Catholic Social Teaching:
Do you know it, use it, season it and live it?
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Injustices in society contribute to the black community's disproportionately high rates of poverty, abortion, HIV-AIDS, persons without health care, incarceration, single-parent homes, and unemployment.
Yet for many Black Catholics who have integrated into the larger society with high levels of education and a comfortable standard of living, social injustice may seem distant. As we make our way into the dominant culture, it is all too easy to adopt its individualistic attitude that says I am not my brother's keeper.
As Black Catholics, we know Christ called us to a different attitude.
Pope John Paul II taught that the evangelical mission of the Church is wholly tied up with its social mission; that Eucharist requires us to be present to the Lord Jesus in each one of our neighbors; that we are to seek the common good, by fighting all attacks on the dignity of any human person, starting with attacks on life itself.
Our Catholic faith provides both guidance, and a mandate, to work for social justice today. Yet many Catholics are unfamiliar with this part of our faith.
In the words of the National Black Catholic Congress' Declaration of Principles: "Black Catholics, as heirs of a rich faith-based tradition of concerns for justice, must become more knowledgeable about the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and the use of this teaching to evaluate their economic, political and social decisions and the policies of their communities."
To further this principle, the National Black Catholic Congress recently formed a Social Justice Commission to help share the beautiful teaching of the Church on societal issues. Our commission met for the first time at the NBCC Leadership Convocation in Baltimore, in early May, along with leadership commissions for the other seven NBCC core principles.
Guided by Professor Chris Easley RODC, of Governor's State University, we used a technique called "Appreciative Inquiry," which businesses, religious organizations, and non-profits around the world are using to develop positive, innovative, successful organizations. It is so easy to focus on the problems in society; the appreciative approach focuses not on solving problems but rather on building upon strengths. (It is an approach which nicely complements the Christian virtue of hope in a better future, and the call to build the Kingdom of God on Earth.)
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