What Would a Catholic Society Look Like?

My husband and I were talking about politics the other night and pondering what a “Catholic” society would look like because I frequently lament that neither Republican nor Democrat politics reflect the breadth of Catholic teaching. I often like neither candidate that runs for President, Governor, or House and Senate and my husband says “You’re not Republican, you’re not Democrat… you’re CATHOLIC!”

Why? The right has a tendency to reduce Catholicism to religious freedom and moral theology. The left has a tendency to reduce Catholicism to social justice and equal rights. A true Catholic society would be one that embraces both through the lens of Jesus’ teachings. Both are important!

I think today’s Gospel paints part of that picture. A Catholic society would be one in which all of us gave from our livelihoods to help another. It would be a society in which everyone is poor in spirit and strives for detachment from material things for the greater good of those who have less or nothing. It would be much like how Paul writes of the early Church. There would be far less discrepancy in power, status, and riches. And like the first reading suggests, those who give have nothing to fear losing because God provides for all their needs. Catholics do not believe in the "Prosperity Gospel," rather, we believe that all we are given is gift and meant to be shared especially with those who don't have their basic needs met. In return, God will provide for us.

At the same time, it would also see and embrace each human’s goodness and contribution, even a poor widow’s like we see Jesus do in today’s Gospel. It would see human dignity from conception to natural death. It would strive for a morality that serves the good of each human being whether it be a poor widow, an unborn baby, a prisoner, an outsider or immigrant, a disabled person, or an elderly person – just like Jesus did. It would recognize that each human being created by God is put here for a purpose and contribution. It wouldn’t distinguish between who has “greater” rights.

You really can’t have one without the other and so often we find ourselves in a political predicament because we are striving for one without the other. On one side, we undermine justice and we don’t care enough about the outsider and care of creation. On another side, we undermine dignity of life and morality - the basic goodness of every human life conceived, and put our rights for reproductive freedom (i.e. having sex and not accepting the consequences of that decision) above that. As a result, we find ourselves in a continually imperfect society that doesn’t please everyone and that is unjust to certain groups of people - whether the unborn, the poor, the elderly, the immigrant, etc.

If we don’t see the dignity of each human being, how will we serve their needs and work for justice? Likewise, any work to serve others needs and work for justice without the lens of human dignity and morality falls short of its ultimate good.

The Scripture readings for today weren't meant to be a politics lesson, but I think it does show us Jesus’ heart and how he wants us to live our society. Maybe the first step is spending time reflecting on today’s Gospel and what it shows us about the society that Jesus wants us to create: one that sees the goodness and dignity of marginalized, the poor, and those without status, and one that gives more generously of our livelihoods for the benefit of all.

Let's keep working and striving to create a society that reflects Jesus' teachings and those of our Catholic faith.