Social justice is both simple and complex. Simply, it is really
doing what is right, being respectful, and honoring each person as he or
she is, as an image and likeness of God.
On a more complicated level, the concept of social justice has been
around for nearly four hundred years. It is a philosophical construct
that Pope Leo and the Catholic Church adopted from its application to
workers at that time. Social justice has many parts and it’s kind of a
balancing act. Participative justice is the idea of “no decision without
me.” That means that if something is going to affect people all the way
at the grassroots level, then people at the grassroots level need to be
involved in the process. Distributive justice means that “right
justice” is distributed equally across all people. Social justice is the
mechanism that is used to make sure that the participation and
distribution are fair and just. It is a bit of a misnomer to say that
social justice is an entity in and of itself. It is actually the term
that is used to identify a result, which is everybody participating in
the life conditions that affect them, and everybody receiving the goods
that make their life conditions meaningful and purposeful.
It is a concept, similar to the common good. Everybody has what
they need to have a meaningful and purposeful life, both at the system
level and across all the sectors of a culture.
Carol Zinn,
a Sister of St. Joseph from Chestnut Hill, outside Philadelphia, is a
member of CMMB’s board of directors. Sister Carol has taught at all
levels, from pre-kindergarten through post-graduate, and has worked in
educational leadership and religious education. She has also worked with
international grassroots movements as a consultant and facilitator, as
well as with multi-sector and multi-issue groups to help deepen members’
understanding of global realities.
CMMB - Catholic Medical Mission Board Inc. is an IRS Section 501 (c) (3) organization
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