Speakers examine what it means to be 'servant church' today

Published: 2007-11-05

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Speakers at the 15th annual meeting of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists heard diverse contemporary examples of those following Jesus' exhortation from the Gospel of Mark: "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." "Jesus Christ is the model for how Catholics should carry out servanthood," which must be connected to bringing the reign of God into being, said Peter Amato, who teaches theology at St. John's University. "If you are not being a servant, you are not following Jesus." Amato was among several speakers at an Oct. 27 panel about Catholicism transforming culture. The session was part of the society's Oct. 26-27 gathering at St. John's University School of Law in Queens. Bill Antalics, a tenant organizer, urban homesteader and longtime member of the Catholic Worker community in New York, said: "We are a bourgeois nation. ... Our activities and lifestyles aren't really bad. They just aren't much of anything at all. They are without substance." Consequently, he said, "we allow our minds and hearts to be filled with consumerism and materialism ... and cut ourselves off from the great questions, themes and problems of life." Self-knowledge will inspire and inform "courage, selfless commitment and involvement in solving the great problems of the world," he said.

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