Catholic Social Teaching:
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.

“You Have the Right …”

….. to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney….”

Is there anyone who does not recognize the Miranda rights? If you’ve ever watched a television cop show, you know the words. We all hope that we never hear them being read to
us, but we do know our rights! However — do we know our human rights?

Fifty-seven years ago, on December 10, 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This list of thirty rights defines the rights that belong equally to every human being. Amnesty International has published a short summary of these rights.
They list them as follows: The Right to — equality; freedom from discrimination; life, liberty, personal security; freedom from slavery; freedom from torture and degrading treatment;
recognition as a person before the law; equality before the law; remedy by competent tribunal; freedom from arbitrary arrest, exile; a fair public hearing; to be considered innocent until proven guilty; freedom from interference with privacy, family, home and correspondence; free movement in and out of any country; to asylum in other countries from persecution; to a
nationality and the freedom to change it; to marriage and family; to own property; freedom of belief and religion; freedom of opinion and information; of peaceful assembly and association; to participate in government and free elections; to social security; to desirable work and to join trade unions; to rest and leisure; to adequate living standards; to education; to participate in cultural life and community; to social order assuring human rights; community duties essential to free and full development; and freedom from state and personal
interference in the above rights.

Here in the United States we have something called the Bill of Rights. How do these rights compare to the United Nations list? Cal Poly Tech published this brief summary of the Bill of Rights: “Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition; right to keep and bear arms in order to maintain a well-regulated militia; no quartering of soldiers; freedom from
unreasonable searches and seizures; right to due process of law, freedom from self-incrimination, double jeopardy; rights of accused persons, e.g. right to a speedy and public trial; right of trial by jury in civil cases; freedom from excessive bail, cruel and unusual punishment; other rights of the people; powers reserved to the states.”

Which list is closer to our beliefs as Catholic Christians? Pope John Paul II gave us some insight into our God-given human rights when he addressed the 34th General Assembly of the United Nations on October 2, 1979. John Paul II stated that the Church endorses:

“the right to life, liberty and security of the person; the right to food, clothing, housing, sufficient health care, rest and leisure; the right to freedom of expression, education and culture; the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; the right to manifest one’s religion either individually or in community, in public or in private; the right to choose a state of life, to found a family and to enjoy all conditions necessary for family life; the right to property and work, to adequate working conditions and a just wage; the right of assembly and association; the right to freedom of movement, to internal and external migration; the right to nationality and residence; the right to political participation and the right to participate in the free choice of the political system of the people to which one belongs.”

It is interesting to note that the rights listed by Pope John Paul II are much closer to the United Nations list than to the Bill of Rights. The problem is that the Bill of Rights has the
rule of law to support it — while the United Nations list is only a moral declaration — a human rights wish list.

Why should we care about a wish list of human rights? We know that we will never achieve perfect human rights. Yet our faith requires that we constantly strive for a better world for all
of God’s children. This list can help us to compare the laws that we pass in this country to the ultimate goal of human rights for all. When we discuss laws on torture, immigration, legal
treatment of suspected terrorists, wages, privacy, health care etc. — do we consider whether our laws protect or violate human rights? Is it our goal as a nation to protect human rights – or do we let fear rule our decisions? Is it right to sacrifice human rights to national security? There are many questions and no easy answers. Let us pray that an awareness of the worth and the dignity of every human life will help us to make the right choices.

To find out more about human rights, go to:

• www.amnesty.org (Amnesty International)
• www.hrw.org (HumanRightsWatch)
• www.globalexchange.org
• www.paxchristiusa.org (Pax Christi USA)

Fr. Randy On Torture

Between Holy Thursday and The Easter Vigil is the commemoration of our Lord’s passion and execution, or Good Friday. A recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center disclosed that Roman Catholics in the United States are more likely to condone torture than is the general public. Twenty-one percent of Catholics believed torture is “often justified,” compared with fifteen percent of the general populace; thirty-five percent felt torture was “sometimes
justified,” compared with thirty-one percent of general public. Twenty-six percent of Catholics stated that torture is “never justified,” compared with thirty-percent of the general public
that claimed torture is “never justified.”

This research is disheartening, especially as we approach Good Friday. It is true that the Church itself practiced torture in the times of the Inquisition. This was one of the practices for which Pope John Paul II asked forgiveness at the end of the last millennium.

Since 1965 the Catholic Church has taught that the use of torture is “intrinsically evil.” When the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became human, he gave human nature an unequivocal dignity. The use of torture is a direct denial and attack upon that God-given dignity. It is an insult to the Creator and a form of terrorism that debases both victim and
perpetrator.

I encourage the members of our faith community to ponder your response to torture in the light of Church teaching and in the context of our Lord’s passion, death and resurrection.

Fr. Randy Phillips, The Flame, April 9, 2006