Social Justice & the Laity

Over at Evangelical Catholicism, once more, Katerina has a great post up about social justice, politics, the Church, and the role of the laity. It is, in some respects, a response to criticisms of the Catholic Worker Movement and the notion that the Church shouldn't be involved in politics.

Here's a snippet:

Some cringe at the word “social justice” perhaps because they are thinking of secular social justice, which is empty and without a true foundation that does not recognize Christ in the Eucharist. It is only by recognizing Christ in the Eucharist, and hence, in ourselves, that we can then recognize that same Christ in our neighbors and love them as we love Christ himself present in the Sacrament (Mt 25).

Without Christ, we will keep asking “who is my neighbor?” (Lk 10:29). And it was then that Christ told the parable of the Good Samaritan.Some Catholics try to make the term “social justice” so complicated and far-fetched that almost seems as something foreign or evil. To work towards a just social order or to ensure the common good is to simply care for each other, to love Christ in everyone: the sick, the prisoner, the stranger. When we take this love to a greater level in which we serve the criminal, the homeless, the immigrant, unconditionally united by a "sincere mutual love" (1 Peter 10:22) and we actively work in the political and social realm to take care of them and protect them as if they would be our own families or friends, that is when we are working towards a new social order, and this is what all Christians are called to do, to love one another intensely!

My only critique of her post is that, in attempting to make the distinction between the role of the ordained and the role of the laity, Katerina downplays the common priesthood of the baptized. This was, I'm sure, not her intent. The main thrust of her post seems to be that political action in the secular sphere is given to lay men and women to shoulder as their mission in the world.

Read the post, and do take a look at the comments. EC is a darn smart blog with lots of great things to say.