Solidarity and Care for our Common Home

1. Catholic Social
Teaching
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Father Kevin Queally, TOR
Saint Mary Our Lady of Grace
Saint Petersburg, Florida

2. Solidarity
We are one human family
whatever our national,
racial, ethnic, economic,
and ideological differences.
We are our brothers and
sisters keepers, wherever
they may be.

3. Solidarity
Loving our neighbor has
global dimensions in a
shrinking world. At the core
of the virtue of solidarity is
the pursuit of justice and
peace. Pope Paul VI taught
that if you want peace, work
for justice.

4. Solidarity
The Gospel calls us to be
peacemakers. Our love for
all our sisters and brothers
demands that we promote
peace in a world surrounded
by violence and conflict.

6. 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;

7. Solidarity
that is to say, to the good of all and
of each individual, because we are
all really responsible for all. Saint
John Paul II,On Social
Concern (Sollicitudo rei
Socialis), 1988, #38

8. Solidarity
Interdependence must be transformed
into solidarity, based upon the
principle that the goods of creation
are meant for all. That which human
industry produces through the
processing of raw materials, with the
contribution of work, must serve
equally for the good of all. . . -Saint
John Paul II, On Social
Concern (Sollicitudo rei Socialis),
1988, #39

9. Solidarity
The culture of selfishness and
individualism that often prevails in
our society is not owhat builds up
and leads to a more habitable
world: it is the culture of solidarity
that does so, seeing others not as
rivals or statistics, but as brothers
and sisters. -Pope Francis

11. Care for God’s Creation
We show our respect for
the Creator by our
stewardship of creation.
Care for the earth is not
just an Earth Day slogan,
it is a requirement of our
faith.

12. Care for God’s Creation
We are called to protect people
and the planet, living our faith
in relationship with all of Gods
creation. This environmental
challenge has fundamental
moral and ethical dimensions
that cannot be ignored.

13. Care for God’s Creation
The environment is God's gift to everyone, and
in our use of it we have a responsibility
towards the poor, towards future generations
and towards humanity as a whole. . . Our duties
towards the environment are linked to
our duties towards the human person,
considered in himself and in relation to others.
It would be wrong to uphold one set of duties
while trampling on the other. Pope Benedict
XVI, Charity in Truth (Caritas in Veritate), 2009,
#48, 51

14. Care for God’s Creation
For this XLIII World Day of Peace I
have chosen the theme: If You Want
to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation.
Respect for creation is of immense
consequence, not least because
“creation is the beginning and the
foundation of all God’s works”,[CCC,
198] and its preservation has now
become essential for the pacific
coexistence of mankind.

15. Care for God’s Creation
…it is imperative that mankind
renew and strengthen “that
covenant between human beings
and the environment, which should
mirror the creative love of God,
from whom we come and towards
whom we are journeying”.[Message
for 2008 World Day of Peace, #7] –
Benedict XVI, Message for 2010
World Day of Peace, 2010, 1

17. Care for God’s Creation
Theological and philosophical reflections on
the situation of humanity and the world can
sound tiresome and abstract, unless they
are grounded in a fresh analysis of our
present situation, which is in many ways
unprecedented in the history of humanity.
So, before considering how faith brings new
incentives and requirements with regard to
the world of which we are a part, I will
briefly turn to what is happening to our
common home –Pope Francis, Laudato Si’,
#17

18. Care for God’s Creation
But a sober look at our world shows that
the degree of human intervention, often in
the service of business interests and
consumerism, is actually making our earth
less rich and beautiful, ever more limited
and grey, even as technological advances
and consumer goods continue to abound
limitlessly. We seem to think that we can
substitute an irreplaceable and
irretrievable beauty with something which
we have created ourselves. –Pope Francis,
Laudato Si’, #34