Spring 2010 Retreat
The CAPP-DC Spring Retreat is to be held on Saturday, May 15, 2010, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, 3900 Harewood Road, N.E., Washington, DC.  The day will end with a Sunday Vigil Mass.  Rev. Monsignor Michael Fisher, Vicar for Clergy and Secretary for Ministerial Leadership, will be the Retreat Master.  The theme of retreat is:  "Reflecting on the Year for Priests -  "Jesus Christ, Priest, Prophet and King."   The fee for the day is $35. prepay or $40 at door (price includes lunch).  Please send check,  made payable to CAPP-USA, to:  Mr. David Brown, 5000 Millwood Lane, NW, Washington, DC  20016.   All are welcome to attend.

The day's schedule starts with Registration/coffee at 9:30 a.m; 10 a.m.,  Morning Prayer followed by a talk and Reflection; 11:30, Rosay; 12:00n, Lunch.  Eucharistic Adoration will begin at 1:00 p.m. with a second presentation included within the Holy Hour.  A Reconciliation Service will be conducted at 2 p.m. with an opportunity for individual confession; Talk #3 will be included within the Reconciliation Service.  TheSunday Vigil Mass will start at 3:00 p.m.

Pope Benedict XVI declared a "Year for Priests" beginning with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 19, 2009.  The year will conclude in Rome with an international gathering of priests with the Holy Father on June 11, 2010.  Read Pope Benedict's address on "Year for Priests" here.

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CAPP-DC and World Bank Group/IMF Staff Catholic Association Joint Event
Human Development for the New Times
(Reported by Doctor Thomas Rehermann, Senior Finance Officer, International Finance Corporation, and CAPP-USA/CAPP-DC member.)

On Wednesday, January 20, 2010, the World Bank Group / IMF Staff Catholic Association and the CAPP-DC held a joint event to reflect on the latest social encyclical issued by Pope Benedict XVI on July 7, 2009, “Caritas in Veritate”.  The encyclical addresses development in the context of integral human development, and this is of direct relevance to the staff at these two major international financial institutions.

The full title of the event already describes how it was conducted:  “CARITAS IN VERITATE: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT FOR THE NEW TIMES, A Panel Discussion on the Main Themes of the Latest Social Encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI and How it Relates to the Work of International Financial Institutions”.  It took place at the auditorium of the International Finance Corporation (2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW), which is one of the five affiliate organizations of the World Bank Group, established in 1956 to promote the private sector in developing countries through loans, equity investments and advisory services jointly undertaken with private enterprises rather than governments.   It is the largest multinational organization of its kind and currently invests $10 billion in more than 100 countries annually (www.ifc.org).

About fifty staff and visitors attended, many of whom are members of the World Bank Group / IMF Staff Catholic Association or members and guests of CAPP-DC.   Attendance was high both by World Bank Group standards (quite a number of staff members being busy also during lunch-time) and by comparison with other events sponsored by the Catholic Association (the highest number of participants being attracted by the monthly Mass).

Introducing the event, Eleanor Dila, Chairperson of the Catholic Association, and Valencia Camp, President pro tempore, CAPP-DC, explained why the selected topic was of interest to their respective organizations.  Ms. Dila emphasized that the Catholic Association, within the two Bretton Woods institutions (the World Bank and the IMF), offers a forum for reflection on the spiritual dimension of development, which cannot be reduced to mere economic terms; and Miss Camp described the contribution of CAPP to advancing a better understanding and appreciation of Church social teaching, both within academia and in the professional world.

Professor Andrew Abela, Chairman Business and Economics Department, Catholic University of America, Washingon, DC, was the keynote speaker at the event.  He gave a thorough overview of the background and main features of “Caritas in Veritate”.   Professor Abela emphasized the encyclical’s insistence on integral human development, i.e., development beyond economic prosperity, allowing each human being to live his or her life to the full, as a creature with intellectual and spiritual needs and aspirations in addition to the physical and material ones.  This need for a full expression of human potential applies in developed and developing countries alike. In fact, as Professor Abela recalled, Pope John Paul II had already warned against the risk of “superdevelopment” in developed countries, when in his 1991 encyclical “Centesimus Annus” the Pope remarked that an excess of consumerism unduly narrows the scope and potential of the human condition.

In “Caritas in Veritate”, Pope Benedict XVI built on, and expanded, the tradition of papal teaching on development.  Two milestones in this respect were Pope Paul VI’s 1967 encyclical “Populorum Progressio” (which was issued in the wake of decolonialization, particularly in Africa, and called the world’s attention to the role of the papacy in international affairs) and the speech by Pope Paul VI during his 1965 visit to the United Nations in New York.

Twenty years after “Populorum Progressio”, Pope John Paul II updated the Church’s reflection on development with his 1987 encyclical “Sollicitudo Rei Socialis”.  But Pope Benedict XVI went beyond these obvious precedents, reaching far in time by referring to Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical “Rerum Novarum” (the first “social encyclical” in the modern sense), and wide in reach by referring to Pope Paul VI’s 1968 moral encyclical “Humanae Vitae”.

Professor Abela pointed out how central this reference to “Humanae Vitae” is in Pope Benedict XVI’s reflection: “There is a need for comprehensive development, which is “full” and “authentic” in that it is based on the nurturing of virtues and on the consistency between the moral life and the social life of each person in a spirit of truth. This is precisely why the subtitle of “Caritas in Veritate” is “integral human development in charity and truth”.

By widening the horizon beyond mere economic necessity, Pope Benedict XVI, with his encyclical, places social love back into the public discourse.  In analyzing this passage of the encyclical, Professor Abela showed how love must be “true”, i.e., based on “veritas”.  In this, there is on one hand the call to all men and women of good will to live in truth by respecting natural law and, on the other hand, a call to conversion, for Christians and non-Christians alike, to the full Truth who is Christ.  It is in this spirit that Christians operating in the secular world, including international financial institutions, are called to animate their working environment.

Dr. Maurizio Ragazzi, Senior Counsel for International Law at the World Bank, commented on some aspects of Professor Abela’s presentation and, in particular, on the passage in which Pope Benedict XVI (echoing Pope John XXIII’s encyclical “Pacem in Terris”) stressed a need for a true world authority.  Dr. Ragazzi showed how this need has been part of Catholic tradition for centuries: world problems call for responses by a world authority, but this authority must be one based on truth, namely an authority that respects and promotes the most fundamental dictates of natural morality, starting from respect for human life from conception to natural death and for the family based on marriage, between one man and one woman, as the basic cell of human society.  International organizations (including financial institutions) are called to acknowledge and uphold these truths if they really want to comply with their mission and contribute to the common good.

Dr. Thomas Rehermann, Senior Finance Officer at IFC, then moderated a lively discussion between the audience and the two panelists.  A recurring theme of the questions and comments from the participants was the acknowledgement of how important such themes are for Catholics and non-Catholics alike working in both international and domestic settings, and how essential it is to continue debating them.