Category: Politics and Society

Politics and society in Cambodia

War is not the answer

“Catholic personnel in the US military could in good conscience consider disobeying orders to attack Greenland, according to the bishop responsible for their pastoral care.

The Archbishop of the Military Services Timothy Broglio said personnel “could be put in a situation where they’re being ordered to do something that’s morally questionable” if the US acted on President Donald Trump’s threats of military action to take control of Greenland.”

Week of Christian Unity

Today is the first day of the week of prayer for Christian Unity. Jesus emphasized our unity as God’s children and as brothers and sisters, and especially now, when there are so many divisive forces at work in our world and our politics, it is even more imperative that we Christians work together to create a new environment of peace and collaboration.

Fratelli Tutti: Respect for Others

Pope Francis, #191 in the encyclical

191. At a time when various forms of fundamentalist intolerance are damaging relationships between individuals, groups and peoples, let us be committed to living and teaching the value of respect for others, a love capable of welcoming differences, and the priority of the dignity of every human being over his or her ideas, opinions, practices and even sins. Even as forms of fanaticism, closedmindedness and social and cultural fragmentation proliferate in present-day society, a good politician will take the first step and insist that different voices be heard. Disagreements may well give rise to conflicts, but uniformity proves stifling and leads to cultural decay. May we not be content with being enclosed in one fragment of reality.

192. …When a specific policy sows hatred and fear towards other nations in the name of its own country’s welfare, there is need to be concerned, to react in time and immediately to correct the course.

Fratelli Tutti: Dialogue

Pope Francis, #198 in the encyclical

Approaching, speaking, listening, looking at, coming to know and understand one another, and to find common ground: all these things are summed up in the one word “dialogue”. If we want to encounter and help one another, we have to dialogue. There is no need for me to stress the benefits of dialogue. I have only to think of what our world would be like without the patient dialogue of the many generous persons who keep families and communities together. Unlike disagreement and conflict, persistent and courageous dialogue does not make headlines, but quietly helps the world to live much better than we imagine.

A Bad Week

Jan, a reader of my website, commented:

The more I watched the video that day (of Dick Van Dyke dancing at 100 years of age) the sadder I became. I even cried. I cried serious tears. I felt a very heavy dark cloud lingering around me. I finally realized that I was crying for the innocence I once had. I was also crying for the innocence I once saw in my fellow human beings. I am sad for our country, humanity in general and for what I once thought we were as a country.

Pope Leo, the day Jan wrote, commented on the need for the church:

to open up to the world and to embrace the changes and challenges of the modern age in dialogue and co-responsibility, as a church that wishes to open her arms to humanity, to echo the hopes and anxieties of peoples, and to collaborate in building a more just and fraternal society.

Anne Lamott, spiritual writer, wished:

I wish us praying people could pray a fast turnaround—Remember Flip Wilson saying, “I’m about to pray. Anybody need anything?” This isn’t how it works. How it works is each of us doing one small good thing, every day.

Cambodia-Thailand Conflict

Bishop Olivier of Phnom Penh is a very active player in the life of the kingdom and always reaches out to the Buddhists to address issues, celebrate events, etc. In the current conflict between the kingdoms of Cambodia and Thailand, Bishop Olivier has gone to the front lines with a Buddhist delegation and has engaged with Buddhist leadership in praying for peace.

The joint prayer events take on a form not so familiar to Christian groups. Literally hundreds of Buddhist monks came together for this joint prayer service.

Candlelight Vigil

Tonight a group called Leviticus 19, mobilizing for immigrant justice, held a candlelight vigil at Our Mother of Sorrows Church in Louisville.
Fr. Pat Delahanty organized the vigil. He has been working on social justice issues for many years.
Representative Morgan McGarvey from the U.S. of Representatives spoke of the value and the rights of immigrants. He also honored his predecessor, Rep. Romano Mazzoli, who authored the last major immigration bill in Congress. Rep. Mazzoli’s son Michael also spoke.
The ever-faithful contingent from the larger Dittmeier family also made their appearance in support of immigrants and their rights.

Fratelli Tutti: Migration & Social Media

43. Digital campaigns of hatred and destruction, for their part, are not – as some would have us believe – a positive form of mutual support, but simply an association of individuals united against a perceived common enemy. “Digital media can also expose people to the risk of addiction, isolation and a gradual loss of contact with concrete reality, blocking the development of authentic interpersonal relationships”. [46] They lack the physical gestures, facial expressions, moments of silence, body language and even the smells, the trembling of hands, the blushes and perspiration that speak to us and are a part of human communication. Digital relationships, which do not demand the slow and gradual cultivation of friendships, stable interaction or the building of a consensus that matures over time, have the appearance of sociability. Yet they do not really build community; instead, they tend to disguise and expand the very individualism that finds expression in xenophobia and in contempt for the vulnerable. Digital connectivity is not enough to build bridges. It is not capable of uniting humanity.

Pope Francis in Fratelli Tutti, §43