The Practice of Solidarity

M. Therese Lysaught, Ph.D.Institute of Pastoral Studies

Neiswanger Institute of BioethicsLoyola University Chicago

The Good Samaritan

Artist Unknown

Objectives

• Connections to the last few episodes…

• Definition and History: Solidarity

• Scripture and Tradition

• Other Religious Traditions

• Catholic Social Teaching

• Practicing Solidarity and Transformation

Reprise

Affirm…

• Presentations build upon one another

• Catholic Social PRACTICES

• Practices Spirituality

• Shape our vision:• How we see• What we see

• CSPs are dynamic and evolving

Stewardship Participation Association Subsidiarity

Care for the Poor

Solidarity

Dignity/Common

Good

Gratuitousness/Caritas

Benedict XVI

Definition and History

Definition

• French solidaire: ‘solid’

• 1800s: political contexts, labor

• Exhorts to unified action on behalf of the common good

• B/c we are interconnected and interdependent

Historical Development

• John XIII’s Mater et Magistra (1961)

• “Solidarność”—1980• Lech Walesa, Polish

shipyard workers

• John Paul II championed “Solidarność”

• Non-violent, civil disobedience—key to fall of Soviet bloc

Secular Treatment

• Unity amongst oppressed persons

• Can be partisan

• Rooted in:• Special interests

• Dignity of all persons, individualistically-construed

• Generally committed to non-violence

• Sees liberation of oppressed as good for all persons (common good)

Scripture and Tradition

Scripture

• No one biblical word

• “Accompaniment,” walking with (halak)

• Genesis• 2-3• Exodus

• Psalms (e.g., 23)

ScriptureCorporate identity and connectedness central to Hebrew scriptures

• Cain and Abel

• Disparate tribes = God’s people

Incarnation--The ultimate act of solidarity!

Incarnation—The ultimate act of solidarity!• Self-emptying:

“who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found in human appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:14-15).

Early Church

• Baptized Christians are “in Christ”

• “One body,” made up of many parts (1 Cor 12)

• Overcomes the social divisions of “Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free” (Gal 3:28).

• Christians are, therefore, to “be of one mind” (Phil 2:2)

• Grounded in the radical interconnectedness of the Trinity

• Revelation: God dwells with us

Tradition

• Trinity

• Sacramental theology• Baptism

• Eucharist

• “Members of one another”

• “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer…” (1 Cor 12:26)

Other Religious Traditions

Judaism

• Strong sense of solidarity among Jewish people

• ‘Welcoming the stranger’– Hachnasat Orchim

• Abraham and three messengers of God (Gen. 18)

• “So you too must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.” (Deut 10:19).

Islam

• Solidarity among Muslims

• Zakat and Al-Waqf

• Avoid creating dependence

• Attends to roots of problems to put an end to poverty and other social ills

Eastern Traditions

• All life is interconnected

• Root of suffering – craving and desire – isolate us.

• Meditation cultivates awareness of reality and connectedness• Let go of desires

• Reach out in compassion toward others

• Solution to social ills

Catholic Social Teaching

Rerum Novarum (1891)

• “Friendship” and “brotherly love” between owners and workers

• All persons children of God

• All persons have the same end

• All persons redeemed in Christ

Quadragesimo Anno (1931)

• “Social charity”

• Rooted in:• the “soul of the social

order”

• the organic unity of the human family

Mater et Magistra (1961)

• First use of term in papal encyclical

• Shifting perspective from Europe to global issues

• Headings: • “Human Solidarity and Christian

Brotherhood”• “Solidarity and Cooperation”

• Workers and owners united rather than being opposed in “unrestricted competition … and class warfare” (MM, 23) due to common humanity and Christianity

• Rural farm workers should practice solidarity via cooperatives

• Wealthy nations should be in solidarity with poorer nations

Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987)

• Paul VI, Populorum Progressio

• John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (On Social Concern)• Solidarity in Poland

• Dignity of human persons

• Members of human family

• Action not a feeling

• “we are all really responsible for all.”

• Self-emptying

• Benedict XVI

“Solidarity is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all. This determination is based on the solid conviction that what is hindering full development is that desire for profit and that thirst for power … These attitudes and “structures of sin” are only conquered—presupposing the help of divine grace—by a diametrically opposed attitude: a commitment to the good of one’s neighbor with the readiness, in the Gospel sense, to “lose oneself” for the sake of the other instead of exploiting him, and to “serve him” instead of oppressing him for one’s own advantage (cf. Mt 10:40-42; 20: 25; Mk 10: 42- 45; Lk 22: 25-27)” (SRS, 38).

Liberation Theology

• Three levels of “walking with” or “accompaniment”:• Occasional actions

• Longer-term commitments, E.g. study of issues

• Living permanently with the people

• KEY: Personal interactions and accompaniment

• Necessary to cross over invisible barriers• Generate real knowledge

• Make others visible

• Build relationships

Relationship to Other Principles

• Dignity of the human person• Common origin in God

• God’s love for all persons

• Shared image

• Common good• The only way to achieve the

common good

• Gratuitousness• An expression of love, charity

• Because we have first been loved by God

• Preferential option for the poor

• Participation and association

Dignity

Common Good

Gratuitousness

Solidarity

POP

Participation

Practicing Solidarity

Catholic Health Care:Grounded in the Practice of Solidarity

Person-Centered Care

Palliative Care

“No One Alone” volunteer program

• Significant cost reductions

• Significant improvement in patient status

• Patients live longer

Community Health WorkersPartners in Health

• PACT (Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment) program

• Significant improvements in health outcomes (HIV, diabetes)

• 16% savings in total medical expenditures

• 35% reduction in hospital stays

• http://www.pih.org/country/usa/about

Magnet Status Nursing

Shared governance

Crossing barriers of traditional hierarchies

Solidarity in practiceWhat are some of the obstacles to practicing solidarity in your context?

What ‘barriers’ do we need to cross over to be in solidarity with patients? Families? Co-workers? Communities?

Name some examples of solidarity in your context.