Vera Araujo on Social Ethics

On Friday morning Vera spoke to us on the theme of social ethics. She started by giving us a whistle-stop tour of 'modern society', looking back to the French Revolution as one of the points at which the secular and religious became separated in public life. Instead of presenting this as something wholly negative, Vera described the incarnation of Jesus as a form of secularisation. God, she said, wants to be met in the world, in human realities. She traced our fascination with scientific progress and outlined some of the characteristics of contemporary life as a valorisation of human reason, organisation (we live within systems, without realising it, from birth to death), competition and rationality. In prioritising these themes we are necessarily viewing emotion, intuition and cooperation as secondary. Vera talked about post-modern society in terms of some of the main currents in the West over the last half century or so. These include the decline of industry, the necessity and assumption that we will consume, and indeed over-produce and over-consume. Technology is replacing science and introducing a pace of life that does not respect our natural human rhythms. There is little time for relationships, for contemplation or just being. Time is consumed and people expected to conform. We also follow fashions without thinking (one only has to see the ubiquity of smart phones and iPads or tablets and de rigour Italian padded coats and jackets to get the point). We, i.e. 'modern society' if we can essentialise it this way for the sake of argument, believes that if something is technically possible it is ethically valid. If not quite true, one could see where Vera was going with this. With increased specialisation in many fields we lose a sense of the whole, whether in medicine or any other field of life. The public sphere in our overly complex world becomes too complicated for many people, and there is a tendency to focus on the micro-level. We interest ourselves in family and friends, or local concerns, because we no longer understand how politics or economics work at the macro-level. What is sometimes called the 'short-belonging' is accompanied by 'weak-thought'. If something looks too complex we put it aside. This leaves those who do understand free to exploit, and indeed intentionally confuse - look at financial instruments like hedge funds, for instance.

If these are some of the realities of our contemporary life, what are the solutions? Vera stressed the importance of Christian witness and of announcing the good news. In the age of Twitter, this announcement needs to be packaged in short pithy tweets. The ideal tweet was characterised as 'God is Love'. Jesus Christ revealed God to us. We don't need to explain, but to live love. In the economic sphere this means that we don't have becoming richer as the goal of our life.  We give in order to have. Our richness is God and God's Kingdom. When we seek first the Kingdom of God we receive the hundredfold. We are not anti-wealth, if we have we can give, but it is not our goal. We keep only what is necessary, the rest is surplus. This means a change of mentality. Many goods have a built in obsolescence that encourages us to continually consume. The rich get richer and the poor, poorer. Our laws favour this form of capitalism, including betting and gambling (a big problem in Italy at the moment, particularly the ubiquity of slot machines). It may be legal but is not ethical. There are people who feel compelled to buy, this becomes a form of sickness. Our talents should be used creatively, not just for wealth creation. We can promote a culture of giving which is really going against the current. It includes not bribing or stealing. We should not damage or misuse public property, we need to obey civil laws and participate in public life, above all we should vote. We have a duty to inform ourselves and to dialogue with those who think differently to us.

If much of this seems obvious, the context became clearer when a young Italian surgeon shared her experience after Vera's talk. She was struggling in an environment in which those who advance are the ones who curry favour, pay bribes, or play the system, not those who know how to operate on others. Training is minimal and many of her colleagues saw little need for it in order to advance. To work honestly and to develop professionally as a doctor and surgeon was already making a witness that could damage her career. She had spent three years in Germany and therefore understood how a system could work when based on professionalism and merit, and was trying to bring something of this mentality back to Italy.

We wish Vera well as she prepares to return to Brazil, having spent so many years in Loppiano and at the Abba School. I'm sure no one who has seen her wonderful smile and enjoyed her downright manner and many talks will forget Vera Araujo.