The way of solidarity

Following the end of the 84th Semaine Sociale de France (SSF) (the most important annual lay Catholic forum in the country), held in Paris from 19 to 22 November on “New forms of solidarity – new society”, we propose a reflection (specially written for SIR Europe) by Father Henri Madelin.One observation is necessary at the outset: in recent years, poverty has been reduced but at the same time inequalities and social exclusion have increased. Public budgets are gradually being reduced and social services have concurrently become more costly. The redistribution of financial resources is essential for the more disadvantaged. That is something that is perceptible in France and in Europe, but even more so in the rest of the world. The global crisis, from which we have still not really emerged, never ceases to augment disparities, to increase the gulf between rich and poor. The new forms of solidarity have difficulty in rectifying these disparities and repairing these rifts to the social fabric. Communication between social groups tends to harden, or to be broken off, in a separated society fractured by individual interests exacerbated and organized in defensive networks. The lack of social trust becomes entrenched and weakens the search for the “good society” dear to the heart of Aristotle. Solidarity must now respond to new situations of injustice which we need to analyse carefully to be able to reduce them.It’s a question not of placing bandages on the shortcomings of the classic economy of the past but of renewing the links between society and the economy. Such a transformation is aimed not at turning the economy of solidarity into an “alternative” model, but of creating new scope and a new future to tackle the new needs of the satisfaction of man in the field of work. Being situated on the margins therefore means pressing for a displacement of the centre, and showing trust in the biblical concepts of covenant and promise. As forcefully underlined by a theologian who took part in the conference, the way of faith leads every Christian to turn ad intra and ad extra, to worship and inseparably to life in society. The Gospel cannot be carried by a Christian community as if it were an “object”, an accessory, as if it were a thing that remained outside it: it is, on the contrary, inseparable from the form the community itself assumes, and from its social involvement. This, after all, is what was affirmed by John Paul II in his Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Europa, no. 85: “By its very nature the witness of charity must extend beyond the confines of ecclesial communities and reach out to every person, so that love for everyone can become a stimulus to authentic solidarity in every part of the world”.Forms of solidarity must be deployed in the world of work that is possible for everyone, so as to be able to provide a remedy for the unemployment, precariousness or exclusion from the labour market that are being posed anew in our time. But the question of work is now being compounded in a new form of vulnerability, which affects women and children in particular and which is the result of the weakening of conjugal ties. Family breakdowns and exclusion from work are combined in some populations with a high risk of cumulative precariousness. To ensure that the assembly of Villepinte represents not just an analysis of a social situation, but also a real recognition of these social ruptures, some representatives of members of the fourth world who came from all over France expressed their own sufferings and the significance of their own struggles during the public sessions and seminars. The whole event was in a style dear to Father Wresinski, founder of the ATD/Fourth World: speaking out in public, passing beyond the usual welfare-targeted approach, meeting with the responsible authorities, access to a public debate… Hence the question posed about an even more disturbing crisis, that of political or civil engagement. For each of us must be concerned, as citizens, by the current “de-legitimation” of financial solidarity between rich and poor in our society and also between the prosperous countries and the disadvantaged countries. A session on the Europe of the 27 must promote an increase in assistance by speaking of a European need for strong solidarity in all sectors: a solidarity that may be exemplary for the rest of the world, both in the social sphere and in the sphere of ecology. Self-interest, self-enclosure, and the concern to satisfy immediate needs cannot lead to the construction of a lasting society. This is clearly affirmed by a Jewish text of the 7th century BC: “If I don’t concern myself with myself, how can I be myself? If I concern myself with nothing but myself, am I still myself?”