Human Development as Social Church
For a person who is not considered very believer or belonging to the Church, the answer to this question is that it is obviously not. But if it is about consulting on the online theme, most of the results will be around religion (specifically the Catholic), so it is worth asking again: is it the integral human development only one issue of theChurch?
First it is worth defining the word church and how will the term be treated in this text. According to the presbyter Clemente González “Church means‘ community convened ’. In this case [the Catholic], convened by Christ ”(González, S.F.), the church would refer to a purely social term and the way in which a community acts with itself. With this in mind you can begin to speak more specifically of development, human development can be defined as the search for man and his kind of improvement of his conditions, which leads to another unknown, what conditions are these?, whose answer will depend on whoever is asked, the general idea and the one that has been extended in part thanks to globalization is to be based on economic growth.
To determine how a community has grown, its economy has grown, mainly outward, a common indicator at the national level to measure this is GDP (gross domestic product) which tells us: “The total of goods and services produced inA country for a certain period of time ”(Banco de la República, S.F.). You quickly notice that this way of studying development is limited to evaluate other important aspects of the human being, such as its morality or happiness, and this is where the concept of integral human development is important, and to talk about this voucherThe first penalty clarifies that the Church has to do in this matter, it is enough to quote Benedict XVI textually:
If this [development] affected only the technical aspects of man’s life, and not to the sense of walking in history along with their other brothers, or the discovery of the goal of this path, the Church would not have toTalk about him. (Benedict XVI, 2009)
The Church or specifically the Vatican is based that development goes beyond physical aspects (referring to material matters, such as money) but it includes the path of men and as they walk with their brothers, this bringsNew terms, first of all to the path of man, this in the Church is commonly referred to as the will or vocation, the will being the way in which things do and the vocation the way in which one lives.
To achieve human development that includes transcendental aspects of the human being, individualism must be left and seek the union or brotherhood of men, the Catholic Church uses the word Caritas that could be translated as charity or love, this takes importance because it suggests theCommon good, that is, seek benefit beyond the individual himself, a benefit to his neighbors, although globalization in theory does or will make all neighbors in some way this has not brought that feeling of brotherhood that is needed, which isYou can see xenophobia with the naked eye.
The Catholic Church has a great sense of brotherhood, professes the importance of seeing all members of the human species as brothers, here enters the concept mentioned above of the vocation that is the call to do something in life, this calls in thisCase arrives from God, and in its center is charity for this is why you can see a close relationship between integral human development and the Church, as well as Benedict XVI:
The increasingly globalized society makes us closer, but no more brothers. The reason, by itself, is able to accept equality between men and establish a civic coexistence between them, but fails to found the brotherhood. This is born from a transcendent vocation of God the Father, the first one who has loved us, and who has taught us through the Son what is fraternal charity. (Benedict XVI, 2009)
As you can see, here the Vatican speaks of the attitudes or feelings that have already been spoken in this text, as well as mentions that these as such have their origin in God, and sees in a way as their main or only source. Although the Church is tied to itself, a morality, doctrine and philosophy, this is not unique to it, and this could arise from various sources, such as atheistic religions or people without religion. Benedict XVI later in the text refers to this, de -meriting this idea:
When the State promotes, teaches, or even imposes forms of practical atheism, it deprives its citizens of the indispensable moral and spiritual force to commit to integral human development and prevents them from moving forward with renewed dynamism in their commitment in favor of a more human responsegenerous to divine love. (Benedict XVI, 2009)
When practical atheism is said to an atheism that has a non -theoretical origin, but pragmatic, the existence of God as such is not denied, gods are ignored by these not to have any real influence on us and as such they would live as if notThere is any God, now, why can this be as a threat?, As mentioned above, the Vatican sees God as the source of the goods that humanity needs, as the vocation resulting from the call of this, which comes with the sense of brotherhood and charity. In our globalized world the normal is that people act only in search of their benefit, this could be because they moved away from God or their teachings, but a more appropriate approach would be to see the problem only in terms of how people relate to each otherAnd its environment, and based on this to look.
You can see God as the origin of this change, and the promise of eternal life as the fuel of this change, it is said that with reason the problems can be found, but that the solutions are found through the Church,In practical terms we see that this is not necessary. You cannot deny the contribution that the Church has had to help the unfortunateA project that seeks cooperation of the community of farmers in search of not only an improvement in the quality of their works or products, but an improvement in its social interaction, one based on cooperation, for this type of project is not needed inNo time to mention God.
The lessons that the Church has given should not be discarded Benedict XVI in its encyclical letter Caritas in Verite, leaving aside their criticism and contempt for example to the rights to abortion and euthanasia makes an invitation to seek a better treatment for employees, aBetter relationship between people, talks about the importance of seeking the common good, something that people with power should always keep in mind. These ideas are wonderful and must be shared, but God’s forced presence is unnecessary in conversation.
It may be a false hope, but people can meet and seek the common good without the need for this God to guide us or promise us a better future in eternity.
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