Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo of Jakarta has declared 2022 as the Year of Human Dignity and called on Indonesian Catholics to show the caring face of God throughout the next 12 months.
He announced the special year during a homily at a livestreamed evening concelebrated Mass on Jan. 8 in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral Church in Jakarta.
The Year of Human Dignity kicked off Jakarta Archdiocese’s new five-year basic pastoral direction program. Under the slogan “Loving, Caring, Being A Witness,” the archdiocese with 67 parishes wants Catholics to enliven the call to love and to care.
“Together with all churches, today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. And on this day, we, Catholics of the Archdiocese of Jakarta, will also start the journey of our faith for the next five years based on basic pastoral directions,” the prelate said.
“We want to explore Catholic social teaching and to find creative ways to materialize our faith in a more contextual way.”
He said Catholic social teaching could be divided in a simple way into five important points: respecting human dignity, striving for the common good, maintaining and promoting solidarity, paying attention to the less fortunate, and caring for God’s creation as the common home.
While we strive for the common good, there are always the less fortunate whom we need to pay more attention to
“These points relate to one another. To uphold human dignity, the common good must be materialized. To materialize the common good, the spirit of solidarity must be maintained,” he said.
“While we strive for the common good, there are always the less fortunate whom we need to pay more attention to. And we can do all this if we commit to preserving God’s creation as our common home.”
Cardinal Suharyo called on Catholics to pray for the archdiocese so that “we can show the face of God which cares for men and his creation throughout this Year of Human Dignity.”
Father Aloysius Susilo Wijoyo of St. Gabriel Church in East Jakarta said his parish will hold events focusing on elderly and disabled people.
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He suggested that respecting human dignity should start within families.
“Families hiring domestic helpers, for example. They should have clear working hours for their domestic helpers. Domestic helpers should be given holidays, too. This is part of respecting human dignity,” he said.
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