Social Justice Quotes 2008

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for December 28, 2008

Happy are those who hunger and thirst for what is right; they shall be satisfied.
Matthew 5

for December 21, 2008

The Church invites all Christians to take up a double task of inspiring and of innovating, in order to make structures evolve, so as to adapt them to the real needs of today. (50)
World Synod of Catholic Bishops, 1971

for December 14, 2008

Every perspective on economic life that is human, moral, and Christian must be shaped by three questions: What does the economy do for people? What does it do to people? And how do people participate in it?
Economic Justice for All (1) Pope John Paul II

for December 7, 2008

The Church has the right, indeed the duty, to proclaim justice on the social, national and international level, and to denounce instances of injustice, when the fundamental rights of men and women and their very salvation demand it. (8)
Justice and Peace in a New Caribbean: The Roman Catholic Bishops of the Antilles

for November 30, 2008

We do not buy bread to remain on the shelf but to feed ourselves and others. Jesus gave himself to us under the appearance of bread to teach us that we too are for others. Eucharist is mission.
Fr Michel de Verteuil, CSSp, Catholic News, March 16, 1997.

for November 23, 2008

The radical transformation of the world in the Paschal Mystery of the Lord gives full meaning to the efforts of people, and in particular of the young, to lessen injustice, violence and hatred and to advance all together in justice, freedom, kinship and love. (76)
World Synod of Catholic Bishops, 1971

for November 16, 2008

Christ demands an openness that is more than benign attention, more than token actions or half-hearted efforts that leave the poor as destitute as before or even more. . . Riches and freedom create a special obligation.”
Pope John Paul II: Apostolic Letter On the Coming of the Third Millennium Address at Yankee Stadium, New York, 1979.

for November 9, 2008

Peace is the fruit of the right ordering of things with which the divine founder has invested human society and which must be brought about by humanity in its thirst for an ever more perfect reign of justice. (78)
Gaudium et Spes: The Church in the Modern World, Vatican Council II

for November 2, 2008

Excessive economic and social disparity between individuals and people of the one human race is a source of scandal and militates against social justice, equity, human dignity, as well as social and international peace. (29)
Gaudium et Spes: The Church in the Modern World, Vatican Council II

for October 26, 2008

Christians’ specific contribution to justice is the day-to-day life of individual believers acting like the leaven of the Gospel in their family, their school, their work and their social and civic life.
(49) World Synod of Catholic Bishops, 1971

for October 19, 2008

“If the Church is involved in defending or promoting human dignity, she does so in accordance with her mission. She has learned that an indispensable part of her evangelising mission is made up of works on behalf of justice and human promotion.”
Puebla, Mexico, 1979. Apostolic Letter On the Coming of the Third Millennium, Pope John Paul II

for October 12, 2008

“I will not tire of declaring that if we really want an effective end to the violence, we must remove the violence that lies at the root of all violence: structural violence, social injustice, the exclusion of citizens from the management of the country, representation.” - Archbishop Romero of El Salvador. ”
Justice and Peace in a New Caribbean: The Roman Catholic Bishops of the Antilles

for September 28, 2008

“It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church (2418)

for September 21, 2008

“It must be said that a commitment to justice and peace, in a world like ours, marked by so many conflicts and intolerable social and economic injustices, is a necessary condition for the preparation and celebration of the jubilee.”
Apostolic Letter On the Coming of the Third Millennium, Pope John Paul II

for September 14, 2008

“God destined the earth and all it contains for all people and nations so that all created things would be shared fairly by all humankind under the guidance of justice tempered by charity.”
(6) (69) Gaudium et Spes: The Church in the Modern World: Vatican Council II

for September 7, 2008

"It is worthless to offer prayers and sacrifices to God unless, at the same time, one defends the rights of the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the labourer – all those whom today we would call the under-privileged."
(6) Justice and Peace in a New Caribbean: The Roman Catholic Bishops of the Antilles