Theme


CCI International Conference

5 - 8 December 2015

Chennai, India

Theme: 

Cardijn Today: Inequality, Ecology, Diversity

In his three speeches to Vatican II in 1965, Cardinal Joseph Cardijn addressed three topics:

Religious freedom

Young people and the developing world

The suffering workers of the world

These were major issues of the 1960s and they remain so in the new context of today.

In the spirit of Cardijn, therefore, we have chosen three topics for our CCI International Conference in Chennai, India, which reflect key issues facing the world today.

The aim of our conference will be to better understand these issues (see) in the light of our faith (judge) and to decide upon ways (act) in which we, as CCI, can respond to these issues.



Inequality: According to a recent report by Oxfam, half of the world's wealth is now owned by 1% of the population. Another Forbes report states that the 85 richest people in the world own as much as the poorest 3.5 billion people. Pope Francis tweeted that inequality is the root of social evil.




Ecology: The United Nations will host a climate change summit in Paris in December 2015 to address the issue of global warming. Pope Francis is about to release his encyclical on ecology to be entitled Laudati Sii or Praised be to you, taken from a prayer of St Francis.


File:Global climate change.jpg


Diversity: As the world becomes increasingly diverse in terms of culture, ethnicity, religion and even sexual orientation, the issues of tolerance, harmony and freedom have become increasingly important. "Only the Spirit can awaken diversity, plurality and multiplicity while at the same time building unity," Pope Francis said. "When we are the ones who try to create diversity and close ourselves up in what makes us different and unique, we bring division."

DIAC images - Harmony Day (CC 2.0)