Catholic Social Teaching - Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

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Learning More About Catholic Social Teachings:

Principle/Theme:

Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

From USCCB complete statement & document available at –
http://www.usccb.org/faithfulcitizenship/FCStatement.pdf

Principals of Catholic Social Teaching

While the common good embraces all, those who are weak, vulnerable, and most in need deserve preferential concern. A basic moral test for our society is how we treat the most vulnerable in our midst. In a society marred by deepening disparities between rich and poor, Scripture gives us the story of the Last Judgment (see Mt 25:31-46) and reminds us that we will be judged by our response to the “least among us.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains: Those who are oppressed by poverty are the object of a preferential love on the part of the Church which, since her origin and in spite of the failings of many of her members, has not ceased to work for their relief, defense, and liberation through numerous works of charity which remain indispensable always and everywhere.*
Pope Benedict XVI has taught that “love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of every kind, is as essential to [the Church] as the ministry of the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel” (Deus Caritas Est, no. 22). This preferential option for the poor and vulnerable includes all who are marginalized in our nation and beyond—unborn children, persons with disabilities, the elderly and terminally ill, and victims of injustice and oppression.

* See Catechism of the Catholic Church below # 2448

Scriptural Foundations
Quotes from Official Church Documents
References from the Catechism
Practicing Faithful Citizenship
Prayer for the Poor

Scriptural Foundations

All members of society and society as a whole have a special obligation to poor and vulnerable persons. God’s covenant includes a special concern for these persons.

Luke 4:16-21 (Jesus mission to the poor/outcast)
http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/luke/luke4.htm

Luke 14:12-14 (reach out to the poor/vulnerable)
http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/luke/luke14.htm

SOURCES: http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/ & Leader’s Guide to Sharing Catholic Social Teaching, USCCB. 2001.

Quotes from Official Church Documents

“In protecting the rights of private individuals…special consideration must be given to the weak and the poor. For the nation, as it were, of the rich, is guarded by its own defenses and is in less need of governmental protection…”
-Pope Leo XIII, On the Condition of Workers (Rerum Novarum), no 54

The prime purpose of this special commitment to the poor is to enable them to become active participants in the life of society. It is to enable all persons to share in and contribute to the common good. The ‘option for the poor,’ therefore, is not an adversarial slogan that pits one group or class against another. Rather it states that the deprivation and powerlessness of the poor wounds the whole community. The extent of their suffering is a measure of how far we are from being a true community of persons. These wounds will be healed only by greater solidarity with the poor and among the poor themselves,”
-National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Economic Justice for All, no. 88

From: & Leader’s Guide to Sharing Catholic Social Teaching, USCCB. 2001.

For further reading:
http://salt.claretianpubs.org/cstline/tline.html (condensed)
http://www.osjspm.org/cst/doclist.htm (entire document)

References from the Catechism

2444 - "The Church's love for the poor . . . is a part of her constant tradition." This love is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, of the poverty of Jesus, and of his concern for the poor.235 Love for the poor is even one of the motives for the duty of working so as to "be able to give to those in need."236 It extends not only to material poverty but also to the many forms of cultural and religious poverty.237

2446 - St. John Chrysostom vigorously recalls this: "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs.239 The demands of justice must be satisfied first of all; that which is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity":240
When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/

Practicing Faithful Citizenship

A Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty:
Action Steps for Individuals and Families
http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/globalpoverty/revised%20action%20steps%20individuals%20families.pdf

CCHD Break/Brake the Cycle of Poverty – Take Action Pledge
http://www.usccb.org/cchd/brakethecycle/pov_usa/spotlight/pledge.html

…to end Poverty in America
http://www.usccb.org/cchd/povertyusa/involved.shtml

CRS & USCCB Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty Home Page
http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/globalpoverty/

The Catholic Campaign for Immigration Reform
http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/

Seeking Justice, Ending Hunger – Bread for the World
www.bread.org

Catholic Relief Services - Fair Trade
http://www.crsfairtrade.org/index.cfm

Prayer for the Poor*

God of Justice
open our eyes
to see you in the face of the poor.
Open our ears
to hear you in the cries of the exploited
Open our mouths
to defend you in the public squares
as well as in private deeds
Remind us that what we do
to the least ones,
we do to you.
Amen.

*From Being Neighbor: The Catechism and Social Justice, USCCB, April, 1998

Catholic Charities of Central Texas