The author’s understanding OF CHURCH and social mission
BASTIN ANITO
Introduction:
Book title : Church and social justice
Author :
George V. Lobo, S.J.
Publication : Gujarat
Sahitya Prakash
Length : x +170
Biography
Fr. Lobo was born in Mangalore on 5 th
October 1923. He joined the Society of Jesus in June 1945 and was ordained a
priest in November 1956. After obtaining his doctorate from Gregorian
University, Rome, he joined the staff of Vidyajayoti, Delhi, where he taught
for 19 years, and in 1980, he was transferred to the Papal seminary, Pune.
He was a prolific writer and lecturer,
as evidenced by his many written publications, and the courses and lectures he
gave all over India and abroad. His field of work was especially the renewal of
Moral Theology after Vatican II, the application of moral principles to
Christian and professional life, and the social teaching of the church. His
memory will be cherished by the many people whose lives he touched, and will
remain an inspiration for others to dedicate themselves to the service of the
church and of India.
Fr. George V. Lobo, S.J. passed away on
30th April 1993 during a train journey on his way back to Pune. By
the death of Fr. Lobo, the church in India has lost a competent moral
theologian, an able professor and a successful spiritual guide. May he rest in
the peace and joy of the Lord.
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK
The church:
According
to author, the church is presented as means of salvation, its essential mission
being to lead men and women to salvation. In order to prove his standpoint, the
author has quoted the Vatican II document on the dogmatic constitution on the church
(lumen Gentium), no 5, “the church is to proclaim and to establish among all
peoples the kingdom of God.” Therefore, the church is not called upon to
propose an abstract doctrine, but orientations for active involvement in the
transformation of the world.
The mission of the church:
J. Moltmann says, “what we have to
learn … is not that the church has a mission. The mission does not come from
the church. It is from mission and in the light of this mission that the church
has to be understood.”[1] Therefore,
here the mission of the church is to promote human dignity, to defend human
rights and build just societies. It does not mean the church is leaving holy
ground and entering an unholy world that is alien to her. The ground on which
she sets foot to proclaim her social teaching is already holy ground, which was
effectively influenced by Christ’s redeeming grace. Therefore, the commitment
to social justice is integral to the church’s social mission.
The Latin American Bishops documents
of Medellin, 1968, emphasized the need of working for the liberation of the
poor as part of the church’s mission of evangelization. Here, the relationship
between evangelization and liberation as dialectical. Evangelization is
incomplete without liberation in the sense that liberation is incomplete
without evangelization. Evangelization includes liberation in a transformative
way. Therefore, the church evangelization means bringing the good news into all
the strata of humanity and through its influence transforming humanity and
making it new.
religion and politics:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “The world
was entering a time of ‘no religion at all’ and so Christianity must shed the
outer garb of religion. The future task of theology was to develop a religionless
interpretation of the Gospel”. [2] Here
religion and politics are two of the most important dimensions of human life.
Religion is the expression of man’s longing for ultimate meaning in life and
his striving towards transcendent destiny. It is concerned with the ultimate
values of the human person and society and the realization of the deepest human
aspirations. Politics is the way of organizing man’s secular life in order to
achieve the common good and thereby the conditions needed for realizing human
values in society. In some situation, it became an instrument of statecraft. The
earthly kingdom, instead of being a means of achieving the common good of human
society, became a means of oppression sanctioned by religion.
The author has proposed some points to
avoid such evil from religion like 1) the religion can play the role of
transformation by inspiration and service. 2) The religion cannot canonize any
political system. 3) The church must vigorously fulfill her prophetic role and
strive for justice and liberation. The church must be ready to face the
inevitable conflicts that these will provoke.4) the religion must project the
image of a truly religious community, and not merely of a philanthropic
organization or a mighty institutional structure. The more the religion sheds
worldliness, the more she will be able to help the world.
Liberation theology:
The purpose of theology is formation,
transformation, conservation, change. Theology does not mean to acquire
something but it is life experience. P. Freire explained in ‘Pedagogy of the
oppressed’, “education is the practice of freedom depending on political
decision to make persons fully alive in their concrete situation”. [3]There
are two approaches to doing theology, the first one is the deductive approach
and the second one is inductive approach. The deductive approach sets out from
scripture and church teachings. It insists on a systematic elaboration of
doctrine. The inductive approach is a spiritual reading of lived experience in
the light of the biblical faith. It insists on responsible involvement in
action in order to discover the true implications of the Christian faith for
today. C. Boff says, “It tries to articulate a reading of reality beginning
from the poor and with a concern for the liberation of the poor; to do this it
uses the humane social sciences, engages in theological meditation and calls
for pastoral action which helps the way of the oppressed. So, liberation
theology, developed from such grass roots reflection by the base communities of
the poor and oppressed. The author also affirms this view and says, “A new way
of theologizing is praxis- based and praxis – oriented.” At last, the author
proposed that the most fruitful effects of liberation theology are the
development of new liberation spirituality.
Critical evaluation:
Ø The
author presented his views very logically and systematically. The author has
quoted many documents regarding the church standpoint on social justice and he
referred some other eminent writer’s sayings to support his thoughts.
Ø This
book is the collection of the articles, which the author presented them in
various Indian and Asian seminars. Therefore, the author has brought out the
theme very well in Asian context.
Ø The
author gives a lucid explanation to introduce his ideas. I hope
that the readers cannot get bored up of reading this book because of the
coherent and simple language, which is used by the author in this book.
Ø The
author has particularly chosen the items, which deal with basic issues, so that
the purpose and mode of Christian involvement in the social and political life
of people in Asia might be clarified.
Ø I
agree with the author’s view on liberation theology, because the author never
separates the liberation theology from spirituality. Instead of separating
them, the author combined these two elements and saying, “The liberation
theology is rooted by spirituality.”
Disagreement:
v I
do not agree with the author’s view on religion. He says, “ religion is the
expression of man’s longing for the ultimate meaning in life and his striving
towards his transcendent destiny.” This idea seems to be traditionalistic
approach. According to me, religion is the expression of one’s own searching
for human dignity.
v The
author is depending only on the church documents, which seems to the handbook
for his work.
v The
author says, “The church documents take more into account the situation in poor
countries”. I disagree with him in this view because, the church documents will
not bring any change in the world but it will throw some light to reflect on
the issues and also it is impossible the roman authorities to know all the
local situations. It is the task of the
local churches to apply this teaching, to reflect on the local situation in the
light of this teaching, and take effective measures to defend people when their
rights are violated.
[1]
George V. Lobo, Church and social justice,
(India : Gujarat Sathiya Prakash,1993), 3.
[2]
George V. Lobo, Church and social justice,20.
[3]
George V. Lobo, Church and social justice,51.
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