Against The Grain discusses "The Preferential Option for the Poor"

Perhaps one of the most obvious--and most abused--principles of Catholic Social Teaching is the Preferential Option for the Poor. Against The Grain has some important insights on it here.

One of the difficulties in American political culture today is how each faction goes about putting this into practice. A sizeable contingent of those Christians and Catholics that describe themselves as "Social Justice" call on State interventions to meet the needs of the poor. To them, only if the State--the representative of society--distributes income in order to assure everyone at least a modest lifestyle will the preferential option for the poor be honored. They are loathe any mention of the benefits to the poor that the market can bring.

On the other hand, a growing movement among so-called Catholic "neocons" sees the market as an excellent vehicle in which to meet the Preferential Option for the Poor. They rightly point out that the market allows no one's place in the economy to remain a stagnant one. Today's upper middle class were yesterday's poor. A growing economy offers many an opportunity to develop themselves out of poverty. The problem with this perspective is what actions are considered legitimate when a person--through no fault of his own--is unable to utilize the market in the ways that will banish poverty from his life. These pro-enterprise advocates appear as unwilling to State intervention as the social justice types are to discuss participation in the market.

The principle is not going away. Jesus himself identified with the least among us. He is certainly present in a unique way on the poor. How we treat them is how we treat Jesus. Whatever we do, if mercy for the poor is not at the heart of our response, then we can expect no recompense from him when we face him at Eternity's edge. More immediately, if our response lacks in charity while we swim in "prudential judgements" and argue over who's a better Christian when it comes to the poor, we can surely expect society at large to question whether or not we are the Body of Christ.