Justice and Charity Intertwined
“Charity will never be true charity unless it takes justice into account...Let no one attempt with small gifts of charity to exempt themselves from the great duties imposed by justice.” Pope Pius XI, Divini Redemptori (On Atheistic Communism #49)
“Admittedly, no vicarious charity can substitute for justice which is due as an obligation and is wrongfully denied. Yet even supposing that everyone should finally receive all that is due him, the widest field for charity will always remain open. For justice alone can, if faithfully observed, remove the causes of social conflict but can never bring about union of hearts and minds.” Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno (On Reconstructing the Social Order #137)
Through the centuries, Secular Franciscans can be proud of their works of charity. Every fraternity gives to the less fortunate and shares with others: gifts of money, baskets of food, collecting clothing and household goods—the list is endless. Many Secular Franciscan work at food service centers and other places where the poor of the community are served. All of this work is important and must continue.
Works of justice flow naturally from works of charity. If working at a food bank or soup kitchen is the work of charity, the corresponding work of justice would involve an examination of the community to see if there are structures that contribute to hunger. By structures we mean patterned ways of doing things that result in the failure of some persons to receive what is due them. Examples are such things as inability to obtain the food stamps that one is entitled to have because of a welfare office that is not responsive to clients’ needs, or lack of free or low cost breakfast and lunch programs in the public schools, or inability to work because no jobs are available. Perhaps the people who come to the food bank could be interviewed briefly about their lives. The data collected could be analyzed. If structural injustice is found, then a decision could be made to do something about it.
A chart distributed by The Office for Social Justice of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis explains the difference between works of charity and works of justice in this way. The Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29-37) did not stop to inquire about the protections or lack of them provided to travelers by the authorities. He gave immediate relief. That was a work of charity. In the Exodus story (Ex 5:1-5) Moses did not go to the Pharaoh to ask for more food and medicine for the Jewish slave laborers. He said, “Let my people go!” (Ex 5:1-5) That was a work of justice. Works of charity are directed at the effects of injustice. Works of justice attempt to do something about the root causes of injustice. For Secular Franciscans works of justice and of charity are intertwined. Even when works of justice are added, works of charity will always remain and will always be important. For many Secular Franciscans they represent the heart and soul of our outreach to the world.
The term “social structures” is another way of saying that certain ways of doing things have been adopted and repeated over and over sometimes for years. If the result is injustice for certain persons or groups they are called “unjust structures.” The Catholic laity is expected to work to eliminate them. In our time two popes, Paul VI and John Paul II, have made structural injustice in society an important part of their social teaching. In his apostolic letter, Octogesima Adveniens (A Call to Action #47), Paul VI stated that at bottom most social problems are political problems. He said that in order to change unjust structures in the economic system, it is necessary to move beyond economics to politics, and he encouraged lay persons to do this.
John Paul II in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (The Social Concerns of the Church #36-38) continued the theme of structural injustice begun by Paul VI. He calls unjust structures “structures of sin.” They begin as sins committed by individual persons. They are introduced into the society and reinforced again and again. Desire for profit and thirst for power keep them in place. Soon they are taken for grated by most people. They become self-perpetuating structures of sin. They can be blamed on selfishness, bad political decisions, or irresponsible economic decisions. They are all sin and are at the root of the evils that afflict the world.
Structures of sin are only conquered with the help of divine grace. The starting point is conversion to interdependence. This is an understanding of the system of interdependence of the economic, cultural, political, and religious elements of the contemporary world. From this understanding arises the virtue of solidarity. Solidarity is an understanding that all men are brothers—children of the same Father. It is not a feeling of vague compassion at the misfortunes of others. It is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good, to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all.
Works of justice flow from a commitment to the common good. Such a commitment requires that Secular Franciscans enter into the world of politics, something that many of us hesitate to do, either because we dislike controversy, or we think that our participation would be of no use against powerful forces on the other side. That is not true. Working together we can have a powerful voice.