World Day of Peace 2012. The Catholic Church celebrates World Peace Day Jan. 1. The pope’s message for the occasion was released Dec. 16 at the Vatican and sent, through Vatican ambassadors, to the leaders of nations around the world. The theme the pope chose for the 2012 celebration was “Educating Young People in Justice and Peace.” He asked parents and teachers to be more attentive to the hopes and fears of young people today and to their search for true values, and he asked governments to put more resources into education and job creation. And the pope asked young people themselves to take their schooling seriously and to be open to the example and knowledge their elders have to share. He asked them “to be patient and persevering in seeking justice and peace, in cultivating the taste for what is just and true, even when it involves sacrifice and swimming against the tide.” Adults have a serious responsibility to help the young fulfill their potential, not just by sharing information with them, but by being examples of what it means to live lives marked by the joy of faith, charity and respect for others, he said. “Today more than ever we need authentic witnesses, and not simply people who parcel out rules and facts: We need witnesses capable of seeing farther than others because their life is so much broader,” the pope said.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: The Denver Archdiocese’s Office of Social Ministry has two documents related to this topic: "The Creed: A Presentation on the Creed and its Implications for Catholic Social Teaching” and “The Natural Law and the Human Person.” Read them here
Philly: ‘Painful’ year may bring school, parish closings
PHILADELPHIA (CNS)—Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., of Philadelphia warned that the archdiocese faces “very serious financial and organizational issues that cannot be delayed.” In a pastoral letter dated Dec. 8, he said there was “no better time to speak frankly about the conditions we now face as a community of believers.” The letter hinted at coming closings or mergers of parishes and schools, and said the operating budget of each archdiocesan department will receive “careful scrutiny.” He said: “To whatever degree complacency and pride once had a home in our local Church, events in the coming year will burn them out. The process will be painful. But going through it is the only way to renew the witness of the Church; to clear away the debris of human failure from the beauty of God’s word; and to restore the joy and zeal of our Catholic discipleship.” He also said the first months of 2012 will see the resolution of all the cases of priests who have been suspended following allegations of sexual misconduct with minors, as well as the start in March of the abuse-related criminal trial of four priests or former priests of the archdiocese and a lay teacher.
