Walking Together

Being in solidarity is recognising others as our brothers and sisters and actively working for their good. From the food we eat and the clothes we buy, to the news we read and the websites we browse, we are connected to people and places all over the world.  

In our connected humanity, we are invited to build relationships – whakawhanaungatanga – to understand what life is like for others who are different from us; to help us understand what life is like for the poorest, most vulnerable, most overlooked, wherever they are in the world.  

As a human family we commit to work together for the well-being of all to ensure everyone has what they need to live with dignity.

Searching the Scriptures...

Social Justice teaching is founded on firm scriptural foundations.

• 'There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.'
  Galatians 3:28

• 'If one member suffers, all suffer with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it.’
  1 Corinthians 12:26

• ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’
  Mark 9:37

...And in the light of Catholic social teaching.

‘While modern society places more importance on one’s own interests regardless of or even to the detriment of others…[true Christians] ban individualism in order to encourage sharing and solidarity.’
Pope Francis, General Audience, June 26, 2019

• ‘I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security...More than by a fear of going astray, my hope is that we will be moved by fear of remaining within structures that give us a false sense of security...while at our door people are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: ‘Give them something to eat’ (Mk 6:37)’
  Pope Francis: Evangelii Gaudium, paragraph 49, 2013.

• ‘Respecting human dignity is important in any profession … because even behind the simple account of an event there are sentiments, emotions, and ultimately, people's lives.’
  Pope Francis, Audience with National Council Order of Journalists, 2016

• ‘‘Solidarity is also an authentic moral virtue, not a ‘feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good. That is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all.’
  St John Paul II, as quoted in the Compendium of Catholic Social Teaching, paragraph 193