Exploring Catholic Social Teaching

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Catholic Social Teaching
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Isn’t it more important to work for justice
than to engage in charity?
In the often intense cry for “social justice”
in our political environment, we
hear some people express a disdain for
works of Christian charity. This perspective
originates in a Marxist view of social
life, which maintains that charitable
works create a class of people who are
dependent upon the rich. This leaves
the poor powerless and without a voice,
so some claim. While the Church clearly
acknowledges the reality of oppression
and the social marginalization of the
poor, she also believes, as Jesus taught
us, that social order requires both justice
and charity (Matt. 5–7). We will discuss
this belief at length in the next chapter.
For the moment, keep in mind that
justice and charity are a social responsibility
of Christian discipleship and are
related integrally to each other. In justice,
we give to others what we owe to
them — what belongs to them by right.
In charity, we give to others what belongs
to us by right out of generosity.
Holiness requires both, since each virtue
contributes to the perfection of the
human will in respect to love of God and
neighbor. Society also needs both forms
of self-giving. We must give to others
what is due to them; and situations
exist in which God calls us to give beyond
what belongs to us in charity — as
He has done for us. The primary social
expressions of charity are the fourteen
works of mercy, which we will discuss in
a later chapter.
The other important aspect of how
justice and charity relate to each other
is that without love of neighbor, people
will not act justly toward others but selfishly.
Thus, the idea that justice alone
can rightly order society is misguided.
Justice without charity makes society
harsh and merciless. Human beings
need more than fair treatment; since we
are all sinners, we need the love and
mercy of others.
Pope Benedict XVI explained the
need for charity and justice in his letter
Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love). It
is a long passage worth quoting in its
entirety:
Vocabulary
Generosity (n.): The quality of freely
and abundantly giving to others.
Love — caritas — will always prove
necessary, even in the most just society.
There is no ordering of the State
so just that it can eliminate the need
for a service of love. Whoever wants
to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate
man as such. There will always
be suffering which cries out for consolation
and help. There will always
be loneliness. There will always be
situations of material need where
help in the form of concrete love of
neighbor is indispensable. The State
which would provide everything, absorbing
everything into itself, would
ultimately become a mere bureaucracy
incapable of guaranteeing
the very thing which the suffering
person — every person — needs:
namely, loving personal concern.
© Sophia Institute for Teachers