Pope Francis and Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, arrive for a 2016 meeting at the Vatican with participants in the third World Meeting of Popular Movements, a collection of grass-roots organizations of the poor, the underemployed, indigenous communities and farmworkers. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via EPA)
OFFICE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY
“The Catholic Church has a mission of accompanying humanity in all its endeavors, of bringing the message of the Gospel to politics, business, work, education, science and other activities. It is the church’s obligation to assure that the voice of the poor and vulnerable is heard in all of human striving.” (From the synopsis of Cardinal Peter Turkson’s address for the Diocese of Honolulu Red Mass January 15, 2019)
For more than 25 years, three successive popes have turned to an African prelate, Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, to help lead the church in the application of Catholic social teaching in the world today.
On Jan. 15, Cardinal Turkson will share his wisdom with Hawaii’s civil leaders and others as the main speaker at the annual Red Mass at 9 a.m. in the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. All are invited.
St. John Paul II made Peter Turkson an archbishop in 1992 and a cardinal in 2003. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in 2009, and in 2016 Pope Francis asked him to lead the newly created Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, after having worked closely with him on the writing of his now famous encyclical, “Laudato Si.”
In a recent talk at Boston College, Cardinal Turkson spoke about the encyclical’s subtitle, “On Care for Our Common Home.” He said it “conveys an important conviction: Individual homes are not isolated, each on its own planet; they are located within a single, worldwide common home. The encyclical is about the implications of living together in our common home.”
Cardinal Turkson’s new Vatican department promotes human integral development grounded in the principles of Catholic social teaching which fosters the dignity of each human person, equality between every person and the common good of all. His department addresses many pressing global issues such as climate change, economic disparities, work and education.
The cardinal’s Red Mass talk will explain how promoting human integral development is basic to the Gospel message of Christ and how it can contribute to sustainable solutions for many of our most difficult challenges.
On the subject of business, for example, Cardinal Turkson has spoken about how the church teaches that the activities of trade and manufacturing should exist for the well-being and common good of those beyond the shareholders, to all affected by the enterprise, including employees, customers, and the earth itself.
On the environment, Cardinal Turkson quotes “Laudato Si”: “We have seen how our mother earth and its poorest inhabitants have suffered from activity driven by narrow self-interest and not for the common good. That is why the church is such a persistent voice advocating for the protection of our planet. The use of humanity’s talents must be guided by the responsibility to act for the benefit of all, especially society’s poor and vulnerable.”
“Laudato Si,” and all the work worldwide of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, provide an inspiring and challenging message of hope.
“Ultimately, I believe that America can marshal its best resources to solve the climate challenge and protect our common home — its creativity, its ingenuity, its willingness to tackle practical problems, its spirit of hard work, but also its core values like compassion, human rights, sense of solidarity, and commitment to the global common good,” Cardinal Turkson said. “America has risen to such occasions before; it can do so again.”
We invite all to come and hear Cardinal Turkson at the Red Mass in the cathedral 9 a.m., Jan. 15. He will also speak at 5 p.m. the same day in the Mystical Rose Oratory at Chaminade University of Honolulu. That talk is also open to the public.
Mahalo,
Your friends at the Office for Social Ministry
