Catholic Women’s League conference keynote focuses on social justice

For people who claim to be Christians, the call to discipleship includes the call to enact social justice, reports Jonathan Milke from Canadian newspaper The Record

That was the message of Bishop David Motiuk of Edmonton's Ukrainian Eparchy on Friday when he delivered the keynote address to about 200 attendees at the Catholic Women's League's (CWL) 64th Annual Convention.

Motiuk based his message around the Biblical story of the feeding of the 5,000, wherein Jesus miraculously divides five loaves of bread and two fish into such a large amount the entire crowd is satisfied and food is left over.

In the story, the number of people present is given as "5,000 people, not counting the women and children."

Motiuk suggested the number of people would have been much larger, with an estimated 35,000 present.

He said, "Among the thousands gathered, all of humanity would have been represented."

The idea that women and children were not counted led Motiuk to consider the marginalized in our society and the duty Christians have to help.

The Bible story says the people were hungry at the end of the day, and Jesus tells his 12 disciples to find food for the gathering. He then goes on to take the food someone had brought for the disciples and divides it among the crowd.

Motiuk suggested that Jesus' order to his disciples to feed the crowd carries over to modern believers, as does the idea of giving of one's own possessions.

He noted the disciples did not go hungry in the story; rather, they ate their fill along with everyone else.

"It's a leap of faith; it's risk-taking," the bishop said. "The story of the 5000 is a story about who we are as Christians.

"The call to holiness is a call about vocation for all of us."

Motiuk called on those present to follow the example of early church leader St. john Chrysostom, who he quoted.

"No one was ever condemned for not adorning the house, but those who neglected the poor were threatened with hell fire for all eternity."

He concluded his address by reminding those present "We all belong to one family, God's family."

The rest of the convention included the annual business affairs of the CWL along with other speakers and a workshop on computer training.