Faith & Public Life
Faith commitments – each person’s deepest commitments, whether formally religious in nature or not – shape how each person interacts with our neighbours, our institutions, and our environment. CPJ is convinced that Canada needs to engage in serious reflection on core values and faith perspectives and their implications for our public life together – the common good. Without such a debate, the public sphere will continue to be a place for individuals or groups to advance only their own particular interests rather than come to meaningful consensus on how to address important public issues.
One of the key components of a person’s and a community’s identity is the deepest convictions they hold which shape their private, but also their public life. Faith shapes the most basic questions of identity: Who am I? How did I get here? What is wrong in the world? How can it be fixed? The faith perspectives of Canadians, whether Aboriginal, Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu, Sikh or Humanist, shape how they participate as citizens in building and shaping a cohesive and inclusive Canadian society.
Some have argued that people must deny their religion, ethnicity, and culture to participate fully in Canadian life. Some have a deep distrust of religion and a tendency to regard public life as distinctly secular – having no room for faith perspectives. CPJ believes that differing faith convictions should be acknowledged as key elements of how individuals and communities can best contribute to the common good. Learning how to do that in a multi-cultural and multi-faith society is crucial to the common good.
We opened 2012 celebrating the life and passion of CPJ’s co-founder Gerald Vandezande. A member of the Order of Canada and a tireless Christian activist throughout his life, Gerald passed away in July 2011. Yet in a two-day event in February, and in our pursuit of public justice throughout 2012, we continued to look to Gerald’s example for inspiration.
For nearly 50 years now, CPJ has been bearing witness to God's call for love, justice and stewardship in the Canadian public sphere. Together, we have diligently worked for public justice and the common good. In this feature, we look back and celebrate what we accomplished in 2011. 
If, as Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, the ultimate measure of a man is where he stands at times of challenge and controversy, Gerald Vandezande was truly an exceptional man. Gerry, as he liked to be known, never backed down from a challenge when it came to the causes he believed in. During his career as a public policy analyst and social justice advocate, Gerry took to his public justice pulpit to speak on a number of different issues affecting Canadian society. These issues included everything from aboriginal rights, economic development and educational equality to poverty and refugee rights.
Where is our world heading? What is a Christian response to this direction? Is hope possible in these seemingly dark times?
Hasn’t the silence been deafening? What have you heard your church saying about the tremendous recession that has left 1.5 million Canadians unemployed?
Hope came into this broken world, with a message of love and justice, when Jesus Christ was born at Christmas, but it did not end there. Hope remained and became even more powerful through Christ’s death and resurrection at Easter. Conquering sin, death and injustice, Jesus’ resurrection represents new birth, redemption of creation, and the coming of the Kingdom of God. With this renewed sense of hope at Easter comes a renewed call to promote love and justice, bringing hope into our churches, communities and nations. 
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Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) and our work of faith, justice and politics:
