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Peace and Social Justice Page A Spirituality of Justice and Peacemaking What Is Christian Social Justice? The difference between charity and justice is illustrated by a well-known story about a town that was just around the bend of a big river. One day bodies of children began floating down the river past the town from somewhere upstream. The townspeople recovered the bodies, burying the dead, treating the ill and injured, and finding homes for the healthy. This continued each day, the number of bodies floating downstream steadily growing, and the town continually increased its efforts to deal with the greater numbers. It never occurred to anyone in the town, however, to go upstream to the source and find out why these bodies were being placed into the river and what could be done to stop it. The townsfolk were filled with the Christian virtue of charity – helping individuals in need. But they had no sense of Christian justice – getting at the root causes of the problems that led to these needs. Christian social justice is rooted in the concept that society should always act for the common good. It seeks to understand the attitudes that lead to inequities among different groups of people and to change the way the world is organized so as to make a level playing field for everyone. Social justice builds on the Christian message of the dignity of God’s creation and of all human life, and thus tries to change economic, societal, environmental, and political conditions so that each individual is valued, and thus treated, equally. It is at the core of Jesus’ teachings. Awareness of injustice and reflection on it in light of the Gospel must precede action. To that end, we provide below some links to short monthly discussions of various peace and social justice issues. Each is grounded in Scripture, and many are based on papal and U.S. bishops’ teachings. Along with each discussion are either questions for you to reflect upon or suggestions for actions that you might take in your own life to better live Jesus’ Gospel message. The Our Lady of Grace Peace and Social Justice Committee meets once each month on Wednesday evenings at 7:45 PM. Please contact the parish office if you would like more information. A Catholic Perspective on Capital Punishment (Requires Adobe Reader -- click button on bottom left to download) A CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE ON IMMIGRATION REFORM (Requires Adobe Reader -- click button on bottom left to download) Brothers And Sisters To Us -- Racism In Our Community (Requires Adobe Reader -- click button on bottom left to download) Prepare for Peace this Christmas (Requires Adobe Reader -- click button on bottom left to download) |
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