Foundations for the Peace and Justice Commission

The Peace and Justice Commission rests on three foundations: our Secular Franciscan Rule, Franciscan spirituality, and Catholic social doctrine. Legislative advocacy is a tool that the Peace and Justice Commission uses to bring our understanding of peace founded on justice to the wider world.

Some sections of our Rule have specific implications for the Peace and Justice Commission.

• Rule 6 tells us that we have been united more intimately with the Church by profession in the Secular Franciscan Order. "Therefore they should go forth as witnesses and instruments of her mission among all people, proclaiming Christ by their life and work." Living in full communion with the pope, bishops and priests, we foster "an open and trusting dialogue of apostolic effectiveness and creativity."
• Rule 13 refers to life in community with all others in the world. "A sense of community will make them joyful and ready to place themselves on an equal basis with all people, especially with the lowly for whom we strive to create conditions of life worthy of people redeemed by Christ."
• A natural consequence of a sense of community is service to others. This is expressed in Rule 14. "Secular Franciscans, together with all people of good will, are called to build a more fraternal and evangelical world so that the kingdom of God may be brought about more effectively."
• Rule 15 directs us to live a just life and participate in public affairs. "Let them individually and collectively be in the forefront in promoting justice by the testimony of their human lives and their courageous initiatives. Especially in the field of public life, they should make definite choices in harmony with their faith."
• Our role as peace-makers is expressed in Rule 19. "Mindful that they are bearers of peace which must be build up unceasingly, they should seek out ways of unity and fraternal harmony through dialogue, trusting in the presence of the divine seed in everyone and in the transforming power of love and pardon."

Francis was more than an instrument of peace. He was also an instrument of justice. He did not speak of social justice in the terms we use today because the areas of knowledge with which we are familiar, such as economics, political science, social welfare, and criminology, did not exist in his day. During the Middle Ages all social questions were part of theology and under the direction of the Church. Francis did not speak out about injustice in his society because that would be a criticism of the Church. He brought about social change through his actions.

• Francis' rejection of money was a challenge to the economic system of emerging capitalism that placed profit above all other ends.
• When Francis made his order one of lesser brothers, he refused to participate in the social class structure of his day in which social class was determined by birth. There can be no hierarchy if all insist that they are at the bottom.
• Francis became one with the poor and the lepers to serve them, rather than serving in the paternalistic manner of his time.
• Francis was a peace activist. He went to Egypt to talk with the Sultan and bring about an end to the war. He was not successful, but he earned the respect of the Muslims.
• Francis refused to let his followers bear arms. So many Secular Franciscans did as he asked that the pope was not able to mount another crusade.

In 1999 John Paul II asked in the Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America for a compendium or approved synthesis of Catholic Social Doctrine, which would show the connection between it and the new evangelization. ( Ecclesia in America # 54) Six years later, in 2005, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church was published. It is especially directed toward the lay faithful who are "called, as the Second Vatican Council reminds us, to deal with temporal affairs and order them according to God's will." (Compendium Page xviii)

Certain basic principles about the nature of man and the characteristics of a good society are in all of the documents of Catholic social doctrine as synthesized in the Compendium.

• The innate dignity of all persons comes from the fact that people are created in the image of God. People are by nature social. They are born into a social group and live out their lives and work out their salvation within the context of a social group
• The purpose of the state and of all laws within the state is to promote the common good. The common good is considered to be the good of every person both as an individual and as a social being in relation to the others. There is a universal common good of the entire human family
• Within a state the economy is for the people, and the goods of the earth are to be shared by all persons. Private property always carries a social mortgage. No one has the right to excess when others have nothing. Workers have a right to a just wage and to belong to workers' associations. Wealthy nations must help developing countries to achieve self-sufficiency by sharing knowledge and technology with them. A preferential option must be given to the poor. The poor are the economically disadvantaged and powerless whose needs receive special attention from God.
• Peace is the fruit of justice and is dependent upon right order among humans and among nations. An effective international organization is necessary to promote peace among all nations.