Social Justice Week focuses on belonging to God

In a statement launching this year’s observance, which runs from September 6-12, the bishops said the theme, “You belong to God | Nā te Atua anō koe”, is a reminder that every person has inherent value and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

This year’s Social Justice Week marks the beginning of a three-year focus on the theme of “Belonging”. The 2026 programme explores humanity’s relationship with God, with future years set to consider belonging with one another and belonging within creation.

“We believe God has created everyone for relationship,” the bishops said.

“In his new encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo writes, ‘Created for relationship, every human person is planned and willed by God to enter into communion with him, with others and with creation’ (#50). Our lives are woven together by growing in these essential relationships to our being.”

The bishops noted that there is often “little regard for the weak, small and most vulnerable among us”, including people experiencing poverty, homelessness, disability, illness and exclusion.

Beyond its religious dimension, the bishops’ statement also highlights social challenges familiar to many societies, including the impact of disinformation, the erosion of respect for others and hostility towards people perceived as different.

“Social Justice Week this year invites you and us, to recognise and affirm the God-given dignity of ourselves and all others. . . . May we work together to defend and protect human dignity wherever we see it undermined or ignored,” the bishops said.

In a video for Social Justice Week, NZCBC president and Bishop of Auckland Steve Lowe said these days are “a week of journey, a week of belonging or reflecting on belonging in a new, deeper way to deepen our much longer journey of life”.

Bishop Lowe noted the thinking of early Church fathers who spoke about being called into God’s likeness.

“And I think [this is an] interesting concept for us to reflect on particularly as we come into Social Justice Week . . . is how am I growing in the likeness of God and do I reflect God’s attitude towards me, his love of me, do I reflect that to other people because that’s part of belonging to God – that we become like God in the ways we speak and in the ways we act,” Bishop Lowe said.

FULL STORY

Social Justice Week Bishops’ Statement 2026 (Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand)

Bishops call for renewed focus on human dignity in lead-up to Social Justice Week (Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand)

Social Justice Week 2026 (Bishop Steve Lowe/YouTube)