common good

Common Reporters:

Hanson Jay Dela Rosa, RNLillien Gonio, RNKent A. Lagayada, RN

Good

What does

Common Good mean???

Pope John XXIII

“ the sum total of conditions of social living, whereby persons are enabled more fully and readily to achieve their own perfection.”

Pope John Paul II

"is not simply the sum total of particular interests; rather it involves an assessment and integration of those interests on the basis of a balanced hierarchy of values; ultimately, it demands a correct understanding of the dignity and the rights of the person"

Human flourishing is multifaceted because the human being as such has many dimensions.

Human fulfillment includes a physical dimension of health and psychological well-being.

However, the common good, as important as it is, is not the greatest good. The ultimate fulfillment of every human person can be found only in God, but the common good helps groups and individuals to reach this ultimate good.

Pope Benedict XVI

“Besides the good of the individual, there is a good that is linked to living in a society: The common good. It is the good of all of us, made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who together constitute society…To desire the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity (love).”

By common good to be understood “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily”.

The common good concerns the life of all. It calls prudence from each, and even more from those who exercise the office of authority.

Three Essential Elements1. Respect for the person

public authorities are bound to respect the fundamental and inalienable rights of human person.

Society should permit each of its members to fulfill his vocation.

CG resides in the conditions for the exercise of the natural freedom indispensable for the development of the human vocation, such as the right to act according to a sound norm of conscience and to safeguard, privacy and rightful freedom also in matters of religion.

Three Essential Elements

2. Social well-being and development of the group itself

Development is the epitome of all social duties.

Proper function of authority to arbitrate, in the name of the common good, between various particular interests; but it should make accessible to each what is needed to lead a truly human life (food, clothing, health, work, education, and so on)

Three Essential Elements

3. Peace

Stability and security of a just order.

Authority should ensure by morally acceptable means the security of society and its members.

It is the basis of the right to legitimate personal and collective defense.

Threats to Common Good

WAR

Threats to Common Good

RELIGION

Threats to Common Good

DISCRIMINATION

Threats to Common Good

INDIVIDUALISM

Threats to Common Good

POVERTY