Justice Matters:   Charity and Justice 

Have you ever wondered about the victim in today’s parable?  We know that he was saved by the charitable act of one man, who was in the right place to help and had the individual means to care for him.  Who was the victim?  Perhaps a homeless individual, vulnerable to random attack?  Perhaps a refugee with no means of support and an identifiable target of violence? What would happen to the victim in today’s society? 

See:     A person’s basic needs include shelter, health care and food.  Shelter Scotland report “In the year April 2020 to March 2021 there were 33,792 homeless applications and 27,571 households assessed as homeless. This equates to a household losing their home every 19 minutes.” 

The NHS is suffering from huge waiting lists caused by staff shortage and many would argue, years of austerity and outsourcing to private companies who are required to create profit for their shareholders. Food banks are in high demand. In our own community we see the demand for the services of St. Vincent de Paul.

Reflect:  There are differences between the charity of the Good Samaritan and the pursuit of justice, exampled in this short story - “There was a village once having a social gathering at an event. In the middle of the event, a person saw a baby crying in the river, so he rushed to save him. As soon as people rushed to the river, more babies were added to the river, people started rescuing them all. But two of them went up the bridge and stopped the person who was throwing the babies into the river.” The Catholic catechism says “The demands of justice must be satisfied first of all; that which is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity.” (CCC 2446)

Act:     Charity and justice go together but have different emphasises:  St Vincent de Paul tells us “There is no Charity without Justice."  Consider supporting SSVP with their works.  Their mission is “United, we seek and find those in need, providing practical support and fellowship in a spirit of justice, while tackling the causes of poverty.”

Learn more about organisations where there is an emphasis on justice and an understanding that there are systems at work which ensure some people in our world do not have a fair share of God’s wonderful creation. In our diocese we have the justice and peace group which seeks to campaign and raise awareness about issues such as climate change and poverty. 

There are many people advocating for different ways to run our economy and move away from profit driven models.  For example this short video gives an interesting view of how our economy could work for all.

Finally the circular economy model rejects our current consumption and waste lifestyle. The Scottish Government are consulting on it and you are invited to contribute. 

Tricia Kaminski