How to be a “Real Social Justice Warrior”
by CAPP-USA
A real social justice warrior practices Catholic social teaching.
What is Social Justice?
Social justice is what results when “associations or individuals…obtain what is their due, according to their nature and their vocation.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1928)
Social Justice Warrior Requirements
A social justice warrior practices all the tenets of Catholic social teaching to achieve the common good – which is social justice.
We recognize:
- “Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each”. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1807)
- Social justice’s purpose is to “establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity“. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1807)
- Social justice warriors “love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves“. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1822)
- The “SJW” knows that “Justice is the primary way of charity” while “on the other hand, charity transcends justice and completes it.” (Caritas in Veritate, 60)
- We know justice is binding – a “requirement” of lay spirituality. “Every Christian is called to practice this charity”. (Caritas in Veritate, 7)
Learn More about the Difference Between Charity and Justice
Catholic Social Teaching Informs the Social Justice Warrior
It was Pope Benedict XVI who emphasized that to practice Catholic social teaching is charity. “‘Caritas in Veritate’ is the principle around which the church’s social doctrine turns”. (Caritas in Veritate, 6)
The practice of Catholic social teaching “is the institutional path — we might also call it the political path — of charity, no less excellent and effective than the kind of charity which encounters the neighbor directly, outside the institutional mediation of the polis.” (Caritas in Veritate, 7)
Learn More about How the Practice of CST is Charity
The True Social Justice Warrior
“True social justice…can only be possible in a perspective of genuine solidarity that commits people to live and work always for others.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Address to CAPP Members)
The true fight for social justice is NOT a focus on perceived “rights” such as abortion, transgenderism, or universal health care. It does not contradict Church teaching on the rights of children, parents, or the limitations of the state.
Absent this understanding, “We may become a charitable NGO, but not the Church“. (Pope Francis)
