After a dozen years away from Catholic pews, I doubt that I will ever return. But there are two things that I think are the biggest pluses of Catholicism in our current world - Pope Francis (may he live to be 100) and the church's Social Justice Teachings. Sadly, it seems that most Catholics ignore both the Pope (even if they "like" him) and few even know much about the church's Social Justice Teachings. In fact, it seems that the majority of Catholics have little interest in justice - they give money, and used clothing, and food to the food pantries, but they vote for those who don't work for justice - at least not for "justice for all", as it says in the Pledge of Allegiance. The trumpian faction create hate storms aimed at those whose communities don't experience "justice for all" and try to raise awareness by the symbolic gesture of "taking a knee". The right wing has made this into a gesture of hate for America and lack of respect for the soldiers who have died in our many wars. Another right wing lie. It is a symbolic way to raise awareness of the reality that America has a long way to go before it offers "justice for all". A majority of white Catholics support trump and the GOP politicians in that wing of the party (the whole party at this point for all practical purposes)
I subscribe to Richard Rohr's daily emails, and also follow the RR group on FB . Here is yesterday's post
"Fr. Richard Rohr shares the importance of both justice and charity to bring about the common good."
“We
need to make the kind of society where it is easier for people to be
good,” said Peter Maurin (1877–1949). [1] That is our difficulty today.
We are surrounded by good, well-meaning folks who are swept along in a
stream of shallow options. Not only is the good made increasingly
difficult to do, it is even difficult to recognize. It seems that
affluence takes away the clear awareness of what is life and what is
death. I don’t think the rich are any more or less sinful than the poor;
they just have many more ways to call their sin virtue. There is a
definite deadening of the awareness of true good and true evil.
I
have found one fuzzy area that often needs clarification: We have
confused justice and charity. Charity was traditionally considered the
highest virtue, popularly thought of as a kind of magnanimous, voluntary
giving of ourselves, preferably for selfless motives. As long as we
rose to this level occasionally by donating food, gifts, or money at the
holidays or in times of crisis, we could think of ourselves as
charitable people operating at the highest level of virtue.
What
has been lacking is the virtue of justice. Justice and charity are
complementary but clearly inseparable in teachings of Doctors of the
Church, as well as the social encyclical letters of almost all popes
over the last century. The giving and caring spirit of charity both
motivates and completes our sense of justice, but the virtue of charity
cannot legitimately substitute for justice. Persons capable of doing
justice are not justified in preferring to “do charity.” Although this
has clearly been taught on paper, I would say it is the great missing
link in the practical preaching and lifestyle of the church. We have
ignored the foundational obligation of justice in our works of charity!
For centuries we have been content to patch up holes temporarily (making
ourselves feel benevolent) while in fact maintaining the institutional
structures that created the holes (disempowering people on the margins).
Now it has caught up with us in unremitting poverty, massive income
disparity, cultural alienation, and human and environmental abuse.
Jesus
preaches a social order in which true charity is possible, a way of
relating by which cooperation and community make sense. Jesus offers a
world where all share the Spirit’s power “each according to their gift.”
And that “Spirit is given to each person for the sake of the common
good” (1 Corinthians 12:7). That is the key to Christian community and
Christian social justice. It is not a vision of totalitarian equality,
nor is it capitalist competition (“domination of the fittest”). It is a
world in which cooperation, community, compassion, and the charity of
Christ are paramount—and to which all other things are subservient. The
“common good” is the first principle of Catholic social
doctrine—although few Catholics know it.
People don't delve too deeply into things, whether religion, politics, science. Social justice and religion are inextricably connected for me since high school and Jesus isn't a doe-eyed comforter.
ReplyDeleteFlashback to Covid thread. Our county removed the indoor mask requirement last Thursday. But we.have already regressed on new case counts, so it’s back after only 4 days. I see in the NYT daily Covid data update that the new cases for the whole country have been increasing every day for about 5 days now, after dropping daily for weeks.
ReplyDeleteThe Commonwealth of PA seems to be holding steady. Same for my county. 60% in the state are fully vaccinated. Still not enough.
DeleteAnne, thanks for the Richard Rohr post, it is very good.
ReplyDeleteThis part especially struck me, "We are surrounded by good, well-meaning folks who are swept along in a stream of shallow options."
That would characterize a lot of people that I interact with. They are good people who mean well, but who are swept along by a lot that is unexamined or poorly examined. "Shallow options" describes it very well.
Good post, Anne, my favorite phrase was:
ReplyDeleteI don’t think the rich are any more or less sinful than the poor; they just have many more ways to call their sin virtue.
Yes there is a problem our understanding of the relationship of justice and charity.
ReplyDeleteIn the Torah the notion of justice was related to tithing. We give of our goods first to God and our neighbors. Sacrifices to God were also related to care for others. The liturgical prescriptions for all the feasts where like the following.
You shall rejoice in the presence of the LORD, your God, together with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow among you, in the place which the LORD, your God, will choose as the dwelling place of his name. (Deu 16:11 NAB)
The word “rejoice” is also used many times in the parable of the prodigal son, e.g. to kill the fatted café and make merry. Luke repeatedly chooses his Greek words because of their use in the OT. The implication is that like the OT, Christian worship essentially involves everyone, however not only all those who are marginal to society but also those who have abandoned the community. They are to be welcomed back with honor! Love knows no bounds!
In the first few centuries Christianity looked down upon tithing as a Jewish practice that had been superseded. Christ had invited the young man to sell all he had to follow him. The Jerusalem community had practiced sharing all their goods. So even if we give away at tenth of our fortunes to charity we are only doing what the OT would consider as justice, i.e. what is right in our relationship to God and mankind.
Prophets like Isaiah went further and said that worship was useless unless justice was first done to all the marginal people.
The Christian concept of love goes far beyond the OT.
One of the few sermons I remember was by a Scripture scholar. He began with Jesus in John sayings “I give you a new commandment, love one another…” What is new about that he asked, that is what the OT asks us. The NEW commandment is to “love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus as the self- sacrificial servant is our high standard of love. It is more than philanthropy.
I wish there were more contemporary communal examples of that early socialism in the Christian Community. I guess the Catholic Worker Movement does it. They certainly seem to follow that 100% donation approach. I wish there were parishes that did at least 50%. Problem is that charismatic leaders often turn the thing into a cult. Dorothy Day was a strong demanding leader but I never got an impression of cultism.
DeleteI was surprised to find out that my friend Lou's son (not really a practicing Catholic or raised so) spent some time with the Catholic Worker Movement. He had nothing bad to say about it and seemed to value his time spent with them. He did say it was different. The poor aren't always cuddly.
Stanley, for my part, I wish socialism was more like the early Christian communities :-).
DeleteIn the Catholic world, religious orders seem to be the best examples of living according to those biblical communal principles.
His point about the relationship between charity and justice is well-made.
ReplyDeleteBeyond that: as he didn't really name any names, or indicate what he meant by "doing justice" (justice is a broad category with multiple branches), it's difficult to judge whether he's right or not in his diagnosis. Not all of us are in a position to "do justice"; most of us rely on others to see that justice is done on our behalf. So I guess his critique is pointed to society's leaders. I don't doubt that there are some leaders and influencers who give alms while fostering injustice. I also don't doubt there are others who take the requirements of justice seriously.
If he's making a political statement, as Anne seems to understand his comments, then - yes, the Trumpified Republican Party doesn't seem to care much about some forms of social justice (but does care about others). More broadly, both parties take turns ruling, and not much changes.
And some of the most important Common Good issues of our time - COVID-19, climate change - are larger than the United States. If we want to act justly ("do justice") on those issues, the cooperation required must be on a global scale. And frankly, I see leaders in the US taking these issues pretty seriously, and trying to act justly in their corporate policies, their investment strategies and so on. It's not all bad news out there.