Catholic Social Teaching: Solidarity

Solidarity is based on our common belief that everything is created by God, and so all creatures are related to one another in this one beautiful community called creation.”

~ Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle

We are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. We are our brothers and sisters keepers, wherever they may be. Loving our neighbor has global dimensions in a shrinking world. At the core of the virtue of solidarity is the pursuit of justice and peace. Pope Paul VI taught that if you want peace, work for justice. The Gospel calls us to be peacemakers. Our love for all our sisters and brothers demands that we promote peace in a world surrounded by violence and conflict.  As we unpack the Catholic Social Teaching of Solidarity, I encourage you to learn and reflect more deeply about what scripture and our Catholic Tradition teaches us about our relationship with each other and with God.

Explaining solidarity to children

All people are God’s children. That makes us brothers and sisters. We are connected to each other. It is as if everyone in the world held hands! We are interdependent. That means we need each other if we are to live. We must work together if we are to go on living. We rely on each other for almost all of our bodily and social needs. Our languages, medical knowledge, food production and art are just a few examples of how humans have always worked together. When we share our lives with our sisters and brothers around the world, we will become the best we can be. Even though there are huge differences among us, we are still one family-the family of God. This means we should view family not just as our immediate relatives, nor just our neighborhood, or just our country. Our family includes all the people in the world. As a family, we must not only tolerate differences, but appreciate them. As a family, we must care about the well being of each other, making sure other family members have what they need and are being treated fairly. (www.anneneuberger.com) 

Want to learn more about the Catholic Social Teaching on Solidarity?

• CST 101 Solidarity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cteMjwOBPtw
• U. S. Bishops: https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/solidarity
• PHD and Pigtails (Blog): https://phdsandpigtails.com/2020/06/05/solidarity-catholic-social-teaching-101/

Solidarity means commitment to the common good
By Sergio Lopez, Catholic News Service

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we are far more interconnected than we previously imagined. To use the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” The “inescapable network of mutuality” that binds all of humanity and creation together is what Catholic social teaching refers to as solidarity.

The principle of solidarity challenges Christians to treat every neighbor, regardless of race, religion or nationality, as “another self.” Christ’s compassion is not limited to any particular group or country. Christians are those who choose to imitate Jesus by extending God’s love beyond the literal and figurative walls that divide the one global human family.

Beyond a feeling of compassion, the Church teaches that solidarity is also a moral virtue that is cultivated through a “firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say, the good of all and of each individual,” as stated by St. John Paul II in “Sollicitudo Rei Socialis.”

Some things cannot be learned by reading books. Solidarity is learned primarily through social works of mercy that put faith into action for the sake of others. One way that ordinary people of faith can grow in the virtue of solidarity is to join a ministry or organization that is dedicated to improving the lives of those who Jesus called the “least brothers of mine.”

Through our many ministries and community partnerships St. Joseph the Worker has many opportunities to work with and serve the varying needs of our neighbors.  By engaging directly with those in the margin of our society - learning their needs and sharing your gifts; we become united in purpose, and hope.  That is the heart of solidarity.

Ministry in the margins helps us to understand that lasting change, both social and spiritual, often comes about when each of us works together for a just and peaceful world. Through the building of God’s kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven,” Christians can cultivate the virtue of solidarity while also giving witness to the radical communion that God desires for all of humanity and creation.


Article Edited for SJTW - Read the full article:
https://thedialog.org/catechetical-corner/catholic-social-teaching-solidarity-means-commitment-to-the-common-good/