"You my brothers were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge in the sinful nature: rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command:"Love your neighbor as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other." ~Galatians 5:13-15

Summary of the 10 Major Themes of Catholic Social Teaching

Respect for the Dignity and Life of the Human Person, from Conception to Natural Death
The foundation of all Catholic Social Teaching is an unwavering commitment to the dignity and worth of every human being, without exception. The Book of Genesis teaches that every human person is created in the image and likeness of God. Thus all human life, at every stage from conception through natural death, is sacred. The human person is the clearest reflection of God among us. We are therefore called to revere and cherish the life of every person. To read more see The Life and Dignity of the Human Person

Call to Family and Community Life
Each person is not only sacred but social. The family is the central social institution that must be supported and strengthened, not undermined. How we organize our society - in economics and politics, in law and policy - directly affects human dignity, the family, and the capacity of individuals to grow and support one another in community. We realize our dignity and rights in relationship with each other, in community. Human beings grow and achieve fulfillment in community. To read more see Family & Community Life

The Right and Duty to Participate in Social, Economic and Political Life
It is a fundamental demand of justice and a requirement for human dignity that all people have the opportunity to participate in the social, economic and political decisions that affect their lives. It is wrong for a person or group to be excluded unfairly or to be unable to participate in society. To read more see The Role of Government

Advancing the Common Good
The obligation to "love our neighbor" has an individual dimension, but it also requires a broader social commitment. Everyone has the responsibility to contribute to the good of the whole society, to the common good. It is contrary to the spirit of the Gospel to look after "me first" at the expense of others, especially the most needy in society at home and abroad. To read more see Advancing the Common Good

Promoting Peace and Social Justice
Working for peace and social justice is not an optional commitment; it is a requirement of our Catholic faith. As Pope Paul VI taught, "If you want peace, work for justice." We are called to promote nonviolent approaches to resolving our conflicts whenever possible, and to contribute to the creation of a more just society and world. To read more see Peace and Social Justice

Promoting Human Rights and Responsibilities
The Catholic tradition teaches that human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met. Every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities - to one another, to our families, to the larger society, and to the global community. To read more see You Have The Right...

Special Care and Concern for the Poor and Vulnerable
A basic moral test of society is how it treats its most vulnerable members. The poor have the most urgent moral claim on the conscience of the nation. We must join our works of charity with works of justice, meeting the immediate needs of the poor and vulnerable while we evaluate public policies in terms of how they affect the poor and the vulnerable - and advocate for policies that are just and promote human dignity. To read more see Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
Work is more than a way to make a living; it it a form of continuing participation in God's creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected - the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organize and join unions, to private property, and to economic initiative. The economy exists to serve people, not vice versa. To read more see Dignity of Work

Solidarity - Loving Our Neighbor Locally and Globally
We are all brothers and sisters of one God, one human family. We are our brothers' and sisters' keepers, wherever they live. We are one human family, whatever our national, ethnic, racial, economic or ideological differences. Learning to practice the virtue of solidarity means learning that "loving our neighbor" has global dimensions in an interdependent world. In recognizing our solidarity, we recognize the truth that we are indeed the body of Christ. To read more see Solidarity

Caring for God's Creation: Stewardship of the Earth
We show our respect for our Creator by our care and stewardship of all creation. The goods of the earth are gifts from God and are intended by God for the benefit of everyone, in every generation. We have a responsibility to care for these goods as stewards and trustees, not as mere consumers and users. The whole earth proclaims the glory of God! To read more see Earth

This summary should only be a starting point for those interested in Catholic Social Teaching. A fuller understanding can be achieved by reading the papal, conciliar, and episcopal documents that make up this rich tradition. These documents, along with books, articles and other websites can be found at www.aodonline.org under PATHWAYS: Catholic Social Teaching.

There is a fable about a church group having a picnic on the banks of a lazy river. As the group eats and visits, one woman looks up and notices a basket floating down the river. She wades into the river to investigate and is shocked to discover a baby in the basket. While the woman is pulling the baby to safety, the group notices two more babies floating down the river. Two church members jump in and rescue the babies, only to find that many more babies are floating down the river towards the group. Soon, the entire church is in the river-rescuing babies. Suddenly, two of the members leave the river and start running upstream. The other members yell at them to return to help rescue the babies. However, the two keep running - telling the group that, instead of pulling the babies out of the river, they are going upstream to find out why the babies are being dumped into the river - and to stop them!

What does this have to do with charity and justice? We often refer to charity and justice as the two feet supporting Catholic Social Teaching. Charity is anything that responds to an immediate need, and provides a temporary solution. When we host MCREST or the warming center, when we collect cereal boxes, or canned goods, or items for the Christmas or Easter baskets - this is charity. We are providing a solution to an immediate problem. However, we know that the people in MCREST will still be homeless after they leave our church, and the people who receive our food gifts will still be hungry when that food is gone. The charitable church members saved those babies, but most of them did nothing to stop the babies from ending up in the river.

Justice takes the longer view. Justice asks us to look at why people are homeless and hungry. What are the root causes of poverty? What can we change in our society to make it easier for people to support themselves, so that they don't need a homeless shelter or a food pantry? Justice asks us to find out how the babies are ending up in the river and take action to stop the problem at the source.

Charity is important. People who are hungry or homeless now, cannot wait for someone to pass legislation to improve their lives. Charity makes us feel good about ourselves, helps us to feel that we are doing God's work. There is immediate gratification in knowing that we are helping someone right away. Here at St. Blase, we are very good at charity.

Justice, on the other hand, is not as much fun. When we work for justice, we often grow frustrated. A call to our elected representatives to urge them to vote justly on an issue does not bring any immediate result. Letters to the editor may not get published and may annoy those who do not agree with us. Buying fair trade coffee promotes economic justice for poor coffee farmers, but we know that the bulk of coffee sold is not fair trade. Team Youth works with a group of at-risk children to help them break the cycle of poverty - but it will be years before Team Youth knows if their efforts have paid off. In a society that wants immediate gratification, and wants it NOW, the work of justice is an investment in the future that may only pay off years down the road.

Justice is also much more controversial than charity. No one argues about the need to give to the poor. However, justice involves issues like tax policies, racism, sexism, minimum wage laws, Social Security, welfare, Medicaid, global warming, forgiveness of third-world debt, abortion, the death penalty, war, and other hot-button issues that divide families, friends, communities and churches. Do we run from controversy? Or - do we form our opinions based on the Church's teachings on justice, and then respectfully share what we have learned with others?

Without justice, the need for charity will continue to grow until there is no way that we can make an impact. Without charity, justice is unable to help the people who need help immediately. We are the Body of Christ. We need both feet, charity and justice, to keep our balance and do Christ's work. Jesus never promised us that following him would be easy. Are we strong enough to walk with both feet?

Catholic Social Teaching In the Words of Pope John Paul II

As we continue to mourn the death and celebrate the life of Pope John Paul II, the Justice and Peace Committee felt that it would be appropriate to highlight a few of the Pope’s many contributions to the development of Catholic Social Teaching.

From Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year) 1991:
“Society and state need to afford protection against the nightmare of unemployment through economic policies that ensure balanced growth and full employment or through unemployment insurance and retraining programs.”

“Consumerism also raises the ecological issue. Humanity is consuming the resources of the earth and life in an excessive and disordered way, forgetting the earth’s own needs and God-given purpose, provoking a rebellion on the part of nature, and overlooking our duties and obligations toward future generations.”

From Solicitudo Rei Socialis (On Social Concern), 1987:
“Next to the underdevelopment of the many, there is a superdevelopment for the few. Superdevelopment leads to a throwaway society and to enormous waste. Excessive access to all kinds of things, — sometimes called consumerism — enslaves people and does not make them happy.”

“Solidarity helps us to see the ‘other’ — whether a person, people or nation — not just as some kind of instrument, with a work capacity and physical strength to be exploited at low cost and then discarded when no longer useful, but as our ‘neighbor,’ a ‘helper’ to be made a sharer on a par with ourselves in the banquet of life to which all are equally invited by God.”

From Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) 1995:
“On the one hand there is a growing moral sensitivity alert to the value of every individual as a human being without any distinction of race, nationality, religion, political opinion, or social class. On the other hand these proclamations are contradicted in practice. How can these solemn affirmations be reconciled with the widespread attacks on human life and the refusal to accept those who are weak, needy, elderly, or just conceived? These attacks go directly against respect for life; they threaten the very meaning of democratic coexistence, and our cities risk becoming societies of people who are rejected, marginalized, uprooted, and oppressed, instead of communities of “people living together.”

“The nature and extent of the punishment ought not to go to the extreme of executing the offender, except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today, however, as a result of steady improvements in the
organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare if not practically nonexistent.”

On Peace — from a homily at Coventry, Great Britain, May 30, 1982:
“Peace is not just the absence of war. It involves mutual respect and confidence between peoples and nations. It involves collaboration and binding agreements. Like a cathedral, peace has to be constructed, patiently and with unshakable faith.

Wherever the strong exploit the weak; wherever the rich take advantage of the poor; wherever great powers seek to dominate and impose ideologies, there the work of making peace is undone; there the cathedral of peace is again destroyed. Today, the scale and the horror of modern warfare — whether nuclear or not — makes it totally unacceptable as a means of settling differences between nations. War should belong to the tragic past, to history, it should find no place on humanity’s agenda for the future.”

From Laborem Exercens (On Human Work), 1981:
“But above all we must remember the priority of labor over capital: labor is the cause of production; capital, or the means of production, is its mere instrument or tool.”

On the Iraq War, January 13, 2003:
“No to war! War is not always inevitable. It is always a defeat for humanity; international law, honest dialogue, solidarity between states, the noble exercise of diplomacy: These are methods worthy of individuals and nations in resolving their differences. I say this as I think of those who still place their trust in nuclear weapons and of the all-too numerous conflicts which continue to hold hostage our brothers and sisters in humanity. ...

And what are we to say of the threat of war which could strike the people of Iraq, the land of the prophets, a people already sorely tried by more than 12 years of embargo? ...

War is never just another means that one can choose to employ for settling differences between nations.”

For access to all the major documents of Pope John Paul II, please go to www.osjspm.org/CSTand click on “Social Teaching Documents” for the complete list.

Catholic Social Teaching: In Song

If the thought of reading papal encyclicals to learn about Catholic Social Teaching makes your eyes glaze over - take heart! Our popes and bishops did not pull CST out of thin air. Catholic Social Teaching comes straight from scripture. The encyclicals and letters that comprise CST are just the Church's way of interpreting modern events for us through the lens of scripture. Without ever picking up an encyclical, we can hear the themes of Catholic Social Teaching in the readings at Mass, in the prayers that we pray - and in the songs that we sing.

Next time you pick up a hymnal and start to sing - think about the words that you are singing. The themes of "Life and Dignity", "Advancing the Common Good", "Promoting Peace and Justice", "Option for the Poor and Vulnerable", "Solidarity", and "Care for God's Creation" can be found in many of our favorite hymns ---

• In God Has Chosen Me, by Bernadette Farrell, we sing "God is calling me...in all whose cry is unheard. God is calling me...to raise up the voice with no power or choice, God is calling me."
• In God of Day and God of Darkness, by Marty Haugen, we sing "Still the nations curse the darkness, Still the rich oppress the poor; Still the earth is bruised and broken By the ones who still want more."
• In Send Down the Fire, by Marty Haugen, we sing "Send down the fire of your justice...Call us to answer oppression, Teach us the fire of your truth; Give us righteous souls, "Til your justice rolls..."
• In The Harvest of Justice, by David Haas, we sing "For to have mercy on those forgotten,...this is my command: Clothe the naked, be home for the orphan, be hope for the widow, and welcome the lost."
• In Voices That Challenge, by David Haas, we sing "Call us to hear the voices that challenge...the lowly and broken destroyed by oppression!...the women who suffer the pain of injustice!The people with AIDS and those plagued with addiction!"
• In I Will Not Die, by Tom Conry, we sing "You will stand up for the poor and the needy; you'll break the chains that bind your people. For you are home for the lost and the desperate; your strong right hand goes before us."
• In For the Healing of the Nations, by Fred Kaan, we sing "All that kills abundant living, Let it from the earth be banned; Pride of status, race or schooling, Dogmas that obscure your plan. In our common quest for justice, May we hallow life's brief span."
• In Now Join We to Praise the Creator, by Fred Kaan, we sing "But also of need and starvation, We sing with concern and despair, Of skills that are used for destruction, Of land that is burnt and laid bare."
• In God, Whose Purpose is to Kindle, by David E. Trueblood, we sing "Save us now from satisfaction, When we privately are free, Yet are undisturbed in spirit, By our neighbors misery."
• In Abundant Life, by Ruth Duck, we sing "When bodies shiver in the night, And weary, wait for morning, When children have no bread but tears, And war horns sound their warning, God calls humanity to wake, To join in common labor, That all may have abundant life, In oneness with their neighbor."

It is important to remember that the songs we sing at Mass are a form of prayer. So sing with all your heart! It will please God (and Steve) - and it may just touch our hearts and move us to action. Catholic Social Teaching is calling us to speak out against injustice - if we just listen to the words that we sing!

St. Blase Justice and Peace Committee