Kingdom Solidarity

At a time of dramatic global changes and challenges, Catholics in the United States face special responsibilities and opportunities. We are members of a universal Church that transcends national boundaries and calls us to live in solidarity and justice with the peoples of the world. We are also citizens of a powerful democracy with enormous influence beyond our borders. As Catholics and Americans we are uniquely called to global solidarity.

One of God’s greatest gifts is the universal character of the Church, blessing and calling us to live in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in faith. In many ways our community of faith practices solidarity every day. Missionaries preach the Gospel and celebrate the Eucharist. Catholic relief workers feed the hungry and promote development. Our prayers, donations, and volunteers assist the Church in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. The United States Catholic Conference and other Catholic groups defend human life and human rights, promote global justice, and pursue peace.

However, these international institutions, programs, and collections have not yet awakened a true sense of solidarity among many Catholics in the United States. The international commitment of the Church in the United States is not all it can and should be. Our parishes often act as islands of local religious activity rather than as parts of the mystical body of Christ. At the parish level, where the Church lives, we need to integrate more fully the international dimensions of Catholic discipleship within a truly universal Church.

PRINCIPLES OF SOLIDARITY:

· Anchoring Solidarity · Teaching Solidarity          · Living Solidarity      
· Investing in Solidarity       · Practicing Solidarity  · Promoting Solidarity

I. Anchoring Solidarity: Prayer, Worship, and Preaching
”One of the most important ways to focus on the Catholic call to solidarity is through prayer and worship. In our parishes, the Eucharist represents a central setting for discovering and expressing solidarity. Gathered around the altar, we are reminded of our connection to all of God’s people through the mystical body of Christ. The Eucharist makes present the sacrifice of Calvary in which Christ’s blood is shed for the redemption of the world. Our call to solidarity has its roots in this mystery and in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which we proclaim every time we gather for Eucharist.”

II. Teaching Solidarity: Education and Formation
”Education and formation are key arenas for teaching global solidarity. We strongly support Catholic educators who consistently integrate international concerns into their curricula and programs such as geography, history, and science classes, as well as religious education and formation. Many Catholic educators are finding creative ways to reflect and act on the call to global solidarity, from principals and teachers who encourage their students to participate in Lenten relief programs to adult educators who host speakers on missions or international issues.”

III. Living Solidarity: Work, Family, Citizenship
”Many choices about international concerns are made in economic and public life. American corporations shape the world as much as government action. Business, union, and government leaders make decisions every day that enhance or undermine human life and dignity around the world. How believers invest and consume—and the choices we make as voters and citizens—can shape a world of greater or lesser justice, more or less peace.”

IV. Investing in Solidarity: Stewardship” Catholics in the United States have given many millions of dollars to reach out to brothers and sisters in other parts of the world. In three decades, Catholics in our country have contributed more than $80 million through our Latin America collection alone. Through the annual Propagation of the Faith collection, we support missionaries who share the faith in every part of the world. Through parish collections and other activities, Catholic Relief Services provides not only emergency food to the hungry but also long-term support for development, health care, and sustainable agriculture in 2,000 projects around the world. In our collection for Central and Eastern Europe, Catholics in the United States help to rebuild churches and communities torn apart by years of repression. This is an impressive record of generosity.”

V. Practicing Solidarity: Outreach and Charity
”Parishes are called to help those who suffer in our own communities and in situations of poverty and pain around the world. Turning the human struggle we see on the nightly news into effective parish outreach on a global level demands initiative and creativity. It most often starts with building relationships, sometimes with members of the parish who are from countries where there is war, famine, and human suffering. Or the relationship may begin with our own mission efforts, Catholic Relief Services, or a diocesan resettlement office.”

VI. Promoting Solidarity: Advocacy and Political Responsibility
”True parish commitment to global solidarity will not stop with financial aid or compassionate service efforts. Pursuing justice is at the core of the call to solidarity. Parishes can promote a broader, truly universal sense of political responsibility by calling Catholics to be informed and involved in international peace and justice issues, responding to the leadership of the Holy Father. Parishes have special opportunities to develop leadership, to promote citizenship, and to provide forums for discussion and action on global issues. Legislative networks and state Catholic conferences are effective tools for helping believers act on the international dimensions of our faith.” [Excerpts from: Called to Global Solidarity: International Challenges for U.S. Parishes, online,
http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/international/globalsolidarity.shtml, 1997]

The Visible World

There is a solidarity among all creatures arising from the fact that all have the same Creator and are all ordered to his glory:

May you be praised, O Lord,
in all your creatures, especially brother sun,
by whom you give us light for the day;
he is beautiful, radiating great splendour,
and offering us a symbol of you, the Most High. . .

May you be praised, my Lord,
for sister water, who is very useful and humble,
precious and chaste. . .

May you be praised, my Lord,
for sister earth, our mother,
who bears and feeds us,
and produces the variety of fruits
and dappled flowers and grasses. . .

Praise and bless my Lord,
give thanks and serve him in all humility.
[St Francis of Assisi, canticle of the Creatures] 344

In the Image of God

"This law of human solidarity and charity", [Pius XII, Summi Pontificatus 3] without excluding the rich variety of persons, cultures and peoples, assures us that all men are truly brethren. 361

For our sake God made him to be sin

Jesus did not experience reprobation as if he himself had sinned. [Jn 8:46] But in the redeeming love that always united him to the Father, he assumed us in the state of our waywardness of sin, to the point that he could say in our name from the cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" [Mk 15:34; Ps 22:2; Jn 8:29] Having thus established him in solidarity with us sinners, God "did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all", so that we might be "reconciled to God by the death of his Son". [Rom 8:32, 5:10] 603

Communion in Spiritual Goods

Communion in charity. In the sanctorum communio, "None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself." [Rom 14:7] "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." [1 Cor 12:26-27] "Charity does not insist on its own way." [1 Cor 13:5; 10:24] In this solidarity with all men, living or dead, which is founded on the communion of saints, the least of our acts done in charity redounds to the profit of all. Every sin harms this communion. 953

Sin is an act contrary to reason. It wounds man's nature and injures human solidarity. 1872

The Common Good

The common good requires the social well-being and development of the group itself. Development is the epitome of all social duties. Certainly, it is the proper function of authority to arbitrate, in the name of the common good, between various particular interests; but it should make accessible to each what is needed to lead a truly human life: food, clothing, health, work, education and culture, suitable information, the right to establish a family, and so on. [Gaudium et Spes 26, 2] 1908

Human interdependence is increasing and gradually spreading throughout the world. The unity of the human family, embracing people who enjoy equal natural dignity, implies a universal common good. This good calls for an organization of the community of nations able to "provide for the different needs of men; this will involve the sphere of social life to which belong questions of food, hygiene, education, . . . and certain situations arising here and there, as for example . . . alleviating the miseries of refugees dispersed throughout the world, and assisting migrants and their families." [GS 84, 2] 1911

Responsibility and Participation

Participation is achieved first of all by taking charge of the areas for which one assumes personal responsibility: by the care taken for the education of his family, by conscientious work, and so forth, man participates in the good of others and of society. [Centesimus Annus 43] 1914

Human Solidarity

The principle of solidarity, also articulated in terms of "friendship" or "social charity," is a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood. [John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 38-40; CA 10]
An error, "today abundantly widespread, is disregard for the law of human solidarity and charity, dictated and imposed both by our common origin and by the equality in rational nature of all men, whatever nation they belong to. This law is sealed by the sacrifice of redemption offered by Jesus Christ on the altar of the Cross to his heavenly Father, on behalf of sinful humanity." [Pius XII, SP AAS 31, 423ff] 1939

Solidarity is manifested in the first place by the distribution of goods and remuneration for work. It also presupposes the effort for a more just social order where tensions are better able to be reduced and conflicts more readily settled by negotiation. 1940

Socio-economic problems can be resolved only with the help of all the forms of solidarity: solidarity of the poor among themselves, between rich and poor, of workers among themselves, between employers and employees in a business, solidarity among nations and peoples. International solidarity is a requirement of the moral order; world peace depends in part upon this. 1941

The virtue of solidarity goes beyond material goods. In spreading the spiritual goods of the faith, the Church has promoted, and often opened new paths for, the development of temporal goods as well. And so throughout the centuries has the Lord's saying been verified: "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well": [Mt 6:33]
For two thousand years this sentiment has lived and endured in the soul of the Church, impelling souls then and now to the heroic charity of monastic farmers, liberators of slaves, healers of the sick, and messengers of faith, civilization, and science to all generations and all peoples for the sake of creating the social conditions capable of offering to everyone possible a life worthy of man and of a Christian. [Pius XII, Discourse, June 1, 1941] 1942

Solidarity is an eminently Christian virtue. It practices the sharing of spiritual goods even more than material ones. 1948

The home is the natural environment for initiating a human being into solidarity and communal responsibilities. Parents should teach children to avoid the compromising and degrading influences which threaten human societies. 2224

The duties of citizens

It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. The love and service of one's country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community. 2239

Those whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect. Sick or handicapped persons should be helped to lead lives as normal as possible.2276

Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable. 2277

Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God. 2281

It is an illusion to claim moral neutrality in scientific research and its applications. On the other hand, guiding principles cannot be inferred from simple technical efficiency, or from the usefulness accruing to some at the expense of others or, even worse, from prevailing ideologies. Science and technology by their very nature require unconditional respect for fundamental moral criteria. They must be at the service of the human person, of his inalienable rights, of his true and integral good, in conformity with the plan and the will of God. 2294

Organ transplants are in conformity with the moral law if the physical and psychological dangers and risks to the donor are proportionate to the good that is sought for the recipient. Organ donation after death is a noble and meritorious act and is to be encouraged as an expression of generous solidarity. It is not morally acceptable if the donor or his proxy has not given explicit consent. Moreover, it is not morally admissible directly to bring about the disabling mutilation or death of a human being, even in order to delay the death of other persons. 2296

In the beginning God entrusted the earth and its resources to the common stewardship of mankind to take care of them, master them by labor, and enjoy their fruits. [Gen 1:26-29] The goods of creation are destined for the whole human race. However, the earth is divided up among men to assure the security of their lives, endangered by poverty and threatened by violence. The appropriation of property is legitimate for guaranteeing the freedom and dignity of persons and for helping each of them to meet his basic needs and the needs of those in his charge. It should allow for a natural solidarity to develop between men. 2402

In economic matters, respect for human dignity requires the practice of the virtue of temperance, so as to moderate attachment to this world's goods; the practice of the virtue of justice, to preserve our neighbor's rights and render him what is his due; and the practice of solidarity, in accordance with the golden rule and in keeping with the generosity of the Lord, who "though he was rich, yet for your sake . . . became poor so that by his poverty, you might become rich." [2 Cor 8:9] 2407

Various causes of a religious, political, economic, and financial nature today give "the social question a worldwide dimension." [Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 9] There must be solidarity among nations which are already politically interdependent. It is even more essential when it is a question of dismantling the "perverse mechanisms" that impede the development of the less advanced countries. [SRS 17; 45] In place of abusive if not usurious financial systems, iniquitous commercial relations among nations, and the arms race, there must be substituted a common effort to mobilize resources toward objectives of moral, cultural, and economic development, "redefining the priorities and hierarchies of values." [CA 28; 35] 2438

Rich nations have a grave moral responsibility toward those which are unable to ensure the means of their development by themselves or have been prevented from doing so by tragic historical events. It is a duty in solidarity and charity; it is also an obligation in justice if the prosperity of the rich nations has come from resources that have not been paid for fairly. 2439

The information provided by the media is at the service of the common good. [Inter Mirifica 11] Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, justice, and solidarity:
The proper exercise of this right demands that the content of the communication be true and - within the limits set by justice and charity - complete. Further, it should be communicated honestly and properly. This means that in the gathering and in the publication of news, the moral law and the legitimate rights and dignity of man should be upheld. [IM 5, 2] 2494

"It is necessary that all members of society meet the demands of justice and charity in this domain. They should help, through the means of social communication, in the formation and diffusion of sound public opinion." [IM 8] Solidarity is a consequence of genuine and right communication and the free circulation of ideas that further knowledge and respect for others. 2495

Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity. 2521

The drama of hunger in the world calls Christians who pray sincerely to exercise responsibility toward their brethren, both in their personal behavior and in their solidarity with the human family. This petition of the Lord's Prayer cannot be isolated from the parables of the poor man Lazarus and of the Last Judgment. [Lk 16:19-31; Mt 25:31-46] 2831

As leaven in the dough, the newness of the kingdom should make the earth "rise" by the Spirit of Christ. [Apostolicam Actuositatem 5] This must be shown by the establishment of justice in personal and social, economic and international relations, without ever forgetting that there are no just structures without people who want to be just. 2832
“Longing for food,
many are hungry.
Longing for water,
many still thirst . . .”

“Longing for shelter,
many are homeless.
Longing for warmth,
many are cold.
Make us your building,
sheltering others,
walls made of living stone.”

“Christ, be our light!
Shine in our hearts.
Shine through
the darkness.
Christ, be our light!
Shine in your Church
gathered today.”

- - Christ, Be Our Light
By Bernadette Farrell

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