Social analysis

Social analysis

By the mid-1970s, Christchurch diocesan priest, John Curnow, had introduced social analysis to significant numbers of Māori and Pākehā. Tariana Turia, co-founder of the Māori Party, could say: “I remember in the 70s and 80s, two community champions who had a profound influence on my thinking — the late Father John Curnow, from the Catholic Commission for Evangelisation, Justice and Peace, and Fernando Yusingco who was a Filipino community development worker.”

But how did social analysis touch the lives of those of us who were not Māori? How did it affect the average, white middle-class Catholic, influenced by the teachings of Vatican II, particularly by Gaudium et Spes, by the 1971 Synod of Bishops’ Justice in the World and by the challenging encyclicals of Paul VI, Populorum Progressio (1967), Octogesima Adveniens (1971) and Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975)?

For many of us, social analysis touched our lives through workshops run by Fr Curnow. John organised these for many different groups — Catholic Sisters, peace activists, feminists, Māori, social justice groups, groups focused on colonies struggling against enormous odds to gain political independence such as the then New Hebrides, East Timor, or groups working with anti-Marcos groups in the Philippines — and the workshops were held across New Zealand.

– Susan Smith

SOURCE

Susan Smith, A Preferential Option for the Poor (Tui Moto)