"The Breaking-Down of Borders"

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More posts about "Caritas in Veritate" (Charity in Truth)
"Caritas in Veritate"

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This is the fourth day of the 17-day 2012 Olympics. Once again, I'm not writing about the global games get-together. Quit a few folks are, though:

• London 2012 Olympics
  (Official website)
• Olympics and Faith
  Brian Caulfield, CNA (Catholic News Agency) (July 30, 2012)
• Olympics 2012: USA gymnast Jordyn Wieber misses out on all-round final
  Associated Press in London, via guardian.co.uk (July 29, 2012)
• Olympic basketball: Great Britain lose to Russia
  BBC News (July 29, 2012)
• Soccer’s Reign of Spain Ends in London
  The Wall Street Journal (July 29, 2012)

"Caritas in Veritate," 42, is the end of Chapter Three. It starts by noting a fairly common assumption:

"Sometimes globalization is viewed in fatalistic terms, as if the dynamics involved were the product of anonymous impersonal forces or structures independent of the human will[102]...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 42)

'You can't fight city hall' is a fairly common attitude. It's easy to assume that there's nothing that an individual can do to influence the "anonymous impersonal forces" that seem to run the world.

Back to what Benedict XVI was saying:

...In this regard it is useful to remember that while globalization should certainly be understood as a socio-economic process, this is not its only dimension. Underneath the more visible process, humanity itself is becoming increasingly interconnected; it is made up of individuals and peoples to whom this process should offer benefits and development[103], as they assume their respective responsibilities, singly and collectively. The breaking-down of borders is not simply a material fact: it is also a cultural event both in its causes and its effects...."
("Caritas in Veritate," 42)

A key point here is that a "cultural event" involves people. I think that we're influenced by what's around us: but I'm certain that we can decide what we do.

As I pointed out yesterday, people are:

• Rational and therefore like God
  • Made in the image and likeness of God
  (Catechism, 1700-1706)
• Created with free will
• Master over our actions
  (Catechism, 1730)

I can't, as about 1/7,000,000,000th of the world's people, decide how I want global economics and social structures to develop: and make everybody else act the way I want. But I can decide what I do, and how I react to that tiny fraction of the world that I deal with each day.

All of us do that: and that makes a difference.

There's a whole lot more to "Caritas in Veritate," 42. I may get back to it later today: or, not.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Upset Applecarts: A Hopeful Sign"
  (March 5, 2012)
• "Freedom of Speech: Bothersome, but Valuable"
  (January 27, 2012)
• " 'Inevitable Progress;' 'We're All Gonna Die;'
  and Getting a Grip"
  (January 16, 2012)
• "Modernism, Luddites, Catholicism, and Godzilla"
  (April 7, 2011)
• "Information Technology, People, and a Changing World"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (February 23, 2011)

More:

• "Populorum Progressio"
  Encyclical of Pope Paul VI on the Development of Peoples (March 26, 1967)