Call to Family, Community, and Participation

How we organize our society—in economics and politics, in law and policy—directly affects human dignity and the capacity of individuals to grow in community. families are central social institutions that must be supported and strengthened, not undermined. While our society often exalts individualism, the Christian tradition teaches that human beings grow and achieve fulfillment in community. People have a right and a duty to participate in society, seeking together the common good and well being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable.

The Church teaches that the role of government and other institutions is to protect human life and human dignity and promote the common good.

* No community is more central than the family; it is the basic cell of society. It is where we learn and act on our values. What happens in the family is the basis of a truly human life.

* The state and other institutions of political and economic life, with both their limitations and obligations, are instruments to protect the life, dignity, and rights of the human person. When basic human needs are not being met by private initiative, and then people must work through their government, at appropriate levels, to meet those needs.

* A central test of political, legal, and economic institutions is what they do to people, what they do for people, and how people participate in them.