Faithful Citizenship: The basis of “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship”
Catholic Spirit, January 2008, Good News
By Barbara Budde
Guest Columnist
Recently, the U.S. bishops reissued their statement on faithful citizenship (see page 11 for details); entitled “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.” The document focuses on conscience formation as well as the call to political participation. It is a rich and nuanced piece that is worth reading and is available on line at www.usccb.org/faithfulcitizenship/FCStatement.pdf. I encourage everyone to read it and to understand that it flows from a whole body of teaching known as the social doctrine of the church.
A few years ago the Vatican published a substantial book called “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.” It is impossible to summarize the more than 400 pages in these few paragraphs, but there are important principles from the compendium that form the backdrop of the teachings found in the Faithful Citizenship document.
Right Relationships. God’s vision and hope for the world is based on everything and everyone living in right relationship. God is the creator and sustainer of all that is and we are all completely dependent on God. Through grace we are called to be in relationship with God and therefore with each other. Every person has dignity because all are created in God’s image. The world and everything that exists has been given for humanity to share so every person can live in their fullest dignity. Sin breaks our right relationships with God and with each other. But through God’s grace, we can turn from sin and return to God and to living in right relationship as God desires.
Communion of Persons. Through the mystery of the incarnation and the revelation of Jesus, we understand the nature of God as “Communio,” one God in a trinity of three persons. The nature of God is a community of love. We are made in that image and called to live with everyone on this earth in a community of love. This implies radical equality between men and women and among different races and nationalities. All are equal in God’s eyes and all are loved equally by God. We are called to live in a human family that reflects the love that God has for us and to live out that love in practical ways.
The Right to Life and the Common Good. We are called therefore to seek the good of every human being, not just our own individual preferences or individual good. When one suffers, we all suffer. When any life is discarded or ignored, every life is diminished.
The center of our concern is the life and dignity of every person. We care that everyone has all that they need for life from the moment of conception until natural death. This presumes first and foremost the right to life, and all that supports and sustains a dignified life: food, clothing, shelter, health care, education and work. In paragraph 2459 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church we read, “Man is himself the author, center and goal of all economic and social life. The decisive point of the social question is that good created by God for everyone should in fact reach everyone in accordance with justice and with the help of charity.”
Social Justice. Social justice exists when the above are lived. This will require conversion of heart and life. Pope Benedict XVI reminds us in his encyclical “God is Love,” that justice always demands sacrifice.
Throughout the months to come, visit the Faithful Citizenship Web site of the diocese at www.ccctx.org/fc.php to learn more about Catholic social teachings and ways to practice Faithful Citizenship. God’s vision for humanity is possible and we are charged by our baptism to work with God’s help to make it a reality.