An investigation in the impact of social injustice on the practice of Catholic faith in St. Paul's Parish Mukono, in the light of Pacem in Terris

Abstract

Catholic social thought calls for persons to be treated as subjects, not as objects, and for a society in which basic needs i.e., health care, education, infrastructural development, human rights and duties are available to all. This demands that people are animated by such love as will make them feel the needs of others as their own, and induce them to share their goods with others, and to strive to make all men alike heirs to the noblest of intellectual and spiritual values. All this is a folktale in St. Paul’s parish, instead several social injustices like; corruption, discrimination favoritism, abortion, sexual harassment, land theft, child labor, violence, mob- justice, tribalism, unfair distribution of jobs and benefits are the order of the day. Such injustices hinder free practice of catholic faith. These injustices are a byproduct of a systematic lack of access to resources, affordable health care, unequal pay for equal work, access to job market, and integration opportunities for convicted persons upon release, lack of trust and social isolation plus institutions not accessible to disabled persons. Factors like disrespect of human right and duties, tribalism, nepotism, lack of patriotism, dictatorship, ethical difference, illiteracy and favoritism are responsible for such injustices. In such a social structure the Christians are struggling to respond to the exhortation, “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow” (Is.1:17). As a result of such, employees are exploited, work on Sundays when they would be going to church, others have resorted to drinking alcohol daily out of despair, and some other people go to the witch doctors, many others to Pentecostal pastors seeking for immediate solutions to their poor state and lifestyle. There are many cases of idleness, crime, drug abuse by the young people who have dropped out of schools because their families cannot afford the requirements. All these mentioned factors have highly affected the prayer life of the people, their active and full participation in the liturgy and reception of sacraments, their responsibility as Catholics in the parish and indeed the practice of the catholic faith. As a means of reducing social injustice, campaigns for promotion of social injustice are put forward through education, evangelization, proper child upbringing, public debates on justice and human rights along the use of the media to sensitize the community about their rights and duties. The above endeavors are in line with Pacem in Terris, in which John XXIII, encourages promotion of human rights, proper relations and mutual trust between the authority and the people for the promotion of the common good especially for the vulnerable.