Networking and the Globalization of Indifference

Since taking office, Pope Francis has frequently called attention to the Janus-faced nature of globalization. On the one hand, the human family is more deeply connected than ever before. Technology, ideas, and people can easily travel from one continent to another. Our interconnected world is in many ways a blessing and, from a theological perspective, a step closer to the universality embed in the Catholic worldview.
At the same time, however, the cultural dynamics that are making borders porous for some are also excluding others. New divisions have been created, leaving millions on the margins of society. In a culture obsessed with immediacy, the individual, and image, we easily succumb to what Francis describes as the globalization of indifference:
[pullquote align=”left or right”]In a culture obsessed with immediacy, the individual, and image, we easily succumb to what Francis describes as the globalization of indifference.[/pullquote] Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor….The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase. In the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us (EG, 54).[1]
This globalization of indifference is sustained and reinforced by what the Catholic tradition describes as structures of sin—e.g., institutional and cultural arrangements that oppress, dehumanize, and exclude. While millions suffer from these sinful structures, a select few benefit from our social and economic inequalities and inaction. Transnational corporations and consumers, for instance, do not want questions asked about how products are manufactured, mined, and grown.
Given this reality, how can the structures of indifference and exclusion, both visible and invisible, be overcome? In other words, how do we effectively respond to both the symptoms and root causes of forced displacement, climate change, poverty, oppression, and conflict in an indifferent world?
From the anti-apartheid movement to efforts aimed at curbing climate change, experience tells us that powerful and pervasive social structures cannot be changed by any one group or individual in isolation. Social change demands the strategic mobilization and concerted effort from different vantage points.
Herein lies the potential of Christian social movements. As one of the largest communities on the planet, the Society of Jesus and the Catholic Church more broadly possess a tremendous potential to empower and educate people, connect communities across borders and transform sinful and oppressive social arrangements. As individuals and communities it is tempting, as I detail in Structures of Grace, to lose sight of our vocation to transform the world by getting lost in in the minutia of institutional demands, petty competition with other groups, and spiritualties that disconnect us from the real needs of the poor. In order to leverage our power for the global common good, we cannot go it alone. We need, as Pedro Arrupe knew when calling for the creation of JRS, to support existing structures and where necessary create new networks and movements that can connect people and institutions around the world to change the globalization of indifference into a globalization of justice. To use the slogan of the World Social Forum, “another world is possible.” Our task is to join together to make it happen.
[1] Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (Rome: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013), no. 54, www.vatican.va.