Promoting Food Justice in the Catholic Church: The Eucharist, Transhistoricity, and Sustainability

• Main Author: Badion, Justin Joseph G.
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2019
• Subjects: Eucharist; food justice; sustainability; transhistoricity
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/socialtransformations/vol7/iss1/4; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/socialtransformations/article/1103/viewcontent/ST_207.1_204_20Article_20__20Badion.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

A call for just production, distribution, and consumption of food has arisen from various sectors in society as a response to the global food crisis. This emergent movement of exploring just food policies and reconfiguring food systems is called the food justice movement which is consistent with the Catholic mission of temporal liberation for the marginalized in the world. Christ invites the Church to build the Kingdom of God in the world, and to do so, Catholics must encounter the call to feed the hungry. Therefore, authentic Catholic attitudes toward food must mirror this mission. An area of possible dialogue between the Catholic Church and the food justice movement is the Eucharist. Just as all humans eat their fill on various tables around the world, the Church partakes of its spiritual meal on the Eucharistic table. Given these things, some important questions must be raised: In what ways do food attitudes contribute to the persistence of hunger in the world? Are there ways in which the theology of the Eucharist can contribute to the conversation of food justice? How can this conversation lead to a model of authentic Catholic food attitudes not just in the present but also for the future?