WHAT CAN OUR SOCIAL CONCERNS COMMITTEE DO?
Our parish communities are measured by how they serve “the least of these” in our parish and beyond its boundaries – the hungry, the homeless, the sick, those in prison, the stranger.”
-U.S. Catholic Bishops, Communities of Salt and Light
There are many needs of those living within our parish communities. Parish Social Concerns Committees and individuals often feel so overwhelmed, that often they don’t know where to begin as they strive to carry out parish social ministry.
Listed below are some ideas that Committees and individuals may consider as ways to accomplish parish social ministry and social justice.
Work of Social Ministry Committees
Respect Life
• all life is precious
• caring for women and their families who are in crisis pregnancy situations is imperative
• support and develop healthy family life
• respond to domestic violence
• care for persons who are dying
• changing attitudes regarding abortion
• lobbying to protect unborn persons and those who are on death row
• special ministries for persons with developmental disabilities
Direct Service
• training teenagers to visit elderly shut-ins or prepare food for soup kitchens
• host the outreach of the Catholic Charities’ Immigrant and Refugee Program
• link parish elderly with Senior Services
• assist at homeless shelters
• volunteer in schools (e.g. literacy programs, tutoring, etc.)
• volunteer with Habitat for Humanity
• visit prisoners
• assist persons recovering from alcohol, drugs, or other addictions
• in the parish bulletin, include “Opportunity of the Week” listing the project and contact information
• provide bereavement ministry to those who grieve
Advocacy
• guiding parishioners in efforts to shape public policy via education and hands-on projects
• assist teenagers as they pursue their endeavors to address that which is detrimental to society
• establish a legislative network to write letters, make phone calls, send e-mails, and to communicate to public officials at all levels of government
Community Organizing
• join a congregation-based community organization
• learn more about the Catholic Campaign for Human Development
Restorative Justice Ministry
• reach out to victims of crime
• insure that prisoners have an opportunity for conversion
• re-orient and welcome prisoners back into the community once they are released
• care for the families of those who have been incarcerated
Solidarity
• coordinating the Rice Bowl Collection
• find a parish within Diocese or in the world to “twin” with
Parish Health Ministry
• parish nurse program
• free health screenings
Environmental Justice
• becoming aware of environmental threats
• help to improve the environment through various means of conservation
• assisting farmers and the farming community in their efforts to maintain their role in the production of sustainable agriculture
*Special thanks to Rich Fowler and the Diocese of Stockton, CA for granting permission to use the information listed on this page.
Successful Catholic Social Ministry is always rooted in Catholic Social Teaching and Liturgy. Creating a successful Social Concerns Committee will require formation, education, commitment, and prayer. Committees must be prepared to move from discussion and planning to effective implementation of ministerial endeavors.
Catholic Social Teaching Major Themes
Life and Dignity of the Human Person
- The human person is central, the clearest reflection of
- God among us.
- Each person possesses a basic dignity that comes from God, not from any human quality or accomplishment.
- The test of every human institution or policy is whether it enhances or threatens human life and human dignity.
Call to Family, Community, and Participation
• No community is more central than the family; it is the basic cell of society. It is where we learn and act on our values. What happens in the family is at the basis of a truly human life.
• We have the right and responsibility to participate in and contribute to the broader communities in society. The state and other institutions of political and economic life, with both their limitations and obligations, are instruments to protect the life, dignity, and rights of the human person. Catholic social teaching does offer clear guidance on the role of government. When basic human needs are not being met by private initiative, then people must work through their government, at appropriate levels, to meet those needs.
• A central test of political, legal, and economic institutions is what they do to people, what they do for people, and how people participate in them.
Rights and Responsibilities of the Human Person
- Flowing from our God-given dignity, each person has basic rights and responsibilities.
- These include: the rights to freedom of conscience and religious liberty, to raise a family, to immigrate, to live free from unfair discrimination, and to have a share of earthly goods sufficient for oneself and one’s family. People have a fundamental right to life and those things that make life truly human: food, clothing, housing, healthcare, education, security, social services, and employment.
- Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities – to one another, to our families, and to the larger society – to respect the rights of others and work for the common good.
- Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
- Poor and vulnerable people have a special place in Catholic social teaching. A basic moral test of a society is how its most vulnerable members are faring.
- Our tradition calls us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first (Mt. 25: 31-46).
- We must seek creative ways to expand the emphasis of our nation’s founders on the individual rights and freedom by extending democratic ideals to economic life and thus ensure that the basic requirements for life with dignity are accessible to all.
The Dignity of Work & the Rights of Workers
- Work is more than earning a living. It is an expression of our dignity and a form of continuing participation in God’s creation.
- People have a right to decent and productive work, to decent and fair wages, to private property and economic initiative.
- Traditionally, workers have the strong support of the church in forming and joining unions and worker associations of their choosing in the exercise of their dignity and rights.
Solidarity
- We are one human family, whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences.
- We are brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. In a limited world, our responsibilities to one another cross national and other boundaries.
- Solidarity is the contemporary expression of the traditional Catholic image of the Mystical Body. “Loving our neighbor” has global dimensions in an interdependent world.
Care for God’s Creation
- Called to be co-creators with God and to have “dominion” over the earth, we are called to be good stewards of what God has entrusted to us.
- It is a requirement of our faith that we protect creation and each other from the harm that we can bring.
Taken from Parish Social Ministry: Strategies for Success by Tom Ulrich © 2001.
Permission granted by Ave Maria Press Inc. www.avemariapress.com