Glenn Beck, Social Justice and Catholicism

Saturday morning I had a class and during it we watched a video of a speaker, Jack Jezreel, talking about Catholic social justice and my mind wandered to the quote of Glenn Beck that raised such an uproar a couple months ago. Glenn Beck, the conservative radio/television host, was quoted as saying, "I beg you, look for the words ’social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes! …If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop and tell them, “Excuse me are you down with this whole social justice thing?” If it’s my church, I’m alerting the church authorities: “Excuse me, what’s this social justice thing?” And if they say, “yeah, we’re all in that social justice thing”—I’m in the wrong place."

I happen to like Glenn Beck, although I rarely watch him or listen to him. But I remember that when I heard this quote I thought to myself that he had certainly gotten it wrong this time. The gospels point not only vertical-- upwards to God--but they point us horizontal. They point us in the direction of our fellow humans and direct us to take care of them also, especially the weak and the marginalized. Repeatedly, Jesus tells us to take care of the sick, the elderly, and the poor. He tells us that whatever we do to take care of those we do take care of Him.

The United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have highlighted seven themes that are the heart of Catholic teaching. These themes are more fully described here. They are

• Life and Dignity of the Human Person-all human life is sacred
• Call to Family, Community and Participation--marriage and family is the central social institutions and should be strengthened
• Rights and Responsibility--everyone has a right to life and a right to those things required for human decency
• Option for the Poor and Vulnerable--we must take care of those most poor and vulnerable
• The Dignity of Work and Rights of Workers--basic rights of workers must be protected
• Solidarity--We are one human family
• Care for God's Creation--we are responsible for the planet that God has given us

One interesting thing that I got from this video we watched Saturday morning was that even though God focuses His attention on the poor and wants us to do the same it doesn't mean that he loves the poor more than he loves the rich. It's like a parent who is attending to an injured child doesn't love that child more than another. He loves everyone unconditionally. God is giving those of us who are doing well the opportunity to grow spiritually. By reaching down and assisting those less fortunate we are able to grow spiritually because we cannot help to grow in love by helping them.

Here is the problem with what Mr. Beck had to say. The first is that it was taken out of context. What he said was so brash that it was easy for those who might disagree with him to take it and run with it. If you re-read it you will think to yourself that he must be an idiot. The thing is, he was talking about those churches that actually are pushing a political agenda. The second is that Mr. Beck's definition of social justice is a little difference than what we may think. Glenn Beck defines social justice as "Forced redistribution of wealth with a hostility toward individual property rights, under the guise of charity and/or justice." The third mistake was making a comment that would make people think that this is what Catholic social justice is--as one could assume by him using words such as "priest" or "bishop."

The Catholic Church has rejected communism and socialism--they've shown themselves to be atheistic and totalitarian. Likewise, she has rejected "capitalism individualism" because it, in itself, fails social justice (2425-Catechism of the Catholic Church) She recognizes that government isn't going to properly take care of those in need just as the market place isn't. We need to get off our rear, take care of our brothers and sisters, and stop relying others to do it.