A Third Way to Our Right-Left Political Divide

Let’s play a game and try to fit these two statements together:

“To claim the right to abortion, infanticide and euthanasia, and to recognize that right in law, means to attribute to human freedom a perverse and evil significance.”

"The needs of the poor take priority over the desires of the rich; the rights of workers over the maximization of profits; the preservation of the environment over uncontrolled industrial expansion; the production to meet social needs over production for military purposes."

I imagine almost everyone reading those statements would attribute the first quote to someone on the right of the political spectrum and the second quote to someone on the left of the political spectrum. However, both quotes are from St. Pope John Paul II. He was an ardent opponent of communism and also a leader in the campaign to abolish the death penalty throughout Europe. Our frustrating left-right divide in the United States allows for little nuance and people are rightly tired of it. Thankfully there is a third way, another means of understanding these principles in which to best organize a society, and that is called Catholic Social teaching (CST).

The Catholic Church has theological teachings about God and the nature of the spiritual life. For example, Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man. The Catholic Church has liturgical teachings about how we as a community of believers come together to worship God and pray. For example, the requirements to ensure that a mass is valid, and that a priest cannot flippantly do whatever he would like during mass. The Catholic Church also has teachings on the way we organize and live our social lives as human beings, aptly called Catholic Social Teaching.

Several years ago, I vividly remember talking to a Protestant pastor and leader of a non-denominational Christian ministry, and hearing just how appreciative of Catholicism he was. He told me that when he was in seminary studying to be a pastor, if you had asked him at that point in his life what two people he wished he had the chance to sit down and have lunch with, he said he would have chosen Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa. What would spark an interest like this from a non-Catholic? I suspect that at least one of the reasons is the inability to neatly put Catholicism in any political box, and that starts with Catholic Social teaching.

There are many different ways in which to talk about and summarize Catholic Social Teaching and I have seen different organizations do so in unique and effective ways. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has done so around 7 themes of Catholic Social teaching.

1. Life and Dignity of the Human Person

2. Call to Family, Community, and Participation

3. Rights and Responsibilities

4. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

5. The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers

6. Solidarity

7. Care for God’s Creation

As Christians we are called to form our minds to see the world the way in which Jesus sees the world and Catholic Social Teaching is one very powerful way to help us do so. It is also a breath of fresh air within our current American political divide.