Austin McLean

11-3-16

Making the World a Better Place

The Catholic social teaching of the promotion peace is what I believe to be one of
the most important Catholic social teachings. The promotion of peace is essentially
what keeps the world from plunging into complete chaos and disarray. It demonstrates
repeat between different people and allows cooperation between groups of people who
might initially have disagreements. Rather than solving disagreements through violence,
this Catholic teaching promotes discussion between opposing groups to come to a
solution that satisfies both groups. Physical violence is more likely to be avoided when
practicing this method of resolution to deal with issues within communities. Many
communities struggle with this because they refuse to see eye to eye with people who
don’t share their beliefs. Instead of understanding and respecting the views of other
groups of people, they oppose them and resort to acts of violence.

The article that I chose is about the work that the President of Columbia, Juan
Manuel Santos, has done in hopes to end their civil war. These efforts ultimately led to
him winning the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. He has become the main promoter of peace
in Columbia and he shows great determination to end the unrest within his country that
has been caused by this civil war. This war has been going on for over 50 years and
has caused the deaths of many Colombians over the years. Santos had proposed a
peace accord to the people of Colombia, but it received mostly negative reactions. This
peace accord would have ended civil war in Colombia which would have been a huge
victory for both president Santos and his people, but the people of Colombia did not
agree with the terms that were presented by the accord.

There was a conference of Bishops that met and discussed the issue of not
being able to attain peace in Colombia. They made it clear that the Catholic church will
help in an way possible to pacify Colombia and end the unrest and violence. Also, Pope
Francis mentioned that he would like to visit the Country of Colombia, but only after
peace has been reached and conflict has ended within the country. No further progress
has been made since the accord was rejected other than President Santos trying to
formulate new terms that the Colombian public might agree to. The bishops feel that the
people of Colombia need a common interest or ideal to bring them together as one
people that are undivided. It is at that point that progress toward total peace in the
Country can be made. The Church has made it very evident that they want to be
involved with this peace effort. The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin
attended the signing of the peace accord that was unfortunately rejected by the people
and he feels that violence has gone on for too long in Colombia.

The issue presented in this article relates to the Catholic social teaching of the
promotion of peace in many ways. The entire focus of the article is on the efforts of
Colombian President Juan Miguel Santos to bring peace and order to Colombia, and
Catholics try to seek peace within all aspects in life to better the world. Many people are
tired of the violence in Colombia but an agreement that would end the violence has had
yet to be reached. This is because the people do not respect the beliefs of each other
and disagree with each other instead of accepting the beliefs of one another. It is taught
in Catholic practices that you should be accepting of the beliefs of other people and
should not hold prejudice toward any group of people just because of what they believe
in. If there are ideals that conflict between groups, an agreement should be made that
satisfies both groups in a way that allows them to continue to maintain their ideals and
beliefs. Just as the Catholics promote peace throughout the world, President Santos is
trying to promote peace within his country. I saw a very strong connection between the
article and the promotion of peace.

I thought that what President Santos is doing to better his country should be an
inspiration to people around the world. He wants nothing but to better the overall living
conditions of his people and end violence within Colombia. He is promoting peace
within society which gives hope for the people of Colombia that are tired of war and
aggression. I think that if the people of Colombia truly want to end war, they need to
understand each other and stop having prejudice just because they have different views
on how the country should be run. When researching, I noticed that the conflict is
existent due to different political parties having disputes over the years about various
subjects. For example, the Conservative party has always emphasized the importance
of sustaining a relationship with the Catholic Church; while on the other hand, the liberal
party pushed for the separation of the church and state. It has been disagreements like
this that have been tearing the country apart over the past 52 years and I think it is
completely ridiculous. Adults should be able to accept ideals that they don’t agree with
and try to see reason. Instead of acting rationally, groups began to develop
insurgencies that committed acts of violence against other groups to get their point
across. It is upsetting for me to know that there are people in this world who are willing
to endanger the future of their children with violence and hate just because they find
their conflicts of ideals to be more important. Countries should be united, and I agree
with the statement by the bishops that deals with how the country needs a common
ideal to rally behind to allow them to put their differences aside and come together as
one people.