December 2022--

Theme #3: Rights & Responsibilities

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. The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
6. Solidarity
7. Care for God’s Creation

Loving others comes first from abiding in our relationship with God. As Christians, our care for the other is not just a social good, but it is integral to the relationship with Jesus. If you take out the relationship to Jesus, we are like any organization that seeks to help others. Without Christ we become humanitarians. With Christ we become Christians in the truest sense of the word. And that reality is what transforms the world.

Do those words sound a bit cold? of the head, not the heart? Jesus took care of that
when He said to his disciples: "The truth is, every time you did this for the least of my
sisters and brothers, you did it for Me."; (Matt. 25:40)

We know what He is referring to. We know all about the sheep and the goats. We know
the corporal works of mercy. We choose service projects and feel included in Jesus'
chosen group. Justified.

Another form of that word is Justice. On a broader level, Jesus is talking about the
common good, a healthy community where the rights of each individual are protected,
not out of duty, but out of regard for the dignity of that person --out of love. In addition to
the right to food, clean water, housing, clothing, health and prisoner care, these rights
include the right to  work, family, culture, social services, and a healthy planet, all based
on the right to life, the right to bodily integrity and self-determination.

We can't claim the rights and ignore the duty, the responsibility. We give out of our
abundance and our need. We recognize the need to protect the rights of our weaker
members, the handicapped, our women and children, the worker seeking a just wage,
racial and gender minorities, the elderly. We must provide social services and medical
care where needed. Politics are important. We need to vote our consciences. We all
seek a stable and secure society based on distributive justice, within a just system. We
seek Systemic Justice. 

We believe Jesus' promise. Our reward will be great: Justice and Peace for all.
       "I pray that we help You to help ourselves."  Etty Hillsum (Holocaust Martyr)