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Social Teaching ~ Core Principles
The Works of Mercy Ministry follows several core principles. These are:
- The Life & Dignity of the Human Person
All people are sacred, the clearest reflection of God among us. Their dignity is not defined by race, economic status, or abilities. A Christian must emphasize people over things, being over having. The test of every institution or policy is whether it enhances or threatens human life and dignity.
- Family, Community and the Common Good
A person's dignity and rights are realized in relationships, in community. The God-given institutions of marriage – a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman – and family are central and serve as the foundations for social life. We focus not simply on our own good but the common good, to the reconciling of diverse interests for the well-being of the whole human family, as well as the creation itself.
- Rights and Responsibilities
A person has a fundamental right to life, food, shelter, health care, education, and employment. We have a responsibility to share in decisions that affect our life. Our dignity is protected when human beings are respected, especially the poor and weak – the right to life and to those things which make life truly human: religious liberty, decent work, housing, health care, education and the right to raise and provide for a family with dignity. We also have the duty to secure and respect these rights not only for ourselves, but for others., and to fulfill our responsibilities to our families, to each other, and to the larger society.
- Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
Jesus made the poor his priority and we must do the same. We are called to look at public policies to see how they affect the poor and the most vulnerable among us, and work for social change. A fundamental measure of our society is how we care for and stand with the poor and vulnerable.
- Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s act of creation. The marketplace exists to serve people and every person has the right to decent and productive work, fair wages, to organize and choose to join a union, to ownership and private property, and economic initiative.
We are one human family. Our responsibilities to each other cross national, racial, economic and ideological differences. At the core of the virtue of solidarity is the pursuit of justice and peace. Loving our neighbor has global dimensions and demands that we be ‘sentinels of peace’ in a world wounded by violence and conflict.
The web of life is one. Creation has an integrity which has an inherent value, directed by God’s plan, beyond its usefulness to human beings. We are called to protect all God's creation, both people and planet, guided by a concern for generations to come. We show our respect for the Creator by the care for creation.
Persons and sustainable communities that are socially just, economically beneficial and environmentally healthy are responsible to exercise self-governance. No higher community should strip a person or local community of its capacity to see, judge, and act on its own behalf without serious and good reason. Local control and democratic participation are supported by the principle of subsidiarity.
- Universal Destination of Goods
The earth is the Lord’s and has been created for the well being of all. Greed, excess profits, and control of goods by the few that are meant for the many, are contrary to God’s desire that creation is for the good of all.
"The joys and hopes,
the sorrows and anxieties
of the women and men of this age,
especially those who are poor
or in any way oppressed,
these are the joys and hopes,
the sorrows and anxieties of Christ."
[The Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Specs) Second Vatican Council]
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