On the Social sector, the working paper says: “we now turn our attention to the social sector, where the great phenomenon of migration is increasingly forcing people to leave their countries of origin for more urban settings, thereby changing the ethnic make-up of our cities, our nations and our continents. Consequently, our societies are experiencing an unprecedented encounter and mixing of cultures, resulting in forms of corruption, the erosion of the fundamental references to life, the undermining of the values for which we exert ourselves and the deterioration of the very human ties we use to identify ourselves and give meaning to our lives… Associated with this social sector is the so-called phenomenon of globalization... If we consider only its aspects of economy and production, globalization is a negative phenomenon. However, in a positive sense, globalization can be viewed as an occasion for growth, in which humanity can learn to develop new forms of solidarity and new ways to share the development of everything for the greater good of all. In such a situation, the new evangelization.. transcends the geographic confines of past missionary activity. Today, all five continents are fields of missionary activity.”
On Social Communications, the document says: “(The means of social communication) has an increasingly determined effect on the lives of individuals and the collective conscience.. Today, no place in the world is beyond reach.. unaffected by the media and digital culture, which is fast becoming the "forum" of public life and social interaction.” Its benefits include “major access to information; greater opportunities for knowledge, exchange and new forms of solidarity; and the capacity to build an increasingly "world culture" which leads to a common patrimony of values and a greater development of thought and human expression.” But there are “inherent risks” in this kind of culture “taken to an extreme, including a selfish concentration on oneself and personal needs; an overemphasis on the emotive aspects of relations and social bonds; the loss of the objective values of experience, reflection and thought, which are reduced in many cases, to ways of reconfirming one's individualistic feelings; the progressive alienation of the moral and social dimensions of life which makes others a mirror for self or simply a spectator to one's actions; and, finally, the formation of a culture centered on passing novelties, the present moment and outward appearances, indeed a society which is incapable of remembering the past and with no sense of the future.”
Do we find ourselves in the situation describe above today? How do we feel about this situation and about ourselves living in it? Do we need the New Evangelization? - Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC
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“A fourth sector in which changes call for the Church's evangelizing activity, is the economy. On many occasions, the Magisterium of many Popes has denounced the growing disproportion in the northern and southern hemispheres in access to resources and their distribution as well as the damage to creation. The persistent economic crisis today illustrates the problem of using material forces to establish rules in a global market intended to ensure greater justice in relations among peoples. Although the communications media is giving less coverage to these problems, beginning with the plight of the poor, the Church needs to become more aware of these concerns and take concrete measures to address them.
The fifth sector is scientific and technological research. ..All of us experience the benefits of this progress in our daily lives, benefits on which we are becoming increasingly dependent. As a result, science and technology are in danger of becoming today's new idols. In a digitalized and globalized world, science can easily be considered a new religion, to which we turn with questions concerning truth and meaning, even though we know that the responses provided are only partial and not totally satisfying. New forms of "gnosis" are emerging where technology itself becomes a kind of philosophy in which knowledge and meaning are derived from an unreal structuring of life. These new cults, increasing each day, ultimately end up by turning religious practice into a clinical form of seeking prosperity and instant gratification.
Finally, the sixth sector is civic and political life. The changes which have taken place since the Second Vatican Council can rightly be called colossal. The fall of Communism, which ended the division of the western world into two blocks, has helped foster religious freedom and has provided the opportunity for age-old Churches to re-establish themselves. New economic, political and religious forces are emerging in global politics from places like Asia and the Islamic world. This has created an unprecedented yet totally unknown situation which is rich in potential but also fraught with risks and new temptations of dominion and power. In this sector, the Gospel must be transmitted in the following endeavors: the duty to seek peace; the development and liberation of peoples; improvement in forms of world and national governments; the construction of possible forms of listening, living together, dialogue and collaboration by various cultures and religions; the safeguarding of the rights of persons, entire peoples and, above all, minorities; support for the most vulnerable in society; and the stewardship of creation and the commitment to the future of our planet.”
This is the Church’s proposed reading of our situation today, in the light of faith and the gospel. How do we look at our own life-situation from our own perspective? - Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC
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