Fluent Essays

APA and no outside sources. I put the question as an attachment and all the topics you need for it along with this link under  https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/peace/documents/papa-francesco_20131208_messaggio-xlvii-giornata-mondiale-pace-2014.html SOLIDARITY-COMMUNITY We turn now to the value of SOLIDARITY. We do not actually see the word community in our list of values, but it is IMPLIED by many of them. The Latin roots of the word “community” mean “union with” or “one with,” implying an entity of individuals united with one another. SOLIDARITY means unity with other persons based upon our fundamental RELATEDNESS and interdependence. It entails acknowledging that interdependence and carrying out our resulting responsibilities to the common good. The Felician Values include “Solidarity with the Poor,” which is rooted in the human responsibility for community. Solidarity suggests an image of standing solidly in union with. So the Felician value means “standing in solid union with the poor.” We are emphasizing concern for the poor within the context of our implied call to live in community with our fellow human beings. Community and solidarity imply each other and are significant human values. COMMUNITY is an essential focus in the Judeo-Christian tradition and in many religious traditions of the world. Recall that in the Exodus and giving of the Covenant, God calls the PEOPLE, God is concerned about what the PEOPLE are suffering, God frees the PEOPLE from slavery, God makes the Covenant with the PEOPLE: “I will be your God, you will be my PEOPLE.” The Covenant requires right living among the PEOPLE: If they are going to be God’s PEOPLE, they must do right by one another. This emphasis continues in the mission of Jesus. Jesus announces the establishment of God’s reign over the earth – the healing of all brokenness, including brokenness of relationships and community (e.g., the return of the leper to his family and community). Many of his teachings emphasize love: “Love your neighbor”; “Love your enemy.” He deliberately forms a COMMUNITY of followers and sends them out to grow and extend that community. His disciples carry his message to the world, always calling people to COMMUNITY and fostering their faith through forming a COMMUNITY. The Greek word for “church” is ekklesia, which means “assembly.” The living out of the following of Christ always is rooted in, takes place in, and extends out from, the COMMUNITY (ekklesia) of disciples (followers of Christ). In the Christian tradition, salvation is never a purely private, individualistic matter. It’s never “just between me and God.” It always includes, and unfolds in the context of, COMMUNITY. As we saw when considering human dignity, we are created for relationship, for COMMUNITY. We are created to be in relation to one another. We are placed into, and called to live out our lives in, COMMUNITY with others. Community is not only essential to who we are. It is what we are called to be concerned about. We are social creatures, and our lives are possible only because of other people and because of the social institutions upon which we all depend – and which depend upon us for their functioning. As people of faith, we are called to be concerned about what is happening to other members of our human community and to take responsibility for it. If this sounds like a tall order – it is! It IS a specific challenge offered by religious FAITH. As we saw with Gaudium et Spes, concern for the dignity of every person calls us to care for the COMMON GOOD. It calls us to stand in solidarity with all persons, but especially with those who are poor, marginalized, and vulnerable. And many other faith traditions besides Christianity issue that same call. Community – in the sense we are using it here – is not something optional or extrinsic to us, but something essential. In our 21st century, first-world society, we may tend to assume that we can take it or leave it, that being involved in community is a CHOICE. It is not. Our culture’s emphasis on individualism may cause us to forget how deeply interconnected we are, from the very moment we begin to exist. Community – meaning, again, our essential connectedness to one another – is part of who we are and part of our human vocation. We are ESSENTIALLY related to one another, created to be in relationship with one another. Because of our close interconnectedness, our thoughts, words, actions – our very existence – have a profound impact on the persons around us, just as theirs do on us. Most faith traditions, not only Christianity, acknowledge this fact and believe that we have serious responsibilities because of it. A sense of community, of relatedness, of connectedness with others has characterized many societies throughout human history. Many cultures have had definite expectations about social roles and social obligations. In some cultures, social obligations take precedence over individual freedoms. OUR culture, on the other hand, emphasizes individual rights and freedoms to such an extent that our awareness of our essential connectedness (and the responsibilities it entails) often takes a back seat. SOLIDARITY PREFERENTIAL OPTION FOR THE POOR Responsibility toward Our Human Community A Deeper Approach to Social Justice Poverty and Wealth The distribution of the material resources of the earth is a reality that impacts every human being. Poverty and Wealth In this context, “poverty” does not refer to merely being out of work or going through “hard times,” such as foreclosure, and having to scale back. Rather, what is meant is “deep” poverty, also referred to as “absolute poverty” – a severe deprivation of the basic necessities of life. Poverty and Wealth How does social justice call us to respond to the poverty of the world? Poverty and Wealth Throughout his pontificate, Saint Pope John Paul II frequently discussed solidarity, as well as calling for Christians to make a “preferential option for the poor.” In the Encyclical SOLLICITUDO REI SOCIALIS (1987), he speaks of “characteristic themes and guidelines dealt with by the Magisterium in recent years,” and continues: “Here I would like to indicate one of them: the option or love of preference for the poor. This is an option, or a special form of primacy in the exercise of Christian charity, to which the whole tradition of the Church bears witness. It affects the life of each Christian inasmuch as he or she seeks to imitate the life of Christ, but it applies equally to our social responsibilities and hence to our manner of living, and to the logical decisions to be made concerning the ownership and use of goods.” He specifically discusses SOLIDARITY in p. 38 of that document: “It is above all a question of interdependence, sensed as a system determining relationships in the contemporary world, in its economic, cultural, political and religious elements, and accepted as a moral category. When interdependence becomes recognized in this way, the correlative response as a moral and social attitude, as a virtue, is solidarity.” Solidarity “is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all.” It involves “a commitment to the good of ones neighbor with the readiness, in the gospel sense, to ‘lose oneself’ for the sake of the other instead of exploiting him, and to ‘serve him’ instead of oppressing him for ones own advantage.” He continues in p. 39: “The exercise of solidarity within each society is valid when its members recognize one another as persons. . . . Solidarity helps us to see the ‘other’-whether a person, people or nation-not just as some kind of instrument, with a work capacity and physical strength to be exploited at low cost and then discarded when no longer useful, but as our ‘neighbor,’ a ‘helper’ (cf. Gen 2:18-20), to be made a sharer, on a par with ourselves, in the banquet of life to which all are equally invited by God.” The Pope thus locates the preferential option for the poor within the overarching call to human solidarity: we are called to acknowledge our human interdependence – and our resulting responsibility to the common good – and to commit ourselves to the good of every human person. Every person is our neighbor, every person is equally invited by God to share in the “banquet of life.” On the 100th anniversary of RERUM NOVARUM, the first social justice encyclical, John Paul II wrote CENTESIMUS ANNUS (1991). In it, he explicitly invokes the concept of the “preferential option for the poor” when referring to the 1891 encylical: “Re-reading the Encyclical in the light of contemporary realities enables us to appreciate the Churchs constant concern for and dedication to categories of people who are especially beloved to the Lord Jesus. The content of the text is an excellent testimony to the continuity within the Church of the so-called ‘preferential option for the poor’, an option which I defined as a ‘special form of primacy in the exercise of Christian charity’. “Pope Leos Encyclical on the ‘condition of the workers’ is thus an Encyclical on the poor and on the terrible conditions to which the new and often violent process of industrialization had reduced great multitudes of people. Today, in many parts of the world, similar processes of economic, social and political transformation are creating the same evils.” Preferential Option for the Poor What is meant by the “preferential option for the poor”? It does NOT mean the non-poor are not important; it does not imply a condemnation of those who are NOT poor. Preferential Option for the Poor It means a primacy of concern for the poor, following the example of Jesus in his ministry. During his entire ministry, Jesus reached out especially to the poor, outcast, marginalized, vulnerable – those who were considered the least. Of course, we ought not forget that this emphasis is also found in the Old Testament, where the poor and lowly are of special concern to God. Preferential Option for the Poor Note Pope John Paul II’s description: “a special form of primacy in the exercise of Christian charity.” The poor are to be considered first in the decisions and actions of Christians. Preferential Option for the Poor If the welfare of ALL human beings is of concern to the followers of Christ, it means that the most vulnerable and marginalized ought to be their top priority. The social justice of a society is measured by the degree of well-being of its “least-advantaged” members. (A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.) Social Justice Much deeper than applying a “Band-Aid,” offering help, or giving a hand-out. Rather, making the political, economic, educational, health care, etc. institutions of society more just – more inclusive, more responsive to the needs of all, especially the poor. Making decisions and policies that will work to the benefit of all (not just some) and especially the poor. Social Justice Examining the impact of our decisions, our lifestyle, our consumerism, our spending habits, our corporate and national policies on the disadvantaged of our world. Rethinking our relation to those who are “poor.” Social Justice Giving ALL a place at the table Francis and the Pope It was not long before Francis way of life began to attract attention. There was the problem that some people might have mistaken his group for one of the several radical groups that were highly critical of the institutional Church, as we read in this weeks section of Spoto. Francis, though, loved the Church. In spite of all the flaws of its leaders, it was still the CHURCH, founded by Christ, whose priests brought the sacraments to the people. At his bishops urging, he and his companions journeyed to Rome, to seek the approval of the Pope for their way of life. To the end of his life, Francis would be an obedient and faithful son of the Church, serving it faithfully. So we see his commitment to the COMMUNITY of the Church. There was also his distinctive vision for COMMUNITY among his group of brothers, which we will examine more closely later. And, of course, there was the way his love for Christ overflowed into his love for all his brothers and sisters in the HUMAN COMMUNITY. We have been stressing in this course that an essential dimension of our humanness – one that is essential to our human dignity and to who we are as human beings – is our relatedness. From the moment we begin to exist, we are part of a web of relationships. Respect for the dignity of every person (including ourselves) calls for carrying out our responsibilities toward these relationships. This is what the value of SOLIDARITY is all about. This assignment calls for you to synthesize and explain (cite relevant passages but also explain in your own words) various facets of the significance of solidarity that have been presented in a number of our readings. You will need to go over these readings and “dig out” key points being made about the importance of our human connectedness.Be sure to follow the instructions for essay assignments in the Syllabus and in the Important Course Information folder. Your answer must be based ONLY on material that is posted in this course on Blackboard. Each question that calls for using a point made by Pope Francis must use a DIFFERENT point, drawn from a different section of the Pope’s message. This assignment calls for answering each question as clearly, concisely, and accurately as possible. You will be graded on the accuracty and approriateness of the content of your answers. The question has several parts. You need to answer each part, separating them clearly in your essay: 1. A principle that has received attention in Catholic Social Teaching (CST) is SOLIDARITY. This principle underlines our responsibility for our relationships/community. In approximately 100 words, explain what this principle means and involves, according to CST.  2. While solidarity includes a concern for all of our human relationships, one very important aspect of its meaning is expressed by the PREFERENTIAL OPTION FOR THE POOR. In approximately 100 words, explain and discuss what CST means by this principle. How is this related to the Felician value of SOLIDARITY WITH THE POOR?  3. Identify, cite, explain, and discuss one specific, important point made by Pope Francis in his 2014 World Day of Peace Message on Fraternity that deals with or relates in an important way with the meaning of SOLIDARITY.  4. Identify, cite, explain, and discuss one specific, important point by Pope Francis that deals with or relates in a significant way with the PREFERENTIAL OPTION FOR THE POOR.