We can concern ourselves forever in my line of work about how we help the poor and vulnerable focusing programmes and donor money, looking at funding proposals and all sorts of business items, but really the bottom line is that it is all about love for humanity. That is what we are about. As the Pope says, the Church is not an NGO.
Then last week, I was thrilled to read Pope Francis' words to women religious leaders in Rome. It was about women and their role in Church, asserting their role in a positive and constructive way, but it was about much more as well. I could see Francis offering the insight of a five step model for working on human and community development which I found utterly exciting.
Simply put his model goes like this.
1) As a base line, uphold human dignity for all.
2) Address the evils and abuses that keep people oppressed.
3) Give a role to the excluded.
4) Give a voice to the voiceless.
5) Empower those marginalized in society for leadership in service.
In this way, we show love and, in showing love, we show God. Such love builds up human dignity and gives hope to a people that need it. So we are good theologians and our world so badly needs good theologians.
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