"Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully
appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel." Thus the
Synod of Bishops in 1971 concluded its opening statement in the document Justice
in the world. Since then many other documents of the church have increasingly clarified
the profound links between the gospel requirements of the church's mission and
the widespread commitment to the advancement of peoples and the creation of a
worthy society (see "Religious and Human Promotion" Vatican City, 1980 p 7).
In the light of these statements the Twelfth General Chapter affirms that our own
participation in the mission of the church as a religious missionary society also involves
"action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the
world". Therefore the chapter by way of c 112 calls on all members of the Society to
show a more determined commitment to the promotion of justice and peace in solidarity
with the poor and oppressed. It makes this appeal after a serious reflection on
the challenge of the situation of the world today in the light of sacred scripture and
of our religious-missionary calling.
I. The Challenge That Faces Us Today
1. The World Today
1.1 The world today is plagued with massive poverty, social inequality, economic exploitation
and political oppression. Traditional cultural structures that continue to foster
racial, sex and class discrimination are being increasingly complicated by more
modem economic and political structures that bring about exploitation and oppression.
International corporations take advantage of and exploit natural resources and
cheap labor: of less developed countries all oven the world. Repressive military regimes
supported by vested interests of developed nations often use force to further
such exploitative ventures. Consequently in the name of national security, workers'
rights are repressed, justified dissent is suppressed and human rights are violated.
Tire enormous build-up of conventional and nuclear arms divides humanity further
and threatens the world with war that can lead to the extinction of the human race.
This senseless arms race drains resources urgently needed by all nations to overcome
poverty, starvation and suffering.
1.2 This is the situation of the world today, reflected in faces of millions who are
poor, exploited and oppressed in countries where we work: undernourished and
starving children, peasants in favelas, slum dwellers in cities, refugees and minorities,
the unemployed and underpaid, political prisoners and “desaparecidos”. Social
analysis shows that the root cause of this worldwide misery is a socio-political world
order, in which decisions affecting millions of lives and many nations are made by a
few largely on the basis of profit and power, a world order where the rich get richer
at the expense of the poor who get even poorer (see John Paul II: Opening Address
Puebla, 1979, III, 3).
1.3 The message of God's kingdom of justice and peace unmasks this situation as
sinful and unjust. Therefore ignorance of the gospel allows many grave injustices to
prevail in the world. Conversely their prevalence is one of the principal obstacles to
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the acceptance of the gospel. Today more than ever the gospel message needs to
be preached, a message which when read and interpreted in the light of the present
situation, must be prophetic and liberating.
2. Sacred Scripture
2.1 The Old Testament stresses that the most disastrous consequence of sin is the
destruction of a world that God had created good and just. God first revealed himself
to his chosen people as the God who hears the cry of the oppressed and has decided
to come and set them free from their oppressions (see Ex 3:7-12). Exploitation,
oppression and class distinction in the time of the prophets showed how deeply
sin had permeated the social, political and economic relationships among people.
The prophets, often seething with anger, unmasked the social and political. Structures
of Israel as abominable and sinful in the eyes of Yahweh (see Is 1:11-17; Jr
22:13-17; Am 5:10-14; Mi 3:9-12). They stood openly on the side of the oppressed
and exploited and proclaimed that Yahweh himself takes the side of the poor. Their
proclamation contained the promise that he would restore the world to justice and
peace through his Spirit-filled Messiah, the "Prince of Peace" (see Is 2 and 11).
2.2 Jesus himself in line with the traditions of the prophets was convinced that God
hears the cry of the poor. Through his criticism of the rich he fought for the restoration
of the rights of the oppressed. He therefore addressed the proclamation of the
good news particularly to the poor and underprivileged (see Lk 4:18). Although he
did not propose concrete programs of social reform in this time, he nevertheless
criticized religious practices and social relationships which enslaved the human person
and identified himself with the marginalized to offer them God's preferential
love.
2.3 The early church interpreted Jesus correctly when it, identified him with the least
of the brethren (see Mb 25:31-46). His kingdom message, which means than God
turns with unconditional love to all and with preferential love to the poor, became
the moving force that likewise enabled his disciples to turn unconditionally to their
neighbors (see Lk 6:36) and give their lives for their brothers and sisters (see 1 In
3:16). The community of disciples that emerged after Easter was deeply concerned
with the poor in their midst (see Ac 4:32), a community in which all class distinctions
had disappeared on the basis of their new unity in Christ (see Ga 3:28).
3. The Mission of the Church and Our Religious-missionary Calling
3.1 The church on various occasions and at all levels has seriously reflected on the
situation of the world today in the light of sacred scripture. More and more the
church has come to realize that faithfulness to Jesus' kingdom message and his
preferential love for the poor entails an active involvement in transforming unjust
structures and promoting justice and peace. Consequently the church's mission of
proclaiming the gospel today implies participation in creating a new world order that
better reflects the kingdom of God already present in the world (see Evangelii Nuntiandi
8 and 30).
3.2 As an international religious-missionary Society, our participation in the mission
of the church today necessarily implies a commitment to promote justice and peace
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in solidarity with the poor and oppressed. In fact our special chrism as missionaries
demands that we proclaim the gospel especially at the frontiers of human society,
where the struggle for justice and peace is most acutely felt. Likewise our specific
vocation as religious calls us to exercise prophetic ministry in the church by being
particularly sensitive to the signs of the time expressed in the people's aspirations
for justice and equality. In a situation where the will to dominate, disordered sexuality
and the desire to possess are often the roots of injustice and oppression, our
vowed life is a privileged means of effective evangelization and a true witness to justice
(see Evangelii Nuntiandi 69).
3.3 In one form or another concern for the poor and the underprivileged has always
been at the center of the efforts of SVD missionaries. But it gains new meaning
and urgency in the light of the present world situation. Today it calls for an active
participation in efforts not only to care for the victims of poverty but more
specifically to eradicate its causes by transforming unjust structures and promoting
justice and peace. Our religious-missionary calling therefore challenges us today to
move out of entrenched positions in the church into new socio-political situations.
In this way we may offer the believing community as a whore new models of what
it means to be church in these changed situations (see "The SVD in Mission Today",
Rome 1981, 5.2).
II. Our Response to the Challenge
1. Prerequisites for Our Response
our response to the challenge to promote justice and peace in solidarity with the
poor requires us fist of all to examine our lifestyle and traditional apostolic commitments.
1.1 Conscientization and Insertion into the Life of the Poor
The personal background of some of us and the education we have acquired very
often insulate us from the poor. Our commitment to promote justice and peace will
never be real if we continue to live in a world where we feel secure and comfortable.
Only a constant process of conscientization and a critical analysis of the sociopolitical
situation in which we live and work can open our eyes to the plight of the poor and
oppressed. Therefore we should make use of every opportunity to share more
closely, at least for a time, the misery, insecurity and frustration that is the lot of so
many today (Cf. Witnessing to the Word 7, 1981, III A + Q c 209. 1).
1.2 Our Personal and Communal Lifestyle
The demands of our apostolate are sometimes used to justify our personal and
communal lifestyle, which often does not reflect the poverty we have vowed. We can
give witness to our preferential option for the poor only if our personal and communal
lifestyle is marked by simplicity, generosity, hospitality, genuine concern for the
poor in our surroundings and justice to our employees.
1.3 Our Relationship with One Another
Despite the internationality and clerical-lay character of our Society we do not always
overcome discrimination in our communities. Our commitment to the promotion
of justice will be meaningful only if the barriers of race, culture and status
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among us are transcended by the spirit of love and respect for one another (see Ga
3:28).
1.4 Our Complicity in the Structures of Injustice and Exploitation
As a large-scale institution that has to provide necessary means for its apostolate,
we set up support enterprises that are often caught up in structures which cause
much injustice and exploitation. Nevertheless our commitment o promote justice
demands that we critically and honestly examine our complicity in these structures
and whenever possible dissociate ourselves from them. We should also seriously try
to find other ways of securing means to support our apostolate (see "The SVD in
Mission Today" 4.2 c + d).
1.5 Our Institutions of Learning
Although most of our educational institutions began as mission schools for the poor,
some of them in the course of the years have developed into schools that cater to
the rich or the middle class. Our commitment to the promotion of justice should become
visible in these institutions by making them places where people are educated
in the gospel values of justice and charity and awakened to their Christian responsibility
towards the poor and oppressed in society- This holds true for all our institutions
irrespective of whether they are in the first or third world (see "The SVD in
Mission Today" 4.4.b). Likewise our preferential option for the poor demands that
our schools be open as far as possible to those who have no access to other institutions
of learning. We should seriously consider closing down those which do not
achieve these goals (see "The Pastoral and Missionary Slant of Our Schools", Rome
1981, II. 6; c 109.3).
1.6 Our Publications and Communications Apostolate
Publications and the mass media have always played an important role in our task of
proclaiming the gospel as a missionary society. Our involvement in the mass communications
apostolate should complement our preferential option for the poor by
focusing on justice and peace issues. In this way we set ourselves up as the voice of
the voiceless (see Witnessing to the Word 4, 1979, I - H; "The SVD in Mission Today"
4.4a).
2. Direct Apostolic Options
Our response to the challenge of promoting justice and peace in solidarity with the
poor calls us to engage more directly in apostolates for and with the poor. However,
since problems of in justice and oppression take on various forms in different parts
of the world, our response may have to vary from one province to another. Nevertheless
we can delineate the following as the main types of activity our commitment
may take:
2.1 relief services directed towards immediately ameliorating abject conditions of
poverty brought about by natural calamities or social upheavals;
2.2 social projects aimed at helping the poor, who nevertheless remain for the most
part simply passive recipients of aid (e.g. dispensaries, orphanages, etc.);
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2.3 development programs directed towards organizing the poor into self-reliant
communities where they become the principal agents of their own liberation and development;
2.4 conscientization or the process of awakening the poor to their own needs and
potentialities, accompanying them in their struggle for equality and participation in
the decision making processes that affect their lives and awakening the rich to realize
that structures which protect their interests are very often the cause of misery
for the poor;
2.5 speaking out publicly against actual cases of human rights violations and abuse
of power or in favor of specific measures that promote justice and defend human
rights;
2.6 participation in and support of peace movements that protest against the misuse
of national and international resources for building up conventional or nuclear armaments,
or that work for disarmament and the promotion of peace;
2.7 a more radical presence among the poor by adopting their lifestyle as fully and
completely as possible in a more or less permanent way (see Witnessing to the Word
7, III – A + C; c 209.1).
III. General Principles
1. Practical Guidelines
Whatever form it may take, our response to the challenge of promoting justice and
peace in solitarily with the poor should be directed towards their true welfare and
separated from proselytizing. The primary purpose of all our efforts should therefore
be to foster serf-reliance. This idea should be constantly present in all our decisions
even when it cannot be realized immediately (Witnessing to the Word 7, III - C). To
achieve this goal the following can serve as practical guidelines.
1.1 Projects should be designed to meet the real needs of the poor as felt by them
rather than as perceived by us. Moreover we should always respect their human
dignity and never exploit their misery and suffering in our efforts to secure means to
help them.
1.2 Projects will meet the real needs of the poor only if they are preceded by a careful
social analysis of their situation, and if they themselves participate in the planning
and implementation of these projects. Any form of paternalism will only keep them
imprisoned further in dependency.
1.3 Projects should take into account and develop available local resources in such a
way that their continuance can be guaranteed even without outside assistance. Projects
should also take cognizance of existing and potential problems of the physical
environment (Witnessing to the Word 7, IV - A).
1.4 Our own involvement in these projects should be such that local leaders can
emerge and be trained to eventually take oven the responsibility of these projects.
This will demand patience and adaptation to the rhythm of the people. Nevertheless
the training of local leaders should be one of our main concerns.
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1.5 All our efforts should be accompanied by the process of conscientization, by
which the poor and oppressed are awakened to their own possibilities of directing
their lives and shaping their future.
1.6 Since we are not the only ones committed to promoting justice and peace, we
should be prepared for critical collaboration and dialog with existing organizations
that work for justice and peace (see "The SVD in Mission Today" 4.3).
1.7 In our dealings with civil authorities, our attitude should always be in accordance
with the spirit of the gospel and our prophetic charism (c 314). However taking into
consideration the concrete circumstances of the country, we should also make them
understand through personal dialog and honest discussion that the gospel we proclaim
demands respect for human rights and promotion of justice. This way we show
due respect to the office entrusted to them.
2. Theological Principles
Our involvement in promoting justice and peace in solidarity with the poor should
constantly be based on the conviction that the kingdom of God is a call to transform
the structures of this world in order to keep alive the hope for a "new heaven and a
new earth", where justice and peace will ultimately and definitive triumph (see Rv
21:1). Our preferential option for the poor should therefore be thoroughly animated
by the spirit of the gospel.
2.1 Our commitment to the promotion of justice and peace should never be a function
of any ideology but flow from Jesus' own predilection for the poor and marginalized
2.2 Even if our involvement may require a choice of a concrete socio-economic program
of reform, our support of and collaboration with such a program should always
be critical insofar as no historical socio-economic system can ever be identified with
the fullness of the kingdom.
2.3 In the face of the destructive violence of oppressive and unjust structures, our
involvement in promoting justice can easily tempt us to overcome violence with violence.
Although a few extreme situations may justify its use (Populorum Prognessio
31), we should however always choose the gospel principle of overcoming evil with
good (c 112.3).
2.4 The preferential option for the poor brings us into extremely complex realties
that call for enlightened responses on our part. Our praxis in the promotion of justice
and peace will be effective for people and meaningful for us only if it is constantly
accompanied by genuine theological reflection and apostolic discernment.
2.5 Solidarity with the poor in the light of the kingdom demands a spirituality deeply
aware that the human liberation we seek is not only a task but also a gift. If it were
only a task, our involvement could easily lead to bitterness, cynicism and despair.
But since it is also a gift, we can then persevere in faith and hope. Understanding
that, God's kingdom is already operative in the present enables us to radiate joy in
the midst of situations which humanly speaking may appear utterly hopeless.
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IV. Conclusions
1. Since it is a demand of our common religious-missionary calling, all of us should
manifest a definite commitment to promote justice and peace in whatever kind of
apostolate we may find ourselves engaged in. Some of us, however, may feel called
to a more active involvement in it. This should never be allowed to divide our communities.
A constant process of communal discernment and open dialog should bring
about understanding and respect for one another despite a legitimate disagreement
on particular issues. We should likewise be ready to support a confrere who decides
to take on a more active role even when we do not share his particular views and
convictions.
2. Our commitment to the promotion of justice and peace in solidarity with the poor
entails the risk of becoming controversial, being labeled leftists and subversives, or
seeing benefactors reduce or completely stop their financial support. This, however,
should never be a hindrance to objective assessment and evaluation of the social
situation and to prayerful discernment of an appropriate response in the light of the
gospel (see Witnessing to the Word 4, I - H). In some cases noninvolvement may
not be prudence but acquiescence to an unjust, situation.
3. The promotion of justice and peace is not an easy commitment to make. It demands
a constant process of conversion to him who became poor to make men rich
through his poverty (c 207). It was because of his poverty that Jesus could take his
stand with the poor. Similarly it is only in solidarity with the poor that we too can
perform the prophetic role entailed in our religious-missionary calling. But if we decide
to take our role as prophets seriously, we must also be prepared to share the
fate of the Crucified One. Ultimately perseverance in this commitment rests not on
the premise of success for our efforts but on lively confidence in the grace and
power of the Risen Lord.
*****
Resolutions Passed by the Twelfth General Chapter on
November, 1982.
1. The Twelfth General Chapter adopts in principle the paper "The Promotion of Justice
and Peace in Solidarity with the Poor in the Light, of Constitution 112" as an appeal
to the members of the Society to show in response to “Witnessing to the Word”
7 (Introduction) a more determined commitment to the promotion of justice and
peace in solidarity with the poor. By doing so the chapter offers this paper as a point
of departure for reflection and discussion on this issue on the provincial and local
levels.
2. The Twelfth General Chapter encourages the appointment of a coordinator for the
social apostolate on the provincial level in order to guarantee the implementation of
the first resolution.
3. The Twelfth General Chapter mandates the general council to coordinate and foster
the efforts of confreres in the promotion of justice and peace through a secretariat
or coordinator for the social apostolate at the generalate.