JD Vance: Mature Catholics have a Responsibility to Guide Him
Matthew 25
Photo by coco tafoya on Unsplash
Matthew 25 tells us clearly that our eternal reward or damnation hinges on our treatment of our fellow human beings.
In an 11/13/22 article at Catholic Stand, I looked at the twelve chapters and conclusion of the Vatican's Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, which "supports our focusing on promoting the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of the transmission of human love."
We do not have the "luxury" of choosing against those basic human goods, even when benefits are promised in return.
Christ told us "the poor you will always have with you." We need moral ways to serve our brothers and sisters in need.
it might come as a surprise to some that Servant of God Dorothy Day cautioned against government assistance - often coming with immoral strings attached - favoring local community action.
God’s Plan of Love for Humanity
God created human beings in His own image! Through His natural law and divine revelation, we can know His unimaginable love and desire that we live with Him forever in perfect happiness. He gives us a certain path to know, honor, and thank Him in the Ten Commandments, and all of salvation history reaches its conclusion in Jesus Christ. How we live is our response to our infinitely loving God.
The Church’s Mission and Social Doctrine
Via her social teaching, the Church proclaims the Good News and tries to make it permeate our lives.
The Human Person and Human Rights
Each and every human being from the very first moment of fertilization/conception is an image of God and must be treated as such.
Principles of the Church’s Social Doctrine
These are the principles of human dignity, the common good, solidarity, and subsidiarity [which] teach us that authority lies first and foremost at the smallest/lowest level of the social hierarchy. With regard to children, the first level of authority lies with the parents. So a higher level of authority, the state, must have an overwhelming reason for stepping into the relationships between parents and their children.
Way back in the Garden of Eden, God invented the greatest social program for His people – the family! Yet in disregarding the sanctity of human life, numerous people disregard the sanctity of His plan for the transmission of human life. A man and woman united in marriage form a family, the very basis of society, and are entrusted to cooperate in God’s continuing work of creation. Jesus raised marriage to a sacrament. (cf, From Pope Leo’s Arcanum to 2013)
Human work allows us to benefit from the goodness of God’s Creation. The dignity of human workers must absolutely be respected....
Economic life is to be at the service of human beings, addressing those glaring gaps in access to food, drinkable water, housing, security, self-determination, and independence.
Our respect for human dignity calls us to protect and defend the basic human rights of all people.
Similar to co-existence among people, co-existence among nations must be based on truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. We are called to respect the equal dignity of all, to reject war, to cooperate in pursuing the common good, to honor commitments, and to adhere to the rule of law to reduce tensions.
Human beings are the pinnacle of God’s creations on earth and must be treated that way. As God’s gifts to us, we are called to be respectful towards and appreciative of all His earthly creations and to use them for the benefit of all. For example, we must acknowledge that access to drinkable water is a basic human right.
We are called to promote peace. The Catechism reminds us that “the strict conditions for legitimate defense [emphasis added] by military force require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:
- the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
- all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
- there must be serious prospects of success;
- the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modem means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 2309)
While it is clear that our world falls short of announcing God’s glory and loving plan for each of us, we are called to put words into action. As per Centesimus Annus, the encyclical of Pope St. John Paul II (1991): “As far as the Church is concerned, the social message of the Gospel must not be considered a theory, but above all else a basis and a motivation for action.”
In the Compendium, we find supports to continue focusing on promoting the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of the transmission of human love: “In the present cultural context, there is a particularly urgent need to defend marriage and the family, which can be adequately met only if one is convinced of the unique and singular value of these two realities for an authentic development of human society” (Pope St. John Paul II, 1981).
As to be expected, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching also "supports our focusing on promoting the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of the transmission of human love."
Life and Dignity of the Human Person
The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society....
Call to Family, Community, and Participation
....Marriage and the family are the central social institutions that must be supported and strengthened, not undermined....
Rights and Responsibilities
....every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency....
Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
....our tradition recalls the story of the Last Judgment (Mt 25:31-46) and instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first.
The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
The economy must serve people, not the other way around....
Solidarity
We are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences....
Care for God's Creation
We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation....
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About the Author
Joe Tevington is a proudly orthodox Catholic, a husband since 1986, a dad to two adult children, a grandpa to two, and a civil service retiree. He is a sign language fluent certified rehabilitation counselor with graduate degrees in deafness rehabilitation, religious studies/moral theology, & Christian counseling psychology, as well as a catechetical diploma and certificates in benefits planning and Catholic social ministry. He deeply appreciates Catholic teaching on the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of the transmission of human life, as well as how they are to inform us in our apostolates and ministries.
On much lighter notes, he fancies himself to be the foremost authority on his native Brooklyn, when it comes to architecture, cinema, geography, history, Italian food, stick ball, stoop ball, or wiffle ball.
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