Manifesto of the VIIIth Meeting of REDES CRISTIANAS
(the network of Spanish grassroots Christians whose topic
"Inequalities: challenges and proposals".
We, women and men, participants in the VIIIth Meeting of Redes Cristianas that coordinates more than 100 groups and associations, have gathered in Madrid on May 17, 18 and 19 to discuss "INEQUALITIES: CHALLENGES AND PROPOSALS" and to analyse the different manifestations of inequality that our society and our church suffer and which prevent community community involvement.
Social economic inequalities: In 2023 1% of the Spanish population accumulated 23% of the national wealth. The main cause of the differences in income in Spain are to be found in the labour market conditions, where there are high rates of unemployment and precarity. The last crisis ended with the practical consolidation of neoliberal capitalism. Social exclusion and inequality, structural characteristics of capitalism, are being neutralised amongst public opinion.
Those suffered by the growing migrant population. Migrant workers suffer an acute inequality. Their human and labour rights are violated and the people and organizations that grant them assistance are criminalised. The European Pact on Migration and Asylum are an example of the anti-rights approach of the EU. The procedures of the Foreigners Law, particularly with respect to the Centres of Internment of Foreigners (CIEs) become instruments of creating unnecessary suffering. Our society has created the norm that not all human lives are worth the same.
Inequalities causing climate change: the current system is based on an economic model that promotes the capture of profits by the elites and and accelerates the destruction of the environment, with the greatest impact on those who pollute the least. The climate crisis has increased inequalities between countries and individuals, rich and poor, as economic power prevails over political power
which limits the actions of governments.
Inequalities of personal identity and gender: We recognize the legislative advances that have taken place in our country, as well as their limits. The institutionalization of feminism is advancing between lights and shadows. Elements of patriarchal society still persist, such as the the non-recognition of equality of social and labour rights of women with violence as the most clear symptom. The media are decisive factors in these advances and limitations. There are even greater inequalities in other societies.
These inequalities are also present in our ecclesiastical reality: in the structures of governance onthe level of the universal church and in our local communities. And, in consequence in the male clerical way of excercising authority at all levels: participation-communion-mission. In spite of the orientations of the Second Vatican Council, inequalities of class (clergy, laity, consecrated life) and gender still persist within the church.
We stand in solidarity with those who suffer the consequences of these inequalities and call for concrete actions to build a more inclusive and egalitarian future. These are the proposals that reinforce the hope that "a better world is possible"
In the face of socio-economic inequalities: we cannot continue to move forward as if the spread of poverty had no cause. It is a responsibility that involves everyone, to create the right conditions to allow each person to live in dignity, guaranteeing decent working conditions and wages and fulfilling the constitutional mandate of a fair and progressive taxation that makes possible the implementation of basic social rights for all citizens.
In the face of those caused by migration: we recall once again some fundamental principles: that migration is a human right, that the right to asylum is still valid for all, that there is a right to life also for those who cross the seas in open boats. We need a courageous justice that channels and prosecutes those responsible for these rights not being respected. We support people and groups that analyze what is happening and build communities that and defend the rights of migrants to achieve the protection to which they aspire.
In the face of the inequalities caused by climate change: We must take care of the planet,
our common home. Take care of it as a community; no one is saved alone. Educate in the
guidelines of responsible consumption. - Collaborate with environmental movements.Vote
programs that propose political measures for a just transition. Consider access to clean energy as a basic social right for all. Join Citizen assemblies, as a tool to raise awareness, participate, pressurise
the authorities.
With respect to personal identity and gender: Travel the paths for encounters and equality. Above all, make known the situations of inequality, do not hide them and recognize that we are co-responsible for their causes. Become aware that ecofeminism is already becoming in many countries a movement that transforms the model of societyThere is no economy, no
technology, no politics and no society without nature and the care it needs. The education of young people in schools and the media, supposes a key factor for an emancipation process.
Facing those present in our church reality: Vatican Council II presents the church as a people. Baptismal dignity constitutes us as its living and active members.Our sense of belonging is not realized by mere adherence to what comes from above but by the participation of those who feel
co-responsible for their task in our societies. The recovery of spirituality and the synodal method, proposed by Francis, must overcome the traditional clericalization of the church, giving rise to grassroots communities whose members "walk together" with critical insight and courage, respecting their different charisms and responsibilities.
Francis in "Fratelli Tutti" invites us to "become a "we" that inhabits the common home. We need a community that supports us, that helps us to look ahead. "On our part, we commit ourselves to continue contributing our efforts to "be leaven in the dough", adding sensitivities for justice and peace. We recognize diversity as a value and will seek to work together in building a world where all persons can live in dignity and plenitude.
