|
Dominican Episcopalians promote national conversation on values
Episcopal News Service
Issue:
Section:
2003-055-6
Posted: Wednesday, March 12, 2003
|
The Episcopal Church of the Dominican Republic is urging civic, business and church leaders to draft a National Plan to Defend Family Values in an effort to confront the violence, crime, corruption and other problems that rack the nation.
Last year more than 120 women died as a result of violence and so far this year two women have been murdered each week. The church also expressed concern about an increase in child abuse, frequently as victims of a family member, and an increase in kidnapping. A pastoral letter urged Dominicans to join efforts to reestablish human, social, cultural, moral and family values--accompanied by a search for God.
The pastoral also called on people to abandon the 'gods' created by a hunger for power, by deeply rooted courruption and a lack of respect for the national constitution. Bishop Julio Cesar Holguin said that society is embroiled in a spiral of violence that touches the intimate fiber of one of the country's most fundamental values--families. He said that 'we are faced with a situation where values are becoming inverted and the very foundation of society begins to crumble, when the harmony and emotional and spiritual balance of the family begin to disappear.'
The bishop said that 'those who perpetuate this violence continue to enjoy impunity. We exhort authorities to seriously seek a solution that will get to the root of this problem.' He warned that, despite efforts to slow the constant devaluation of the local currency, 'the poor are losing hope and the middle class is vanishing in the face of the ongoing economic in justice that affects the family budget.' He called for a national development plan that would 'sacrifice a partisan political quota that surrounds the national treasury and includes an austerity law as a symbol of reconciliation and Lenten penitence.'
|
|
|
|
| © 2004, The Episcopal Church, USA. Episcopal News Service content may be reprinted without permission as long as credit is given to ENS. |
|
|
|
