address at the launch of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Social Justice Sunday Statement 2007
Who is My Neighbour?
Australia's Role as a Global Citizen
BISHOP CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS DD
Bishop of Broome
Chairman, Australian Catholic Social Justice Council
Mary MacKillop Place, North Sydney, September 17, 2007
Let me thank Fr Frank Brennan and Dr Michael Fullilove once more for their contributions to the launch of the Bishops' Social Justice Sunday Statement this afternoon.
Any consideration of global issues of justice and the very concept of globalisation is expansive and complex. There are so many situations of injustice in our world. The limitations of space and resources often lead to practical dilemmas about which issues can be addressed effectively.
To the particular issues addressed in this Statement, we could add many others. The imposition of the death penalty, the trafficking of women and children, organ-harvesting, political and religious intolerance, and the production of weapons of mass destruction. The list goes on.
But even in times of crisis or in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges, we are called to recommit ourselves to our neighbours and to act in the interests of people who do not share our prosperity and security.
The theology of solidarity developed in the encyclicals Populorum progressio and Sollicitudo rei socialis, promulgated 40 and 20 years ago, gives us two practical directions.
As children of God, we must commit ourselves to the common good of all - because we are all really responsible for all. And the good global citizen will explore the positives and negatives of globalisation from the perspective of those who are not faring well.
In following Our Lord's commandment of love, we must have an eye for the common good - for we are all created in the image and likeness of God and have responsibilities for our brothers and sisters. But we are called to go further; to exercise the preferential option - to seek out and assist the stranger, the outcast and even the most despised.
The story of the Good Samaritan is perhaps the most memorable parable. It is an ethic, it underpins many institutions and is encapsulated in cultural values like 'the fair go' and 'sticking up for the underdog'. Our politicians have identified this parable as a motivation in their leadership.
We aspire always to be the Samaritan, and we associate with the brokenness of the victim lying half dead through eyes of the one who did not 'pass by on the other side' but was 'moved by compassion'.
The parable is so appealing, but its challenge goes to the heart of our faith. For how often are we, as individuals and as a nation, in the position of the young lawyer who posed the question that prompts Jesus' parable: 'Who is my neighbour?' In effect, the question was one of 'Who's in and who's out?' or 'Should my compassion extend beyond my people or my established boundaries?'
Reflecting on the parable in his book Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict highlights its enduring relevance. He says: 'The issue is no longer which other person is a neighbour to me or not. The question is about me. ... I have to become like someone in love, someone whose heart is open to being shaken up by another's need. Then I find my neighbour, or - better - then I am found by him [or her]'.
He says: 'When we transpose it to the dimensions of world society, we see how the peoples of Africa, lying robbed and plundered, matter to us. Then we see how deeply they are our neighbours; that our lifestyle, the history in which we are involved, has plundered them and continues to do so ... Instead of giving them God, the God who has come close to us in Christ, which would have integrated and brought to completion all that is precious and great in their own traditions, we have given them the cynicism of a world without God in which all that counts is power and profit, a world that destroys moral standards so that corruption and unscrupulous will to power are taken for granted.'
Importantly, the Holy Father concludes: 'And that applies not only to Africa'!
For as we have seen in our own country, the original people - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians - continue to endure third world conditions amid the opulence of an economy that has boomed for well over a decade.
2007 has seen terrible revelations - sadly, not new - about mistreatment and abuse in Indigenous communities. These revelations are part of a larger picture. Life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is 17 years less than for the total population. Rates of preventable diseases are several times higher. There is an acute shortage of housing. Any lasting solutions to these issues demand consultation with Indigenous people in their communities to reverse the negative effects of a fractured culture.
To this and the many other challenges of justice, development and peace in our world we should ask ourselves: Will Australia pass by because the issue is too complex or other demands are too pressing? Will we just impose solutions from above? Or are we in there for the long haul, willing to work together to heal the wounds and address the challenges with all our sisters and brothers who need us?
As we approach Social Justice Sunday, it is my hope that this Statement will renew the commitment we share to seek out those in need and bandage the wounds caused by our times.
Your presence today is appreciated. Thank you for being here.
Top of page
