Catholic Social Teaching Does Not Discriminate

It's Doctrine. There's no sugar-coating it. There's no ignoring it. There's no politicizing it. There's no parsing out the parts one doesn't approve of. There's no condemning expressions of it that scandalize a person's political perspective. There's no equating its principles with a particular political party's policies or ideology. There's none of the ususal nonsense far too many Fools find themselves caught up in when they dance with Caesar. There's the choice: Either witness the teaching in our life or don't.

The Archdiocese Of Portland chooses the former.

David Carrier, director of the Archdioceses' Office of Justice and Peace, points out what many Foolables, and sadly, even some Fools, fail to understand:

“There is a lot more that unifies Catholics than divides them,” Carrier says. “At some point Catholics from all across the spectrum need to understand that all the issues lead back to the first principle of Catholic social teaching: the right to life and the dignity of the human person.”

Right-to-lifers are in no position to call justice-and-peace groups too political and social activists are in no place to call pro-life Catholics too doctrinaire, says Carrier.

“The right-to-life issues are rooted in the same doctrine as social justice issues,” he explains.

He adds that the apparent division between the so-called “right” and “left” in the church is a reaction to a division in American society, not a result of church teachings.

“It is time that Catholics come together to implement the social mission of the church and get over the artificial differences they have inherited from secular politics,” Carrier says.

“We are losing valuable time, energy, and lives fighting a battle that is irrelevant to establishing the Kingdom of God, while our brothers and sisters in the human family all around the world are dying needlessly by the thousands every day. Let’s just be Catholic and focus our energy on protecting life on all levels and dimensions.”

Now, some pro-lifers will say, with some justification, that too often "social justice" Catholics pull the seamless garment rhetoric out. They rightly insist that fighting abortion takes priority in creating a culture of life.

That's not the end of the story. While we must bear witness to the Gospel of life, we must not forget that we owe the poor in our midst our solidarity. No, this doesn't mean endorsing the Democratic party's love affair with the welfare state. It does mean applying Catholic Social Teaching to the problems of poverty and helping develop affective solutions in our communities, both in and out of government offices. It does mean holding our lawmakers to account for how they serve the poor without redistributing wealth. It means asking where the job training/re-training programs are. It means asking about the progress on Faith-based Initiatives that are constitutionally acceptable and effective. It means organizing solutions with our neighbors, parishoners, and other concerned citizens of goodwill to the social ills that face us.

And it means witnessing to a culture of life and a civilization of love.

We can't forget the priorities. We also can't forget that the "To Do" list is not only filled with the non-negotiables. Or don't we take Christ's parable of his return seriously? Pope John Paul the Great did. So did Blessed Mother Theresa. Can we afford to do less?