The bishops of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference have written a pastoral letter to appeal to the faithful to show solidarity for “the hungry and thirsty, the strangers and the homeless, the naked, the sick and those in prison” to mark the recent Federal Day of Thanksgiving. The theme of the letter, “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me”, is intended to remind the faithful of the need for “diakonia, or brotherly love and solidarity as the Church’s task. If it not to remain empty and be testified merely by words – say the bishops in their letter – our faith must take on concrete form in acts of love, as happened in the first Christian communities”. However, today, solidarity must be global and “not stop at the frontiers of our country. Today, as never before, we are informed in real time of man’s needs throughout the earth. For decades, the ‘Third World’ has contained a third of the faithful of the Catholic Church. This demands a greater attention to the sufferings and aspirations to freedom of all men and women in each country, whatever be their religion”. How can this global solidarity be realised? “Christian charity is expressed in our country in many works of charity and we are profoundly grateful for this. Private initiatives, however, are not enough. More coordination and synergy are needed between the forces present to promote greater involvement”. “The preamble of our federal Constitution emphasises that the strength of our community is gauged by the well-being of its weakest members. We Christians – concludes the letter – are thus doubly called to play our part: both as Christians and as citizens. Our ‘yes’ to God must be expressed not only in our daily conduct, but also in the political decisions that must render justice, with love, to the needy, and show solidarity to the poor”.
