Colloquium "Population and Ethics with Special Reference to Islam"
International Population Concerns network - Cairo, Egypt,
September 2003
Concluding communiqué to our fellow Jesuits and colleagues
In early September 2003, the International Population Concerns network
sponsored a colloquium on "Population and Ethics with Special Reference to
Islam" at the Collège de la Ste. Famille in Cairo, Egypt. Attending were
Jesuits from around the world and their Egyptian guests. In our final
statement, we wish to re-affirm the conclusions of our earlier colloquium on
"Population and Poverty" in New Delhi (October, 1999): "Cultural, religious,
and ethical perspectives must be developed to comprehend globalization, orient
and humanize it in terms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." In
pursuing these themes, we offer the following perspectives:
- Population and family policy, whether global, regional, or national,
must be assessed from the perspective of equitable and sustainable
development. Such development must address the complex social, political,
economic and cultural implications of globalization, including the social
dynamics affecting modern family life; global flows of migrants, refugees,
and the internally displaced; ethnic strife; inequitable power relations
among states; environmental degradation; the HIV/AIDS pandemic; the burden
borne by heavily indebted countries, especially sub-Saharan African states;
and aging populations in the "developed" world. Development strategies,
moreover, must be particularly cognizant of the injustices suffered by women
and children.
- Consistent with fundamental rights to life and livelihood of the most
vulnerable, an equitable and sustainable population and family policy must
be characterized by:
- Solidarity with the impoverished: what we speak of in our Congregational Documents as "walking with the poor" (GC 32, Decree 4, par. 50; GC 34, Decree 2, pars. 39ff.). Rights of the poor, including their rights of effective, democratic participation, must govern the design and implementation of population and family policy in the context of sustainable development.
- Christian and Muslim solidarity and cooperation, like all forms of interreligious encounter, must be oriented toward concrete issues such as poverty eradication, debt relief, HIV/AIDS, peacemaking and the dignity and rights of women.
- Marked by solidarity with victims of domestic and political violence, such dialogue will be "from below," empowering them in their struggle for liberation and life.
- Finally, genuine dialogue on questions of population and family policy
must be characterized by open consultation and deliberation, reflecting
the richness and complexity of our respective traditions.
- We note, in conclusion, the ecclesial implications of the foregoing
perspectives: In general, modern Catholic social teaching supports an
integral and comprehensive population and family policy, respecting the
rights of the poor and the common good, e.g., the universal destination of
the earth's goods. The tradition of the Church's social teaching, in
particular, will be enriched and developed:
- By attending to the "sensus fidelium," especially of the poor majorities who are privileged both to receive and to bear witness to the Gospel.
- By local pastoral practice and the teaching of the local magisterium, e.g., regional Episcopal statements.
- Through interreligious solidarity and cooperation in civil society as a basis of other forms of interreligious dialogue, e.g., co-initiation of development projects.
- And finally, by the Church's denunciation of structural sin, and promotion of structures of grace, e.g., exemplary strategies, practices, and policies that, in redeeming the rights of the poor, help us imagine and build a different world together in hope.