Economists say Catholic ethics could benefit global economic policy

By Chaz Muth
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Economists from Catholic institutions worldwide may differ in their approach to solutions for the economic crisis, but all agree a global strategy is required.

The same economic scholars from U.S., Canadian and Australian Catholic universities also said while the Catholic Church may not be able to direct economic policy it can contribute most effectively by leading the charge in philanthropic endeavors that will ease the suffering of the most vulnerable caught up in the international crisis.

"The key concern of the Catholic Church should be, as always, to look out for the poor and vulnerable, both at home and in poor countries," said Linda Nielsen, an economics professor at St. Mary's University College in Calgary, Alberta.

"The church has lobbied local, provincial and federal governments effectively in the past, has been a kind of 'social conscience,' and hopefully this will continue," she said.

Though a few of the economic scholars believe Christian theology should be considered by world governments when charting policy to address the global fiscal crisis, at least one thinks the Vatican should refrain from endorsing a specific plan.

"I don't see how the Vatican has a comparative advantage in economic theory," said Walter E. Block, an economics professor at Loyola University in New Orleans. "Should the Vatican take a position on the best way to cure cancer, the best way to promote space exploration? No, since they do not have expertise in any of these things either."

Pope Benedict XVI said Feb. 26 that the global economic crisis has contributed to the delay of his new social encyclical, because he needs more time to comment accurately on the financial chaos.

If the encyclical "does not deal competently with the economic reality, it cannot be credible," Pope Benedict said during his annual question-and-answer session with more than 400 priests ministering in Rome. During that session a pastor from a poor neighborhood asked how church members could do more to push for real reform of the global economic system.

Block and other economists at Catholic institutions believe leaders of the Catholic Church and its philanthropic arms can use their clout to enlist more volunteers, raise charitable contributions and extend aid to people all over the world who have been adversely impacted by the global economic crisis.

"Local churches should be attentive to the poor in this crisis, including the 'working poor' and families whose breadwinners have lost jobs and homes," Nielsen told Catholic News Service. "The media has not yet given much play to the hardships suffered in the world's poorest countries, because of this meltdown."

"For example," she said, "the collapse of commodities markets has deprived some developing country inhabitants of their only source of income, and their countries have no social safety nets to protect unemployed, malnourished individuals."

The pope also should urge world leaders to infuse economic policies with Christian ethics, said Paul Oslington, an economics scholar at Australian Catholic University in Sydney.

"The separation of economics from ethics has been less clean than the separation from theology, and economics has subsequently conducted long-term relationships with utilitarianism and certain types of positivist philosophy, along with brief flirtations with other varieties of ethics," Oslington said.

"Today we are left with a very thin account of economic life as satisfying individual preferences. There is nothing in such an account to provide balance or an overall sense of purpose," he said.

The Vatican also could provide moral clarity as governments deal with the global economic crisis, said Fred Foldvary, an economics professor at Santa Clara University in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"Recognizing that while greed and fraud played a part, the fundamental problem is the injustice and economic harm of government's fiscal policies," Foldvary told CNS.

"Taxation wrongly takes the bread earned by the worker, while government subsidies enrich the landowners, creating inequality and poverty, while luring speculators to free-ride on economic growth, fueling their greed until it causes a crash," he said.

All the economists interviewed by CNS agreed that the current economic crisis originated with the collapse of the U.S. housing market and that the American economic system is somewhat to blame for the ensuing international financial disintegration.

They also said it will take a collaborative effort among world leaders to stimulate global economic health.

Their opinions varied widely on economic solutions. Some endorsed amplified regulations on the markets to keep a check on individual greed, while others suggested that too much regulation in the free-market system was at the root of the economic meltdown and urged further deregulation.

Pope Benedict said emphatically the international financial crisis was caused by greed and selfishness.

Though the global financial system must be reformed and economic prudence must prevail, the pope said individuals also must accept the fact that they will have to make some sacrifices to help the poor and move the world toward justice.

END

ECONOMY-GLOBAL Mar-4-2009 (810 words)
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Catholics, Muslims begin to value how much they share across faiths

By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In the days following the Sept. 11 attacks, Dalila Benameur and her Muslim friends in Bridgeview, Ill., were afraid to leave their homes even when their pantries ran low and their refrigerators emptied. The women felt threatened by the handful of intimidating drivers who would cruise past the town's mosque waving Confederate flags and shouting anti-Muslim epithets.

That's when Andreatte Brachman and her friends from St. Fabian Catholic Church stepped in.

Brachman and company offered to accompany the women on errands as a sign of solidarity to alleviate growing concerns that Muslims hated America.

"It served almost as a bond," Brachman said of the outreach to the Muslim women.

Of course, it helped that the St. Fabian women had gotten to know their Muslim neighbors before the attacks as part of the Muslim-Catholic Women's Group that had evolved from the two faith communities several years earlier.

The group of 16-24 women had been meeting monthly since 1997, alternating between St. Fabian Church and the mosque in Bridgeview, one of Chicago's southwest suburbs. Participants continue to meet every month to explore the similarities and differences in their faiths and to share their commitment to serve the less fortunate.

In their discussions the women have explored what jihad truly means to Muslims -- an internal struggle to serve God -- and how each religion views Jesus. For Catholics, Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of the world; for Muslims he is a wise prophet who helps reveal God. At the group's Jan. 9 meeting, the women shared their common concern for the poor, rooted in the tenets of their two faiths, when they volunteered at a local shelter for homeless people.

"I think 9/11 taught a lesson to both communities that (interfaith dialogue) is needed, that there is a point in talking with each other," said Benameur, a native of France who migrated to the United States in 1995 and serves as dean of students at Universal School, a Muslim-run academy in Bridgeview.

The women's group is one example of numerous initiatives nationwide that have attempted to close the Catholic-Muslim divide. Some initiatives exist on a more formal level while others have been organized as one way to build bridges among people of the Abrahamic faiths, including the Jews.

Despite major theological differences -- especially related to the divinity of Christ -- such efforts have led Catholics and Muslims to see that there are enough similarities related to daily prayer, fasting, concern for others and respect for human life that can bring together members of both religious traditions. The initiatives also have explored connections between stories in the Bible and the Quran, the sacred book of Islam.

Three official Catholic-Muslim dialogues have been occurring since the 1990s: on the West Coast, in the Midwest and in the mid-Atlantic. These annual meetings have been sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Muslim leaders, particularly the Indiana-based Islamic Society of North America and the Islamic Circle of North America in New York.

The dialogues have explored various topics including daily prayer, the stories of Abraham and Joseph in the Bible and the Quran, the depiction of Islam within Christian fundamentalism and the different understandings of divine revelation. The discussion on divine revelation led to the 2006 publication of "Revelation: Catholic and Muslim Perspectives" by USCCB Publishing, about how God is revealed in the modern world.

Father Francis Tiso, associate director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said emphasizing the common beliefs and shared values in the dialogues is fruitful, but just as much can be learned by participants acknowledging and discussing differences.

"When dialogue is about differences there is a certain high relief that emerges that enables both sides to appreciate one another precisely for the differences," said Father Tiso. "There's an appreciation process ... when you really listen to the other side, what they're really saying or trying to communicate.

"(There is) the beauty of difference, the power of difference. There have been times when I have had the impression that a certain dullness creeps in when we only emphasize commonality," Father Tiso said.

The road to dialogue opened during the Second Vatican Council, when church leaders began outreach to non-Christian religions, especially Judaism, by adopting the Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions ("Nostra Aetate").

As dialogue between Jews and Catholics grew during the 1970s and 1980s, similar efforts began to include Muslims. By 1985, a formal dialogue emerged in New York under the leadership of John Borelli, who today is special assistant to the president for interreligious initiatives at Washington's Georgetown University and one of the country's foremost experts in Catholic-Muslim relations.

Dialogue efforts got a boost when "many bishops were taking note of the many Muslims around town," Borelli said. Eventually, Borelli began working in the Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, coordinating various programs to promote Christian-Muslim dialogue built around shared beliefs and values.

Borelli said Muslims felt called to dialogue with Catholics not only because of their shared beliefs but because "they see our story as their story." An immigrant people, Catholics gradually staked their role in American history by establishing faith communities, opening schools and building social institutions. Eventually they entered the middle class and became a political force in society.

"You are the success story we look to," Borelli recalled hearing time and again from Muslims he met across the country.

Sayyid M. Syeed, national director of the Islamic Society of North America's Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances in Washington, echoed Borelli's words.

"Catholics before us were a religious minority in America," Syeed said. "There was a mutual mistrust because earlier the idea was perhaps this country was only for Protestants. So Catholics did not give up. They did not change their names or their religion. They reached out, they struggled, they went through so much discrimination where the crosses were burned by the (Ku Klux Klan).

"Therefore, right from that time, there was a special relationship, a special understanding and a potential for learning from this whole process," he said. "Whatever they achieved from their struggle was actually for us, creating a ladder going up. The history of Catholicism was a trailblazer for Muslims."

Efforts to promote understanding also have spawned cross-cultural dialogue in settings that were not exclusively religious. During the last 10 years, professionals from both faith traditions have been involved in the Rumi Forum in Washington and the Rumi Foundation, a similar undertaking in Cleveland. Both organizations have introduced programs to promote understanding.

The two organizations take their name from 13th-century Persian poet, Islamic jurist and theologian Jalal ad-Din Muhammed Rumi. He believed poetry, music and dance were paths for reaching God. Rumi, whom many consider a mystic, believed that all people can live in peace regardless of their faith and cultural backgrounds.

"We want to show that if these religious traditions come together there will be a great, bright future for humanity," said Zeki Saritoprak, a native of Turkey who is an associate professor of Islamic studies at Jesuit-run John Carroll University in Cleveland and a founder of both organizations.

He makes the point that the combined populations of Christians and Muslims make up 55 percent of the world's population.

"In each tradition there are tremendous similarities, common themes," Saritoprak explained. "In the modern world we have really big problems: problems of poverty, problems of health, problems of anarchy, youth who are living dangerously. Here is where religions can come together to find solutions for problems."

END

MUSLIMS-CATHOLICS Feb-5-2009 (1,270 words)
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Obama, Blair talk about the roots of their faith, its influence

By Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- President Barack Obama and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair struck similar themes in remarks to the National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 5, telling of their own faith roots and noting that the world's major religions all hold a core doctrine of caring for others.

Obama also used the occasion to say that later in the day he would formally announce the establishment of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a reworking of the faith-based office established by President George W. Bush.

Later that morning Obama signed an executive order creating the new office and a new council of advisers.

Looking around the Washington hotel ballroom with thousands of guests from around the world, Obama said at the breakfast, "It strikes me that this is one of the rare occasions that still brings much of the world together in a moment of peace and good will."

Noting that by their very nature the beliefs of various faiths "will never be the same," Obama said, "No matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate. ... There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know."

Blair, who became a Catholic a few months after he left office in June 2007, made similar observations about the world's religions and their teachings about peace. He also said that "religion is under attack from without and from within. From within it is corroded by extremists who use their faith as a means of excluding the other. ... If you do not believe as I believe, you are a lesser human being.

"From without, religious faith is assailed by an increasingly aggressive secularism, which derides faith as contrary to reason and defines faith by conflict," said Blair, according to a text provided by his office. "Thus do the extreme believers and the aggressive nonbelievers come together in unholy alliance."

Both Blair and Obama told of how their experiences with people of faith helped inspire their own search for God.

Blair explained how a teacher knelt and prayed with him as he worried about his ailing father.

"Now my father was a militant atheist," he said. "Before we prayed, I thought I should confess this. 'I'm afraid my father doesn't believe in God,' I said. 'That doesn't matter,' my teacher replied. 'God believes in him. He loves him without demanding or needing love in return.'"

"That is what inspires," Blair said, "the unconditional nature of God's love. A promise perpetually kept. A covenant never broken."

Obama explained that he was not raised with strong religious traditions.

"I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were nonpracticing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I've ever known," the president said.

"She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done," he said.

He explained that he became a Christian after he moved to the South Side of Chicago after college. In his work as a community organizer, his office was in a Catholic church.

"It happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down on their luck -- no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to," Obama said.

"It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God's spirit beckon me. It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose -- his purpose," he said.

Obama said that sense of a higher purpose is what led many in the audience of varied faiths and nations to the annual prayer breakfast.

"We come to break bread and give thanks and seek guidance, but also to rededicate ourselves to the mission of love and service that lies at the heart of all humanity," he said. "As St. Augustine once said, 'Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.'"

The National Prayer Breakfast is a privately organized annual event that draws participants from around the world to several days' worth of events. Participation by the sitting president dates back to President Dwight Eisenhower.

Among world leaders who reportedly attended this year were Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Haitian President Rene Preval and the prime ministers of Albania, Macedonia and Mauritius. Current and past members of Congress, governors, Cabinet members and Supreme Court justices also are typically among the guests.

The event is closed to press coverage, except for a small group admitted with the president.

END
BREAKFAST Feb-5-2009 (820 words) Read more...

Measures promoting human dignity top concern for Catholic advocates

By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Promoting Catholic social teaching to politicians at the White House and in Congress is like riding a teeter-totter: first up and then down. The direction depends on the issue being debated and the party in power.

But no matter the direction, as John Carr, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, points out, the underlying principle guiding the Catholic legislative agenda in the 111th Congress remains unchanged: promoting human life and dignity.

"We've got a new administration and new Congress and the same principles," Carr told Catholic News Service a few days after the inauguration of President Barack Obama. "We have new opportunities in some areas and new challenges in others.

"The key issue is not which party it helps or what the president's approval rating is. It's whether the poor gain," he said.

Advocates such as Candy Hill, senior vice president for public policy and government affairs at Catholic Charities USA, are poised to take advantage of opportunities to discuss a broader social agenda, an area that took a back seat to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and homeland security concerns under President George W. Bush.

At the same time, explained Richard M. Doerflinger, associate director of the U.S. bishops' Office of Pro-Life Activities, pro-life advocates face more significant challenges. Despite Obama's offer to seek common ground on abortion, these advocates realize he is not going to call for an end to abortion altogether.

The changing political landscape in Washington has forced Doerflinger to adopt a defensive posture to preserve existing laws that protect unborn children. Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, in a Feb. 5 letter urged Congress to maintain all pro-life provisions in the appropriations bills that must be approved to keep government programs funded past March 5.

Doerflinger said the bishops also want to maintain the conscience rights of health care workers so they are not forced to participate in or refer women for abortion. Ensuring the survival of the Hyde amendment, which has banned the use of federal funds for abortion since 1976, is vital, he added.

In a step to help reduce abortions, the U.S. bishops are continuing their support of the Pregnant Women Support Act, which has been reintroduced in both houses of Congress. The act would fund health care services for pregnant women, decreasing the likelihood that they would choose abortion.

Meanwhile, looming ahead is the Freedom of Choice Act. Although not yet introduced, the act's sponsors are waiting for the right moment to do so, Doerflinger said. The USCCB is spearheading a nationwide postcard campaign urging parishioners to ask their legislators to block the bill.

Beyond abortion, underlying the social agenda of Catholic agencies is the belief that the country's budget is a moral issue and serves to emphasize where society's values and priorities rest.

Given that understanding, long-standing issues such as health care reform to improve access to health services for all, funding of the National Housing Trust Fund to increase the inventory of affordable housing for families, climate change and the creation of "green" jobs are high on the priority list of the bishops, Catholic Charities and Network, a Catholic social justice lobby.

Carr warned, however, that getting the economy growing again remains a sticking point to passage of a broader social agenda.

Catholic advocates are hoping the economic stimulus package that was still being debated Feb. 6 in the Senate will address some of the church's concerns, especially for the poor and vulnerable and the rising tide of unemployed people trying to cope in a recessionary economy.

In addition, Hill and her counterparts are calling for a boost in funding for the school nutrition and Women, Infants and Children programs, passage of the Healthy Families Act so companies provide paid sick leave for workers, and additional support for Medicaid and social service block grants.

"We have to admit as a nation that while safety-net programs are absolutely essential, merely expanding safety-net programs is not a solution to cutting or eliminating poverty," Hill told CNS. "Only when we look at the needs of human beings -- education, access to jobs that pay well, the opportunity to have assets -- can we talk about a country where people are able to reach their full potential."

Obama's Feb. 4 signing of the State Children's Health Insurance Program is seen by advocates as a positive first step on the road toward greater attention to social needs. Of particular note in the new law are provisions extending health care coverage to legal immigrant children and legal immigrant pregnant women.

Such provisions signal to Kevin Appleby, director of immigration and refugee policy for the USCCB, that comprehensive immigration reform may be on the horizon. An immigration reform package that has been debated since the 9/11 disaster but never acted upon could be offered sooner rather than later if the economy shakes its doldrums, he said.

"Our overarching goal is to create momentum toward an immigration reform bill," Appleby told CNS. "Now there is debate as to how that process will look, whether Congress will pass a few more modest measures first and try to pass a larger bill. Or whether they will try to put everything in one bill and get it passed."

Not to take a back seat, education concerns also appear on the USCCB legislative agenda. Working with the National Catholic Educational Association and the Council for American Private Education, the bishops' Office of Catholic Education has made parental choice its guiding principle.

Marie Powell, executive director of the Office of Catholic Education, is promoting the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, particularly its provisions for the equitable participation of students and teachers in private schools in a variety of federally funded programs. Reauthorization has been delayed in Congress to deal with the economic recovery, but will have to be addressed before the mid-term congressional elections in 2010, she said.

On international issues, religious advocates have already had one victory from the Obama administration: presidential executive orders banning torture and closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year.

Victory aside, the USCCB is looking at how U.S. foreign aid can be a tool to relieve world poverty, according to Stephen Colecchi, director of the bishops' Office of International Justice and Peace.

"The particular piece that we'll look at is: Does it focus on human development? Does it focus on the poor? Do people have a say in how aid is distributed?" he said.

The conference also will continue to press the new administration to support religious freedom around the world, especially in countries where Christians are facing persecution, and pursue a viable two-state solution to the 60-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In addition, Colecchi expects legislation allowing Americans to travel directly from the U.S. to Cuba to be introduced, a measure the bishops support.

"We see it only as a first step," he said. "We believe more engagement with Cuba is the way to improve human rights both within Cuba and to improve the situation of the people and the freedom of the church."

As for the war in Iraq, Colecchi said, the bishops stand by their 2006 statement calling for a responsible transition to a stable government in the Middle Eastern country before the full withdrawal of U.S. troops. And while Obama has said he would relocate more troops to Afghanistan to fight the resurgent Taliban, Colecchi said the bishops have not taken a stand on the plan, preferring to watch how the redeployment evolves.

WASHINGTON-LETTER Feb-6-2009 (1,280 words)
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The Internet: A new venue for religion

By Gabriel Faimau


A day before the winner of the US presidential election was formally declared on election night, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008, Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the influential Internet newspaper The Huffington Post, had already declared the winner: The Internet.

Analyzing the 2008 US race, she argued that, "From the way campaigns connect to supporters, to the way those campaigns are covered, to the way voters decide who to vote for, 2008 has delivered the first truly 21st century presidential race. And election night promises to fortify the Internet's victory."

Arianna was right. The success of Barack Obama in being elected the 44th President of the United States cannot be judged without considering the influence of the Internet. His way of organizing grassroots' supporters and movements through a very unique and sophisticated online networking including fundraising, email networking, blogging and text messaging, is truly remarkable.

Indeed, the increasing rate of Internet use has been phenomenal over the past two decades. It is bringing about a global revolution characterized by the flowing of information and therefore providing easy access to the many aspects of life that were traditionally limited by the boundaries of time and space.

Besides politics, religion has also been affected and transformed by its presence. To what extent does it reshape religion? According to Christopher Helland, religion manifests itself in two different ways, namely, religion online and online religion.

Religion online is based upon the traditional religious hierarchical structures that see the Internet as a tool of top-down organized communication. Its use is therefore limited to a controlled environment through which organized attempts are created to utilize traditional forms of communication to present religion based upon a vertical conception of control, status and authority. In religion online, it is a tool of communication which functions to relay traditional information concerning a religion.

On the other hand, online religion represents a new development of religious praxis with new egalitarian forms of communication and the ideal of unstructured, open and nonhierarchical interaction. This second form offers Internet users a form of religious touch and sense outside the traditional religious structures. For online religion, the Internet is a place of interaction in various forms such as online sermons, offers of healing prayers, religious counseling and faith sharing or even astrological charts.

Among the world's religions, Roman Catholicism is known as the first religion that used it as a "religious tool" with the creation of the official Vatican website in 1995.

Today other organized religions have also developed websites as a tool for both information on religion and the formation of people's spiritual life. Within Islam, academic studies indicate that the development of the notion of ummah or Muslim brotherhood through Internet has been notably significant.

Since Muslims' websites are accessible globally, Internet therefore constructs a "new geography of the ummah" and brings Muslims closer to one another in online discussions, sharing of faith, information and opinions. Religious figures have also made use of it for their work.

Recently I conducted a simple survey on Internet use involving 81 Indonesian-speaking Catholic missionaries from the Divine Word Missionaries who are working in more than 50 countries.

One of the interesting findings is how the participants have made use of the Internet for the spiritual formation of the people they are responsible for. Of 81 participants, 84 percent indicated that they have used information from it to prepare their sermons.

When the frequency of Internet use for sermon preparation is scaled, 48.1 percent of the participants indicated that they always use it on a regular basis and another 40.7 percent indicated that though not on a regular basis, they do frequently use it for preparing sermons.

Online interaction is notable. 93.8 percent said they normally read or listen to the online sermons. Moreover, there is also an indication that it is used for spreading religious messages. Nearly 47 percent of the participants have published their sermons or writings online.

Social networking has also been part of their religious activities. 95.1 percent of the participants said they have made use of the online social networking facilities for faith sharing or spiritual counseling.

Predictions of the demise of religion have proven wrong over the years. With the presence of Internet, religious participation has crossed not only geographical boundaries but religious boundaries also. To a certain extent, it could be argued that the Internet has flattened the hierarchal religious structure. The Internet itself has no religion but indeed it has a message. Today it has become a new space and venue for religious information and spiritual formation at the same time.

*[The Jakarta Post 24/12/2009] Diakses 28 Januari 2009 15:34


The writer is currently pursuing doctoral research in the Department of Sociology, University of Bristol, UK and member of Forum Academia NTT.

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JANGAN SALAH PILIH!

SURAT GEMBALA USKUP AGUNG ENDE
MASA PRAPASKAH 2009


Para Imam, Biarawan-Biarawati, Saudara-Saudari, Umat beriman terkasih dalam Tuhan!

1. Tema Aksi Puasa Pembangunan Nasional tahun 2009 ialah “Kesejatian Hidup dalam Hubungan Antar Umat Beragama.“ Tema ini mengajak saya untuk memahami kesejatian hidup sebagai suatu sikap hidup seseorang yang beriman dan bermoral, untuk menghadapi tugas-tugas hidup di tengah-tengah kebersamaan yang pluralistis. Salah satunya ialah panggilan tugas dan peran politik yang mesti kita mainkan dalam kehidupan berbangsa dan bernegara. Sehubungan dengan tema ini, saya mengajak Saudara-Saudariku seiman, untuk mencermati peran gereja dalam berpolitik khususnya dalam menjamin keberlanjutan tujuan hidup berbangsa. Salah satu perwujudan peran politik ini ialah dengan melibatkan diri dalam pemilihan umum yang kini tengah menjadi isu hangat. Pada tanggal 9 April 2009 nanti kita akan memilih wakil-wakil rakyat yang akan duduk di DPRD Kabupaten, DPRD Propinsi, DPR Pusat, dan DPD. Lalu pada tgl 6 Juli 2009 kita akan memilih presiden dan wakil presiden Republik Indonesia.

2. Suasana pesta demokrasi ini mulai menyemaraki keseharian kita. Sejumlah orang telah mendaftarkan diri sebagai calon legislatif (Caleg) dan beberapa tokoh malah sudah gencar mencitrakan diri sebagai calon presiden/wakil presiden (Capres/Cawapres). Kita patut menghargai hak setiap orang untuk dipilih. Sebagai gembala di keuskupan ini, saya ingin menandaskan bahwa kita patut memaknai momentum demokrasi ini sebagai kesempatan untuk memberikan kesaksian tentang kebenaran, kejujuran, dan kebajikan-kebajikan kristiani, sambil menghindarkan diri dari sikap egoisme, kelompokisme, dan pragmatis yang sempit. Dengan rendah hati, saya mengajak umat sekalian untuk mempersembahkan nilai-nilai itu sebagai buah-buah rahmat retret agung prapaskah bagi keberhasilan Pemilu 2009.

3. Seruan Nabi Yoel pantas menjadi acuan permenungan kita selama masa puasa ini. “Koyakkanlah hatimu dan jangan pakaianmu, berbaliklah kepada TUHAN, Allahmu” (Yoel 2:13a) merupakan ajakan bagaimana kita seharusnya menjalani puasa sejati. Sebagai suatu upaya pembenahan diri, puasa seharusnya diwujudkan dengan merubah hidup secara radikal, mulai dari dalam inti diri yaitu hati. Pembalikan arah (metanoia) tidak cuma berlangsung dengan merubah sikap lahiriah yang dangkal melainkan secara menyeluruh dari hati sebagai pusat diri. Karena segala pikiran jahat, pembunuhan, perzinahan, percabulan, pencurian, sumpah palsu, dan hujat timbul dari hati (bdk. Mt 15:19; Mk 7:21). Dengan kata lain, semua ungkapan perkataan, perbuatan dan sikap tindakan berasal dari dalam hati (bdk. Mt 15:18).

4. Pertobatan bertujuan mengembangkan penyadaran diri dengan memperbaiki kesalahan dan melakukan silih. Perubahan ini diharapkan semakin memurnikan hati karena hati merupakan pula bait Roh Kudus dan milik Allah sendiri (bdk. 1Kor 6:19). Dalam hati berdiam nurani yang asali, tempat Allah menulisi hukum taurat (bdk. Rom 2:15). Membenah hati berarti kita memberi ruang bagi fungsi suara hati yang murni. Selanjutnya hati yang murni akan menciptakan sikap kreatif, adil, dan jujur serta memungkinkan relasi yang semakin harmonis. Proses pemurnian batin inilah yang kiranya menjadi sumber ilham bagi kita dalam menentukan pilihan pada saat pemilu nanti.

5. Sebagai bangsa yang sedang belajar berdemokrasi, kita patut berbangga menyaksikan kesuksesan pelaksanaan pemilu-pemilu yang lalu. Ketertiban dan tingkat partisipasi yang tinggi membuktikan bahwa masyarakat semakin menghargai demokrasi dan menyadari tanggungjawab berpolitik. Keterlibatan ini membenarkan pula bahwa golongan putih (golput) merupakan pilihan yang tidak bertanggung jawab di tengah semakin banyaknya tawaran partai politik dan peluang demokrasi. Sebagai ajang pendidikan politik, pemilu diharapkan memurnikan semangat demokrasi masyarakat untuk semakin menghargai perbedaan dan pilihan politik serta mengutamakan kepentingan bersama (bonum commune) di atas kepentingan pribadi atau kelompok.

6. Namun di balik kenyataan yang membanggakan, masih terdapat sikap yang kurang terpuji dan bahkan menghambat perkembangan demokrasi yang mulai bersemi. Banyak pemilih cenderung tidak bijaksana dan pada akhirnya tidak mampu memilih pemimpin maupun wakil-wakil rakyat yang berkualitas. Padahal merekalah yang akan menentukan kebijakan publik yang diharapkan semakin menyejahterakan bangsa ini. Banyaknya partai dan besarnya jumlah calon dapat menyebabkan para pemilih asal pilih atau memilih kucing di dalam karung. Kebingungan ini diperpuruk dengan mekanisme seleksi calon di partai-partai yang cenderung mengabaikan kompetensi. Berhadapan dengan kenyataan ini, peran pemilih menjadi amat penting dan mendesak.

7. Mengamati praksis politik di tingkat lokal selama ini, masyarakat cenderung terpola dalam dua sikap yang menghambat demokrasi yaitu sikap ekslusif (tertutup) dan pragmatis:

a. Sikap eksklusif (tertutup ke dalam kelompoknya). Banyak umat yang masih berpegang pada prinsip “yang penting orang saya” atau ”pokoknya jangan orang lain”. Sikap ini membenarkan bahwa kita belum mampu memilih berdasarkan kualitas seorang calon. Dengan menjagokan calon sendiri, kita mengutamakan kelompok sendiri, fanatik, tertutup, tidak kritis, dan bahkan tidak mau tahu dengan orang lain. Kita menjadi pemilih yang irrasional, emosional dan primordial.

b. Prinsip pragmatis yang mengutamakan uang atau kepentingan ekonomis. Banyaknya jumlah caleg, di satu pihak menunjukkan melimpahnya jumlah orang yang berkualitas di wilayah ini. Namun di lain pihak juga mengindikasikan bahwa banyak orang yang mengimpikan kedudukan legislatif sebagai status yang menjanjikan keuntungan ekonomis. Penampilan para legislatif yang selama ini kaya mendadak memperkuat indikasi ini. Tidak mengherankan bila sebagian calon telah mulai menggaet para kontraktor sebagai sponsor. Di lain pihak, banyak pemilih pun menganuti prinsip pragmatis yang sama. Ada segelintir orang yang dengan gampang menjual suara dengan pelbagai bentuk imbalan ataupun janji. Orang cenderung berpikir praktis: daripada mendapat janji yang belum pasti, lebih baik menerima dulu sebelum memilih.

Saudara-saudari terkasih!

8. Tuntutan memilih secara rasional tidak saja menjadi tuntutan moral, melainkan pula tuntutan urgensi situasi. Situasi kurang kondusif akhir-akhir ini seperti krisis ekonomi dunia yang membawa dampak bagi kenaikan harga barang produksi, kelesuan ekonomi yang ditandai turunnya harga komiditi rakyat, naiknya tingkat inflasi, dan Pemutusan Hubungan Kerja (PHK) sejumlah karyawan telah menggoncang kondisi ekonomi bangsa kita. Selain kelesuan ekonomi yang memperparah kemiskinan, iklim politik di wilayah ini masih tetap diganjal praktek KKN (korupsi, kolusi, dan nepotisme). Tidak mengherankan bila banyak kebijakan pemerintahan di wilayah ini terkesan kurang berpihak pada rakyat.

9. Satu-satunya cara demokratis bagi kita menjawabi krisis ekonomi politis ini ialah dengan memilih pemimpin yang berkualitas dan memiliki integritas diri. Tobat yang sejati seharusnya diwujudkan dalam perubahan sikap memilih yang bijaksana, yang tidak mengutamakan orang atau kelompok sendiri serta tidak didasarkan pertimbangan praktis yang sempit. Agar kerinduan akan perubahan sebagai cikal-bakal idealisme kristiani dapat terwujud, saya mengusulkan untuk memilih caleg dan capres/cawapres yang tidak bias jender dan memiliki kriteria: kompetensi, ber-karakter dan ber-komitmen ( 3 K ). Kompeten berarti si calon memiliki kesehatan fisik dan kemampuan intelek seperti wawasan untuk membaca kebutuhan masyarakat dan menentukan kebijakan publik; Karakter yaitu sikap moral pribadi yang terpuji. Karakter ini tampak dalam tingkah laku hidupnya selama ini dan dapat terbaca dalam rekam jejaknya; Komitmen yakni konsisten berpegang pada prinsip kebenaran dan keberanian untuk memperjuangkan kepentingan banyak orang di atas kepentingan diri maupun golongan, sambil menjunjung tinggi hak asasi manusia.

10. Gereja bertanggungjawab mendidik umatnya termasuk memberikan pendidikan politik. Gereja pun terpanggil untuk menjamin ketertiban politik. Sehubungan dengan peran ini, saya mengajukan beberapa tindak lanjut yang konkrit:

a. Dalam kerjasama dengan berbagai organisasi maupun instansi lain, para pastor bersama DPP hendaknya memfasilitasi tatap muka/dialog para caleg dengan masyarakat pemilih. Dialog dalam suasana persaudaraan merupakan ciri kristiani untuk saling meneguhkan dan memperbaiki sekaligus menguji.

b. Bagi saudari-saudaraku, para caleg, dengan rendah hati saya mengajak untuk menjadikan ajang pemilu ini sebagai proses pemurnian motivasi dan komitmen diri. Bagi yang kalah hendaklah menerimanya dengan sikap sportif dan bagi yang menang, tetaplah berpegang pada komitmen Anda untuk mereformasi Dewan yang terhormat. Gereja sebagai ibunda iman atau rumah induk Anda akan tetap membuka diri untuk mendukung serta mendengarkan curahan isi hatimu.

c. Mengakhiri seruan kegembalaan ini, saya mengajak umat sekalian untuk melanjutkan refleksi pemilu ini dengan bersama-sama menggeluti bahan katekese umat yang dirancang khusus menyongsong Pemilu 2009 ini.

Saudara-saudari, Umat beriman yang terkasih di dalam Tuhan!

11. Kebetulan pemilu kita kali ini bertepatan dengan perayaan hari-hari besar dalam Pekan Suci. Kita mesti berbahagia karena dengan demikian kita boleh mempersembahkan keheningan penuh rahmat Pekan Suci demi kepentingan bangsa kita yang tercinta. Kirannya kedua peristiwa yang terjadi sejalan ini, tidak saling mengganggu; Tetapi sebaliknya dapat saling memberi makna yang lebih berdaya guna bagi bangsa yang ber-Ketuhanan Yang Mahaesa ini.

Sambil mengucapkan salam: SUKSES UNTUK PEMILU 2009 DAN SELAMAT HARI RAYA PASKAH 2009, saya berharap dan berdoa agar seluruh umat dengan hati mulia memperlihatkan cinta dan komitmen untuk menciptakan kesejahteraan bersama dengan menggunakan hak pilih secara tepat dalam Pemilu yang lebih bermartabat. INGAT! JANGAN SALAH PILIH.

SELAMAT BERPUASA
DAN
SELAMAT PESTA PASKAH 2009.

Uskupmu,




† Mgr. Vincent Sensi Potokota, Pr



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Rise in number of priests, laypeople in Asia

BANGKOK (UCAN) -- The number of Catholic priests has increased in Asia and Africa but dropped in the Western world, according to the Vatican's latest statistical yearbook released on Feb. 28.

The number of Catholic priests worldwide rose from 405,178 in 2000 to 408,024 in 2007, after markedly dropping in the previous two decades, reported Radio Vatican and other media.

The increase for Asia and Africa was 21.2 percent and 27.6 percent respectively. The number of priests in America remained "stable" while Europe and Oceania saw a drop of 6.8 percent and 5.5 percent respectively.

The number of Catholics worldwide grew from 1.131 billion in 2006 to 1.147 billion in 2007. Asia saw an increase of 1.7 percent in this period. The percentage of Catholics worldwide remained stable, at about 17.3 percent of the global population.

The number of bishops worldwide also increased, from 4,898 in 2006 to 4,946 in 2007.

END

ASIA March 2, 2009 AS06785.1539 148 words Text size


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