Catholicism Final

qMel Sanchez

CTH 180

Prof. Stan Ilo

Final Paper

3/15/16

Solidarity

        In the New Oxford American Dictionary the term Solidarity is described as: “unity or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group.” In this course and the Catholic religion itself, the idea of Solidarity is more than present. In fact, religion as a whole is something that brings solidarity into the lives of people all around the world. In the Catholic Social theory we were first introduced to what the principle of solidarity means to the catholic religion. In this paper I will break down the true meaning of Solidarity. To break down solidarity we must first define it, so then we can take the principle of Solidarity and see how it’s relevant to both the past and present of the Catholic social theory. The principle of solidarity doesn’t stop in Catholic social theory as we see it everyday in our very own contemporary and pop culture.  Since identifying this principle, it was very easy to find in the bible, the course’s presentations, in the foundations of Catholicism and in our everyday lives as well.

        In the Catholic social theory the principle of solidarity proclaims that we are one human family. In the hand out we received in class the definition says no matter our national, racial, ethic, economic, and ideological differences we are all one, brothers and sisters. In the religion itself we can find this in both the catholic practices, like mass or communion that bring the people of the church together, but also in the bible. To provide evidence from the bible we have, Matthew 5:9 which states, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”  This further iterates what the social theory says that under Jesus Christ we are all brothers and sisters. In class our presentation we discussed that solidarity is the bond of relationships between individuals and peoples. Solidarity also introduces our fight to help global injustices and inequality in society. Mother Teresa is a great example of solidarity in today’s world; she has constantly fought and given her life to help those in need.  She has been quoted saying, “Love has no meaning it isn’t to be shared. Love has to be put into action.”  This goes into actively seeking out how to find solidarity by creating it and being the one who spreads the message and help. In other popular culture people often say to stand in solidarity with our troops that defend the country. The saying “Support The Troops” can be synonymous with solidarity to our nation and keeping it safe. We also discussed that it is the social virtue, which inspires a commitment to the good of one’s neighbor. In the bible Jesus helped the lame, healed the sick and fed the hungry. Jesus is a great example of the principle of solidarity in these aspects as well, which I will elaborate more on as I go into the foundations of Catholicism showing solidarity.

        When it comes to the foundations of Catholicism solidarity is present of course, in the Scripture we can find many biblical examples of solidarity. To start with Jesus as a teacher, he brought people solidarity in his teachings. When he went out and field taught groups of people he was uniting them. Bringing people with common interests support groups and surrounding them with the word of a God they could believe in. In written tradition we see solidarity as early as the book of Genesis. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” God created us all to be equal and in his own image. We are meant to be humans who are equal and in likeliness to God. We can find unity in our likeliness. In Tradition the sacraments and the mass are both examples of solidarity. Mass as we know is one of the times that we physically can sit in solidarity as Christians. All in one room hearing the teachings of Christ, all receiving the body and blood of Christ together. Hearing those teachings from our Magisterium or Teaching Authority, our popes, ministers, bishops etc. All of these foundations bring about solidarity. In the three M’s, Marks, Membership and Mary we are introduced to the four marks. In those four marks we have unity among, holy, catholic and apostolic. Solidarity in laments terms means unity, proving the principle of solidarity to be unavoidable, showing it again present in the foundations of Catholicism.