Globalization of Solidarity
Fr. Louis Aldrich – Taipei
My topic for this last conference is “Globalization
of solidarity.” I will spend
the first half of my talk discussing the need for solidarity in addressing the
economic problems related to globalization, and the final part discussine the
need for a globalization of the culture of life to confront the current globalization
of the culture of death. Globalization of the economy is a fact
affecting everyone in the contemporary world; the key question is how this globalization
will be ordered to the common good. To bring about the common good the virtue
of solidarity is necessary: this virtue leads us to understand that we are
responsible for one another, and leads us to take positive steps for the well
being of others. In the context of economic globalization, the key challenge “is
to ensure a globalization in solidarity, a globalization without marginalization.
This is a clear duty in justice, with serious moral implications in the
organization of the economic, social, cultural and political life of nations.”
Practically, a globalization of
solidarity must strive to see that the poorest nations, the ones with the
weakest economies, are not only not excluded from the global economy, but that
when needed, “special aid [is] forthcoming so that countries which are unable
to enter the market successfully on their own strength alone can in fact
overcome their present situation of disadvantage.”
International efforts to reduce the external debt of the poorest nations would
be a concrete instance of the globalization of solidarity. Further,
solidarity also demands efforts to overcome inequalities of wealth within
nations and efforts to overcome the “evil of corruption which is undermining
the social and political development of so many peoples.” The greatest
victims of the innumerabile forms of corruption, whether in use of public funds
or in the administration of
justice, are the poor.
Pope Benedict XVI, while pointing out the positive
possibilities for development made available by globalization, underlines the
risks to the poor and marginalized and summarizes the direction in which hope
lies: “[Globalization is an opportunity to be weaving a network of
understanding and solidarity among peoples, without reducing everything to
merely mercantile or pragmatic exchanges, in which there will also be room for
the human problems of every place and, in particular, of emigrants forced to
leave their land in search of better conditions of life.”
As this is last videoconference, I would like to end
with an aspect of globalization related to my own field of research: the
globalization of the culture of death and the globalization of the culture of
life that must oppose it. While economic globalization offers both
opportunities and risks, the globalization of the culture of death offers only
death for the pre-born child, destruction of families and an ever-swelling tide
of sexual immorality. There must, therefore, be a globalization of the
culture of life, especially greater international cooperation among the
pro-life, pro-family movements within the Church and outside the Church.
My final word to the young priests for whom the videoconference was
intended: the culture of death starts with the acceptance of contraception,
with a rejection of Humanae Vitae, with a rejection of the
absolute moral norm: it is never permitted to separate the procreative and unitive
aspects of the conjugal act. The ever increasing ontological and moral evil
that has resulted from the rejection of the Magisterium’s teaching on the conjugal
act demands a response from young priests: they must convince themselves and
the faithful for whom they are responsible, that as long as contraception and
artificial reproduction are accepted and practiced, the global cultural of life
cannot be built. You need to be able to show the faithful how contraception and
artificial reproduction are ultimately a rejection of the source of all life:
Trinitarian love.