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Tuesday Conference
Theology e-magazine
To make humanity united in worshipping God
SSSMILE Youth to Do Cat.
Our Heavenly Patron
Dear Father,
We have almost crossed half way of the Jubilee Year of
Mercy. Dioceses and Congregations have awesomely contributed
their share in the commemoration of the jubilee year. A Couple of
days back at Krakow in Poland Pope Francis released DOCAT in
the World Youth Day, the social teaching of the Church for youth.
He called for a new youth movement to witness the social teaching
seriously. So Vincentian Vidyabhavan takes an innovative step to
translate the call of our Pope to organize the youth who will be
the social teaching on two legs.
We propose and present here the concept of SSSMILE
Youth. We explain the main social teachings and side by side our
vision on how to take the social message to the Youth.
Pope Francis says: A Christian, who is not a
revolutionary in our times, is not really a
Christian. The SSSMILE Youth is a program
for revolution.
The acronym SSSMILE means Sacred Scr iptur es Social
Page - 02
Message into Living Exper ience. SSSMILE aim s to r each
the social message of the sacred scriptures in to our living context.
SSSMILE Youth
Designed as a complete
A few
social movement of Christian
decades ago,
youth to define our lives in the
this gospel
idea of
Gospel context. The dangerous
memory of Jesus compel us to
confront
our
lives
in
this
SSSMILE
perspective. We call to witness
was
the social teachings of Jesus in
conceived in
the mind of
Fr Anotny
Plackal VC
and his
confreres.
And now we
take that
concept to
the Youth.
our study, work and other areas
of life.
SSSMILE Youth will work as a think tank to serve this
purpose and as a platform for the youth to materialize the social
vision, mission and cause of Jesus who had a brutal and violent
death on the cross.
DOCAT
DOCAT is the official Social
Teaching of the Catholic Church in
YOUCAT style. It is an outstanding
social justice resource for todays young
people. Lavishly illustrated, DOCAT
helps young people to know and to live
Catholic Social Teaching. It is designed
by renowned experts in social doctrine
under the guidance of two cardinals:
Archbishops Reinhard
Schnborn (Vienna).
Marx
(Munich)
and
Christoph
Transforming society with the power of the Gospel has always been
a challenge for Christians. SSSMILE Youth guides young people in
conscience formation and Catholic action on social and political issues.
Are you full of fire and passion?
Page - 03
Are you a fighter? Dare to be a volunteer of the Pope!
SSSMILE Youth ... Make Popes dream come true.
Be a
Pope Francis is looking for 1
million young people from all
around the world who will
promise him to know and do the
Social Doctrine of the Catholic
Church.
This wish of the Pope called "1 million for the Pope" is taken
up by SSSMILE Youth here in our land.
Dangerous Memory of Jesus -A phrase made popular by J.B. Metz, the
story of Jesus passion and death constitutes a dangerous memory. His memory
confronts us with the terrible realities of injustice and innocent suffering. And his
memory places before us the surprising possibility that God can and does
accomplish great things even in the midst of terrible sufferings.
The Vision of SSSMILE Youth
All our vision and programmes are modelled after the scripture message, the
hard battle Jesus put, and the social teachings of the church.
1) Life & Dignity of the Human Person
Every human person is created in the
image and likeness of God. Therefore, every
persons life and dignity must be respected
and supported from conception through
natural death. SSSMILE
Youth is
committed to organize programs
to take this message home.
Page - 04
2) Call to Family, Community and Participation
The human person is not only sacred, but social. Every person has a right to
participate in society and a corresponding duty to work for the advancement of the
common good and the well-being of all.
SSSMILE
Youth
has the duty to develop
this common good a nd
every member has a right to
enjoy the benefits brought
about by it.
3) Solidarity
We are one human family. We are our brothers and sisters keepers,
wherever they may be. At the core of the virtue of solidarity is the pursuit of justice
and peace. We believe that together we can make a difference and together we are
much stronger.
SSSMILE Youth
seeks a peaceful and
just society where
goods are distributed
fairly, opportunity is
promoted equally and
the dignity of all is
respected.
4) Dignity of Work
The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more
than a way to make a living.
To uphold the dignity of work, the
basic rights of workers must be respected
the right to productive work, to fair and
livable wages, and to organize and join a
union. SSSMILE Youth holds that work
is not to be drudgery, but creative,
positive and an intrinsic good.
I dream of a generation - a million young people... will be the
evangelizers of the Social Doctrine. -Pope Francis
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Catholic Social Teaching has been called the
Churchs best-kept secret. SSSMILE Youth is revealing the
secret to young people .
5) Rights and Responsibilities
SSSMILE Youth has a corresponding duty to secure and respect
these rights for other s a nd to fu lfill ou r r esponsibilities to ou r fa m ilies,
to each other and to our larger society.
Each person also has
a right to the
conditions for living a
decent life food,
health care, housing,
education and
employment.
6) Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
Scripture teaches that God has a special concern for the poor and vulnerable.
This preferential option for the poor and vulnerable should be reflected in both our
daily lives and public policies.
SSSMILE Youth
believes
that a fundamental measure of
our society is how we care for
and stand with our poor and
vulnerable brothers and sisters.
7) Care for Gods Creation
Our stewardship of the earth is a form of participation in Gods act of creating
and sustaining the world. In our use of creation, we must be guided by a concern
for generations to come. We show our respect for the Creator by our care for
creation.
SSSMILE Youth will reengage with our environment
and take responsibility for it;
live sustainably, live so that there are
enough resources for everyone. We
recognize that undervaluing makes
us all poorer.
We are
living in the
ruins of two
great
ideologies:
of capitalism
and of
communism
Both
destroyed
The Action Plan of SSSMILE Youth
Page - 06
1. Recognizes the sacredness of life and the dignity of each
individual human person as inviolable.
2. Ensures that every person, esp. the most disadvantaged has
reasonable access to more than just the basic necessities .
3. Promotes the human rights especially of those who lack
access to services, marginalized, minorities and victims.
4. Seeks conditions that enhance the good of all and
contributes to the achievement of a common life.
5. Ensures a response to injustice at local and higher levels.
6. Takes the issue of poverty beyond charitable acts and into the
questioning and challenging of social values and structures.
the world.
7. Takes responsibility for the environment.
We have to
8. Promotes decision-making that is empowering of those
change the
world now.
involved in and affected by the process.
9. Respects and promotes personal, social, economic, cultural
and political rights.
We will engage in :
discussions,
share our knowledge,
Dear Youth, I invite you
to deepen the social
doctrine , so that your
give of ourselves to serve,
action in the world to be
light a fire in the hearts of the young people.
inspired and enlightened
In his message for the XXII World Youth Day in
2007, Pope Benedict XVI said :
by its principles.
What SSSMILE Youth is Not:
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It is not a third way between liberal capitalism and Marxist collectivism. It
constitutes a category of its own. (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, #41).
It is not an ideology, but rather the result of a careful reflection on the complex
realities of human existence, in the light of faith and the Churchs tradition It
therefore belongs to the field of moral theology and not of ideology.
(Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, #41)
It is not a model: the Church has no models to present; models that are real
and effective can only arise within the framework of different historical
situations. (Centesimus Annus, #43).
Conclusion
Our Lord inspires us to moves to
the frontiers of the society, and to
other communities. We need many
hands
to
attain
this
goal.
And
SSSMILE Youth is an attempt to get
such hands ready. Alone we can do so
little, together we can do so much.
Join us and accept the challenge!!!
Readers Desk
I am glad that such relevant topics are
discussed by our future pastors. It is very
important to see the words of Pope Francis "....who
am I to judge." Although it does not give an answer
to many issues raised by LGBT, it opens the doors
for a loving pastoral approachwe need more
clarity and discussions regarding this issue which I
have not see in this paper but it really provide an
explanation of the issue.
Fr. Sabu George, KU Leuven
You have done an excellent ministry
by addressing the reality of death in the
context of the courageous witness by Fr.
Jerish Kunneckatt.
Fr. J. Kandathinkara VC, Satna
Human nascency should not be
treated as a sickness of humanity although
it must be controlled while taking an
exploding
nature.
But
presenting
My deep appreciation to the author of this population as the root cause of poverty is
magazine especially this one on the priesthood (TC hypocritical. Planet earth is potential
05) and death of young priests... beautiful and enough to feed bellies of 7 billion, but not
enough to feed the greed of few. (TC 04)
inspiring.
Fr. Arokia Nathan
Fr. J. Vallomkunnel MCBS, Manila
Published from Vincentian Vidyabhavan, Aluva.
