Social Justice

Social Justice Ministry promotes the dignity of all human life, as we are all created in the Image of God.  Each person is made in the divine image and must be treated as such, both as individual persons and as members of a broader society. 

As the Second Vatican Council proclaimed in the document Gaudium et Spes, paragraph 27:

“Coming down to practical and particularly urgent consequences, this council lays stress on reverence for man; everyone must consider his every neighbor without exception as another self, taking into account first of all His life and the means necessary to living it with dignity, so as not to imitate the rich man who had no concern for the poor man Lazarus.

In our times a special obligation binds us to make ourselves the neighbor of every person without exception and of actively helping him when he comes across our path, whether he be an old person abandoned by all, a foreign laborer unjustly looked down upon, a refugee, a child born of an unlawful union and wrongly suffering for a sin he did not commit, or a hungry person who disturbs our conscience by recalling the voice of the Lord, “As long as you did it for one of these the least of my brethren, you did it for me” (Matt. 25:40).

Social Justice ministry, therefore, seeks to protect and promote the intrinsic dignity of each and every human person through prayer, formation, advocacy, and helping the people of God apply Catholic Social Doctrine in their daily lives.

Please feel free to email comments to the Director of LIfe, Earth and Social Justice Ministry at b.zeman@dbqarch.org