{"id":3516,"date":"2015-10-01T08:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-10-01T00:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=3516"},"modified":"2021-11-26T09:34:14","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T01:34:14","slug":"137-laudato-si-on-the-plight-of-the-poor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=3516","title":{"rendered":"137. Laudato Si &#8211; God&#8217;s Poor in God&#8217;s Creation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>\u201c<span style=\"color: #008080;\">Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker,<br \/>\nbut those who are kind to the needy honor him<\/span>.\u201d<\/strong> [<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Proverbs 14:31<\/span>, <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>NRSV<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Laudato-Si.52.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" title=\"Laudato Si.52\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Laudato-Si.52.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"872\" height=\"499\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>[1] Pope Francis and the Preferential Option for the Poor<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Upon his election to the papacy, Pope Francis has candidly disclosed, the Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes leaned over and whispered in his ear, \u201cDon\u2019t forget the Poor.\u201d In choosing the name Francis for his papacy, the Holy Father responded definitively that he has indeed not forgotten the Poor. Quite the contrary, since the outset of his pontificate, he has set a seal on it, declaring to the world by his name-choice a set of agenda inspired by Christianity\u2019s most glorious saint from Assisi: the Poor, the environment and peace. First on the list is the Poor. It will be a pontificate of the Poor and for the Poor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What he has been clearly and explicitly trying to do since is to put attention to the poor and needy at the core of who we are as Church and who we are as Christians. The universal Church he was elected to lead, he insists, shall be a Church of the Poor and for the Poor. In so insisting, he is taking his marching order straight from <em>the Kingdom-life and message of<\/em> <em>the Jesus of the Gospels<\/em>, to whom he has for long been convinced we need to be pastorally-converted, if we are to put this world &#8211; both its natural environment and its social environment &#8211; aright again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In <em>Laudato Si\u2019<\/em>, therefore, we can expect to see conspicuously embedded a \u201cconsistent ethic of life\u201d for the Poor, or as Archbishop Blaise Cupich of Chicago now renders it, a \u201cconsistent ethic of solidarity\u201d with the Poor. This consistent ethic is grounded in the conviction that all human life is sacred and all human persons have fundamental dignity, a conviction rooted in the belief that human beings are created in the image of God.\u00a0In other words, we can expect nothing short of a <em>subtext<\/em> on the Poor in this encyclical, even as he writes with urgency on the pressing ecological crisis confronting us all.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He speaks of how the cry of the earth and the cry of the Poor are one, pointing out the <em>interconnection<\/em> of all forms of poverty \u2013 environmental and human \u2013 and the need to address them in an integral way.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together; we cannot adequately combat environmental degradation unless we attend to causes related to human and social degradation. In fact, the deterioration of the environment and of society affects the most vulnerable people on the planet\u201d [LS, 48].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>[2] How Are the Poor Affected in the Ecological Crisis?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">With experience as pastor to the Latin American Poor, the Holy Father is acutely aware of the unromantic harsh realities confronting the Poor of the earth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He identifies the many ways in which they suffer from environmental degradation and climate change: atmospheric and water pollution from the waste of mines, farms, factories and throwaway consumer products [LS, 20-22] and intensive use of fossil fuels [LS, 23]. Whether it is depleted fishing grounds, polluted drinking water or homes leveled by storms in rising seas, the Poor suffer the worst consequences of ecological decline, including threats to their means of subsistence and forced migration [LS, 25]. The issue of fresh drinking water threatens poverty-stricken areas and is particularly acute in Africa [LS, 28]. The loss of biodiversity and deforestation threaten not just individual species, but entire ecosystems and the human communities that depend on them [LS, 32-41].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Analysis of environmental degradation in the encyclical zeroes in on the decline in the quality of life and the breakdown of society, especially in urban life. It laments the impoverishment of the quality of life for hundreds of millions by \u201cenvironmental deterioration, current models of development and the throwaway culture\u201d [LS, 43]. Cities are becoming increasingly less hospitable to human life [LS, 44].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Clearly, the deterioration of human ecology and human habitat are as much the pope\u2019s concerns as the loss of the natural environment. And this has to do with the Catholic Church\u2019s social teaching where the dignity of the human person, especially the Poor, commands special attention.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>[3] To What May We Attribute the Plight of the Poor?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Planet warming, <em>Laudato Si&#8217;<\/em> declares, is symptom of a greater problem, including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The developed world&#8217;s <strong>indifference<\/strong> to the destruction of the planet as the global north pursues short-term political and economic gains.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The rich\u2019s <strong>indifference<\/strong> to the plight of the Poor in profit-seeking.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The individuals\u2019 <strong>indifference<\/strong> to environmental degradation, both ecological and social.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The resultant \u201c<strong>throwaway<\/strong> <strong>culture<\/strong>\u201d: unwanted items and unwanted people [the unborn, the elderly, the poor] are discarded as waste.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It is a bald fact that people in poverty have contributed least to climate change, and that the burden on the planet represented by large poor families is incomparably less than the burden of the lifestyles of small rich families in \u201cdeveloped\u201d economies. And yet, the Poor are disproportionately impacted by environmental decline. Through excessive use of natural resources by wealthy nations, those who are poor experience pollution, lack of access to clean water, and hunger. Land and people suffer injury from the same structural evils: unbridled capitalism, uncontrolled technology and short-sighted politics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the light of this, the encyclical raises the two powerful questions described in terms of \u201cecological debt\u201d and \u201csocial debt\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Paragraph 30, for example, speaks of the water crisis for the poor. It insists:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<em>access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and, as such, is a condition for the exercise of other human rights<\/em>. Our world has <strong>a grave social debt<\/strong> towards the poor who lack access to drinking water, because\u00a0<em>they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity<\/em>.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Paragraphs 51 and 52 pose a blunt challenge to rich nations, multinational companies, and big businesses to search their conscience on what the Pope calls their \u201c<strong>ecological debt<\/strong>\u201d. Technological and economic development must serve human beings and enhance human dignity, instead of creating an economy of exclusion, so that all people have access to what is needed for authentic human development. Protecting nature is incompatible with failure to protect life, especially vulnerable human beings, such as unborn children, people with disabilities, or victims of human trafficking.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So Pope Francis drags us back to where Catholic social teaching began in the industrial revolution and colonialism and the relationship between the developed nations and the developing nations. Because of their excessive consumption pattern, does the developed world not owe an ecological debt to vulnerable populations that are suffering the brunt of ecological damage and climate change?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Actions that came under judgment include the following:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Development aid has been used to control developing nations, to set their agenda for them.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Precious resources are taken from the developing world to basically satisfy \u201csuper-development\u201d fired by the level of consumption in affluent societies.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Unscrupulous extractive practices leave behind mercury pollution in gold-mining and sulphur dioxide pollution in copper mining.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Gas residue deposits now affect all countries.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Export of solid waste and toxic liquids to developing countries.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Multinational companies leave behind great human and environmental liabilities including depletion of natural resources, deforestation, open pits and polluted rivers, and plenty more.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The \u201csystem of commercial relations and ownership\u201d, the Pope says, \u201cis structurally perverse\u201d [No.52]. Bargaining powers are grossly unequal and unjust; there is no level field. The debate is always dominated by more powerful interests. Greater attention must be to the needs of the Poor. At this particular time, the migrant-crisis has boiled over in Europe. \u00a0In his September visit to America, Pope Francis mentioned the fact that he is son of migrant parents.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The ferocious pace of economic and technological development has also caused severe inequality. Not only has economic growth of the past two centuries not always led to an integral development and an improvement in the quality of life, especially for the Poor, there are also signs that are \u201csymptomatic of real social decline, the silent rupture of the bonds of integration and social cohesion\u201d [LS, 46].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Poor and the excluded are particularly hurt by the social segregation of classes in contemporary society. They have all but been reduced to \u201can afterthought\u201d, referred to in \u201ctangential way\u201d, kept in the \u201cbottom of the pile\u201d, and treated as mere \u201ccollateral damage\u201d in international political and economic discussions.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThis is due partly to the fact that many professionals, opinion makers, communications media and centres of power, being located in affluent urban areas, are far removed from the poor, with little direct contact with their problems. They live and reason from the comfortable position of a high level of development and a quality of life well beyond the reach of the majority of the world\u2019s population. This lack of physical contact and encounter, encouraged at times by the disintegration of our cities, can lead to a numbing of conscience and to tendentious analyses which neglect parts of reality\u201d [LS, 49].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>[4] A call for examination of conscience<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The document as a whole is an invitation to an examination of conscience. The Pope is a Jesuit, and this invitation is very Ignatian in that instead of a condemnation in the document, what we hear is a tone that invites us to meditation in a very clear, readable and spiritual way. And yet, to be sure, there is judgment, and a pretty strong one at that. At times, it is even very blunt. But, it is really that Ignatian method that makes it a very strong invitation into a profound examination of conscience, as individuals, as community, as a nation, as a multi-national company, as a church, as a world [see LS, 51-52].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In our conscience-examination, we might ask ourselves what we have been doing in our pursuit of happiness, a very human pursuit to be sure. Called to serious question are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>[1] the pursuit of individual happiness, made into an ideal in our time, to the point of ignoring and disregarding the basic truth that the happiness of the individual depends on its relationship with the rest of human beings;<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>[2] the pursuit of financial gain, without taking the context into account, let alone the effects on human dignity and the natural environment.<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The pontiff always condemns the impoverishment of developing countries by the world economic order. In Bolivia recently, he said: \u201cLet us not be afraid to say it: we want change, real change, structural change,\u201d decrying a system that \u201chas imposed the mentality of profit at any price, with no concern for social exclusion or the destruction of nature.\u201d Quoting Basil of Caesarea, a fourth century bishop-saint, he called the unfettered pursuit of money \u201cthe dung of the devil\u201d, and said poor countries should not be reduced to being providers of raw material and cheap labour for developed countries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Insisting that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach, he wants to see the integration of questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor [LS, 49]. Clearly, he is challenging business men and women, politicians and economists to face some hard questions:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Are they yielding to an economic model which is idolatrous?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In their business model, are human dignity and long-term human welfare sacrificed on the altar of money and profit?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Are they conscious of the environmental evils and social injustices precipitating from their business style?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Are the interests of the Poor and excluded positively factored into their policies and execution?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Is essential human dignity denied, or is it promoted and ensured within the vocations of business leaders and politicians?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>[5] The use of the Cain and Abel story<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Kevin-Carter.3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" title=\"Kevin Carter.3\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Kevin-Carter.3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"323\" height=\"206\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Kevin-Carter.6.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" title=\"Kevin Carter.6\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Kevin-Carter.6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"276\" height=\"207\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Kevin-Carter.5.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" title=\"Kevin Carter.5\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Kevin-Carter.5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"278\" height=\"208\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Pope\u2019s aim is transparently to arouse a sense of deep communion with the rest of nature. But this sense of deep communion, he insists, cannot be had, if we do not develop a deep sense of love for the Poor. He goes on to say that this sense of deep communion with the rest of nature &#8220;<em>cannot be real<\/em> <em>if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings.<\/em>&#8221; Upon the fundamental conviction that everything in creation is connected, he writes: &#8220;<em>Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a sincere love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society<\/em>\u201d [LS, 91].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The story of Cain and Abel is at the forefront of the Pope\u2019s consciousness. Not only does he mention this in paragraph 70, he emphatically stressed it in his visits to Ecuado and elsewhere. And he always challenges his audience with the question: Will our answer continue to be: \u201cAm I my brother\u2019s keeper?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Some questions we imagine this down-to-earth Holy Father would lay before each one of us are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[1] Do I profit on the suffering of others? <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[2] Do I resist the throwaway culture? <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[3] Do I practice inter-generational and intra-generational solidarity? <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[4] Am I suffering from spiritual indifference and am actually spiritually lukewarm? <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[5] What kind of social and ecological environment am I leaving for the next generation? <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[6] Do I resist the technocratic paradigm and help the young to do the same? [e.g. get a few families, or a group of children to spend a weekend in a park, free from electronic gadgets?] <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[7] Do I teach the young properly in terms of these things? Do I teach them to receive a gift with a proper attitude of gratitude, to learn to say \u201cThank you\u201d?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[8] Do I remember God the Creator and his gifts to me?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[9] Is my heart open to the care of the natural environment?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[10] Is my heart open to the care of the Poor?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Reflected in questions such as these, is Pope Francis\u2019 theological vision of <strong><em>a cosmic family of creatures of the one God<\/em><\/strong>. It is a profoundly spiritual vision as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cAll of us are linked by unseen bonds and together form a kind of universal family, a sublime communion which fills us with a sacred, affectionate and humble respect\u201d[LS, 89].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It is in this lived vision, as in Saint Francis\u2019 fraternity of God\u2019s creatures (Brother Sun, Sister Moon), that we can overcome the alienation from one another, especially the alienation of the advantaged from the disadvantaged, the rich from the Poor, and the estrangement of humanity from our common earthly home.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" style=\"color: #008080;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Laudato-Si-and-the-Poor.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"876\" height=\"438\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Copyright \u00a9 Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh, October 2015. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #000000; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"mailto:jeffangiegoh@gmail.com\">jeffangiegoh@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong> You can also be dialogue partners in this\u00a0<em>Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry<\/em> by sending us questions for discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThose who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor him.\u201d [Proverbs 14:31, NRSV] [1] Pope Francis and the Preferential Option for the Poor Upon his election to the papacy, Pope Francis has candidly disclosed, the Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes leaned over and whispered in his ear, \u201cDon\u2019t <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=3516\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh","author_link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?author=1"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?cat=1\" rel=\"category\">From Our Perspective<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"\u201cThose who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor him.\u201d [Proverbs 14:31, NRSV] [1] Pope Francis and the Preferential Option for the Poor Upon his election to the papacy, Pope Francis has candidly disclosed, the Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes leaned over and whispered in his ear, \u201cDon\u2019t&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3516"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3516"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6834,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3516\/revisions\/6834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}