Responsibility to stop social injustice

I write with reference to J. G. Vassallo’s article Who Speaks For Social Justice? (July 7).

The Church is often the subject of frequent commentaries by supporters and adversaries alike. Such commentaries are, however, often contradictory and one is faced with the question: How faithful are those commentaries to the reality of the Church? For example, the Church (the definition of which pertains to the reader’s need to support his/her argument) is occasionally asked to voice her perspective about certain topics of dialogue, and criticised for being silently complacent about issues that are deemed as requiring the directional voice of this towering institution in our society. These cries for vocal expressions are often sought to be subdued as soon as a word is uttered by the Church hierarchy or any other person deemed to be representative of the same institution.

On noting this contradictory attitude, the Maltese Young ­Christian Workers Movement (Żgħażagħ Ħaddiema Nsara – ŻĦN) would like to note with appreciation the occasions when the hierarchy of the Church has spoken out with special concern about issues of social justice such as tax evasion, and issues of poverty affecting our reality as Maltese. However, we would also like to encourage more individuals to speak out and bring to the fore experiences of social injustice. The Church responsible to denounce such irregular ­behaviour is the Church made up of every baptised individual and nobody is relieved of the responsibility to denounce such wrong-doings.

Members of the Maltese society who do not feel part of such a grouping, or who feel that such responsibility is inexistent, obviously need not listen. However, all those who proclaim to be faithful need to actively grasp responsibility in seeking to stop injustice, rather than waiting for formal declaration. Let us not forget that there is none so deaf as he who will not hear.