Sunday, May 17, 2009

What is the Church's stand on social justice

One of the statements that seems to be said by his apologists every time the present president of the United States is criticized for his stand on life issues (abortion, fetal stem cell research, etc.) is that "at least he is with the Church on social justice issues."
Is this a fact? Does the policies which are verbally supported and actually attempted by this president reflect the social justice teachings of the Catholic Church?
How would one know? The Church's position on social justice issues is very clearly explained in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. The Principles of Church's Social Doctrine are covered in detail in Chapter 4. They are
  1. The Principle of the Common Good
  2. The Universal Destination of Goods
  3. The Principle of Subsidiarity
  4. Participation
  5. The Principle of Solidarity
  6. The Fundamental Values of Social Life
In so far as this president and his administration supports these principles it supports Catholic social teaching. As far as it supports agendas at odds with these values it does not.

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