Collaborate, coordinate, interact, etc.

By: Fr. Roy Cimagala

IN any social environment where we always find ourselves, be it the family, school, office, parish, or society in general, etc., we have to remember three basic and indispensable principles that should guide our actuations there. These are the principles of the common good, solidarity and subsidiarity.

The definitions of these principles are found in the Catechism and in many other sources, but for now I would like to focus on the principle of solidarity. This is the constant awareness that we are supposed to be always working together, journeying together toward our common destination which is the common good, both the temporal and the eternal common good.

As such, we need to be aware of our duty to always collaborate with others, coordinating and interacting with them, while doing the task that is specific to each one of us, so that the common good can be achieved.

We can describe this need as our need for teamwork always, knowing that we are never working alone, and that even in our most personal and hidden work, we should be aware that we are still working with others. We should always have the others and their tasks in mind, so that we can work as a team to attain our common good.

What we have to avoid is simply to do our tasks without thinking of how our tasks can go in tandem with those of the others so that the common goal can be achieved. We have to avoid having an individualistic and isolationist outlook in life. We need to reach out to others in an ever-widening circle of concern, from the mainstream to the peripheries, always looking for new frontiers.

We are and should be interested in progress, growth and development in all aspects of our life that in the end should lead us to our final and eternal common good who is God. Thus, everything should be done to achieve this goal.

For example, we can establish working linkages with others or the other sectors involved in a specific social environment. This way, we can have a running monitoring of developments in that social environment, giving us ideas of how our duties and responsibilities can synergize with those of the others.

Yes, we have to broaden our outlook and develop the pertinent social skills to facilitate this need for solidarity. With all the powerful technical means of communication we now have, meeting this need should be greatly facilitated. It should be no problem. We should just have the proper attitude and skills.

It is perhaps with this concern in mind that Pope Francis seems to be promoting recently the idea of synodality. It is the effort to come up with synods, a gathering of bishops and other people who are experts in certain fields, to discuss about a specific issue or concern with the view of establishing a functional linkage with the people involved in that issue or concern.

At the moment, the Pope has called a Synod on the Amazon, a big region in Latin America where the Church presence and her missionary work has not reached a stable status. The issues involved in that synod are broad and complicated, and it is understandable that some controversies are stirred there. But the idea of synodality, I believe, should be fostered.

We should train everyone as early as possible about this need, this duty and responsibility for solidarity. We have to be wary of the tendency for people to isolate themselves from the others, concerned only about their own personal interest with nary any interest for solidarity and the common good.

How ironic it is that with all the powerful communication means we have now, many people are getting more individualistic rather than being more collaborative with others. There seems to be replication of the building of the Tower of Babel and walls instead of doors and bridges.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com