Mission Intention for the Month of July

(July 01, 2010) Urban Culture: That Christians may strive to promote everywhere, but especially in our cities, education, justice, solidarity, and peace.
For the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. All over the world, people are leaving rural areas and moving to cities with a hope to find a better life and often they do. Urban life offers opportunities for employment, education, advancement, and community. Cities can be catalysts for collective action and social accountability. And, from the Christian point of view, cities have served the evangelization of peoples since the first days of the Church. Opportunities abound in the city, but this month’s mission intention implies that cities also face special challenges. We think immediately of poverty, violence, crowding, segregation, and pollution. The Holy Father asks us to pray for ourselves and for other Christians that we may strive to overcome these challenges by promoting education, justice, solidarity, and peace, especially in cities. To do so is part and parcel of our obedience to Jesus Christ’s commandment to spread the Kingdom of God. To promote education is to advocate the formation of the whole person through attentive parenting, moral teaching, formal schooling, and job training. To promote justice is to seek fair play and equality, respecting every person’s God given dignity and rights. To promote solidarity is to affirm that we are members of communities, social beings who find fulfilment in relationship to others. During this month we pray and work for good things for all people, especially those in our cities.