All people have a fundamental right to life, faith, family, food, shelter, health care, education and employment, as well as a right to participate in decisions that affect their lives. Each person has a responsibility to respect and secure these rights for all people. Government has a responsibility to promote dignity, protect rights, and provide for the common good.
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Brother Mickey McGrath makes the Holy Spirit hugely prominent in his depiction of November’s featured theme of Catholic Social Teaching, Rights and Responsibilities. We call upon the Holy Spirit to give us the openness of heart and the courage to fight for these rights for each human being, just as Jesus did during His ministry on earth.
We invite you to spend some minutes meditating on Brother Mickey’s art, thinking about what Jesus taught, thinking about your own life. You might also like to listen to one or more of the YouTube musical selections below to accompany your reflection:
Glory (John Legend, from the movie “Selma”)
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Scripture on Rights and Responsibilities
When someone is reduced to poverty, we have an obligation to help.
Boaz cares for Ruth, a widow and a foreigner, giving her far more than the law requires.
Give from what you have received and do not turn away from the poor.
Open your mouth to speak on behalf of those in need.
Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
Jeremiah 22:13-16
A legitimate government upholds the rights of the poor and vulnerable.
Seek the welfare of the city, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Just as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.
The rich man has a responsibility to care for Lazarus.
There was not a needy person among them.
God’s gifts are given to be shared.
Faith without works is dead.
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Reflection Questions
With what corresponding "responsibility" might these statements be completed?
- I have a right to speak my opinion; simultaneously, I have a responsibility to ....
- Access to water is a human right, so we are responsible to ....
- Future generations have a right to a livable planet; our responsibility is ....
- My right to bear arms is guaranteed by the Constitution; it assumes responsibility to ....
- The US Constitution names the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all; implied is the responsibility to ...
- People have the right to decide for themselves about whether they'll choose to wear a mask; at the same time, they have the responsibility to...
- People have a right to health care, housing, and a safe environment; that means that we all are responsible to ....
If you were to make a declaration of human rights and responsibilities, what would you say? Here are two declarations that you might want to compare with your own:
How is God inviting you to advocate to protect the rights you feel most passionate about, and to ensure that corresponding duties are fulfilled?
Do you have conversations with your friends, family or elected representatives
to promote policies that protect people’s rights and responsibilities?
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Papal Teachings
Sadly, even human rights can be used as a justification for an inordinate defense of individual rights or the rights of the richer peoples. With due respect for the autonomy and culture of every nation, we must never forget that the planet belongs to all [humankind] and is meant for all [people]; the mere fact that some people are born in places with fewer resources or less development does not justify the fact that they are living with less dignity. It must be reiterated that “the more fortunate should renounce some of their rights so as to place their goods more generously at the service of others”. To speak properly of our own rights, we need to broaden our perspective and to hear the plea of other peoples and other regions than those of our own country.
Many people today would claim that they owe nothing to anyone, except to themselves. They are concerned only with their rights, and they often have great difficulty in taking responsibility for their own and other people’s integral development. Hence it is important to call for a renewed reflection on how rights presuppose duties, if they are not to become mere license.
In human society one [person’s] natural right gives rise to a corresponding duty in other[s]; the duty, that is, of recognizing and respecting that right. Every basic human right draws its authoritative force from the natural law, which confers it and attaches to it its respective duty. Hence, to claim one's rights and ignore one's duties, or only half fulfill them, is like building a house with one hand and tearing it down with the other.
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U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Teachings
Go HERE to watch the Catholic Social Teaching (CST) 101 YouTube on Rights and Responsibilities (3 minutes).
Human dignity is respected and the common good is fostered only if human rights are protected and basic responsibilities are met. Every human being has a right to life, the fundamental right that makes all other rights possible, and a right to access to those things required for human decency—food and shelter, education and employment, health care and housing, freedom of religion and family life…Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities—to one another, to our families, and to the larger society. Rights should be understood and exercised in a moral framework rooted in the dignity of the human person.
Human rights are the minimum conditions for life in community. In Catholic teaching, human rights include not only civil and political rights but also economic rights…This means that when people are without a chance to earn a living, and must go hungry and homeless, they are being denied basic rights. Society must ensure that these rights are protected.
We are living in a global age with problems and conflicts on a global scale. Either we shall learn to resolve these problems together, or we shall destroy one another. Mutual security and survival require a new vision of the world as one interdependent planet. We have rights and duties not only within our diverse national communities but within the larger world community.
U.S. Catholic Bishops, 1983 #244.
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Further Resources
Go HERE for Education for Justice Worksheet on Rights & Responsibilities.
Go HERE for CCC (Catholic Curriculum Corporation) and OECTA (Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association) Partnership Teaching Resource on Rights & Responsibilities.
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For Courage to Do Justice
O Lord, open my eyes that I may see the needs of others
Open my ears that I may hear their cries;
Open my heart so that they need not be without succor;
Let me not be afraid to defend the weak because of the anger of the strong,
Nor afraid to defend the poor because of the anger of the rich.
Show me where love and hope and faith are needed,
And use me to bring them to those places.
And so open my eyes and my ears
That I may this coming day be able to do some work of peace for thee.
- Alan Paton
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Offered by OLL Justice & Peace Committee
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