Promotio lustitiae

BACK SOCIAL JUSTICE

The challenge of GC 34, the Task Force (TF) on Globalisation was constituted in March 2004

World Social Forum Mumbai Porto Alegre Nairobi

'Apostolic Prioities'USF’s Center for Law and Global Justice

Jesuit Foundation- University initiatives directed toward deepening and broadening Jesuit values and vision. " The day for entrusting USF to lay colleagues is not "coming"; it has been here for some time."

Evangelizing Culture

Jesuits practice what they preach

http://www.sjweb.info/documents/sjs/pj/docs_pdf/PJ096ENG.pdf
The Promotion of Justice issue Nº 96, 2007/3 has articles and reports pertaining to the internal missions of Jesuit provinces around the world. It is an interesting issue as various voices comment on their core identity, not something you'd find in their more formal reports. Here is an excerpt I included because the mission of justice in this instance seems removed from the "Peace and Justice" so often mentioned in other parts of their organizations.

Excerpts from

The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice, Reminiscing about the Past and Looking at the Future'

Father General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach SJ          Informal talk at the Meeting of Assistancy Coordinators, Friday, 11 May 2007

Promotion of Justice

"The last GC 34 expressed our mission by reminding us that “we are servants              of Christ’s mission” (D 2, n. 1). The colonial and imperialistic tone of the term mission’ may have been one of the main reasons why GC 32 never used the word ‘mission’. Let me now say something about the second part of the expression: ‘the promotion of justice’. As far as I know, the expression ‘promotion of justice’ is, as we say in German, a fremdkoerper, that is, a linguistic rarity. We are familiar with it because the word ‘promotion’ is used quite often in language of sales and marketing. If you go to a department store there are weekly promotions of, let us say, a soap, or of something else. At the time of GC 32,(General Conference) many asked themselves: what is the meaning of ‘promotion’ of justice? Combining ‘promotion’ and ‘justice’ appeared very artificial. Promotion also means putting somebody in a higher position. We say: ‘he has been promoted’. But what has this to do with justice? Why was this chosen? As such, it is quite a ‘mild’ expression. The reason was that the Congregation wanted to avoid a violent expression, though actually it should have been." (p 16)

'Struggle for justice' vs 'promotion of justice’
"I guess that the term ‘struggle’ was also associated with ‘class struggle’, suggesting a highly exclusive action, and thus the word ‘promotion’ was chosen instead We should not forget that the term ‘promote’ has a positive meaning. To promote something can also mean a very well planned campaign to create a better and more just world. It was quite clear that the Congregation did not want to use words like charity, mercy, and love. Neither philanthropy nor sustainable development were used. And finally they came up with the word justice, a well-planned strategy to make the world just, and this in the light of the diakonia fidei, that is, doing it because we are sent to labour with him."

NOTE: "him" refering to either God or Jesus, it is not clear whether the Jesuits believe that Jesus was divine in the traditional Christian view expressed in the Nicene Creed. (Hence the small small 'h'). At times it seems the "Society" believes Jesus was a God empowered man; at other times it sounds as if their view of mankind is fundamentally different, and that their founder, St. Ignaitus, was God's apostle and his early companions became disciples of him. Some writings sound distinctly gnostic in tone, other just focus on the "collective identity" that Jesuits have to each other, over and above their identity to the rest of humanity.