Mgr Joseph Roduit, the Abbot of Saint-Maurice, spoke this afternoon in Caux on the role of ‘value-based communities in the 21st Century’ and the need to ‘globalize solidarity’. The head of this ancient religious foundation, where prayers have been said for nearly 15 centuries without a break, ‘this place founded on the witness of Egyptian soldiers who were martyred for their Christian faith at the end of the third century, also spoke of the impact of the media. An overload of news weighs people down, and paradoxically makes communication impossible, the Abbot said. Mgr Roduit stressed that what we see and hear and read each day is not reality. ‘It is what we are shown. But our world is fed more by bad news than good.’
He continued, ‘Information starts when I am touched by what happens and I can act or react. How many people hear every day a litany of terrorist acts and feel completely helpless, or even guilty?’ Information, he went on, ‘should help us to act, each according to our abilities, and not just to suffer fatalistically’. The Abbot quoted the proverb, ‘The tree that cracks in the forest makes more noise than all the other trees growing.’ The journalist has the right to broadcast the noise of the tree cracking, but we must not forget the forest that is growing, he said. ‘We should be more attentive to all that is lived out in the silence of our lives, in our families, our communities.’ He called for people to ‘think about the consequences of progress and purpose of our inventions’, to weigh not just the quantifiable but also the quality of life. ‘Figures and percentages don’t tell it all. All values cannot be put into a computer. All cannot be calculated in the same way. What is the price of a smile? What does joy cost?’ he asked.
For Mgr Roduit, it was important to see beyond the signs to their meaning. In building community, it was important to share common aims. But the ideal community doesn’t exist, he continued, it has to be created. He underlined the importance of forgiveness. Another aspect of community is the concept of time. He quoted the African who said, ‘You in Europe have watches, in Africa we have time!’ and another proverb: ‘When God made time, he made enough.’ Mgr Roduit expressed the conviction that each person has a task to accomplish in life, and each society has a role to play in the world. ‘We must discover the other, not as a potential enemy or a competitor, but as a person to encounter, a world to discover. All of us humans have a pilgrimage to accomplish within ourselves, the long pilgrimage from the head to the heart, from the thinking head to the loving heart,’ he concluded. This first Caux Lecture was in the context of the first session of the summer conferences, with the theme:‘Servant Community – Values, Responsibility and Leadership’ (5-11 July). The session is largely organized by young professionals from Eastern Europe, The Caux conferences continue until 19 August.
English