As Social Justice Week (11-17 September) falls this year in the first week of Rugby World Cup competition, Catholic social justice agency Caritas has focused on the theme ‘On a level playing field’ to examine issues of fairness and the common good in the light of Catholic social teaching.
Archbishop John Dew kicked off Social Justice Week on Wednesday with a pep talk for a group of students from wellington’s St Patrick’s and St Catherine’s Colleges at the St Catherine’s gymnasium. As Head Coach for the Catholic team, he urged them to keep their eyes on the ball, in working together to achieve the goal of a fair and just society.
Values on the sporting field – fairness, an equal chance of success, unbiased refereeing – are equally important in society, said Archbishop John The vision of all people living as a human family in fullness of life is one that becomes more difficult to achieve in an unequal society, and in a world marked by extremes of wealth and poverty, hw said
“As sports spectators, we will be looking over coming weeks to see that regardless of who wins the Rugby World Cup, it will be a fair competition. We expect rules to be agreed on and enforced by unbiased referees. We expect that sports grounds will allow for an equal chance of success – for example that one side won’t be playing up-hill or kicking into the wind for the whole match.”
Archbishop John said it was time to blow the whistle on inequality. “It would be great if New Zealanders put as much enthusiasm and effort into ensuring we have a fair society, as we do into cheering for success on the sporting field.
“New Zealand has been a world leader in the growth of inequality, and this leaves people on the fringes of society whose life isn’t as good as human life should be. Luke’s Gospel talks about compassion for the poor. People who follow the Gospel are obliged to reduce inequality and poverty in our society.”
Level with me : Who is the Fairest of them all? – the Social Justice Week blogsite
will be looking at social inequality – nationally and internationally – through the eyes of countries competing in the Rugby World Cup.
They have ranked the countries based on their performance on various social inequality indicators, and are running a light-hearted blog on how they stack up against each other – as well as debating the issues around social inequality.
We all know the All Blacks will take the Cup. But who will win on the social equality stakes?
Find out who they think is the winner – and make your own judgement. Join in the fun and debate, as in a light-hearted, sporting way some of the deeper issues that sometimes divide us and the world.
Level with me is at: www.socialjusticeweek.org.nz or through the Caritas website.
Source
- Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
- Image Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand