Bishop John Baptist Wu Cheng-Chung, with a view to putting into practice the Vatican II teaching on promoting integral human development, set up the Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission in 1977. It aimed to help the marginalised in society, such as the fishermen’s wives and the mothers of children born in Hong Kong who had no right of abode, and to speak for those whose voices were not heard, thereby helping the Church to play her rôle as servant and prophet. Discerning the new signs of the times, the diocese has decided to change, at the end of this year, the name of the commission to Diocesan Commission for Integral Human Development, in order to reflect its broadened scope of services in response to the new needs of society and evangelization. From this issue onwards, six editions of this newspaper will be devoted to the origin and development of the commission from its inception.
HONG KONG (SE): Pope Francis set up the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development by merging four previous pontifical councils, namely, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, and the Pontificial Council for Health Care Workers. In addition, Caritas Internationalis is also under this new dicastery.
Citing the Vatican, Father Lawrence Lee Len, chancellor, of the Diocese of Hong Kong, said that the merging of those councils, by simplifying structures and making better use of resources, will better serve the bodily and spiritual aspects of integral human development.
In response to the social changes in recent years, the Diocese of Hong Kong consulted the Holy See six months ago about the renaming of her Justice and Peace Commission, and had the support of the Holy See.
Father Lee said that the commission would be renamed Diocesan Commission for Integral Human Development, reflecting the broadened scope of its mission. After the renaming, the commission would carry on its mission as in the past, but would incorporate ecological concerns as well.
Father Lee pointed out that Vatican II, in its Pastoral Consultation On the Church in the Modern World [n.1], has emphasized that “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these too are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts.” Therefore, the Church must be in solidarity with the human family and the make it her preferential option to care for the poor, the needy and the socially marginalized, in order to become the salt of the earth, the light of the world and the yeast of human society.
Father Lee said that the commission would be renamed Diocesan Commission for Integral Human Development, reflecting the broadened scope of its mission. After the renaming, the commission would carry on its mission as in the past, but would incorporate ecological concerns as well
The same Vatican II Pastoral Consultation as quoted above has also found it very necessary that an international centre of research be established by the Holy See to study and analyse the issues relating to peace in different parts of the world. Vatican II, in its Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity [n. 26], has also pointed out the need for the Holy See to set up an international centre of research on the issues relating to the evangelising mission of the lay people, including the challenges, achievements and insights.
Following the foregoing Vatican II recommendations, Pope St. Paul VI set up the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace on 6 January 1967. Since then the social concern mission of the Church has always taken into special consideration the following two basic principles provided by the Encyclical of Pope St. Paul VI on The Development of Peoples [26 March 1967] and the 1971 Synod of Bishops on Justice in the World.
(1) Integral human development should be the goal.
(2) Helping to remove unjust social structures is a constitutive part of the evangelising mission of the Church.
Father Lee recalled that the establishment of the local commission was the result of the pastoral efforts of three bishops, namely, Bishop Francis Xavier Hsu Chen-ping, Bishop Peter Lei Wang-kei and Bishop John Baptist Wu. In 1975, Bishop Wu appointed a five-member team to prepare, through a diocese-wide consultation, for the establishment of a Justice and Peace Commission in Hong Kong, parallel to those in other countries.
The Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission [later renamed the Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese] was formally established in January 1977, with 10 members in its first term from the clergy, religious, social work sector and grass-roots lay people, led by its chairperson, Andrew So
In 1976, the team collected views from various sectors of the diocese on the establishment of the commission. The Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission [later renamed the Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese] was formally established in January 1977, with 10 members in its first term from the clergy, religious, social work sector and grass-roots lay people, led by its chairperson, Andrew So.
When the two-and-a-half-year term of the first members of the Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission expired in May 1979, Bishop Wu assigned an ad hoc committee to conduct a review and submit a recommendation report in June 1980. A new commission was then set up. Following the recommendations collected by the aforementioned report, the new commission paid special attention to some areas as education, labour, social welfare, housing and health care.
The commission focused on research, making recommendations on social reforms and public policies in the light of the Gospel and the social teaching of the Church. Depending on concrete circumstances, it also took part in social concern activities, and organized formation programmes on social concern for the laity.
In the 1980s, the Justice and Peace Commission, in response to the changed social situation of Hong Kong, make special effort in following the issues of constitutional development of Hong Kong, and in 2016, it began to show greater concern for environmental protection.
