SOCIAL JUSTICE FINAL EXAM

I. Language of Justice
Conversion: a change of heart.
Abba: Aramaic word for Father, used by Jesus to address God.
Commutative Justice: fairness in exchanges between individuals and
private groups
Covenant: Contract of love between God and people. Involves promises,
duty to be faithful to promises.
Dignity: Being worthy, honored, esteemed. Made in God’s image --> human
dignity.
Distributive Justice: Just distribution of goods that God intends for all to
use.
Encyclical: Pastoral letter sent to the whole Church/whole world on a certain
Church teaching.
3 Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope, Love
4 Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, Justice
Family
Free will: The power to perform deliberate actions on one’s own
responsibility
Legal justice: Citizens’ obligations to the society/government
Natural law: God’s plan written into the way he made things. God-given
understanding that tells us what to do.
Original sin: state of sin into which all people are born (since Adam and Eve
turned from God)
Pacem in Terris/Peace on Earth: encyclical by Pope John XXIII in 1963,
lists human rights
Rights: claims we can make on each other/society to attain minimum
conditions to live a truly human life.
Responsibilities
Social Justice: applies Gospel to society’s structures, systems, and laws to
guarantee people’s rights. (AKA contributive justice). All people should have
a fair say, give back to community.
Society: a group of people bound together organically by a principle of
unity.
Subsidiarity: A higher unit of society should not do what a lower unit can
do as well or better.
Synod of Bishops: advisory council of the pope, elected by bishops
Virtue: firm attitudes, stable dispositions, and habitual perfections of the
intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our
conduct according to reason and faith
Human rights: universal, inviolable, inalienable rights, including life,
worship, etc.
Forming consciences for faithful citizenship
II. People of Justice
Oscar Romero: Archbishop of San Salvador, El Savador, during time of
revolution and unrest. Assassinated while saying mass in 1980.
Gandhi: leader of non-violent revolution in India. Kicked out of a Christian
church when exploring Christianity.
Thomas Merton: prolific Christian author and Trappist monk.
Dorothy Day: began the newspaper The Catholic Worker. Began a
movement that preached social change, justice for the poor, and
nonviolence.
Jean Vanier: made a community called l’Arche for people with
developmental disabilities.
Gianna Beretta Molla: diagnosed with a cancerous ovarian tumor during
pregnancy. Chose to sacrifice her own life to save her child.
Katherine Drexel: began Sisters of the Blessed Sacraments, an order which
staffed missionary schools for Native Americans and black children.
Mother Teresa: founded the Missionaries of Charity to serve the poorest of
the poor in Calcutta, India. Won Nobel Peace Prize.
Thérèse of Lisieux: cloistered nun who lived by the “little way” of love
Cesar Chavez: founded the United Farm Workers. Worked for justice for
migrant workers.
Franz Jagerstatter: Austrian farmer who refused to join Hitler’s army and
was executed.
Jesus of Nazareth
Martin Sheen: actor and Catholic activist. Worked with Dorothy Day,
supported Cesar Chavez, now champions a number of pro-life,
environmental, and nonviolence issues.
You and Me

III. Themes of Justice

Christian view of work – objective and subjective elements:
The objective element of work is the product or outcome. It also includes the
physical means: tools, research, technology, etc. The subjective element
resides in the person who does the work, not the work itself. This subjective
element gives work dignity. “Work is for man, and not man for work.” The
purpose of work is to fulfill our humanity and to benefit other humans.

Rights and responsibilities related to work:

People have the right to employment, the right to a just wage, right to rest,
right to a safe workplace, right of association, and right to health care.
Employers have the responsibility to provide these rights; workers have the
responsibility to work.

Peace and Violence, three levels of violence:

Level 1: Institutional violence: Denies basic human rights, leading to poverty,
hunger, etc.
Level 2: Counterviolence: The oppressed group resorts to violence in an
attempt to get violence.
Level 3: Repressive violence: Those in power maintain their position by using
more violence and committing more institutional violence.

Human Rights
Human rights are universal, inviolable, and inalienable. Human rights were
given to us by God. We do not have to earn them; they are due to us
because we are made in God’s image. They include the right to life, moral
and cultural freedom, worship, choosing marriage or single life, economic
freedom, meeting/association, emigration, immigration, and political rights.
* Importance of 12/10/08: 60th anniversary of the UN’s Universal Declaration
of Human Rights.
* Importance of UN 2009 Climate Summit: UN met to discuss the way
forward to environmental justice, including support for developing nations to
adapt to climate change.

Christian Response to Poverty/Preferential Option for the Poor

Christians respond to poverty through solidarity (social charity, seeing the
poor as brothers and sisters) and preferential option for the poor. We should
see things from the perspective of the poor and assess our policies in terms
of their effect on the poor. (This is following the example of Jesus, who sided
with those most in need.)

Consistent Ethic of Life

Abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, and ESC research are not
approved by the Church. The Church’s consistent ethic of life, or seamless
garment, is that life must be respected from the moment of conception to
the moment of death. The right to life comes from human dignity, because
humans were made in the image and likeness of God.

Justice vs. Charity

Social justice and charity both help to empower the poor and oppressed
through concrete actions. Charity provides temporary relief to the poor by
providing free medical care, food, etc. to those who need it most. In contrast,
an act of social justice will cause a permanent change in the structure of our
society. This social change will enable the poor to elevate their place in
society and achieve a better standard of living.

IV. Social Justice Solidarity Stewardshi

Wheel p

Work Respect
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Workers 7 2 Life
1
Optio Human
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Dignity Community
for
the 5 4 Participatio
Poor Right n
Commo s
n Good &
Good Dutie
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