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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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