Social change achieved through properly-formed consciences, says Argentine bishop

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Oct 31, 2005 / 22:00 pm

Bishop Jorge Casaretto of San Isidro, Argentina, said this week that authentic change in society is not possible without a properly formed conscience and the knowledge that every action has repercussions.

Since every good or bad actions has repercussions in the life of a society, the bishop explained, change must take place first “inside each of us,” as part of a commitment to “seeking out and building up the common good.”

“Faced with the challenges of a society that demands justice, with men and women who want their rights to be respected, with juridical and institutional standards that need to be purified and renewed, the word ‘change’ acquires a much more profound meaning than simply putting on a different face,” he noted.

Bishop Casaretto recalled that the renewal of ideas and institutions must be focused on the good of man. Thus everyone must adopt new attitudes that bring out the commonly yearned-for principles and values, “which we are not always willing to respect.”

After warning that no formula works if “it is not accompanied by adequate ethical and moral standards,” he exhorted the faithful to renew their desire to experience profound change by making present “the basic values and principles that distinguish us as persons and characterize us as Argentineans in the building of a new society.”