Called to Global Solidarity:
International Challenges for U.S. Parishes

If we receive encouragement to do so, we may post the complete text or major sections of this document here soon. However, it is readily available at the USCC website.

So, go visit USCC headquarters, constructed recently on what were the ballfields of my old seminary, (Theological College) at the Catholic University of America! Dan Onley

Introduction
Signs of the Times
Theological Foundations
   * The Moral Challenge
   * One Human Family
   * The Demands of Solidarity
U.S. Catholic Responses and Responsibilities
A Strategy of Integration
Conclusion
List of Organizations

". . .Our parishes often act as islands of local religious activity rather than as parts of the mystical body of Christ. At the parish level, where the Church lives, we need to integrate more fully the international dimensions of Catholic discipleship within a truly universal Church.

While many parishes do build global bridges, the Church's teaching on global solidarity is too often unknown, unheard, or unheeded. The coming jubilee offers U.S. parishes a graced moment to strengthen our international solidarity, since the themes of the millennium call us so clearly to this vital task.

The Church's teaching on international justice and peace is not simply a mandate for a few large agencies, but a challenge for every believer and every Catholic community of faith. The demands of solidarity require not another program, but greater awareness and integration into the ongoing life of the parish. The Church's universal character can be better reflected in how every parish prays, educates, serves, and acts. A parish reaching beyond its own members and beyond national boundaries is a truly "catholic" parish. An important role for the parish is to challenge and encourage every believer to greater global solidarity.

These reflections are intended for pastors, parish leaders, and other involved Catholics. They address the Catholic call to global solidarity in two distinct but related ways. One is the individual responsibility of every Catholic founded in our baptism and expressed in our everyday choices and actions. Another is the essential role of the parish as the spiritual home and religious resource for the Christian faithful, both sacramental and educational, and as a place for common prayer and action in pursuit of global solidarity."

(The above quoted from the Introduction.)

• Africa  UPDATED 8/6/99
• Asia and Oceania  UPDATED 7/23/99
• The Americas
• USA Parishes in Response
  
  
• Church: Catholic and Global

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