This Sunday marks Social Justice Sunday in the Church’s calendar.  Each year to mark this day, the Catholic Bishops issue a statement where they scrutinise the signs of the times in light of the Gospel and offer us reflections to pray about and act on.  This year the Statement is entitled “Truth and Peace: A Gospel Word in a Violent World”.  It reaches back into the long history of social teachings of the Church, with particular reference to the Encyclical Letter of John XXIII, Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) in 1963, calling for an end to war and the banning of nuclear weapons.  This year’s Statement looks at the violence we are surrounded by in so many countries and asks “is peace possible?” and “what is needed for there to be peace”.  However, it looks at not just armed conflicts, but also wars “under the guise of peace” including economic sanctions, cyber wars, fake news, and outright lies.  The Statement therefore emphasises the need for both truth and trust, which is only possible with dialogue, for there to be true peace.

Pacem in Terris started from the premise that peace is based on the inviolable dignity of each human person as a child of God.  If we go back to last year’s Statement titled “Listen, Learn and Love” in relation to our First nations people, and with the more recent statements of Pope Francis, we are challenged to take a broader view that peace is based on the rights not only of the human being but including the whole of creation, plants, animals, waterways, air, rocks, and the earth itself, all being created by God.  And only when there is harmony among all can true peace be experienced.  Where injustice exists, there can be no peace.  Many of our First Nations People were very disappointed with the result of the Referendum and the rejection of The Voice, but are still calling on us to walk with them towards Treaty and Truth Telling which were also part of their offer to us in the Uluru Statement from The Heart.  Garry Deverell, a Trawloolway man from Tasmania, Anglican priest and Scripture scholar, suggests we are at a “Kairos” threshold of decision, in his book “Contemplating Country” and quotes Jeremiah 6:16 – “Stand at the crossroads and look, ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way lies, and walk in it.”

A similar idea is quoted in the Statement from Pope Francis at the World Youth Day in Portugal last year, when he said: “At this moment in time we face enormous risks; we hear the painful plea of so many people.  But let us find the courage to see our world not as in the death throes but as at the beginning of a great new chapter of history.  We need courage to think like this”.  And this year’s Statement emphasising dialogue does take courage.  How many times do we hear leaders, including in Australia, demonising refugees and asylum seekers as terrorists, criminals, murderers, rapists when they have just tried to escape horrific situations through treacherous means.  Bishop Long recounted some of his experiences as a boat person coming here at the launch of the Statement.  Do we get to know these people?  Do we call out this language?  “Labels” are used in so many situations.  Working in the Philippines with the farmers struggling for their right to own the land their families have tilled for generations, they are called communists and terrorists and arrested, imprisoned or killed.  Our refugees, particularly those off-shore, are tortured through long incarceration, given no medical or social support and no hope.  Many have severe mental and physical problems.  What are we called to do if we truly “love our neighbour” as is the Gospel imperative?  Often the demonising happens through social media, as pointed out in the Statement.  While we demonise those among us, we cannot have peace and in fact, such language led to riots in Britain fuelled by such misinformation.

It is common for countries to raise the flag of national security to justify an increase in military spending.  As the Statement points out, it is the armaments manufacturers who are profiting from this.  Is the death and destruction in Gaza leading to security for the Israelis, with the threat now of regional war?  Can nuclear submarines make us feel more secure in Australia?  Especially when there is the warning in Pacem in Terris of nuclear arms.  Could the money being spent on armaments be invested in housing, health, education, renewable energy, all geared to providing an environment where people and planet can grow and thrive together?  Where is the truth as the Statement calls us to discern?  Do these decisions lead to more trust in governments, to each other, to more peace?

The Statement points out that peace must be worked on; peace within ourselves, our families, our neighbours, between countries.  Pax Christi has a program currently drawing people from different groups and sectors together to dialogue on how we can “wage peace and not war”, more in keeping with the indigenous view of wholistic peace.  This is not the mainstream view of society but it is holding a new vision for our world in courage.  There are several ways of being involved suggested in the Statement.  I always go back to the Compendium of Social Doctrine (#66) which states “The Church’s social doctrine is an integral part of her evangelizing ministry.  Nothing that concerns the community of men and women – situations, problems regarding justice, freedom, development, relations between people, peace – is foreign to evangelization, and evangelization would be incomplete if it did not take into account the mutual demands continually made by the concrete, personal and social life of all men and women”.  Pope Francis encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” says a lot about truth and dialogue and points out the need for communities to reflect, discern and act together, acknowledging that no one person has all the truth but together we can envisage and courageously work for a more just and peaceful world.  Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium (#183) reminds us “An authentic faith – which is never comfortable or completely personal – always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave the earth somehow better than we found it”.  The Statement challenges us to this.

By Sr Patricia Fox NDS

Read the full Social Justice Statement 2024-2025: Truth & Peace – A Gospel word in a violent world

Sr Patricia is a Sister of Our Lady of Sion, a well-respected human rights campaigner, lawyer, teacher and our parishioner.

Main image: Sr Patricia Fox  

Published: 23 August 2024