INBOX INSPIRATIONS
January 6, 2021
The Common Good – 1
Dear Friends,
Last week, I began reflecting on a very important principle in our Catholic social teaching: the common good.
“The common good is understood in the Church’s social doctrine to be: the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily…
It is rooted in the dignity, unity and equality of all people.
Societies that wish to serve the human person see the common good as their primary goal.”
One of the results of living this common good morality is how I understand my freedom as a person.
It means that I don’t always do what I want or feel like doing.
I don’t just do things for my own satisfaction or success with no regard for others.
Instead, I choose to limit my freedom at times.
So, I abide by speed limit signs, even when I would like to drive faster.
I pay taxes, even though I would rather use the money for something else.
I do these things for the overall good of the society in which I live – for the common good.
To be very current about it, I wear a face mask during the pandemic, even though I would prefer not to have to bother with it.
I wear this because doctors and scientists specializing in infectious diseases tell us that it is an effective way to cut down on the transmission of the virus, an effective way to protect others, and ultimately a way also to protect myself.
I wear a mask because the elected leader of my state, the Governor, has asked all citizens to wear this, especially when we are in public buildings or group gatherings.
This is living the common good in a very concrete way.
And, for me, this is not an infringement of my freedom.
It is my freely choosing to respect and promote the common good.
More on this topic next week, January 20!
Father Michael Schleupner
(Quotation above from: Companion to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church by Rev. Dr. Padraig Corkery.)
January 13, 2021
The Common Good – 2
Dear Friends,
Last week, I began reflecting on a very important principle in our Catholic social teaching: the common good.
“The common good is understood in the Church’s social doctrine to be: the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily…
It is rooted in the dignity, unity and equality of all people.
Societies that wish to serve the human person see the common good as their primary goal.”
One of the results of living this common good morality is how I understand my freedom as a person.
It means that I don’t always do what I want or feel like doing.
I don’t just do things for my own satisfaction or success with no regard for others.
Instead, I choose to limit my freedom at times.
So, I abide by speed limit signs, even when I would like to drive faster.
I pay taxes, even though I would rather use the money for something else.
I do these things for the overall good of the society in which I live – for the common good.
To be very current about it, I wear a face mask during the pandemic, even though I would prefer not to have to bother with it.
I wear this because doctors and scientists specializing in infectious diseases tell us that it is an effective way to cut down on the transmission of the virus, an effective way to protect others, and ultimately a way also to protect myself.
I wear a mask because the elected leader of my state, the Governor, has asked all citizens to wear this, especially when we are in public buildings or group gatherings.
This is living the common good in a very concrete way.
And, for me, this is not an infringement of my freedom.
It is my freely choosing to respect and promote the common good.
More on this topic next week, January 20!
Father Michael Schleupner
(Quotation above from: Companion to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church by Rev. Dr. Padraig Corkery.)
January 20, 2021
The Common Good – 3
Dear Friends,
My thoughts today follow on what I have said the last two weeks, January 6 and 13.
Like individual persons, organizations, including us as a Church, must also respect and promote the common good in what we do.
For example, when we construct buildings, we abide by current safety standards and by capacity limits set by the local civic jurisdiction.
These are routine ways of respecting the common good.
The pandemic has raised another clear and maybe challenging example of this.
We closed our churches for several months last spring under the directives for the state issued by the governor.
We continue to limit the number of persons allowed in our churches and other buildings, abiding by the percentage of capacity or numbers directed by state authority.
This has not been an attack on or restriction of our religious freedom, a freedom that we deeply cherish in this country.
Rather, our assent to the present measures is our living the moral principle of the common good.
This has not been easy; we would prefer to have our churches open with no limitations.
However, that is unwise and would probably be harmful to many people.
It would be against the common good.
Our doing this as a Church is, I hope, an example to all of us.
Sometimes I must sacrifice what I want to do at the moment for the sake of the greater good of all – the common good.
In that sense, sometimes we choose to limit our freedom.
Failure to do so is a sin of self-centeredness or excessive individualism.
In summary, this moral principle of the common good “understands the human person as a person-in-community and moderates the exercise of individual freedom by appealing to the well-being of others and of the community.”
Father Michael Schleupner
(Quotation above from: Companion to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church by Rev. Dr. Padraig Corkery.)
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