Justice Matters: Tackling injustice in the year ahead

Last week JM covered the life of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a beacon of light and thorn in the side of authorities who acted unjustly.  Monday 17th January sees Martin Luther King Day, a man who also used non - violent means to champion racial justice.  He paid the ultimate price for his message which was so threatening that he had to be removed.  Both had a sense of justice at their core and a belief that they were living out Jesus’ message.  As 2022 gets into its stride how can we live out the Christian message?

See:  Numerous issues vex our world but all appear to have one cause, albeit in different guises – injustice.  Many organisations use the beginning of the year to encourage us to start, continue, and increase our efforts to defeat injustice.  We see Christian Aid reminding us that 2022 must be a year when governments keep the imperfect promises made at COP26.  They remind us that although our personal behaviour is vital we also have to hold our government accountable. Global Justice reinforces this “Six years ago, too much of the environmental movement was still focussed on lifestyle changes. Today, the movement is clear: we can’t deal with climate change unless we rewrite the rules of the global economy, putting front and centre the needs and demands of those in the global south who are suffering most from climate change, even though they bear least responsibility for it.”

Reflect:  The readings today are a call for action.  The message is for us all and St Paul says “There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them. The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose.”  All our gifts are meant to be used for the common good.  

Act: Find out more about the organisations above – they need support. They also offer a route to action which at times can appear overwhelming.  For example Cafod is asking people to stand with human rights defenders saying “We're urging the government to introduce a new law that will hold UK companies to account when their activities lead to human rights and environmental abuses.” They ask you to email your MP.   Perhaps in 2022 you could become involved in a parish activity which tries to address some of the issues of injustice in a practical manner – volunteering at Bethany, support or join St Vincent de Paul (both are on this page). Finally as a cluster we could learn about eco – congregations, how this organisation is helping combat climate disruption. Watch the video above and read more here.

Tricia Kaminski