All these we celebrate for the great hope they offer. And yet we find that the world we live in is also a violent world. The modern consumer culture, itself imbued with an ethos of competition, can do violence to the weak, the vulnerable, the feeble, the poor, and the powerless, while rewarding the strong, the beautiful, the powerful and the rich. The very life and ecology of the planet.faces severe threats from pollution, exploitation and mismanagement of its resources. Too often the driving forces for social change are greed and the desire for power, rather than the common good and solidarity of humanity.
People continue to aspire to a life of respect for moral values.
But successive generations have perceived that guiding principles have become less clear and the moral signposts of previous generations have become blurred. Any form of injustice built into national and international structures does violence to fundamental human rights and dignity and is sinful. 3 Such sinfulness needs to be confronted . We need to recognise that through the legacy of the past, which includes colonisation, we are often caught up in institutions that are inherently unjust. But we must make choices, both personal and collective.