| Catholic
Social Teaching Major Theme: Advancing the Common Good
"Advancing the Common Good" is another major theme, and
also a very fundamental part of all of Catholic Social Teaching.
The U.S. Catholic Bishops state:
"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."
This teaching poses a unique challenge to us as Americans. American
society, perhaps more than any other society on earth, worships
individuality. We started as explorers, became revolutionaries,
and founded a government devoted to giving each individual the right
to speak, to worship, to work hard, to succeed - or to fail - based
on his or her own individual merit. We believe in charity, we believe
in private insurance. However, we do not like it when our government
forces us to support others who may not be working as hard as we
are; who may not share our faith, or our values. Jesus may have
admonished us to love our neighbor as ourselves - but in American
society, we are still not big fans of the common good.
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In the 1930's, in the midst of the
Great Depression, Americans moved somewhat away from this
concept of rugged individuality. Although private charitable
giving reached a record high in 1932, charitable organizations
were overwhelmed by the amount of need. It became obvious
that government intervention was the only way to preserve
the common good. Out of this realization came Social Security,
minimum wage and child labor laws, and eventually - Federal
Disability Insurance, Medicaid, federal housing programs,
food stamps, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and other
programs designed to provide a safety net for the most vulnerable
members of society. Although the U.S. is still one of only
two industrialized nations without a system of national health
insurance, we have made some progress in working towards the
common good. |
Today, however, we see a movement back to the days before the Great
Depression. We hear our leaders talk about an 'ownership" society
- a society where everyone works to "own" their future
- without worrying about others. Social Security is perhaps the
ultimate common good program (it was originally proposed by a Catholic
priest). Today we hear of privatizing Social Security so that we
can plan for our own retirement without having to contribute to
the retirement of others. The proposed 2006 federal budget, currently
being studied in Congress, includes cuts to more than 100 social
programs, most notably Medicaid, that are vital to the common good.
Do we support this movement back to the worship of individual rights
over the common good? Catholic Social Teaching tells us that the
command to love our neighbor, coupled with the belief that the earth
and its riches were given to us all to share, means that we must
not worry about "me first" to the exclusion of others.
What can we do? We can contact our local, state and federal representatives
and tell them that we do not support cuts in programs that protect
the common good. We can write letters to the editor. We can speak
out! We can let everyone know that Christians are called by Christ
to care for all, especially the poor and vulnerable. This is not
a matter of political affiliation or philosophy - it is an integral
part of our faith. We cannot separate Catholic Social Teaching from
our Catholic faith - Catholic Social Teaching is our faith in action! |
