Social Justice Essay

Submitted By az711
Words: 3418
Pages: 14
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There is no absolute agreement on just what if Catholic social justice means or requires. So when discussing this topic one will certainly end up discussing morality, society and the family, economics, politics, the government and many other topics. In this paper the government’s role in Catholic social justice is analyzed. In the United States today all levels of government are being criticized for their intrusions on the freedoms of individuals. Many claim this government interference with personal freedom has to do with delivering social injustice to those in need. If of course the government is made up of people hired, appointed or elected to do certain jobs. So two questions immediately come to mind. First, the question of the true motivations of the government workers, especially the elected officials, should be considered. Second, the question as to whether the government can effectively and efficiently accomplish the task of delivering social justice needs to be answered. This paper mainly focuses on the government’s role in providing social justice in economic matters, as studied in week four. But it is instructive to look at the government’s role in other social justice issues first to hopefully answer the questions above. Abortion, assisted suicide, homosexuality and gender issues, and prayer in schools are certainly important social issues for the Catholic Church. If the government’s policies in these areas are most always run contrary to Catholic Church teachings. Why then would anybody expect the government to make the correct moral decisions when it comes to social justice especially in the important area of economics?

It is also to determine whether the Catholic Church has actually decided on a form of government that would be best in ensuring that social justice is protected. This could be the most important question since many believe that the Church is overly friendly to a socialistic form of government when that could be the worst choice for the delivery of social justice (Suprenant, 2013). As one author points out the catholic tradition in its views on social justice have been stolen by others for pearly political purposes (Suprenant, 2013). He goes on to point out that the term Catholicism is now almost synonymous with social justice. So the views of the Catholic Church are being used by the political left to advance its agenda. This could well explain why the government in so many instances promote social justice within the catholic sense that it the same time the government promotes many issues that the Catholic Church finds reprehensible. But the Catholic Church mainly sets by continues its association with these individuals and organizations within the government. The Catholic Church has been used and it should realize this. One statement made by the author Dorothy Day was that production determines needs (Day, 1972). One of the first things you learn in economics is that it is normally the demands of the people that determine what is made. Then the author continues with the common phrase “from each according to his ability and to each according to his needs”. There’s certainly a wide variation in the abilities of many different people. Similarly there are vast differences and the needs of many people. Social justice according to the catholic tradition requires that the basic needs of humans such as food, health and dignity be met. But at this point the author has no government prescription for meeting these needs. The author also referred to G. K. Chesterton’s call for a distributive form of economic society. This puts the ownership of as much of the factors of production into the hands of many people as possible. Since all income and comes back to the factors of production which include land, labor and capital, this would certainly help increase the incomes of a great many people. To When reading this author one expects her surely be an advocate for some type of
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