Solidarity
Not Liberal or Conservative
Individuals of the right may latch on to the endorsement of free markets as the only economic principle that seems to promote affluence and draw great comfort from that fact – while forgetting about the evils of consumerism, improper business activities and the fact that their brothers and sisters are in dire economic straits. Individuals of the left might focus primarily or only on the principle of solidarity and the Church’s endorsement of the “preferential option for the poor”. These are individuals who have been enamored of government responses to the social problems, ignoring the clear call of CST for free markets and Subsidiarity.
What is Social Justice?
The danger for individuals of the right, people in business and the professions, proponents of capitalism if you wish, is they will fail to be evangelized by CST. The danger for individuals of the left is that they will miss the chance to properly utilize CST to evangelize. Both sides must understand social justice and charity. Social justice, which is linked to the common good and the exercise of authority, results when “associations or individuals…obtain what is their due, according to their nature and their vocation” (Catechism of the Catholic Church); “the duty of social justice…requires the realignment of relationships between stronger and weaker peoples in terms of greater fairness” (Pope Francis) Clothing runs, food drives, home building projects are corporal works of mercy, not social justice. Social justice impacts on the social structures around us; it “upholds the fundamental human right to a dignified life”. (Pope Francis)
What is Charity
Charity is a Theological virtue: it is required of everyone and involves engaging, directly, those around us who are in need. The Church makes important points about the practice of charity. She even warns us that social justice alone, without corporal and spiritual works of mercy, results in a cold, legalistic public square – a society lacking true solidarity. “When animated by charity, commitment to the common good has greater worth than a merely secular and political stand would have.” (Pope Benedict XVI) Charity can be expressed in various ways: corporal works of mercy; spiritual works of mercy; or, implementing the tenets of Catholic social teaching in society. This inaccurate labeling (of corporal works of mercy as synonymous with the practice of Catholic social teaching) obscures our recognition that, in charity, we have a similarly binding requirement to confront improper and even sinful social structures – the domain of Catholic social teaching.
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