For the least of my brethren

In a moment of great frustration over a "debate" that devolved into something akin to the verbal battles between my youngest children, I turned to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. The Compendium presents the foundations of Catholic social doctrine, compiling Biblical teaching, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and papal encyclicals into one volume to guide our interactions in modern society. It is authentic Magisterium.

A compendium of any kind may not sound like a natural first choice for learning how to respond when a discussion turns ugly. I turned to it, however, because it reminds us Catholics of the importance of listening to others with the understanding that we must treat each other with mutual respect regardless of our different points of view. This is not always easy, even with the best of intentions. At times, we become so passionate about an issue we forget the Gospel call to love one another and treat others as we wish to be treated. Need proof? Watch cable news for even a few minutes. Guaranteed there will be a political pundit, talk show host or guest questioning the intelligence or morals of someone with whom they disagree.

We Catholics don’t really have the time for this kind of belligerence. We have far too much work to do if we are going to respond to the Gospel call of "creating a new social, economic, and political order, founded on the dignity and freedom of every human person, to be brought about in peace, justice, and solidarity," as the Compendium states.

For example, our social doctrine asks us to: advocate for a world where people actually live the idea that God loves all of us equally; create a world where we all agree that every person has value and none should be subjected to violent death or a life of poverty; require that economic policy decisions be based on the impact on the poor and future generations, the environment, and the common good of all, not on maximization of profits; and make choices that reflect a desire to live in solidarity with all humanity, and not simply to be the envy of the neighborhood.

Given even the truncated list above, we must recognize that it is impossible for one person to complete our goal of building God’s kingdom on Earth alone. Nor will we agree on which issues are the most important to address first. With a little grace, we might find others who share our priorities and with whom we can work to help bring about God’s kingdom on earth.

Unfortunately, we sometimes undermine each other by denigrating our fellow Catholics whose priorities differ from our own. To change the world, we need to recognize the good work others are doing in different areas, not berate each other for hearing a different call. Jesus taught compassion, humility and love, not bullying, brow-beating, and name-calling. We will accomplish much more by looking for the common ground where our interests overlap than we will by insisting we are right and viewing anyone who disagrees as an enemy to be vanquished.

As Pope John Paul II said, "the social message of the Gospel must not be considered a theory, but above all else a basis and motivation for action."

Nowhere in the Gospel message are we told to shun, mock, or harm those who disagree with us. What we are told is to listen respectfully, speak civilly, and act for the good of all.