{"id":816,"date":"2011-04-01T08:00:51","date_gmt":"2011-04-01T00:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=816"},"modified":"2022-04-07T10:08:17","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T02:08:17","slug":"28-the-human-person-adequately-considered-hpac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=816","title":{"rendered":"29. The Human Person Adequately Considered [HPAC]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThen God said, \u2018Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness<\/span><\/strong>\u2019\u201d [Genesis 1:26<\/span>].<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Leonardo da Vinci, The Vitruvian Man<\/em>, c.1487.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently we were invited to speak on human trafficking at the Conference of Religious Major Superiors held at the Sibu Pastoral Centre. It gave us an opportunity to reflect on some fundamental moral and theological underpinnings for pastoral work not only in this field but also in general.<\/span><\/p>\n

Human trafficking covers a wide terrain. It offers consumers a list of \u2018products\u2019 – child soldier, domestic servant, exotic dancer, manual labourer and, topping the list at all times, human bodies for sexual exploitation. According to the International Labor Organization, there are over 12 million people in forced labor or sexual servitude at any given time throughout the world. The majority of these victims are women; half are children.[1]<\/a> They are often ensnared through fraudulent advertisements that promise a better life abroad via a good job or a chance at an education, or kidnapped outright or sold by their own relatives. Throughout the world, ignorance, poverty, unemployment, and regional instability ensure a steady availability of victims to exploit. Traffickers routinely confiscate victims\u2019 passports or identification papers so as to forestall any hope of escape or possible rescue by Christian groups and legal authorities. They also double as pimps, forcing the women they prostitute into an enduring state of debt and dependence. Like the illicit trade in arms or drugs, this is a purely profit-oriented industry. Far worse than illegal arms and drug trades, human-trafficking is commerce in one commodity \u2013 human beings. At the start of the 21st<\/sup> century, human trafficking has become a multi-billion dollar industry built on consumer demand for a single “object” – fellow human beings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Clearly, human trafficking is first and foremost a violence <\/strong>committed against the human person. It is a violence against her personal freedom, her life, her dignity. We propose that to do ministry to alleviate the situation, we would do well to begin with the task of describing and acquainting ourselves with what is meant by the \u201chuman person\u201d in Christian understanding.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coming from Louvain, our thoughts are guided by the writings of the late Professor Louis Janssens[2]<\/a> on the human person. Of world renown in the field of moral theology, Janssens has made original contributions to the study of the human person through the theme which he coined as the \u201chuman person adequately considered<\/strong>\u201d \u2013 HPAC<\/strong><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Take a hard look at the acronym \u2013 HPAC. Notice especially the last two letters. We can trace all the evils in the world to the wanton neglect to consider the other person as a human person at all, let alone to adequately consider<\/em> him or her as one. Doctoral studies and entire books have been published focusing on the HPAC[3]<\/a>. The strength and attraction in Janssens\u2019 study is its strong links to Scripture and the anthropology of Gaudium et spes <\/em>(GS) – the major pastoral document that came out from the Second Vatican Council, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World<\/em>. HPAC is a useful synthesis and a convenient starting point for reflection on the human person and on moral decision-making.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the HPAC?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The human person, adequately considered<\/em>, has at least eight continuous dimensions, present not as separate elements but as elements that can be distinguished and are nevertheless simultaneously present:<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] HPAC stands in relation to God.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

While this is a typically Christian understanding, we appreciate that its truth applies to all people. Non-believers may experience this dimension differently from believers. For them, it may be more a relation to the totality of reality. For Christians, our understanding is that created in the image of God, the human person is called to know and worship this Creator. With an openness to God, we live in faith, hope and love.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scriptures teach that men and women are created in the image of God (GS 12, 15, 16, 17). What is this \u201cimage and likeness of God\u201d? This likeness is seen most clearly in the exercise of our intellect<\/em> and freedom<\/em>. God resides in the very depth of a human person. That is our conscience, our secret core, our sanctuary. It is only in true freedom that we can turn ourselves towards what is good. Our dignity in the image of God therefore requires us to act out of conscious and free choice, driven purely from that inner conscience, and neither by blind impulse which may be enslaved by passions, nor by mere external constraints. What human trafficking does is to deny that image of God by robbing victims of their freedom through slavery and external coercion.<\/span><\/p>\n

The passage \u201cYou shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free\u201d (John 8:32) is worth repeating over and over. Of course, this truth is freedom, and freedom to live a life to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, as we are instructed throughout the Word of God, is our goal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Practical importance:<\/span><\/p>\n