As we enter the 21st. century, the Redemptorists of the Edmonton-Toronto province here in Canada are taking small steps to make sure that a socially committed faith remains part of our apostolic presence in the country. A search for a spirituality and a deeper meaning is in the land. That spiritual search must be connected to the struggles of those less fortunate among us. To hear and understand the call of the gospels, one must see that we journey to God as a people, as a community. What we do to the least of our brothers and sisters we are doing to the God lived and revealed in Jesus the Christ. It is all of a piece.
The Redemptorists are coming to the conclusion that rather than leading such a concern, we might put our limited resources and interests into accompanying movements that are already going on in civil society. We must work together for the common good and have the concern of the marginalized and abandoned at heart. To help us decide a path and a way forward we have invited five persons with a committed social faith to join us as we try and discern where we might put our energies. All five work and live with the cry of the less fortunate ever before them. Over the next few months together we hope to find a small but significant commitment to those left behind and out in the cold of our society, while at the same time deepen our own socially committed faith.
Something To Think AboutIf we could shrink the earth’s population to a village precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following. There would be:
* 57 Asians * 21 Europeans * 14 From the Western Hemisphere, both North and South * 8 Africans * 52 Would be female * 48 Would be male * 70 Would be non-white * 30 Would be white * 70 Would be non Christian * 30 Would be Christian * 89 Would be heterosexual * 11 Would be homosexual * 6 People would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth and all would be from the U.S. * 80 Would live in substandard housing * 70 Would be unable to read * 50 Would suffer from malnutrition * 1 Would be near death * 1 Would be near birth * 1 (yes only 1) would have a college education * 1 Would own a computerWhen one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for both acceptance and understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.
Paul E. Hansen
Redemptorist
