By Francis Wong
HONG KONG, MARCH 22, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Parish-based groups that work toward the implementation of Catholic social teaching are the hands and feet of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, says its president.
Cardianl Peter Turkson said this Sunday in Hong Kong at the launch of the Chinese translation of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. The Compendium, prepared by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, was released in 2004.
The event, which gathered some 200 priests, religious sisters and laypeople, was part of the cardinal’s three-day visit to Hong Kong.
The cardinal said that Catholic social teaching is an «ongoing development,» and that it has not come to its conclusion. He added that the doctrine must continually respond to ever-changing social realities.
The 62-year-old Ghanaian prelate urged Chinese-speaking Catholics to make the best use of the latest Chinese version of the compendium.
Cardinal Turkson emphasized that parish-based social concern groups and diocesan justice and peace commissions are the feet of the Vatican council to promote and to witness Catholic social teaching.
The Diocese of Hong Kong began to translate the compendium six years ago, under the advocacy of the then ordinary bishop — also a well known human rights defender — Cardinal Joseph Zen.
Franciscan Father Stephen Chan, who worked on the translation project, said to the gathering that the compendium is a timely gift to every Christian and all people, so «it is the responsibility of Chinese Catholics to make this teaching known among the Chinese population, wherever they may be.»
