MFR

Person in Community and the Call to Development from a Christian

Perspective

• Differences exist even within species, but order and harmony exist as if it is one body with many
parts and not only that it is also immensely beautiful.
• Our Creator express His love through providing in abundance

Person in the Community

• Among all created realities, human person stands out because he is gifted with consciousness,
intellect, freedom and freewill.
o This gift gives him or her the capability to co-create and change his or her reality.
o This nature of human beings is the foundation of development as a person's calling or
vocation.
• From the perspective of the Catholic faith, the vision of the human person is far more profound
that he or she is created in the image(identity) and likeness of God.
• In Genesis chapter 1 verse 27, the dignity of the human person as a child of God is the
springboard of his or her dignity.
o The human person does not acquire his dignity, he or she is born with it.
• An important aspect is that the human person is not isolated he or she is a person in
community.
• When we speak of community, we do not only pertain to the community of human beings.
o We also include the context of community life - the natural environment
• The ultimate calling of humans is to be with God in the afterlife.
• In Our Lifetime here on Earth, we are called to develop our potentials and our giftedness that
we may be able to contribute to community building.
• Education is crucial to this development to prepare a capacity that empower the person for his
meaningful role in society.

Development as a Calling

• The human person has a responsibility for his own self-fulfillment (personal development)
• Since he or she is a person in community this development essentially applies not just to his
own development, but also to his social body.
• The total development is personal development and community development.
• Since our consciousness that expanded to our well-being is connected with Adam and the
well-being of our natural environment,
o we begin to realize that we must also care for our natural habitat hence taking the
capacity of the earth into consideration as we craft plans and programs for
development.
MFR

o We do not only now talk about Community Development; we also speak of

sustainable development.
▪ caring for people and communities requires care for the Earth.
o

Common Law

• The creation of a condition where every human person can develop fully.
• This implies that the fruit of the earth must be shared by all because everyone needs a minimum
of material Goods to grow and develop.
• This is the universal definition of groups.

Subsidiarity

• The respect and appreciation of a person or of people capability to define the development in
their own terms in their own context and culture