Catholic Social Teaching is Alive and Well at Catholic Charities

Each Sunday at Mass, the priest dismisses the faithful by saying, "Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life." This exhortation poses important questions. What truly glorifies God? How can we take the deeply spiritual Eucharist into a determinedly secular world? 

For Catholic Charities, the answers lie in Catholic Social Teaching, a body of doctrine heralded and formed by centuries of prayer, discussion among leaders, debate at councils and official writings by popes.

The principles of Catholic Social Teaching guide Catholic Charities in our work promoting life and dignity throughout Eastern Washington. Catholic Social Teaching is not about our prayer life or our worship — it is about using the fruits of prayer and worship to create social change. It is a transformer that converts the current of God’s love we feel when we receive the Eucharist into the high-voltage action that is needed to build just communities and challenge systems of oppression.

One way to understand Catholic Social Teaching is by touring the work of Catholic Charities across our region. If you start in downtown Spokane, where brand-new apartments house our neighbors who have experienced homelessness, you will see the products of Catholic Social Teaching. Then take Highway 27 south to the town of Pullman, where Catholic Charities has helped vendors at the Pullman Farmer’s Market accept SNAP benefits through our Food for All program. When vendors accept SNAP, our vulnerable neighbors can more easily access and afford healthy foods. After visiting Pullman, head directly west to Walla Walla, where you will find a new HOPE Center homeless shelter called the LOFT. Here, youth find safety and stability. Then head north to Okanogan County, where case management and emergency assistance volunteers have helped families rebuild from the recent massive wildfires. Finish your loop by returning to Spokane, where, despite histories of abuse and trauma, parents gain the emotional skills they need to raise healthy, happy children in CAPA (Childbirth and Parenting Assistance) and Rising Strong programs.

This is the world Catholic Charities Eastern Washington has created by faithfully applying the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. Through more than a dozen programs in 13 counties, 300-plus Catholic Charities employees and an army of thousands of volunteers strive to solve home- lessness, provide housing for vulnerable people in our region, end the cycle of intergenerational poverty and provide a voice for the voiceless.

One of these employees, Parish Social Ministry director Scott Cooper, calls Catholic Social Teaching a holistic vision for our society. It emphasizes the unborn, the immigrant and the labor organizer. Catholic Social Teaching challenges our personal assumptions about the right way to respond to God’s love. It does not conform to our right- left ideological spectrum, east-west geopolitical map or global north- south economic divide.

Instead, Catholic Social Teaching conforms to the Gospel, distilling its messages into principles that promote life and dignity as the foundation for a moral society. With the support of our Eastern Washington community, this is the foundation we work to build every day at Catholic Charities.