PRESS RELEASE
12 June 2009
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin launches Who is my Neighbour?
Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical letter, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love), provided the subject for the 2008 conference where a range of contributors, representing different dimensions of Irish life, responded to the Encyclical and attempted to answer the outwardly simple, yet most perplexing question, ‘Who is my neighbour?’.
Who is My Neighbour? has been edited for the ICJSA by Rev Dr Eoin Cassidy, Head of the Philosophy Department at Mater Dei Institute, Dublin City University, and Chair of the ICJSA International sub-group. It contains a selection of papers delivered at the conference, together with additional contributions highlighting the relevance of the Encyclical in areas such as justice, human rights, and education.
Speaking at the launch Dr Eoin Cassidy described Pope Benedict’s Encyclical as “extremely timely” in the context of the global financial crisis and the recent banking scandals: “In its proclamation of the mystery of God who is love and of the inseparability of the love of God and neighbour, this Encyclical provides for a vision of solidarity that alone is capable of engendering the type of society transformation demanded by the present crisis.
“Deus Caritas Est provides a much needed corrective to the excesses of capitalism. A culture animated by the principles of the Gospel as outlined in Deus Caritas Est has a unique contribution to make to the humanisation of contemporary culture. It has the potential to bring hope to a global world marked by the rootlessness of an individualist culture.
“By challenging the belief that people are subject to the market with the conviction that the market should be at the service of human beings, it also has the capability to create solidarity among peoples and to bring justice to a world too often marked by economic and social divisions.”
Notes for Editors
1. The ICJSA conference “Who is my neighbour?” was held in the Croke Park Conference Centre, Dublin on 18 February 2008. The publication of the same name has been edited for the ICJSA by Rev Dr Eoin Cassidy, Head of the Philosophy Department at Mater Dei Institute, Dublin City University, and Chair of the ICJSA International sub-group.
– Introduction: ‘Who is my Neighbour? The Wrong Question?’ by Eoin G. Cassidy
– Opening Address by Cardinal Seán Brady
SECTION ONE:
THEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS
– ‘The Interior Logic of Deus caritas est’ by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin
– ‘Deus caritas est and the Daughters of Charity: Looking Anew at the Vincentian Charism’ by Catherine Prendergast, DC
– ‘Towards a Real Discovery of the Other’ by Bishop Donal Murray
– ‘We Live in Recessionary Times. Deus caritas est: An Encyclical for Today’ by Eoin G. Cassidy
– ‘Human Rights: Faith for a Secular Age?’ by Professor Conor Gearty
SECTION TWO: TOWARDS A CIVILISATION OF LOVE
– ‘Deus caritas est and Active Citizenship’ by Dr Fergus O’Ferrall
– ‘The Work for Justice and Deus caritas est’ by Gerry O’Hanlon, SJ
– ‘Justice Overshadowed by Charity? Deus caritas est and the Work of Catholic “Charitable Organisations”’ by Ethna Regan, CHF
– ‘Reflections on the Encyclical Deus caritas est from the Coalface of Parish Life’ by Fr Paul Taylor, KCHS
– ‘Helping to Purify Reason: Catholic Leadership and Education in Northern Ireland 1998–2008’ by Bishop Donal McKeown
– ‘A Host is a Guest and a Guest is a Host’ by Joan Roddy, DMJ
2. The role of the Irish Commission for Justice and Social Affairs is to support the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference in promoting the social teaching of the Church and to advise on issues of social concern, both nationally and internationally. Its mission is: To promote the social dimension of the Gospel with a view to building a civilisation of love.
ENDS
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678
Nicola Rooney, Research Coordinator 087 740 6290
