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The life and teachings of Jesus Christ call us to work for justice, peace, human rights, and development. All Christians share by their baptism in the mission of Jesus. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus describes this mission in the following way: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,Because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim release to captivesAnd recovery of sight to the blind,To let the oppressed go free,To proclaim the year of the Lord's favour. (Luke 4:18-19) The Australian Catholic Social Justice Council (ACSJC) was set up by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) in 1987 as the national justice and peace agency of the Catholic Church in Australia. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference mandates the ACSJC to promote research, education, advocacy and action on social justice, peace and human rights, integrating them deeply into the life of the whole Catholic community in Australia, and providing a credible Catholic voice on these matters in Australian society. In this way the ACSJC seeks to bring good news to the poor, release to captives, sight to the blind and freedom to the oppressed. The ACSJC is accountable to the ACBC through the Bishops' Commission for Justice, Ecology and Development.

The work of the ACSJC is based on Catholic Social Teaching and is a contribution to this living social justice tradition. The ACSJC works in ways that affirm and express the following beliefs: Every human being is made in the image and likeness of God and has an inalienable and transcendent human dignity which gives rise to human rights. People are always more important than things. People are never a means or an instrument to be used for the benefit of another. Every human person is equal in dignity and rights. Every human community, every race and culture is equal in dignity and rights. The human family is one because we are all children of the one God. We are all really responsible for each other and must work for social conditions that ensure that every person and every group in society is able to meet their needs and realize their potential.

Catholics are not and never have been just a group of people who gather together because they believe the same things. The Church was founded by Jesus Christ as an institution with a definite structure. Over time, obviously, this institution has become much more developed. Today the Church is a highly complex and organized body with its own laws and legal system. However, while the Church has developed since the first century, the fundamental structure remains the same. Jesus founded this institution with one head and a small group of leaders under that head, and the bishops and the Pope today are the successors of Peter and the Apostles.

It is good and necessary to strive to imitate Jesus and follow the teachings of Jesus, but by themselves these things are not enough. First of all, of course, we know that without some teaching authority to speak definitively on behalf of Jesus on earth, there are inevitably many disagreements about how exactly to follow the teachings of Jesus. In each disagreement, someone will be wrong and thus fail to follow the true teaching of Jesus. Furthermore, and even more importantly, it must be recognized that Jesus came to bring not only teaching, but above all redemption and salvation. No matter how carefully we try to live by his teaching, we cannot save ourselves. Salvation is a supernatural gift, which we can only receive from God through Jesus Christ. For that to occur, we need real contact with Jesus, and that is precisely what we can have through the Church in the sacraments. The Apostles and their successors have passed on the sacramental power given to them by Christ to priests in every generation. Without the Church structure instituted by Christ for this purpose, there would be no more sacraments, and our link to Christ would be lost. In addition, when Jesus offers us salvation through the Church, he offers us more than just external contact with him. One of the traditional terms used for the Church is the "Mystical Body of Christ." This is not just a meaningless pious phrase, but rather expresses a crucial truth. By being part of the Church we are incorporated into a mystical Body with Christ as the Head.

A body needs to have structure and the ability to act in a unified way. Jesus Christ himself, as the Head of the Body, is the ultimate unifying principle of the Church. Christ, though, chose to work through human beings, and as a result the structured nature of the Church is a necessary aspect of the Mystical Body of Christ. One can make an analogy between the hierarchy in the Church, and the bones in a physical body: the Church is far more than just the hierarchy, as the body is far more than just its bones, but both are completely necessary and must be present in their entirety to hold the body together properly. One sometimes hears presumably well-meaning people say things such as "You and I are the Church," or occasionally even the more grammatically offensive "We are Church." A real understanding of the Church, however, tells us that this is not exactly true. Individual Catholics are members of the Church, and in a certain sense it can be said that we make up the Church, but without the structure Jesus gave us to hold his Mystical Body together, Catholics would be just a group of individuals devoted to Jesus.

(a) Conscience as emotive response. On this view, conscience is nothing more than an emotive response conditioned over time by genetic factors, environment and other socializing factors, in addition to psychological forces deep at work in our own psyche.  So conceived, conscience—particularly when manifested as guilt—is to be overcome or ignored or otherwise harmoniously integrated into our own everyday life in a way that it does not become an obstacle to our “life style choices,” “values,” “self-projects,” and so on.

(b) Conscience as built in moral guidance system. Here, conscience is understood to be a kind of natural faculty or power. Some depict it as the very voice of God who, through conscience, can guide our actions directly.  If not so depicted, it is presented as at least responding to the external dictates of moral authority in the manner of an internalized moral GPS: “do this,” “avoid that,” “too much more and you will cross the line,” and so on.

(c) Conscience as moral sense. A third misconception, presents conscience as a kind of intuition which simply cannot be accounted for or explained in terms of human reasoning. Sometimes called the “moral sense,” conscience, from this viewpoint, must be developed much like developing the ability to judge a good wine, pick a winning race horse, assess a person’s character, or keep a group of school children well behaved and attentive.

You must follow your conscience A fundamental principle of Catholic morality is that you must follow your conscience. But be careful: there's a strong tendency for all of us to distort the full meaning of that principle! We tend to use it as a giant loophole for doing any old thing that we'd like. A well-formed conscience will never contradict the objective moral law, as taught by Christ and his Church. (Catechism, 1783-5, 1792, 2039) A safe way to read this principle is: if your conscience is well-formed, and you are being careful to reason clearly and objectively from true moral principles, then you must follow the reasoned judgment of your conscience about the morality of a specific act. Otherwise, seek reliable guidance in forming your conscience.

Conscience does not always judge properly. Out of ignorance or bad reasoning, it can judge wrongly. Erroneous judgment is often our own fault, and can have many causes (from Catechism, 1791-2): Lack of care in forming our conscience or our powers of reason Misunderstanding conscience Damage caused by repeated and habitual sin Following the bad example of others Rejection of Church teaching Ignorance of Christ and the Gospels Neglecting the work of our conversion to Christ Neglect of charity If our conscience errs and we're responsible for the error, then we are guilty of the evil committed. We are not guilty for the evil if we're not responsible for the error. But even if the guilt is not imputable to us, it's still an evil act. This greatly hinders our ability to advance in the moral life and live in union with God. As Pope John Paul II puts it: ...[T]he performance of good acts... constitutes the indispensable condition of and path to eternal blessedness.... Only the act in conformity with the good can be a path that leads to life.... If [an act is not good]..., the choice of that action makes our will and ourselves morally evil, thus putting us in conflict with our ultimate end, the supreme good, God himself.

The good or evil of specific acts shapes our whole life. We choose God or reject him specifically in the morality of our actions. We must choose to do good in order to choose God, grow in freedom, sanctify ourselves, and let God's grace work in us to make us "children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life." (Catechism, 1996) Moral conscience is the key that makes this moral life possible: it is exactly how we know what the good is in specific cases, and it beckons us to always choose the good. And even when we choose wrongly, conscience calls us to seek God's merciful forgiveness so that we can begin again. Praise the Lord! Wonderful are his works.

Father, you have given all peoples one common origin. It is your will that they be gathered together as one family in yourself. Fill the hearts of mankind with the fire of your love and with the desire to ensure justice for all. By sharing the good things you give us, may we secure an equality for all our brothers and sisters throughout the world. May there be an end to division, strife and war. May there be a dawning of a truly human society built on love and peace. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

These causes and others like them came to be labeled social justice issues. At their heart lay the increasingly strident insistence that there exist certain indispensable essentials that are the entitlement of every person on earth simply by virtue of their shared humanity. The list of basic human rights includes, but is not limited to, food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education and adequate employment. Certainly they should head every civil government's agenda, but where, if anywhere, does the Church find a place? The foundation for Christianity's involvement in social issues was poured by many of the prophets of the First Testament. Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos and others called loudly and often for the fair treatment of the disadvantaged. Jesus was unquestionably familiar with their words. In fact, as we shall see a bit further along, he used Isaiah's social justice platform in the address that launched his own public ministry.

The brusque Letter of James could probably be summarized in a single sentence, "Don't just stand there; do something!" For James, all the devout piety in the world isn't worth much if it isn't backed up by action. This short letter, which is usually attributed to the James who was a blood relative of Jesus, has occasionally been misread to suggest that, if we just put our shoulders to the wheel, we can work our way to heaven. Actually, he does not suggest that at all. Let's allow him to speak for himself: "But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves" (Jas 1:22). "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,' and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead" (Jas 2:14-17).

The word pray comes from the Latin word precari, which simply means to entreat or ask. In fact, although pray is not often used this way anymore, it can simply mean “please,” as in “pray continue your story.”

While we often think of prayer primarily as asking God for something, prayer, properly understood, is a conversation with God or with the saints. Just as we cannot hold a conversation with another person unless he can hear us, the very act of praying is an implicit recognition of the presence of God or the saints here with us. And in praying, we strengthen that recognition of the presence of God, which draws us closer to Him. That is why the Church recommends that we pray frequently and make prayer an important part of our everyday lives.

 “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” (St. Therese of Lisieux, Manuscrits autobiographiques, C 25r)  -  Prayer (for me personally) is a conversation with my best friend, my brother and my King, Jesus Christ.  It is not a monologue or a “quiet time” or a time simply to analyze and reflect on things, but a real “back and forth” dialogue from the heart with someone who loves me very much and has a very concrete plan for my life.-   “The life of prayer is the habit of being in the presence of the thrice-holy God and in communion with him, it is the elevation of the soul to God.” 

Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his face; he may run after idols or accuse the deity of having abandoned him; yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer.  In prayer, the faithful God’s initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a response.”  (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2567).  Christ wants so badly to spend time with us in prayer, he wants to console us, to strengthen us, to remind us who we are and why we are here! As we contemplate Christ, we must never forget that he is also contemplating us with intense love. 

We are members of the oldest Christian religion in the world. The Catholic Church was founded in the year 33 by our Lord Jesus Christ. We have the real body and blood of Christ in our communion and bishops are in constant succession from the apostles through the laying on of hands through 2,000 years.The Papacy is the oldest existing institution in the world.

In the year 33 there were no hospitals. Today, one out of five people in this country receive their medical care at a Catholic hospital. In the year 33 there were no schools. Today, the Catholic Church teaches 3 million students a day, in its more than 250 Catholic Colleges and Universities, in its more than 1200 Catholic High Schools and its more than 5000 Catholic grade schools. Every day, the Catholic Church feeds, cloths, shelters and educates more people than any other organization in the world. We should all be proud to be Catholic

Non-attenders and attenders share some common ground regarding the role of the churches in society. Both groups see churches primarily as moral guardians and helpers of the poor and needy. They are also seen as being important providers of opportunities for public worship and a range of social services. Expectations differ, however, between attenders and non-attenders in relation to the churches’ role in providing meaning or direction: attenders across all denominations place great importance on such a role, whereas for non-attenders it has a low priority.

Differences between age groups in perceptions about the roles of the churches raises the question as to whether the priorities of attenders will shift in future. We do not know whether attenders, as they grow in age and develop in faith, will come to adopt similar priorities to those of today’s older attenders or whether, because of the vast social changes that have influenced their formative years, will always see the role of churches differently. The very different approach of younger Catholics, compared to younger Anglican and Protestant attenders, adds complexity to this issue. However, it is quite possible that the churches in Australia may well face an ongoing re-evaluation of core functions, as young attenders become leaders.

In the Old Testament we see God's continual involvement in the lives of the Israelites through appointed prophets. God delivered, instructed and admonished the Israelites. He made His motions in a visible, specific and formal way. He always did so through human hands, mouths, feet, minds and wills. God established a law and a means for executing it.

In concert with His redemptive act, Jesus did three things that established the framework of His Church. First, He chose humans to carry out His work. He appointed Peter to be the visible head of the Church. Jesus said to Peter, "You are Rock and on this rock I will build my Church." (Matthew 16: 18) Jesus said "build," as in to create a structure. Jesus built His structure on specifically chosen human beings Peter and the apostles. Second, Jesus gave Peter and the apostles the power and authority to carry out His work. "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven."(Matthew 16:19; 18:18) "Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, whose sins you retain, they are retained."(John 20:23) Third, Jesus gave Peter and the apostles commands as to what that work should be. At the last supper, He commanded, "Do this in memory of Me." (Luke 22:19) He commanded them to "Make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19), and to "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)

God rules, instructs and sanctifies His people through His Church. Under her teaching office, the Catholic Church preserves the Word of God. She is the custodian, keeper, dispenser and interpreter of teachings of Christ. And she accomplishes this under the protection of the Holy Spirit.

As Jesus is the original sacrament, so we who are baptized into the risen Christ become sacrament. Today it is Christ's body the Church which is the sacrament, the revelation of the loving plan of God. The Second Vatican Council teaches that Jesus "rising from the dead, sent his life-giving Spirit upon his disciples and through this Spirit has established his body, the Church, as the universal sacrament of salvation" (The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, #48). The Church itself is sacrament. Another point in enriching our understanding of sacrament is to think of sacraments not so much as something we receive but something that we are. We are sacrament, instruments of grace; we are the ordinary way God graces today's world.

The process that I start to take them through is what some call "Sanctifying the Whole Day." I am not sure where this concept comes from (though I am sure I picked it up somewhere), but it does have its roots in early monasticism as well as the writing of St. Paul. St. Paul tells us to pray unceasingly and the Orthodox monastics try to do just that and in so doing they sanctify the day, or in other words they sanctify the ordinary.

Part of the process is to begin to see everything as being interconnected. God created all that we see and continually renews His creation. The tree is connected to the soil and so on, but we also need to see how we, humanity, fit into this equation. God created man in His image and likeness and placed Him in the garden, Genesis tells us. He gave this creation dominion over everything and told man to name each and every plant and animal. The creator did this and so we are now connected, in a spiritual way, to all of the creation. We have an obligation to care for this creation, and in order to do this we must be able to see the creator in His creation.

Another part of this process comes from the founder of Opus Dei, Josemaría Escrivá. The philosophy of Opus Dei, the charism is you will, is to "Find God in Daily Life." By this Escrivá means that if you are a janitor then you are the best janitor that you can be; if you are a CEO of a Fortune 500 company then you are the best CEO you can be. We do our work, no matter what it is, to the glory of God.