Many of us have found it necessary at times to remind others that we were born alone.  This is often said in response to some situation where we feel we must highlight our independence, and our perceived limited need for assistance and support from other persons.

However the key message from the Social doctrine of the Church today is “The goal which believers must put before themselves is that of establishing community relationships among people.” This is a key ingredient for a successful political community.

While each of us as individuals are entitled to our individual rights such as freedom, a home, education, employment and to be happy, the joy in life is not experienced through our individual journeys, but rather through being able to share our journey with other people - our community – as well as being part of other people’s journeys. 

“The profound meaning of civil and political life does not arise immediately from the list of personal rights and duties. Life in society takes on all its significance when it is based on civil friendship and on fraternity.

The sphere of rights, in fact, is that of safeguarded interests, external respect, the protection of material goods and their distribution according to established rules. The sphere of friendship, on the other hand, is that selflessness, detachment from material goods, giving freely and inner acceptance of the needs of others.”

What we are entitled to as individuals, while necessary to ensure a self-fulfilled life is not sufficient. What is needed, according to the Church’s teachings is the promotion of the human person who has dreams and hopes and who is spiritually healthy, and the common good.

To ensure this we must all be concerned and take an active interest in not only our welfare but the welfare of others. We must make an effort to understand others’ needs. 

“Civil friendship understood in this way is the most genuine actualisation of the principle of fraternity, which is inseparable from that of freedom and equality.” 

Many people think freedom is the ability to do what we like, when we like, how we like. However the world is made up of different people who each have needs and rights and whose paths cross and are often intertwined whether we like it or not.

For instance, if someone builds a house on an incline above someone else’s house and this results in terrible shifts in the land, causing the other person’s home to be threatened, although the new home owner is exercising his right to have a home, he is likely infringing on the other person’s right to have a home.

Therefore to ensure that everyone has equal access to their rights and freedoms and to be treated equally, being aware, understanding and taking an active role in promoting the rights of others is essential. No man is an island. 

“A community has solid foundations when it tends toward the integral promotion of the person and of the common good. In such cases, law is defined, respected and lived according to the manner of solidarity and dedication towards one's neighbour.

Justice requires that everyone should be able to enjoy their own goods and rights; this can be considered the minimum measure of love. Social life becomes more human the more it is characterised by efforts to bring about a more mature awareness of the ideal towards which it should be oriented, which is the ‘civilization of love’.”

While we have spoken about the need for community and the need for us to understand why it is necessary to have a spirit of community – civil friendship, we must pay some attention to the role of the individual person. 

“The human being is a person, not just an individual. The term ‘person’ indicates ‘a nature endowed with intelligence and free will’: he is therefore a reality that is far superior to that of a subject defined by the needs arising solely from his material dimension.

The human person, in fact, although participating actively in projects designed to satisfy his needs within the family and within civil and political society, does not find complete self-fulfilment until he moves beyond the mentality of needs and enters into that of gratuitousness and gift, which fully corresponds to his essence and community vocation.”

What this tells us is that we must not undertake activities that only redound to our individual and family benefit, but rather in addition to this, we must actively seek to give to others and fulfil other persons’ needs. We must engage in some activity that takes us outside of ourselves.

“The gospel precept of charity enlightens Christians as to the deepest meaning of political life. In order to make it truly human, ‘no better way exists ... than by fostering an inner sense of justice, benevolence and service for the common good, and by strengthening basic beliefs about the true nature of the political community and about the proper exercise and limits of public authority’.

The Christian vision of political society places paramount importance on the value of community, both as a model for organising life in society and as a style of everyday living.” 

As Catholics we are therefore obligated to promote a spirit of community through our own actions by being active in activities that serve the common good. Also in light of this electoral season which Trinidad and Tobago is currently experiencing, these thoughts offer us the electorate a new way to assess those persons who are presenting themselves as candidates to represent the people and take Trinidad and Tobago forward.

Do you think those who are presenting themselves, understand the need for a society organised as a true community or do they of themselves exhibit evidence that they have moved beyond their individual needs and have actually in a real way offered service for the common good.

Next week we go into discussion on Political Authority

Persons interested in purchasing the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church may contact the Justice Desk, Archbishop’s House at 622-6680. Also on sale at the Justice Desk is Responses to 101 Questions on Catholic Social Teaching.