Major Theological Reflections - Research Paper Example

? Theological Reflections THEOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS Introduction Mercy’s co-worker appreciation dinner is an extension of Catherine McAuley’s mission to take care of the poor, while seeking to celebrate their contributions to Jesus Christ’s healing ministry. Catherine McAuley’s House of Mercy, which was opened adjacent to the Bank of Ireland, was done with the intentional purpose of taking care of the poor and making feel part of the family of Christ1. However, just as the Sister’s of Mercy now know, McAuley realized that mercy and charity are not mutually inclusive, despite their connection. Rather, they require the servants of Christ to utilize different degrees of commitment2. The forthcoming co-worker appreciation dinner will require increased levels of commitment that seek to go beyond charity. Rather, it will be important to recognize the workers for their unwavering commitment to the Sisters of Mercy’s mission, their hospitality, and their service. As Catholic employers, Mercy has the ability to show support for their poor and lowest paid co-workers through showing preferential option for the poor and vulnerable, as well as showing respect for their dignity. The Preferential Option for the Poor and Vulnerable The theological concepts of dignity and providing preferential treatment for the poor are concepts that have always been at the forefront of our core values and mission at Mercy. Providing preferential treatment for society’s poor also applies to lowly paid co-workers at Mercy, as well. It is our belief that touching the needy is akin to touching Jesus Christ. The last judgment has an essential role to play in our traditional Catholic faith; especially because the church teaches that we stand judged by what we elect to carry out towards the prisoners, homeless, sick, thirsty, and hungry3. In modern times, the Church teaches us the same through the preferential option for the poor. Nonetheless, why should we preferentially love the poor above the others? Why should we ensure we put their needs first? It is because the good of society and the common good require that we do this. Powerless and poor is the opposite of powerful and rich and, if the common good and societal good is to be victorious; it is our duty to offer preferential protection for those whom the presence of privation and absence of power affects to a large extent. We are asked to do this by the church and failure to do so will break the required balance that holds society as one, which will be to the detriment of the whole society4. Preferential treatment for the poor is referent to the trend of giving preference to the life and wellbeing of society’s powerless and poor, as we are taught by the commands of God, the Church, as well as righteous people and prophets. Christ himself spoke to us about judgment day, contending that God will seek to know from each one of us what we did in aid of the poor and the needy5. He told us that whatever we do for the least of his brothers, we did for him, which is also reflected in the canon laws of our Mother Church. Catholic faithful, the law tells us, are obliged to go out and promote justice for all in society and that we must remain mindful of the Lord’s precept to help those who are in need and poor. Nevertheless, how does the appreciation dinner at Mercy accomplish this? The quoted doctrine asks us as Catholics to show compassion and solidarity with the poor through our deeds, as well as our prayers. For this reason, when instituting any measures at Mercy, it is essential that we always ensure to keep at the forefront the preferential option for the poor. The doctrine’s implications are that any society’s, including Mercy, moral test lies in how we treat our poor and vulnerable members6. We are asked to ensure that the policies and activities at Mercy must factor in the vulnerable and the poor. Pope Francis has begun his journey with teachings on why the Church must now become one with the poor. He has taught love for the needy, the sick, prisoners, orphans, and widows. At Mercy, it is the lowest paid workers that we must ensure we make part of us and an integral part of our ministry. There are positive signs that thee is a growing awareness of the poor’s plight in our society, as well as increased solidarity among society’s weak and vulnerable7. By virtue of our duty as members of the Church, we are called upon to stand alongside the poor, aid them in their search for satisfaction, and understand their requests as calls for justice. All this we should seek to do sans losing sight of the power that groups have with regards to the common good concept. At Mercy, as Christ’s followers, it is our challenge to help preferentially our lowly paid co-workers by giving them a chance to voice their marginalization and be heard, defend them, and assess our activities and policies in terms of how they affect them. By holding an appreciation dinner for our lowly paid co-workers, we are not seeking to pit them against the others. Rather, it is part of our calling to strengthen the entire community through offering appreciation and assistance to our more vulnerable co-workers8. The Scriptures teach us that how we treat the poor will be the basis of our judgment, just as the covenant between Yahweh and Israel depended on the manner in which the Israelites treated the strangers, orphans, and widows, as they were unprotected and poor9. Throughout the New Testament and the history of Israel, God uses the poor as his agents of transformative power. Jesus, in the Book of Luke, tells us that God anointed him to give the poor the good news. As Sisters of Mercy, it is clear that this preferential option is actually not an optional one. As such, it is our duty to uplift the spirits of the poor in concrete and real ways. We are called to view the world from the poor’s perspective and work with them for justice and solidarity in justice10. The appreciation dinner seeks to do just this as we appreciate them for who they are and what they do in the ministry of Christ. The principle of the Dignity of the Human Person Dignity acts as the foundation on which the rest of our values lie, asking us to respect everyone as they were formed in God’s very image. Our mission should seek to nurture those who are called by God to contribute to the world’s sanctification through the leadership of the Holy Spirit11. All people in the world are created according to the image of God and were redeemed with the crucifixion of Christ. Thus, everyone in society is worthy to be accorded respect as an invaluable member of our society. This teaching is a fundamental one for both the Church and Mercy. All people, in disregard of their intelligence, health, economic status, national origin. Age, sex, or race is worthy of our respect. It is not what our lowly paid workers have or what they do that affords them claims to be respected. Rather, it is our belief at Mercy that simply being human beings affords them their dignity. The Catholic Church teaches that the human person and his dignity are an ends, rather than a means12. Our Church’s teachings on our social responsibility as Mercy begin with the human being. However, it is up to us to remember that, while the poor in our society have their dignity as individuals; Catholic social thought does not have any place for individualism13. Therefore, human dignity affords our lowly paid co-workers a claim to being members of a community, which is why the appreciation dinner is important in shoring up their dignity and for us to show that we respect their dignity. The Gospel of Christ is one of life and at Mercy; we believe that the Gospel calls us to anew life, which we will live in abundance in respecting the dignity of all humans14. How will the appreciation dinner allow us to celebrate the dignity of our co-workers? Will it not make them feel isolated and needy? The understanding that all people were created in God’s image is fundamental to the human dignity principle. That we were all redeemed by Christ and are destined to be reunited in union with Christ makes us all worthy of respect as part of society and the human family15. It is our calling to respect all members of society and of our community at Mercy with the same sense of amazement and awe that; we should have in the presence of the holy and sacred. At mercy, our tradition as started by Catherine McAuley teaches us that the poor and needy are sacred from when they were conceived to when they die. It is our calling to consider those individuals who are vulnerable, weak, and poor as deserving of respect. A key measure of any institution lies in whether they enhance or threaten the dignity, as well as life, of their fellow human beings. An essential factor that leads to denial of man’s inherent dignity is discrimination, such as that based on economic status16. Mercy arranged for the appreciation dinner for our co-workers with the aim of enhancing their human dignity and according them respect for what they contribute to our work. This principle to respect and upraise the dignity of our fellow men, especially those who are poor and vulnerable, does not stop at protecting them from harm17. Instead, it asks us at Mercy to revere life by proclaiming a fresh life culture and loving life without the care for their superficial status. With the appreciation dinner, it is us as Mercy saying yes to the dignity of all man in deed and in word, drawing on Christ’s strength and following Mother Mary’s example. We say yes to uphold the dignity of the lowly paid workers in joy and gratitude at each human person’s incomparable dignity, which enables us to share our message of service to the poor and vulnerable with all that will hear us. In many workplaces, workers are normally judged by their economic status, as well as their ethnic background that has a dramatic effect on their economic status also18. However, at Mercy, we do not forget that all people’s conditions are worthy of the highest respect and dignity. Everybody must embrace our condition as human beings since God elected to live on earth in the form of a man. Since we at Mercy, as Catholics, believe in the interdependency of everyone according to the social traditions of our Church, it is our responsibility to take care of everyone19. Taking into account that our lowly paid co-workers are human beings and, therefore, need be treated with dignity and respect is a critical aspect of our lives. Being lowly paid denies them the livelihood they would want and other essential rights that are necessary for the human dignity to be preserved. The social teachings given to us by our Mother Church provide us with a powerful argument in appreciating the work of our co-workers with an appreciation dinner, especially in a world that is increasingly capitalist and materialistic20. Carrying, on from the vision, to strive with the oppressed, marginalized, and poor for fullness and justice of life, we seek to show our appreciation and respect for their dignity, Even in the middle of sin, we seek to celebrate how holy life is in our everyday lives, proclaiming our hope for resurrection in Christ. We are imbued with inherent dignity as God’s creatures and as human beings, of which it is our duty to protect at Mercy. Poverty and low pay are not punishments from God. Rather, it is another example of the suffering man must encounter on earth where Christians and Christ are able to find solidarity in their suffering and brokenness21. Conclusion By taking the decision to unite, as well as acknowledge each of our co-worker’s unique personality and gifts by holding an appreciation dinner for them, Mercy seeks to convey a feeling of ownership, belonging, and equality. To meet the needs of our co-workers, it is essential that we imbue the appreciation dinner with the principles of human dignity and the preferential option for the poor. By giving our co-workers a sense of dignity and respect through our actions of preferential treatment, we seek to give them a feeling of liberation from their current status , while at the same time improving Mercy’s collaboration strategy for a common mission. Bibliography Diller, Janelle. M. Securing Dignity and Freedom through Human Rights, Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2012. Dorr, Donal. Option for the Poor and for the Earth: Catholic Social Teaching. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2012. Massaro, Thomas. Living Justice: Catholic Social Teaching in Action. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2012. Naude, Peter. "In defence of partisan justice - an ethical reflection on “the preferential option for the poor”." Verbum et Ecclesia 28, no. 1, 2007: 166-190. O'Sullivan, Mary. Catherine McAuley and the Tradition of Mercy, Dublin: Four Courts, 2010. Soulen, R. Kendall. God and Human Dignity, Grand Rapids, Mich. [u.a.]: Eerdmans, 2006. Wadkins, Timothy. "Getting Saved in El Salvador: The Preferential Option for the Poor." International Review of Mission 97, no. 384-385, 2008: 31–49. Read More