Social Justice

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Social Justice

• Institute for Leadership in Ministry 2011
• February 23 FOUNDATIONS
• March 2 PRINCIPLES
• March 16 APPLICATIONS
• Kristin Heyer
• Associate Professor, Religious Studies
• Santa Clara University

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Social Justice FOUNDATIONS

• Ecclesiology
• What is the relationship of the church to the
  wider world according to a Catholic
  understanding?
• Anthropology
• What vision of the person grounds the Catholic
  social tradition?
• Frameworks
• Catholic understandings of justice and rights

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Charity and Justice

• When I feed the poor they call me a saint when I
  ask why the poor have no food, they call me a
  Communist.
• -Brazilian Archbishop Dom Helder Cámara
• While the words and example of Jesus on earth
  require individual works of mercy and acts of
  charity, they also require wider-scale action in
  pursuit of peace and justice.
• We are called to be both Moses and the Good
  Samaritan.

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What has Jerusalem to say to Athens?

• Contemporary Catholic Social Thought (CST) charts
  course between nothing (sectarian withdrawal)
  and everything (cooptation, theocracy)
• Delicate balance of depoliticized engagement
• in the world but not of the world

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How did we get here?

• Impact of Second Vatican Council 1962-1965
• Significant legacy for churchs social mission
• Gaudium et spes
• Dignitatis humanae

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Gaudium et spes

• Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the
  Modern World (Joy and Hope)
• The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the
  anxieties of the men of this age, especially
  those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these
  are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties
  of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing
  genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their
  hearts. For theirs is a community composed of
  men. United in Christ, they are led by the Holy
  Spirit in their journey to the Kingdom of their
  Father and they have welcomed the news of
  salvation which is meant for every man. That is
  why this community realizes that it is truly
  linked with mankind and its history by the
  deepest of bonds. (no. 1)

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Shift away from Sacred-Secular Split

• Gaudium et spes exemplifies this shift
• Shift to perceiving element of sacred within the
  secular/temporal and political realms
• The Council can provide no more eloquent proof of
  its solidarity with the entire human family with
  which it is bound up, as well as its respect and
  love for that family, than by engaging with it in
  conversation about these various problems. (no.
  3)

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Church-World Stance Shifts

• Shift from churchs previous defensive,
  reactionary to open stance toward the world that
  takes serious the struggles of the marginalized
  and addresses structural change
• social question becomes universalized

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Churchs Social Mission

• GS presents the human person as the bond between
  the church and the world, and the task of the
  church as safeguarding the dignity of the person
  (no. 76).
• churchs social teaching was bolstered with
  ecclesiological grounding - its social
  teaching no longer a narrow category within moral
  theology, but rather a means of fulfilling the
  churchs very mission.

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Citizens of Two Cities

• Disciples and citizens in the world but not of
  the world
• Between cooptation and withdrawal
• Rejects partisanship and otherworldliess
• delicate balance church is called to political
  engagement to protect the human dignity without
  conflating the Catholic faith with particular or
  partisan political systems

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Depoliticized Engagement

• indirect role for the churchs engagement in the
  political order
• the alternatives are equally unacceptable
• a politicized church erodes the transcendence of
  the gospel
• a church in retreat from human affairs betrays
  the incarnational dimension of Christian faith
• Method confident modesty, church as teacher
  and learner, interpreting signs of the times,
  (1891-2009)

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Dignitatis humanae (DH)

• Declaration on Religious Liberty 1965
• landmark development in church teaching on
  religious liberty and in terms of the
  differentiation and proper relation of church and
  state

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First Amendment (U.S. Constitution)

• Church/state institutional separation and free
  exercise
• Religious bodies receive neither favoritism nor
  discrimination
• 1st A protects public theology as politics of
  persuasion, not coercion
• 1st A political, therefore neutral on value of
  different religious doctrines

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Implications of churchs affirmation of Religious
Liberty

• Implicitly rejected here is the outmoded notion
  that religion is a purely private affair or
  that the Church belongs in the sacristy.
  Religion is relevant to the life and action of
  society. Therefore religious freedom includes
  the right to point out this social relevance of
  religious belief.
• John Courtney Murray, S.J.
• on Dignitatis humanae

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(Post-Vatican II) Action for Justice Central
to Gospel and Churchs Mission

• Action on behalf of justice and participation in
  the transformation of the world fully appear to
  us as a constitutive dimension of preaching the
  gospel, or, in other words, of the churchs
  mission for the redemption of the human race and
  its liberation from every oppressive structure.
• -1971 Synod of Bishops, Justitia in mundo, no. 6

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• The mission of preaching the Gospel dictates at
  the present time that we should dedicate
  ourselves to the liberation of people even in
  their present existence in this world. For unless
  the Christian message of love and justice shows
  its effectiveness through action in the cause of
  justice in the world, it will only with
  difficulty gain credibility with the people of
  our times. (no. 35)

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Catholic Vision of the Human Person

• Genesis 11-31
• in Gods image God created them, male and female
  God created them.
• Humans as created in imago Dei (image of God)
• Inherently sacred, worthy
• Inherently social
• Created in image of Trinitarian God
• - to be a person is to be in relationship

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Human Dignity ? Human Rights

• Human rights give shape substance to the idea
  of human dignity
• Human dignity grounds human rights reciprocal
  relationship
• Human rights provide societal framework

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Range of Rights in CST

• civil and political rights (political-legal)
• social and economic rights (socio-economic)
• These fundamental personal rightscivil and
  political as well as social and economicstate
  the minimum conditions for social institutions
  that respect human dignity, social solidarity,
  and justice.
• - Economic Justice for All, (no. 80)

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United Nations Declaration on Human Rights

• http//www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
• Examples article 12, 25, 23, 18

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Justice in Western Context (U.S.)

• Images and understandings of western justice

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Biblical Justice

• Creative
• Liberating, vindicating
• Relational
• Care for Anawim
• shalom

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Justice in Catholic Social Teaching

• contributive/legal commutative distributive
  social
• Basic justice demands the establishment of
  minimal levels of participation in the life of
  the human community for all persons. The
  ultimate injustice is for a person or group to be
  treated actively or abandoned passively as if
  they were nonmembers of the human race. To treat
  people this way is effectively to say that they
  simply do not count as human beings.
• (U.S. Bishops, Economic Justice for All,no. 77)
  

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Catholic Social Teaching Encyclicals

• 1891 Rerum novarum Leo XIII 1931 Quadragesimo
  anno Pius XI 1961 Mater et magistra John
  XXIII 1963 Peace on Earth John
  XXIII 1965 Church in the Modern World Vatican
  II 1967 The Development of Peoples Paul
  VI 1971 A Call to Action Paul VI 1971 Justice
  in the World Synod of Bishops1979 Redeemer of
  Humanity John Paul II 1981 On Human Work John
  Paul II 1988 On Social Concern John Paul
  II 1991 The One Hundredth Year John Paul
  II 1995 The Gospel of Life John Paul II
• 2005 God is Love Benedict XVI
• 2009 Charity in Truth Benedict XVI

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Social Justice PRINCIPLES

• Recall foundation of Catholic anthropology
• Vision of person as sacred and social
• Yields CST themes
• Life and dignity of human person
• Common good
• Option for poor
• Dignity of work/rights of workers
• Solidarity
• Care for Gods Creation

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Catholic Social Teaching key themes

• Life and Dignity of the Human Person
• Every human being is created in the image of God
  and therefore is invaluable and worthy of respect
  as a member of the human family

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Common Good

• Call to family, community and participation
• Common good those conditions necessary for the
  flourishing of all members of a given community
• Not the same as a utilitarian greatest good for
  the greatest number

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Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

• Matthew 25 31-46
• Biblical justice is measured by a societys
  treatment of the most vulnerable the widow, the
  orphan, the sojourner.
• The prime purpose of a preferential option for
  poor is to enable them to become active
  participants in the life of societyto enable all
  persons to share in the common good.

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Dignity of Work and Rights of Workers

• Matthew 201-16
• The economy must serve people, and not the other
  way around.
• If the dignity of work is to be protected, then
  the basic rights of workers must be
  respectedrights to productive work, to decent
  and fair wages, to organize and join unions, to
  private property, and to economic initiative.
  -U.S. Catholic Bishops

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Solidarity

• A firm and persevering commitment to commit
  ourselves to the common good on every level.
• We really all are responsible for all.
• Pope John Paul II

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Greg Boyle, S.J.Founder/Director, Homeboy
Industries

• Create a community of kinship such that God might
  recognize it.
• Jesus wasnt a man for others, he was one with
  others.
• Our problem is that we've forgotten that we
  belong to each other.
• Mother Theresa

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Care for Gods Creation

• Stewardship the earth, created by God, has been
  entrusted to us for our care not just our own
  benefit.
• Humans are part and parcel of the created order,
  not suspended over and above it.
• CST affirms the universal purpose of created
  goods Gods creation is intended for good of
  all humans.
• Solidarity in TIME not just solidarity in space.

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Sin in Christian thought

• Sin fact
• act
• orientation
• Sins of omission Failure to bother to Love.
• biblical examples
• Walter Rauschenbusch, social gospel movement

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Social Sin

• Social sin embodiment of multiple sinful
  choices, structures of evil that surround us and
  in which we take part
• 1 both ways in which our personal sins become
  embodied in unjust social structures (our
  complicity in sweatshop conditions as consumers)
• 2 and the ways those same structures make it
  harder to resist the temptation to sin (air we
  breathe tainted by acceptable injusticesracism,
  sexism, homophobia) 

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Engaging the Signs of Our Times

• Social Justice initiatives via
• -Catholic charities and direct aid
• -Catholic political advocacy (USCCB, NEWTORK
  Catholic Social Justice Lobby, Pax Christi USA,
  others)
• -CCHD-funded/Catholic-based community organizing
• -private sector socially responsible investing
  and shareholder advocacy (religious orders)

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CST and Signs of our Times

• Small Group Discussions
• 1. death penalty/capital punishment
• 2. environmental racism
• 3. liturgical practice and CST marriage
• 4. scripture, justice and international trade
• 5. the working poor
• 6. 21st century slavery

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Assignment

• Note You may select one essay question from
  among the following options. Responses should be
  3-5 pages, double-spaced, 12-point font, 1
  margins minimum. I prefer hard copies please
  submit your completed assignments to ILM staff
  who can then send them to me as a set. Thank you
  for the conversation, and blessings upon your
  ministries and journeys. KEH

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• 1. Pierce Hunsinger has been caught, for the
  third time, selling narcotics and is facing time
  in prison. He argues that selling drugs is his
  best chance at a better life for his family.
  With only a high school education as well as
  ex-felon status, he has had difficulty finding a
  job that keeps his wife and two children above
  the poverty line. He awaits his sentencing
  hearing. What would different responses to
  Pierces situation look like from the
  perspectives of western and biblical justice? 
• 2. Discuss the proper role of religion in public
  life according to post-Vatican II Catholic social
  thought and Massaros Living Justice. What
  changes took place at the Second Vatican Council,
  and how would you characterize the balance
  Catholicism seeks to strike? What is your own
  impression of the relationship of the Church to
  political issues today in light of this ideal?
• 3. What might it mean to reimagine a ministry in
  which you are currently involved (or have been
  involved) in light of Catholic social teaching?
  (baptism, confirmation, anointing of the sick,
  marriage preparation, reconciliation, youth
  ministry) Be sure to concretely identify several
  changes and how they reflect different principles
  or commitments of Catholic social thought.
  (E.g., describe how you might transform a youth
  group food drive to incorporate both charity and
  justice dimensions, more fully affirm human
  dignity, and attend to sustainability).

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• 4. Your pastor has asked you to write a column
  for a special extended edition of the parish
  newsletter on why issues of social justice should
  matter to faithful Catholics. Pick one among the
  following topics and write your essay with
  parishioners as your audience
•  
• a.) Why should Catholics be concerned about
  environmental issues (our energy
  consumption/carbon footprint, where our waste
  is stored, the environmental impact of
  industries, where our food comes from)?
• b.) Why is the Catholic Church actively involved
  in immigration reform efforts?
• c.) In what ways are we called to celebrate and
  promote life amid our broken world? To what
  concrete ministries of charity and justice does
  this commitment call our community?

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Justice and Peace PrayerBy Jane Deren

• God of Justice and Peace,Mold our consciences
  according to justice,And shape our hearts
  according to peace,That we may recognize the
  talents that you have given usTo secure the
  rights of the poor, the oppressed, the sick and
  the marginalized.God, we are Your
  children.Grant us the courage and strengthTo
  work for justice,And in this way,Live out our
  call to be peacemakers.