Catholic Social Teaching for Priests and Nuns Held
New Delhi (CBCI News): The workshop on Catholic Social Teaching for a Just Odisha was organized by CBCI Office for Justice, Peace and Development, New Delhi and Odisha Forum for Social Action (OROSA), Bhubaneswar 14-15 February at Red Cross Bhawan, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The objective of this workshop was to educate the priests and nuns on Catholic social teaching to join hands with other civil society groups for promoting justice and peace in Odisha for a better and just Odisha. Around 85 participants both priest and nuns from 5 dioceses took part effectively and involved in the process and discussion till the end. The facilitators of the workshop were namely Fr. Charles Irudayam, Secretary, CBCI-JPDO, New Delhi; Mrs. Lalita Mishal, NAOW, Bhubaneswar; Sr. Justine, SJM, Bhuabaneswar; Mr. Dhirendra Panda, Secretery, CSNR, Bhubaneswar; Mr. Jugal Kishore Ranjit, Human Rights Activist; and Fr. Ajay, the director of OROSA.
The workshop was inaugurated by Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Odisha. In his inaugural address he asked the participants to interiorize Catholic social teaching and live it out through their social activism. He insisted that the knowledge of Catholic social teaching is essential today for the Catholic social activists to respond to social issues in their effort to bring justice and peace. He also pointed out that “the Social Teaching of the Church has a formative value as it aims to uphold and restore human dignity”. Fr. Charles Irudayam highlighted the historical development and the principles of Catholic social teaching that urges Catholics to respond to the signs and the challenges of the time and to enter into social activism. With concrete examples and data, the other facilitators stressed the importance of human rights mechanism, gender sensitivity, human trafficking, minority rights, budget allocation, etc. In their action plan the diocesan directors of social works decided to strengthen the regional network and to plan for similar workshops in the diocesan level inviting the priests, religious and lay faithful of their dioceses. They also resolved to network with other regional, national and international groups to work for a just Odisha.
The Catholic Social Teaching workshop in Bhubaneswar is the second in a series of two-day workshops on Catholic Social Teaching that the JPD Office has planned to organize in different parts of India, in order to commemorate the fiftieth year of the Vatican Council II. Such workshops would help generate a new breed of Christian leaders who vivify civil society and its structures with the leaven of the Gospel, the JPD Office hopes.