The closest thing to crazy

THE VATICAN has issued a new book that should be interesting to all of us. It is entitled "Compendium of the Social Doctrine." It's the fruit of a deeply felt need in the Catholic Church and long process of study and careful research.
At the outset, I can only express great joy at this new development. The social doctrine of the church lamentably is hardly known by many, including our top business and political leaders.

I can even say that many priests are not familiar with it. How can we expect parents, teachers, public servants who play indispensable roles in our society to know about this doctrine of our faith if we priests are not good in it?

And to think that the pace of social development is fast, complex, and so in need of clear guidance! No one seems to be taking care of this aspect of our life. Hardly anything is done to address this problem and challenge.

Despite claims of our leaders, we seem to be drifting socially, traveling in unmapped territory, guided only by commonsense, good intentions and motherhood statements that give us no clear picture of our social goal.

Is it any wonder then if we find so many social problems -- in families, schools, communities, business, politics, and others -- when this doctrine is veritably unknown?

In fact, one closest thing to crazy that I've ever known is to recently hear someone say that the Catholic Church is the main cause of poverty and underdevelopment. Hello, good morning!

It bewilders me to realize there are still people who think that way, arguing that in countries where religion is active -- Catholic, Muslim, or other -- there is a high incidence of poverty and underdevelopment.

And yet I also understand why such a crazy argument can sound credible to some people. I believe the reason stems from a deep and widespread ignorance of the church's social doctrine.

The fact is that so far our faith and religion is often confined to our personal and private lives. The fact is that the consistency of our faith is largely absent, especially when it is made to impact on our social responsibilities.

The idea of sanctity and goodness is often limited to the level of the individual persons or at most to a small group -- family or a religious group. Many of us don't feel urged to involve our social obligations in the search for holiness.
It could be because some of us may think that our faith has hardly anything to do with the real social issues in the world. This is wrong. This only shows lack of faith.

The truth is that our faith always has something to say about anything and everything in our lives! Faith is no faith if it is limited to some aspects only. It has to embrace and concern our whole life.

We have to correct this scandalous anomaly. We have to wake up from this nightmare of a mentality and culture!

This Compendium will certainly be of great help. I just hope and pray that first we the priests take the lead in knowing it well and teaching it to others.

This does not necessarily mean that for priests to take active interest in this doctrine we have to organize protest rallies or make loud and noisy demonstrations. I feel uneasy when priests start taking to the streets.

Not that we cannot and should not do it. But before things reach that point, priests should undertake quiet but constant study and widespread but effective catechesis to everyone on the social doctrine.

The social doctrine is a very delicate topic that needs very expert handling. A lot of balancing, blending and harmonizing is required. Being faith in action, it's a very dynamic subject that requires both prayer and action. It requires quiet study and extensive dialogue, abiding immersion in God and in the world. It has its basic core, but it grows and changes as it impacts on different issues and situations.

I also hope our leaders and educators take the lead in studying the doctrine well. We all should feel the need to transform our mentality to vitally include a working knowledge of the social doctrine.