2011-02-11 16:19:15

Faith in a better world


Archbishop Vincent Nichols introduces a new website resource on Catholic Social Teaching that has been launched by a UK network of over 60 charities, religious orders and dioceses. Packed with stories, reflections, prayers, videos and podcasts, the new website has the ideas and actions needed for connecting one’s faith to the wider world.

The project for launching the new website resource was hosted by the development charity, Progressio, named after Pope Paul the 6th’s groundbreaking social encyclical Populorum Progressio. The charity’s Executive Director is Christine Allen and she told Susy Hodges how and why the idea was first conceived.

Referring to the joke that Catholic social teaching (CST) is the Church's best-kept secret, Allen says following repeated requests a small group of them decided to launch the website as a resource for the Church and "so it came out of the will of the people." Allen explains that the website deals with CST's core issues such as "human dignity, solidarity, respect for the environment and to one another, workers' rights, peace and development."

Although CST is contained in a raft of church documents and encyclicals, Allen says "very often the documents themselves are quite impenetrable, they're quite difficult for people to get their heads around." She says CST is often a politically sensitive issue because it is "very challenging to the status quo, it asks us to think differently about how we see the world, about who benefits... and who loses out in our society."

The aim of this new website, she continues, is "to make it more accessible" by linking it to real-life stories and situations ... it's very much about helping people to engage with CST."
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