Catholic Social Teaching:
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" have global dimensions in an interdependent world. In recognizing our solidarity, we recognize the truth that we are indeed the body of Christ.

Catholic Social Teaching Major Theme: Solidarity

What do you think of when you hear the word solidarity? Unions? Lech Walesa? Actually, the theme of Solidarity in CST moves beyond labor unions to the union of all humanity. The U.S. Catholic Bishops summarize Solidarity as follows:

"We are one human family, whatever our national, racial ethnic, economic and ideological differences. The Church speaks of a "universal" common good that reaches beyond our nation's borders to the global community. Solidarity recognizes that the fates of the peoples of the earth are linked. Solidarity requires richer nations to aid poorer ones, commands respect for different cultures, demands justice in international relationships, and calls on all nations to live in peace with one another."

When Pope Paul VI said "If you want peace, work for justice," he was speaking of solidarity. Pope John XXIII explains the concept even more clearly in "Christianity and Social Progress," his 1961 encyclical, when he states:

"The solidarity which binds all men together as members of a common family makes it impossible for wealthy nations to look with indifference upon the hunger, misery and poverty of other nations whose citizens are unable to enjoy even elementary human rights. The nations of the world are becoming more and more dependent on one another and it will not be possible to preserve a lasting peace so long as glaring economic and social imbalances persist."

As citizens of one of the richest countries on earth, as citizens of a country that uses far more than its fair share of the earth's resources - we have a choice. We can sit back in comfort with our blinders on - or we can open our eyes and work for justice in our world.

How can we do this? Here at St. Blase, the Justice and Peace Committee sells Fair Trade coffee, tea and cocoa once a month. Fair Trade promotes solidarity by helping impoverished farmers earn a just wage that allows them to feed their families. When we shop, we can choose products and retailers that do not rely on sweat shops or child labor. The St. Blase trip to Haiti is another opportunity to get involved in improving the lives of some of the poorest people in the Western Hemisphere.

Do we support the Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities USA, Save the Children, or other organizations offering assistance? Do we educate ourselves about the issues facing the developing world and what our government can do to help? Do we ask our leaders where they stand on forgiveness of third world debt, unfair trade relationships, and programs to combat AIDS in Africa? Do we question the morality of war in a world where the billions spent on war could be used to relieve so much suffering?

If we truly believe that we are one human family, created in God's own image - can we look away? If we truly believe that the victims of the famines in Africa, the genocide in Sudan, and the slums of Calcutta, are our neighbors and brothers and sisters - can we sit and do nothing? Mother Teresa said, "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." Catholic Social Teaching asks us to remember.

Profiles in Justice and Peace: The Reluctant Prophet

What is a prophet? Do prophets exist in the year 2006 — or were they just a biblical phenomenon? Dictionary.com says that a prophet is: A person who speaks by divine inspiration or as an interpreter through whom the will of God is expressed. A person gifted with profound moral insight and exceptional powers of expression.”

Perhaps modern day prophets do exist — but we don’t always recognize them. Many people feel that one of the premier prophets of our day is a man named Paul Hewson — a man who fought against religion for most of his life because religion brought so much pain to his beloved Ireland. Yet, even as he dressed in leather and wrap-around sunglasses, built a band called U2 into an international phenomenon, and tried to forget about God — God kept calling him.

While only God knows whether Paul Hewson, also known as Bono, has ever been the recipient of “divine inspiration” — he is definitely “gifted with profound moral insight and exceptional powers of expression.” He has not used his rock-star fame just to get rich. He has taken advantage of the bully pulpit that fame provides, and used it to make the world listen to his calls for justice. Presidents, popes, senators, religious leaders, and heads of state have all met with him, one on one, and listened to his passionate appeals on behalf of the
poor and the outcast. While speaking to Pope John Paul II, he got the pope to try on his famous sunglasses — and the resulting picture was seen around the world. He speaks with an eloquence and simplicity that comes from the heart and a conviction in the rightness of his cause that comes from loving God.

What message does Bono bring to the world? On February 2, 2006, Bono addressed the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. He spoke to President Bush, members of
Congress, numerous religious leaders and heads of state. He noted that our duty to the poor is mentioned 2,100 times in scripture. He spoke about duty to the poor as a major foundation of not just Christianity — but Judaism and Islam as well. He talked about the proud American tradition of tithing — giving a percentage of our incomes to the poor. He told us that our U.S. government currently gives less than 1% of our budget to foreign aid. Bono believes that an additional 1% of the U.S. budget could save the entire continent of Africa from starvation and destruction — and make the world a much safer place in the process. Along with the general theme of eliminating poverty, Bono has dedicated his life to convincing the richer nations of the world to forgive the debt that keeps so many Third World countries forever in despair; and to fighting AIDS, the disease that poses as great a threat to Africa as poverty and corruption. In addition to all his personal appeals, Bono founded the ONE Campaign to end poverty, and DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade Africa) — to help fight Africa’s AIDS crisis through fair trade and fundraising.

In his address at the National Prayer Breakfast, Bono put it this way:

“God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with the virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.”

He asks us to think about things a little differently:

“A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In countless ways, large and small, I was always seeking the Lord’s blessing. I was saying…I have a new song, look after it…..I have a family, please look after them… I have this crazy idea….

And this wise man said: STOP.
He said, stop asking God to bless what you’re doing.
Get involved in what God is doing — because it is already blessed.
Well, God, as I said, is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing.
And that is what He’s calling us to do.”

Out of the mouths of Irish rock stars … God comes to us in the most unexpected ways. Let us always keep our minds and our hearts open so that we can hear and recognize God’s word — even if the messenger is not who we were expecting.

If you would like to read all of Bono’s remarks, they are available online. Try USATODAY.com and look for “Transcript: Bono remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast”, or use that phrase in any search engine.

Rosa Parks: The Power of One

It is one of the ultimate tributes in death - to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. In a space usually reserved for presidents, military commanders, senators, and Supreme Court Justices, Rosa Parks takes her place among the mighty - a quiet, dignified woman who changed the world by breaking the law.

At a time when this country legally treated an entire segment of the population as second-class citizens - she took a stand. She took a stand for every American who had to board the bus at the front, pay the fare, and then get off the bus and walk to a separate entrance at the back to take a seat. Sometimes, the bus left while people were walking to the door at the back - leaving them stranded, and cheated out of their bus fare. She took a stand for those victimized by a "separate but equal" law that focused only on the "separate" and did not worry about the fact that the facilities available to black Americans were never equal to those available to white Americans. She took a stand for every American victimized simply because of skin color. She was one person, a small, humble woman - and we consider her the mother of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

Fifty years ago the Civil Rights Movement was born. Fifty years later the law views all Americans as equal, and racial discrimination in housing and employment is a crime. Yet fifty years later, we still live in segregated neighborhoods, and many white Americans still worry when a black family moves into their neighborhood. Fifty years later, black Americans still suffer a disproportionate amount of poverty, disease, crime, punishment, and poor educational achievement. We have a long way to go before we can truly say that racism is just a shameful remnant of our past.

The Catholic Church considers racism to be a sin. Archbishop Harry Flynn, the Archbishop of the diocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, explains in his 2003 pastoral letter, "In God's Image - Pastoral Letter on Racism":

"Racism is a serious offense against God precisely because it violates the innate dignity of the human person. At its core, racism is a failure to love our neighbor. Since we cannot claim to love God unless we love our neighbor, we can only be one with God if we reject racism and work aggressively to remove it from our personal lives, our church, and our society."

The U.S. Bishops, in a 1979 statement "Brothers and Sisters to Us," explains further:

"racism is a sin; a sin that divides the human family, blots out the image of God among the specific members of that family, and violates the fundamental human dignity of those called to be children of the same Father. Racism is the sin that says some human beings are inherently superior and others essentially inferior because of race. It is the sin that makes racial characteristics the determining factor for the exercise of human rights. It mocks the words of Jesus: 'Treat others the way you would have them treat you.' Indeed racism is more than a disregard for the words of Jesus; it is a denial of the truth of the dignity of each human being revealed by the mystery of the Incarnation."

Sociologists have many theories on the roots of racism. Some believe that we are born without any bias, and as young Lt. Cable sings in Rogers and Hammerstein's South Pacific - "You have to be taught to hate and fear..You have to be carefully taught." Others believe that racism is an evolutionary trait leftover from long-ago times when banding together with those most like us was important to survival.

The bottom line for us as Catholics is much simpler. Whether racism is learned or rooted in our genes, our Creator has given us the gift of free will - and we can choose to reject it. We can strive every day to treat everyone as a reflection of Christ. We can recognize the institutional racism still subtly built into our society - and we can fight for justice. We can raise our children to be better than we are. Like Rosa Parks, we can take a stand.

Consider joining /working with:

• Interfaith Center for Racial Justice
  28640 Campbell, Warren, 48093 (586) 751-4292 or email incrjinc@ameritech.net
  
  
• National Conference for Creating Justice (NCCJ)
  1959 East Jefferson Avenue, Suite 201, Detroit, MI 48207 (313) 567-6225 or visit www.nccj-mi.org
  
  
• Michigan Catholic Conference for legislative concerns www.micatholicconference.org