February 06, 2007
Social Justice and the Family
Do you know the leading cause of poverty in the United States, according to the president of DePaul University? Last September I was at the National meeting for the St. Vincent de Paul Society where he was the keynote speaker, and his answer struck me: divorce.
Unfortunately, this was a minor side-note in his speech and he went on to say many other things, but my mind kept coming back to this fact. To me, it is obviously true that in this country of immense wealth, moral poverty often (not always) has a link with material poverty. Ironically, when many Catholic institutions talk about decreasing poverty, there is no mention of the moral link. For example, Catholic Charities (with St. Vincent de Paul Society) has set a goal of cutting poverty in half by 2020. The main means in their effort to reach this goal is changing government policy. To my knowledge, there is no mention of the moral poverty link.
The goal is a noble one, but I think a different approach would more successful. What if a huge effort was made to create healthy families? There would be fewer single mothers, and I know for a fact that single mothers are the main type of client that the St. Vincent de Paul Society serves. Children would grow up with more financial security, but more importantly, with more love, values, and emotional support. Many Christians know what most of secular society doesn’t; that the family is under attack and it is wreaking havoc on society. The breakdown of the family is a much greater problem in this country than material need. The huge piles of free bread thrown away every other day at the St. Vincent de Paul Society proves that to me.
If we focused our efforts in this area, not only would we reduce poverty, but we would increase people’s dignity and happiness, even if they fell on hard economic times. This approach would help people holistically, by addressing their spiritual, emotional, and physical needs, not just their physical needs. I’m sure many have seen the movie “American Beauty”. If we succeed in pulling thousands of families out of material poverty, but they are as dysfunctional as the ones in that movie are, have we succeeded in anything?
Sadly, many Catholics who are all about social justice do not see the intricate web of personal sin, corruption, and different kinds of poverty. They tend to put all the blame on what they see as black and white government economic policies. Let us pray for a deeper conversion to Christ in our pursuit of justice.
In Christ,
Daniel
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Daniel, thank you for sharing your keen insights into true social justice. You have helped articulate the tension I feel when trying to heed Pope John Paul II's call promote social justice but finding almost every social justice organization repulsive if not heretical.
Your comment about divorce being the leading cause of poverty really puts things into perspective. I heard estimates from secular marriage enrichment sources that divorce has a long term financial cost of about one million dollars.
Your comment about divorce also reminds me of the biblical phrases concerning social justice. The bible often uses the phrase "the widow and the orphan" when speaking of the need to defend the poor against oppression. Research suggests that when a man divorces his wife and leaves his family, it wounds the family more than if the man were to die.
Our society normalizes divorce (a kid's book from a catholic school begins with the words "the kids went to Dad's house for dinner" - you can imagine the patronizing comments I received when I expressed concern) and thus prevents us from seeing this as a terrible evil which in turn prevents us from dealing with it.
Thinking about the solution to all this reminds me of the last words of the Old Testament: He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse Malachi 4:6
When I think the visible ills of this society: single mothers living in poverty, pornography, absentee dads, workaholic dads, abusive dads, uninvolved dads, test-tube babies with no rights to learn the identities of their biological father - thus risking marrying a half-sibling and having no medical history of the father, prostitution, and so forth - it all seems to point back to the negligence of human fathers. In fact, the trouble in the Garden of Eden began with Adam's negligence to act with moral courage when the Serpent approached Eve.
Saint Joseph, pray for us
Posted by: Burnt Marshwiggle at February 7, 2007 02:30 PMBurnt,
It was so refreshing to read your comment. Thank you for your insights on divorce; I completely agree. It is so sad that something so harmful to society has become so accepted. You know, as the big, established Catholic Charitable institutions look more and more like secular charitable institutions, the Holy Spirit must be moving hearts to start new social justice movements that are wholly in line with the Church’s teaching and solidly pro-life from conception to natural death.
In light of divorce, I also believe that viewing life and social justice from a Theology of the Body perspective could really start new movements – and help the pseudo-secular ones die out. It might be already happening with St. Vincent de Paul because they are having an extremely difficult time attracting people younger than retirement age, especially the youth. Theology of the Body really is a time-bomb waiting to go off and I pray it can start a true social justice movement. Could it be someone reading these articles? Could it be you?
God’s will be done.
Daniel,
Nice post. You may enjoy this study from Ohio State http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/divwlth.htm
Re: all the Soc Justice groups being heretical. You know it reminds me of the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan didn't have all the "laws" down pat but he was the "neighbor" as defined by Christ.
"See how a man is justified by works and not by faith alone." Jas 2:24
In Love
wwwo
Posted by: when we were one at February 9, 2007 11:46 AMDaniel,
For many years, I saw the Church has divided into conflicting compartments: Natural Family Planning, Pro-life, Traditional Marriage, Male Priests, Social Justice, Prayer life, Evangelization.
I have very gradually become aware of the connection between contraception and abortion. Then I learned of the connection between contraception and sodomy. Then I started to see the connection between Social Justice and Evangelization. Then I started to see the connection between sexual purity and discerning the body of Our Lord in the Sacrament. Then I began to see the relationship between Social Justice and pro-life. Now you have shown me the relationship between Social Justice and personal holiness.
Christopher West makes a keen insight the brings the Social Justice and sexual purity closer together. He first notes that after working in a soup kitchen, one soon meets people who are so starved for food that eating trash out of a garbage bin actually seems appealing to them.
He then compares says that in the area of sexual purity, many people are so starved for an authentic expression (marriage and/or celibacy for the kingdom) of Trinitarian love that engaging in sexual immorality (contraception, divorce, masturbation, pornography) actually seems appealing to them.
Our reaction to both should be the same. No condemnation - but offering them that which their heart truly desires and needs.
Posted by: Burnt Marshwiggle at February 9, 2007 12:50 PM
