From A Theology of Liberation, Gustavo Gutiérrez
“If there is no friendship with them [the poor] and no sharing of the life of the poor, then there is no authentic commitment to liberation, because love exists only among equals.”
Gustavo Gutiérrez Merino, OP is a Peruvian philosopher, Catholic theologian, and Dominican priest, regarded as one of the founders of Latin American liberation theology.
“Civic engagement underscores the most basic principle of democratic governance. If sovereignty resides ultimately in the citizenry, their engagement is about the right to define the public good, to determine the policies by which they will seek that good, and to reform or replace those institutions that no longer serve.”- Swarnmin Wagle, Claims and Resources: Civic Engagement at the Macro Level
“In many respects, today’s youth are primed for participation. The 2002 Survey of Student Attitudes (SSA) conducted by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics found that 61% of college students claimed to have taken part in some form of community service in the past 12 months…
However, the desire to effect positive social change has not yet been successfully translated into sustained political engagement. The SSA found that only 14% of college students had participated in a government or political organization over the same period of time. The National Association of Secretaries of State reported that in 2000, only 33% of citizens aged 18-24 cast their votes in the presidential election.”-Harvard Institute of Politics, Political Empowerment at the Local Level: A Review of Youth Civic Engagement Efforts in 11 U.S. Cities
May the winds, the oceans, the herbs, and night and days, the mother earth, the father heaven, all vegetation, the sun, be all sweet to us.
Let us follow the path of goodness for all times, like the sun and the moon moving eternally in the sky. Continue reading
Could Also Be Used for Group Discussion or Journaling
From Joe Holland and Peter Henriot, SJ
From Santa Clara University Reflection Resources
Activity: Invite participants to share initial thoughts on what solidarity is/means/looks like. How can we live it out if we don’t know what it means or what it looks like?
By Sue Monk Kidd
When I was six years old someone asked me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” At that age, living in a small Georgia town in the 1950s, I could only think of four careers for women—they were the only stories I knew: teacher, nurse, secretary, and housewife. By some process of elimination, I picked nurse. From that moment on, I began to get little nurse kits for my birthdays.
“One amongst His Teachings is this, that love and good faith must so dominate the human heart that men will regard the stranger as a familiar friend, the malefactor as one of their own, the alien even as a loved one, the enemy as a companion dear and close.”
The three steps to the social inquiry/pastoral circle are: