Christian Spirituality and Human Rights

On the occasion of the 72nd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (DHR), ISA organized a public lecture via zoom on “Christian Spirituality and Human Rights” last December 5, 2020 with its executive director Fr. Christian “Toots” Buenafe, O.Carm. as resource speaker. Fr. Buenafe is also the Chair of Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), a mission partner of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP), Convener of the Philippine Province JPIC Commission, and a Commissioner of the International O.Carm. JPIC Commission.

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Fr. Buenafe started his talk by acknowledging and honoring two Icons of human rights work in the Philippines and Asia—they are Sr. Mariani Dimaranan, SFIC and Sr. Crescencia Lucero, SFIC. He shared an overview of Christian Spirituality and Human Rights. Purposely, he focused on Christian Spirituality so his talk will focus on Christian faith. He also talked about Human Rights and the Gospel. He also shared some challenges and invitations for us today.


Aside from defining Christian Spirituality and Human Rights, he also presented elements of human rights (the Universality, Inalienability, and Interrelatedness and Interdependence) and categories of human rights (Civil and Political Rights, and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights). Fr. Buenafe named some basic human rights; e.g. the right to life, right to liberty, right to be free from torture, right to free from other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, right to food, and right to peaceful assembly and petition for the government redress and grievances, right to sustainable environment, rights of women, rights of children, rights of the persons with disability, rights of the elderly, and rights of the Indigenous Peoples. He also shared the two parties of human right which are the rights holder and the duty bearer. He also said that we must respect the rights of everyone because only then that we can truly claim to be Christians. The gospel is not opposed to human rights, rather Jesus had taken sides with the poor, the outcasts and the victims.