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What is Social Justice?
What is Social Justice?
Social justice is rooted in our love of God and love of neighbor. Our response to God's love leads us to love our neighbor and actively address their needs. In his encyclical Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis provided a beautiful definition of social justice:
"The world exists for everyone, because all of us were born with the same dignity. Differences of color, religion, talent, place of birth or residence, and so many others, cannot be used to justify the privileges of some over the rights of all. As a community, we have an obligation to ensure that every person lives with dignity and has sufficient opportunities for his or her integral development."
What is Social Sustice Ministry?
What is Social Sustice Ministry?
Effective social justice ministry is comprised of three major components or pillars. Formation, charitable works and social action.
Formation
Formation
Formation is the first pillar because without understanding, our actions may be misguided or unhelpful. There are two types of formation.
Faith Formation
Faith formation allows us to understand the Church’s teaching more fully and build on our relationship with God. This helps us discern that our actions are rooted in faith. The social justice ministry sponsors book groups as part of our faith formation efforts.
Education on Social Issues
The social justice ministry strives to bring articles and presentations from experts who work directly with those impacted by a particular social issue. That way a more in depth understanding can be reached regarding how people are suffering and why. This also helps to direct our actions. The ministry sponsors talks by organizations such as The International Institute of New England and Loaves and Fishes, to build understanding on issues related to our focus areas.
Charitable Works
Charitable Works
Charitable works are short term actions that meet the immediate needs of someone who is suffering. Examples are material assistance such as food or clothing. It’s important though that we first understand the “how” people are suffering from a particular social issue before providing this assistance.
Social Action
Social Action
Social Action is more long term where we work to change the social structures that keep people in a place of suffering. Here we need to have formation that helps us understand the “why” people are suffering to guide our work for change. Social action is not equivalent to or limited to protesting. It does however require participating in the political process. There is no other way to change the policies that keep people in their place of suffering. In addition to participating in the political process we can take social action by thinking about the way we live, how and what we consume - how we are contributing to social structures or a culture that causes suffering for others and then making some changes. We have the power to invoke change especially if we do these actions in community together.
The USCCB calls charitable works and social action the Two Feet of Love in Action because both are necessary to meet our call to love our neighbor.
As Pope Leo XIV writes in Dilexi te:
"We need to be increasingly committed to resolving the structural causes of poverty…. Welfare projects, which meet certain urgent needs, should be considered merely provisional responses."
Collaboration
Collaboration
The Social Justice Ministry believes in the importance of collaboration with other organizations, such as:
Other parish ministries
Parish religious education
Interfaith communities
Third party organizations such as those shown below:
"Our mission is to provide nutritious food, in an atmosphere of kindness and respect."
"Fighting food insecurity one family at at time."
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