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Augustinians Support United Nations Day

‘Engaging America in the Millennium Development Goals’ is U. S. Theme

October 24, 2011

Augustinians of the Midwest are encouraged to mark United Nations Day, October 24, 2011, in their communities and ministries. The Augustinians invite and encourage all who identify with Augustinian spirituality and traditions to do likewise.

U. N. Day Theme for 2011

The theme for the 2011 observance in the United States is The United Nations: In Everyone’s Interest. Opens new window

This theme focuses on the multiple ways in which international cooperation through the U. N. helps to improve people's lives in all parts of the world. For example, The U. N.

• Delivers Peace and Democracy: Peacekeeping operations promote global stability and provide resources for peaceful political reconciliation. Develpopment programs support free democratic elections in, on average, 100 places each year.

• Promotes Human Rights: Through the Human Rights Council, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and various human rights treaties, the U. N. monitors and investigates human rights issues, recommends steps to be taken to correct problems, and strengthens the capacity of national institutions to protect human rights.

• Builds Economic Prosperity: The U. N.Development Program works with 176 countries to eliminate poverty by changing the factors which cause poverty. The U. N. Global Compact works with businesses to promote sustainable economic development. The Millennium Development Goals (Opens new window) movement is promoting unprecedented coordinated action developed and developing countries to reduce poverty by 2015.

• Advances Global Health: U.N. agencies, such as the World Health Organization and the Fooe and Agriculture Organization, have been worked with governmental and non-governmental entities to make diseases like polio and smallpox things of the past. The U. N. continues to seek ways to control serious illness, such as measles, malaria, A.I.D.S. and bird flu.

This year’s U.N. Day theme encourages people in the United States to learn, discuss and act to support policies and initiatives which will reduce the suffering caused by extreme poverty, facilitate development, improve global health and promote a peaceful world for the mutual benefit of everyone.

History of U. N. Day

October 24, 2011 is the 66th birthday of the United Nations. Delegates from 50 of the world’s countries, large and small, strong and weak, and in different stages of political and social development, worked together to develop the U. N. Charter. They envisioned an organization which would preserve peace, advance justice and be a permanent structure for international cooperation.

Most of those 50 countries had ratified the Charter by October 24, 1945. In a ceremony on that date, the new organization offically came into being. Two years later the U. N. General Assembly designated each October 24 as United Nations Day. The General Assembly asked that this observance be “devoted to making known to the people of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations, and to gaining their support for the work of the United Nations.”

Although not all of the hopes and dreams of the organization's founders have been fully realized, the U. N. has done much to bring together the peoples of the world to work for the elimination of disease, for access to education for children and an improved rate of literacy for adults, for human rights, and for a more just society.

Augustinian N.G.O.

The Augustinian Order is an accredited Non-Governmental Organization (N.G.O.) at the U. N. The Augustinian presence at the U. N. is an instrument for implementing in the international forum the values of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the traditional social teaching of the Catholic Church.

The Biblical description of the last judgment in the Gospel according to Matthew (25: 31-46) is a mandate for Christians to care about the hungry, the poor and the suffering. The Letter of James (1: 21-27 and 2: 14-17) urges followers of Jesus Christ to “Act on this word,” calling care for those in distress “pure worship before our God” and characterizing faith that does nothing in practice as “thoroughly lifeless”.

The U. N., the planet’s only universal organization, provides a forum for addressing and acting on global issues that require global responses: public health, climate change and biodiversity, terrorism, traffic in drugs and arms, human rights, strengthening the family, etc.

The Augustinians of the Midwest encourage you to put the word of God into action on a global scale in observance of United Nations Day by engaging with the Millennium Development Goals (Opens new window): Learning more about the Goals and supporting policies and actions that will help our world to attain them.

United Nations Day Prayer

       » United Nations Day Prayer Service
             Suggested Augustinian prayers from International Justice and Peace Secretariate, Rome

Additional Information

       » United Nations Day 2011 (Opens new window)
             Information from the United Nations Association of the U.S.A.

       » U. N. Day 2011: The United Nations: In Everyone’s Interest (.pdf file - Opens new window)
             U. N. Day theme for 2011

       » Keeping the Promise: Report of the Secretary-General (.pdf file - Opens new window)
             Forward-looking review to promote action to achieve Millennium Development Goals

       » Celebrate, Innovate and Sustain: Toward 2015 and Beyond (.pdf file - Opens new window)
             Information from the United Nations Association of the U.S.A.

       » Millennium Development Goals (Opens new window)
             Goals the world community is committed to attain by 2015

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Other UN Days Reflect Christian Values

      » Augustinians Support International Days
             Seven U.N. Days reflect Catholic Christian values

U. N. photo courtesy of the United Nations (Opens new window)