Edges Magazine

EDGES MAGAZINE Issue 13

March -May 1998

VATICAN II IS
THE FOUNDATION FOR OUR WORK

Edges Magazine studies carefully the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World "Gaudium et Spes". Since the Council's closing session in 1965, the implication of its actions continues to develop and shape our Church's life and invites us to be a Prophetic Church in the midst of society. We quote the following passage "The Church by reason of her role and competence, is not identified with any political community nor bound by ties to any political system. It is the sign and the safeguard of the transcendental dimension of the human person. The political community and the Church are autonomous and independent of each other in their own fields. Nevertheless, both are devoted to the personal vocation of humankind.
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THE YOUNG DISAFFECTED

	We continue to walk with those who are often socially excluded by society. Our friends here are unemployed and they have struggled with the problems of homelessness and some of them face the nightmare of addiction. They are caught in a circle of hopelessness and despair and society can turn its back on them. We provide a place for them to voice their views, giving them dignity and we try to understand their plight.


FACES OF DISILLUSIONMENT ......................................................................................................................................................

The Church has
a Role to Play

Edges magazine is the voice of T.H.O.M.A.S. which is a church based organisation entering into dialogue with marginalised people. For us the greatest celebration of the Church is found in those people wanting to build bridges of dialogue with those who are caught up in the mess and the difficulties of life.

For some young people, syringes are their Churches and cannabis, amphetamines and heroin are their hymns. If we expect these young people to sit in Church pews we will have a long wait. The maintenance model of Church with strong walls and fixed seating will find it difficult to respond to their needs. A discipleship of rigidity that fails to look beyond its own agenda of inflexibility will block any hope of communication with such people. The preachers on the street corners with their evangelistic crusade will bulldoze their space and outrage them.

We need to try and understand their confusion.