Responsibility of a Catholic

Responsibility of a Catholic Citizen in a free society As Catholic Canadians, we want to be good citizens, so we look for good policies to align with our faith. We continue to build a society that respects the rights of everyone, choice of profession, a place to live, medical care, a good education system etc. Everyone agrees these aspects are important, whether Catholic or not. However, we disagree on how to achieve these common goals. In particular, the role the government should partake. After all, we do not want anarchy or fascism. Catholics believe the principle of subsidiary, which is a big idea from the Catholic Church that gives us a way to understand the role of government and the broader effort to build the best country for everyone. Often when we see issues, we say, “someone should do something about it”, what we need to realize is that someone is us. Humanity as a whole, our world lacks perfection. From this, arise the many social justice issues we face today. As Canadian Catholics, it is our sacred duty to see to that the gift of personal freedoms and equality rights is brought to those who have been denied such liberties. As a Catholic, I will take the initiative to slowly set in place a change that will bring about the liberation of all people by raising awareness. My mission began on February 12, 2012 when I flew out to Nicaragua with ten other fellow students from St. Augustine Secondary School. There, I met with former sugar cane factory workers who held peaceful protests asking for corporate and governmental policy change. The former workers have been affected by the epidemic of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), related to harsh working conditions in the cane fields. CKD might have been caused by heat stress and dehydration – that the labourers are, in effect, working themselves to death. In the countryside, there are no kidney specialists to identify or treat this condition. Many cannot afford the medication or they simply cannot afford to