Catholic Social Teaching:

Love of Neighbor

in a Complex World

Meditation

“Christ has no body now, but yours.

No hands, no feet on earth, but yours.

Yours are the eyes through which

Christ looks compassion into the world.

Yours are the feet with which Christ walks to do good.

Yours are the hands with which Christ blesses the world.”

-St. Theresa of Avila

Why Catholic Social Teaching?

“The Church cannot neglect the service of charity any more

than she can neglect the Sacraments and the Word.”

(Deus Caritas Est, 22)

But Charity is Not Enough!

But Charity is Not Enough! “The direct duty to work for a just ordering of society, on the other hand, is proper to

the lay faithful. As citizens of the State, they are called to take part in public life in a

personal capacity. So they cannot relinquish their participation “in the many different

economic, social, legislative, administrative and cultural areas, which are intended to

promote organically and institutionally the

common good.” -Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est 29

Charity is Not Enough!

• Education

• Encounter

• Prayer & Transformation

• Action

Scriptural Foundations • Beatititudes

• Greatest Commandment Mt 22:37-39 – To Love God above all things

– Love our Neighbor as ourselves

• Parable of the Good Samaritan – Who is our neighbor?

• Temptation of Christ

Papal & Conciliar Foundations 1891 Rerum Novarum Leo XIII

1931 Quadragesimo Anno Pius XI

1961 Mater et Magistra John XXIII

1963 Pacem in Terris John XXIII

1965 Gaudiem et Spes Vatican II

1967 The Development of Peoples Paul VI

1971 A Call to Action Paul VI

1971 Justice in the World Synod of Bishops

1979 Redeemer of Humanity John Paul II

1981 On Human Work John Paul II

1983 The Challenge of Peace: U.S. Bishops 1985 Economic Justice for All US Bishops

1988 On Social Concern John Paul II

1991 The One Hundredth Year John Paul II

1993 Veritatis Splendor John Paul II

1995 The Gospel of Life John Paul II

2003 Strangers No Longer (migration) U.S. Bishops

2006 Deus Caritas Est Benedict XVI

2004/08 Faithful Citizenship US Bishops

2009 Caritas in Veritate Benedict XVI

Themes of Catholic Social Teaching

1. Life and Dignity of the Human Person

2. Call to Family, Community and Participation

3. Rights and Responsibilities

4. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

5. Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers

6. Solidarity

7. Care for God’s Creation

Dignity of the Human Person • Imago Dei (Gen. 1:12)

– Inherent capacity for God

– Relational • Relationship to Oneself – reflection on self

• Man and Woman – Equality, Reciprocity and Co-creation

• Love of Neighbor

Call to Family, Community, & Participation

• Relational beings

– Family- Central Unit

– Community

– Society

• Participation

– Subsidiarity

Rights and Responsibilities • Universal, Inviolable, Unalienable (153) • Specification of Rights (155)

– Right to life – Right to live in a united family conducive to good morals and

development of one’s personality – Right to develop one’s intelligence and pursue truth – Right to share in meaningful work with a living wage – Right to freely establish a family and to have children – Right to religious freedom

“I recommend that the Statue of Liberty be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the west coast.”

-Viktor Frankl

Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

• The poor are Christ present in our world

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’” (Mt 25:40).

• Health of Society

Dignity of Work & Rights of Workers

“The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.” (Gen. 2:15)

• Human Fulfilment

• Participation in God’s Creation

• Rights & Responsibilities

“The obligation to earn one's bread by the sweat of one's brow also presumes the right to do so.” (Laborem Exercens, 9)

Solidarity Solidarity is not “…a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the

misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering

determination to commit oneself to the common good. That is to say to the good of all

and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all.”

–Pope St. John Paul II

Solidarity Balancing Subsidiarity & Solidarity

“…all societies of a superior order must adopt attitudes of help (“subsidium”) […] with respect to lower-order societies.” (Compendium, 186 quoting Pius XI’s

Quadragesimo Anno).

However… It is a “grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do.” (Ibid.,

186).

Care for God’s Creation

• Stewardship

• Societal Implications

“The environment is God's gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole.” (Caritas in Veritate, 48)

Faith and Society “The more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real needs of our neighbors, the more effectively we love them. Every Christian is called to practice this charity, in a manner corresponding to his vocation and according to the degree of influence he wields in the polis.”

(Caritas in veritate, 7)

Real Needs of our Neighbors

Issues in the Public Sphere • Life

– Abortion

– Euthanasia

– End of Life Care

• Immigration

– Comprehensive Immigration Reform • Rights to emigrate and immigrate

• Rights of sovereign of State

• Right not to have to emigrate (push factors)

• Poverty – Wealth Gap/Distribution

– Wages

– Predatory Lending

– Human Trafficking

• Education

– School Choice

– Access

• Healthcare – Access

– Conscience protection for workers

• Criminal Justice – Capital Punishment

– Rehabilitation and Reintegration

• International – War

– Humanitarian Aid

– Hunger and Thirst

– Ecological Concerns

• Marriage – Indissolubility

– Man and Woman

• Religious Freedom – HHS Mandate and Conscience

Charity and Justice “Two feet of love in action”

Why Catholic Social Teaching?

“The central message is simple: our faith is profoundly social. We cannot be called truly “Catholic”

unless we hear and heed the Church's call to serve those in need and work for justice and

peace.”

Communities of Salt and Light, 1993

Let us pray…

“‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me…. Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’”