A Public Servant Rooted in the Catholic Doctrine

Abstract

I write this to you as a woman, Christian, mother, grandmother, diplomat, senior government official, farmer, friend and member of the community and many other roles I care not to mention. Each role has some form of initiation process that underscores its core values and norms. Roles like “friend and community member” require that one has personal values set, otherwise there is the danger of being led astray or being influenced by mob psychology. Each role has some guiding tenets that shape one’s life in one way or the other. Some of the guiding principles come from the family environment, the community, the schools and the work setting. I can only sum it up in Pope John Paul II's words when the European Union removed religion from being an integral part of the European Union constitution. He argued that they were removing the very foundation of their culture! Western culture then was an epitome of its religious values. So, whether one went to church daily or not, they were cultured to live the life of a Christian. Hence, Pope John Paul II was mourning the disappearance of such values from Europe’s everyday life. Since then, many western countries have legalized same sex marriages, a thing that was unheard of in the past.
Likewise, all the titles I have put down for myself would not be true if they do not have a given cultural base to support them. By the same token, each one of those roles has, in some way, influenced my life. The ethics and values I have been groomed in at various stages, have influenced the way I have performed each of those roles.