Caritas Sri Lanka - SEDEC

Apostolic Nuncio says:
WE NEED A CHANGE IN THE PATTERN OF CONSUMPTION

“ The sharing of gifts is fundamental for a truly integral human development”, said Most Rev Dr Joseph Spiteri, Apostolic Nuncio in a message delivered at the Caritas-sponsored Sri Lanka Working Group Meeting held at the SEDEC Auditorium in Colombo recently.

“ Gifts are received to be shared”, the Nuncio explained. “ Our sense of belonging to a family is not born from the fact that we live under the same roof but develops from the awareness that we are loved and that we too can love. In a family, in fact, the stronger members protect the weaker ones, mutual respect goes hand in hand with solidarity, rights and duties complement each other, burdens are shouldered by all and each member receives the necessary support to fulfill his or her dreams and aspirations”.

Even differences between persons or social groups need not be seen as a source of rivalry or conflict but as a chance for the exchange of gifts leading to reciprocal enrichment and fulfillment, the Nuncio observed.

Referring to the present global economic crisis, he said that our challenge is to reconfigure economics towards the co-production and co-ownership of relational goods and civil welfare. The Nuncio emphasized that “ greater consumption is not a way out, as it may increase profits but not jobs, since technology now substitutes for labour. What is need is change in the composition and pattern of consumption – less consumption of merchandize, more consumption of relational goods represented by medical care, education, culture, art and sport. All these “ goods”  not only build up the person and strengthen human relations, but also involve the most intensive labour, because no machine can substitute the service of care, education or culture”.