Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Johannesburg (Agenzia Fides) - “The Global ethic is a challenge to the churches,” Archbishop Buti Joseph Tlhagale of Johannesburg said in his opening address at the Plenary Assembly of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC), which began January 22. A copy of Archbishop Tlhagale's address was also sent to Agenzia Fides.
“Post modernity maintains that reality is a social construct, that truth is what you make of it. There is no objective truth. It further asserts that reality is a text to be interpreted and your interpretation is as valid as that of the next person,” Archbishop Tlhagale.
The result of this philosophy is that “God himself has been knocked off the pedestal. It is man and women who reign supreme. Transcendence has become fictional. The individual has become the creator, free to shape his or her own destiny. The individual is the Yardstick. Natural law is seen as an integral part of ancient explanations or mythologies.”
“A whole new vocabulary and concepts have been produced by the postmodern global ethic. These are also in part the Judeo Christian teachings and values.
The ‘right to choose’ is touted as the fundamental norm, the principle of non-discrimination. One can freely choose bisexuality, homosexuality, lesbianism, heterosexuality. Children now have the right to choose abortion irrespective of their parent’s beliefs. They too have equal rights,” the Archbishop of Johannesburg said.
Other grave moral consequences of this view on life are euthanasia and abortion. “Euthanasia, the campaigners assert, is an expression of the right to choose and that it also affirms the dignity of the individual. Reproductive health means the right not to reproduce. It means safe abortion. It means unrestricted access to contraceptives.”
This vision is also promoted by the authoritative international assemblies, sponsored by the United Nations. “It was the 1995 Beijing conference that jettisoned the complementarity of man and woman. The goal is to achieve an a-sexual society, a society free of sexual labels. The Cairo Conference spoke of family under all its forms in order to include families of same sex parents. There is a concerted effort to eliminate word such as ‘virginity, chastity, spouse, husband, wife, marriage’ etc.”
“Both the Maputo Protocol and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) intended to legalize abortions and to legitimize in-vitro fertilization in most African Countries. Such legislation will make it possible to poach ovarian human eggs from African women. Harvesting ovarian human eggs in Africa will help meet the needs of embryonic stem cell research in industrialized countries. It is illegal to use British eggs in Great Britain. Biological colonialism is on our doorstep,” the concerned Archbishop of Johannesburg concluded. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 23/1/2009)
