The Social Justice Mission of the Church: Thinking Globally, Acting Locally

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The Social Justice Mission of the Church
Thinking Globally, Acting Locally

• Rev. Robert Sterling Meyer, Esq.
• Legal Attaché Permanent Observer Mission of the
  Holy See
  
• to the United Nations
• Associate Vice President for Student Affairs
• Seton Hall University

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What is the United Nations???

• General Assembly
• Security Council
• Economic and Social Council
• Trusteeship Council
• Secretariat
• International Court of Justice
• UN Charter 26 June 1945

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Principles from UN Charter
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1. General Assembly

• A Parliament of Nations
• Meets from September December
• 1100 seats
• 1 member state 1 vote
• 6 languages
• Carries the weight of world opinion

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2. Security Council

• International peace and security
• 15 members
• China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United
  States permanent members
  
• 10 members elected for 2 year terms
• Peacekeeping and mediation
• Investigations, cease-fires, economic sanctions,
  military actions, observers

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3. Economic and Social Council

• Commissions
• Social Development
• Crime Prevention/Criminal Justice
• Human Rights
• Narcotic Drugs
• Science/Technology for Development
• Status of Women
• Population and Development
• Statistics

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ECOSOC - continued

• Recommends/directs activities
• Promotion of human rights
• Ends discrimination
• Advances science and technology
• Global cooperation
• Agriculture/health/labor/education
• 1,500 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

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4. Trusteeship Council

• Supervises the administration of the Trust
  Territories placed under its by individual
  agreements
  
• Promote political, economic and social
  advancement towards self-determination for all
  countries and peoples
  
• Palau 1994

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5. Secretariat

• Administrative services
• Secretary General appointed by the General
  Assembly for 5 year term
  
• 8,500 employees in New York alone

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6. International Court of Justice

• World Court
• Settle, in accord with International Law legal
  disputes submitted by states, international
  organs and agencies
  
• Not open to individuals
• Deals with land frontiers, maritime boundaries,
  territorial sovereignty, non-interference of
  states, diplomatic relations, hostage-taking,
  nationality, and guardianship issues.

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Holy See at the United Nations??

• The Origins of Authority

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The Commission

• You are Peter and upon this Rock I will build my
  ChurchI will give you the keys to the kingdom of
  heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound
  in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall
  be loosed in heaven.
• Matthew 1618-19

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Papal Theory
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Imperial Theory
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Compromise Theory
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United Nations Theory
http//www.un.org/Overview/growth.htm
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Sovereignty

• clearly exercised by popes
• is inherent to the Church
• Pope is an actor on the international scene, so
  sovereignty of the Pope is inherent to his
  office
  
• Sovereignty of the Church and of the Pope is
  subject to no civil authority
  
• Papal States symbol of and guarantor of
  sovereignty of the Church and of the Pope
  
• Sovereignty is vested in the Holy See

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Holy See

• Sancta Sedes
• Sedes Cathedra Chair of bishop
• The Holy See exercises the sovereign spiritual
  authority of the Pope as head of the Church.
  
• The Holy See exercises the sovereign civil
  authority of the Pope as head of the Papal
  States, later of Vatican City State.

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Renaissance and Reformation

• XV XVI Centuries
• 1486 Secretaria Apostolica, the beginning of
  the Secretariat of State
  
• Establishment of permanent representatives among
  monarchs and states
  
• First permanent nunciatures Venice, Spain, Holy
  Roman Empire, France

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Secretariat of State(Reorganized 1988)
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Diplomatic Representatives of the Holy See

• Nuntius - Messenger
• Apostolic Nuncio Ambassador
• Internuncio Minister (discontinued)
• Chargé daffaires Accredited to the Ministry
  of Foreign Affaires as head of a papal diplomatic
  mission in the absence of a nuncio.
  
• Apostolic Delegate Representative of the
  Holy See to the Church of a particular nation,
  not to the government. He has no diplomatic
  status.
• Concordat Treaty between the Holy See and a
  State.
  

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Training of Diplomats

• 1701 Foundation of the Academy for Noble
  Ecclesiastics
  
• Today
• Pontifical
• Ecclesiastical
• Academy

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Goals of Holy See Diplomacy

• Before Vatican II
• Seek peace between nations, peace within nations,
  justice for oppressed peoples
  
• Protect independence of the Holy See, rights and
  privileges of the Church
  
• (Nuncios also serve as the representative of the
  Pope to the local churches)
  

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Influence of Vatican II

• Since Vatican II ...
• Rejects idea of necessity of union of Church and
  State
  
• Church is at service of the world
• Highlights inherent dignity and worth of the
  human person and consequent human rights
  
• Endorses freedom of conscience, ecumenism and
  interfaith as well as inter-religious
  cooperation
  
• Church less Euro-central, more focused on entire
  world
  
• Implied recognition of post-Christian era and of
  secularization of society

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Holy See Diplomacy Today

• No interest in territorial aggrandizement,
  economic power or in political domination
  
• Defense of freedom of conscience for all,
  including Catholics
  
• Defense of human rights, especially right to
  life, people with disabilities, people with
  HIV/AIDS, women and children
  
• Defense of right to economic sufficiency,
  especially the poor and orphans
  
• Refusal to endorse any political system
• Critique of negative aspects of any political
  system
  
• Impartial mediation of international claims

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John Paul II to Holy See Diplomats

• You are, in fact, the Pope's representatives to
  national
  
• governments or supranational institutions, but,
  first and
  
• foremost, you are witnesses of his ministry of
  unity in the
  
• local Churches, to whose Pastors you assure the
  possibility of
  
• constant contact with the Apostolic See. Another
  task, which
  
• under the impetus of the Second Vatican Council
  has been
  
• growing in importance in recent years, is your
  service to that
  
• full unity of all Christians, the desire of
  Christ's heart and,
  
• consequently, also ardently desired by the Pope
  and by the
  
• Episcopal College. Moreover, we should not forget
  the great
  
• contribution you are called to make in the search
  for and
  
• consolidation of a harmonious relationship with
  all believers
  
• in God, and of sincere dialogue with people of
  good will.
  
• Jubilee of Apostolic Nuncios and Papal
  Representatives September 15, 2000

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Recent Interventions by the Holy See at the UN

• Racism
• Sustainable Development
• European Security
• Global Communications
• Children
• Human Rights
• Human Cloning
• HIV/AIDS
• Refugees

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Bilateral and Multilateral Relations of the Holy
See

• Maintains diplomatic relations with 176 states
• Diplomatic relations also with the European Union
  and Sovereign Military Order of Malta
  
• Relations of a special nature with the Russian
  Federation and with the Palestine Liberation
  Organization
  
• Participates in various International
  Intergovernmental Organizations and Bodies
  
• Participates in various Regional
  Intergovernmental Organizations and Bodies

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The Holy See and the UN

• The only Permanent Observer State
• Participates in various UN organizations
• Neutral, but certainly not silent
• U.N. Charter
• - international peace and security
• friendly relations among nations
• Cooperation among nations on economic, social,
  cultural, human rights issues
  
• Consistent with spiritual and moral mission of
  the Holy See which is concerned with the integral
  development of every human person

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Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

• By the year 2015, all 191 UN Member States have
  pledged to meet these goals

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Goal 1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

• Reduce by ½ the proportion of people living on
  less than 1 a day
  
• Reduce by ½ the proportion of people who suffer
  from hunger
  

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Goal2 Achieve universal primary education

• Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full
  course of primary schooling

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Goal 3 Promote gender equality and empower
women

• Eliminate gender disparity in primary and
  secondary education preferably by 2005, and at
  all levels by 2015

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Goal 4 Reduce child mortality

• Reduce by 2/3 the mortality rate among children
  under five

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Goal 5 Improve maternal health

• Reduce by ¾ the maternal mortality ratio

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Goal 6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other
diseases

• Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
• Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of
  malaria and other major diseases

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Goal 7 Ensure environmental sustainability

• Integrate principles of sustainable development
  into country policies and programs reverse loss
  of environmental resources
  
• Reduce by ½ the proportion of people without
  sustainable access to safe drinking water
  
• Achieve significant improvement in lives of at
  least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020

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Goal 8 Develop a global partnership for
development

• Develop further an open trading and financial
  system that is rule-based, predictable and
  non-discriminatory. (Includes a commitment to
  good governance, development and poverty
  reductionnationally and internationally)
• Address the least developed countries special
  needs. This includes tariff- and quota-free
  access for their exports enhanced debt relief
  for heavily indebted poor countries cancellation
  of official bilateral debt and more generous
  official development assistance for countries
  committed to poverty reduction
• Address the special needs of landlocked and small
  island developing States

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Goal 8 continued

• Deal comprehensively with developing countries
  debt problems through national and international
  measures to make debt sustainable in the long
  term
• In cooperation with the developing countries,
  develop decent and productive work for youth
  
• In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies,
  provide access to affordable essential drugs in
  developing countries
  
• In cooperation with the private sector, make
  available the benefits of new technologiesespecia
  lly information and communications technologies

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Thinking Globally, Acting Locally

• How can Catholic College and University Students
  and Staff, as a ministry of the Church help the
  world achieve its goals?

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Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

• Globally
• More than 1 billion people live on
• 238 million of them are young people
• Imagine waking up each day without
• Enough food to eat
• Clean water to drink
• A home to live in
• Locally What can we do?

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Achieve universal primary education

• Globally
• There are 115 million children who do not attend
  primary school, 3/5 are girls
  
• 100 million children have never seen the inside
  of a school
  
• Imagine being a child and
• Not being able to spell your own name
• Having to work to support your family
• Your 3rd grade teacher died of HIV/AIDS
• Your school destroyed by war
• Locally What can we do?

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Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

• Globally
• Women are
• 2/3 of worlds illiterate
• 2/3 of the employment rate of men
• Represented by only 15 of worlds parliamentary
  seats
  
• Locally What can we do?

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Reduce Child Mortality

• Globally
• Children
• 10 million die every year from preventable
  diseases that are untreated
  
• 30,000 per day die before 5th birthday
• Suffer most from lack of antibiotics, pneumonia,
  malnutrition
  
• Locally What can we do?

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Improve Maternal Health

• Globally
• Imagine that you lived in a country where you
  could get married at 12
  
• And that you had your first child while your own
  body was still developing
  
• And that there were no health services available
• 500,000 women die in pregnancy and childbirth
• Almost 1 death every minute of each day
• Locally What can we do?

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Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

• Globally
• 8,000 people die per day from AIDS
• 20 million people have died so far
• 15 million children have lost one or both parents
  from AIDS
  
• 860,000 children in Sub-Saharan Africa have lost
  a teacher to AIDS
  
• 40 million people are HIV
• Locally What can we do?

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Ensure Environmental Sustainability

• Globally
• 1.2 billion lack access to safe drinking water
• 2.4 billion lack access to toilets
• More than ½ developing world
• 2 million children die each year from infections
  due to these facts
  
• Locally What can we do?

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Develop a Global Partnership for Development

• Globally
• The poorest countries cannot achieve goals 1-7
  without more and better quality aid, trade
  opportunities and debt relief from rich
  countries
• On average, tariffs placed on manufactured goods
  by rich countries are 4 X higher than on other
  countries
  
• More technology and human resources are needed
• Locally What can we do?

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• Thank You!
• http//studentaffairs.shu.edu/meyerros.html