As Catholics we no doubt have heard the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” However, is that all there is to Catholic Social Teaching? A relatively new organization, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG), seeks to educate Catholics about the breadth of Catholic Social Teaching and especially how it applies in today’s world. This is timely, indeed, during a year which includes a presidential election as well as many other hot topic issues in the political arena.
As the CACG website explains, “Catholic Social Teaching refers to a set of Church doctrines and official documents that articulate the social message of the Gospel and lay a framework for how Catholics should conduct their lives in politics, economics and culture. Catholic Social Teaching is central to the Christian vision of a society in which all human beings – and especially the poor – have equal opportunity to reach their full potential.”
The website includes quotes from Church teaching highlighting our rich tradition and beliefs. There are also issue papers on important topics today, including economics, the environment, immigration, and war and peace/just war.
If we take our faith seriously, it is easy to understand how far-reaching the results of our actions could be. As the organization explains in its pledge, “Building a culture of the common good requires us to balance our own self-interest with a commitment to greater common interest as well. It is the understanding that we are a community together, and that when one person suffers, we all suffer.” Imagine what our world would be like if we all took this to heart.
