Children, Families, and the Common good: A Catholic Perspective on Public Policy Issues in Minnesota

The church’s social teaching is a rich treasure of wisdom about building a just society and living lives of holiness amidst the challenges of modern society. It offers moral principles and coherent values that are badly needed in our time. In this time of widespread violence and diminished respect for human life and dignity in our country and around the world, the Gospel of life and the biblical call to justice need to be proclaimed and shared with new clarity, urgency and energy.

Catholic Social Teaching Major Themes

Life and Dignity of the Human Person

Our belief in the sanctity of human life and the inherent dignity of the human person is the foundation of all the principles of our social teaching. In our society, human life is under direct attack from abortion and assisted suicide. The value of human life is also being threatened by the increasing use of the death penalty. We believe that every person is precious, that people are more important than things and that the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person.

Call to Family, Community Participation

While our society often exalts individualism, the Catholic tradition teaches that human beings grow and achieve fulfillment in community. We believe people have a right and duty to participate in society, seeking together the common good and well being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable. Our Church teaches that the role of the government and other institutions is to protect human life and human dignity and promote the common good.

Rights and Responsibilities

In a world where some speak mostly of "rights" and others mostly of "responsibilities", the Catholic tradition teaches that human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met. Therefore, every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities - to one another, to our families, and to the larger society. While public debate in our nation is often divided between those who focus on personal responsibility and those who focus on social responsibilities, our tradition insists that both are necessary.

Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

In a world characterized by growing prosperity for some and pervasive poverty for others, Catholic teaching proclaims that a basic moral test of any society is how its most vulnerable members are faring. In a society marred by deepening divisions between rich and poor, our tradition recalls the story of the Last Judgement (Mt. 25) and instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first.

The Dignity and Rights of Workers

In a marketplace where too often the quarterly bottom line takes precedence over the rights of workers, we believe that the economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected - the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organize and join unions, to private property and to economic initiative. Respecting these rights promotes an economy which protects human life, defends human rights, and advances the well-being of all.

Solidarity

Catholic Social Teaching proclaims that we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they live. We are one human family, whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. Learning to practice the virtue of solidarity means learning that "loving our neighbor" has global dimensions in an interdependent world. This virtue is described by Pope John Paul II as " 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." (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, No. 38)

Care For God’s Creation

Care for the earth is not just an earth day slogan, it is a requirement of our faith. We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God’s creation. This environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions which cannot be ignored.

These seven principles are taken from Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions, United States Catholic Conference/National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Today’s Challenges

Life Issues: Abortion, Euthanasia, and Capital Punishment

Abortion and Euthanasia have become preeminent threats to human dignity because they directly attack life itself, the most fundamental human good and condition for all others.

The common outcry which is justly made on behalf of human rights - for example the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture - is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right is not defended with maximum protection.

We call for public policies that:

* Respect and protect the right to life of every person in society - the unborn, the terminally ill and the person guilty of crime;

* Support current Minnesota statues outlawing assisted suicide and capital punishment, and oppose any attempt to challenge them;

* Withhold public funding for abortion and euthanasia to protect the religious freedom of those in opposition to these acts;

* Respect the right of employers not to pay for insurance for procedures contrary to their religious beliefs.

Rural communities and agriculture

The prices farmers receive for their labor and cost of production are depressingly low, leading to an alarmingly high rate of family farm closures. The loss of farm families from the land contributes to the decline of many rural communities and the rise of rural poverty. It leads to concentration in land ownership and consolidation in food processing, marketing, and distribution, with the owners often far removed from the land. This increased concentration keeps many farmers from having free access to the agricultural marketplace. It also results in consumer prices that oftentimes seem unrelated to the prices paid to farmers for their goods.

We call for public policies that:

* Increase access to health care, education, jobs, housing and other services in rural areas;

* Foster the economic viability of small and moderate-sized farms and rural communities;

* Target supports to small and medium sized farming operations on a needs basis;

* Promote and expand community agriculture;

* Protect agricultural land and provide incentives for sustainable agriculture practices;

* Strengthen and protect Minnesota’s corporate farm law;

* Support initiatives to recruit, train, and fund beginning farmers;

* Limit urban sprawl to preserve agricultural land;

* With the increasing use of technology in food production (GMOs and irradiation), consumer protection and food safety requires that we label these foods to protect people’s right to know the contents of their food.

Affordable housing

Housing stability is an essential ingredient to ensure healthy family development, job retention, and academic success for children. But housing that is affordable to households with annual incomes under $30,000 (50% of the metro median income) is becoming more scarce, and in many neighborhoods, does not exist at all. In fact, according to the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, 235,000 households with incomes below $30,000 pay more than 30% of their income for housing costs alone.

We call for public policies that:

* Increase funding of the Minnesota Housing Trust Fund and other programs that target lower income families, renters, and those at high risk for homelessness;

* Require communities to create affordable housing throughout the state, urban, suburban, and rural communities;

* Preserve the affordable housing stock that currently exists and require replacement of units that are demolished for economic development;

* Support tenant rights such as limited application fees, capping pre-lease security deposits and strengthening tenant-landlord mediation;

* Remove, once and for all, the requirement that housing subsidies count against MFIP grants, potentially reducing the grant by $100 a month.

Criminal justice

The criminal justice system is not working. Victims are often ignored, offenders are not rehabilitated, and many communities have lost their sense of security. We are convinced that better alternatives that can be offered to hold offenders accountable and challenge them to change their lives. It is imperative that we reach out to victims and reject vengeance, restore a sense of community and resist the violence that has engulfed so much of our culture. We seek justice, not vengeance. We believe punishment must have clear purposes: protecting society and rehabilitating those who violate the law.

We call for public policies that:

* Protect society from those who threaten life, inflict harm, take property, and destroy the bonds of community;

* Reject simplistic solutions such as "three strikes and you’re out" and rigid mandatory sentencing;

* Promote serious efforts toward crime prevention and poverty reduction;

* Challenge the culture of violence and encourage the culture of life;

* Offer victims the opportunity to participate more fully in the criminal justice process;

* Encourage innovative programs of restorative justice that provide the opportunity for mediation between victims and offenders and offer restitution for crimes committed;

* Insist that punishment has a constructive and rehabilitative purpose;

* Make a serious commitment to confront the pervasive role of addiction and mental illness in crime.

Education

An increasing number of economically, socially, and educationally disadvantaged children reside in Minnesota. The impact of this reality permeates the educational systems of government and non-government sponsored schools. Among the effects are: rising dropout rates, lower graduation rates, violence directed at and perpetrated by children, languishing academic performance, and graduates who lack the basic skills to further their education or to secure gainful employment.

We call for public policies that:

* Ensure that adequate funding is allocated to students and their families instead of institutions;

* Enable parents to implement their natural and constitutional right of freedom of choice in the education of their children;

* Provide all parents a tax credit or tax deduction for the education of their children;

* Ensure a fair and equitable tax financing system for education;

* Ensure that children have access to safe areas in their communities before and after school, as well as during the summer.

Health care

Approximately 400,000 Minnesotans, including 82,000 children, go without health insurance each year. MinnesotaCare, the chief health care initiative to reduce the number of uninsured, has leveled off with an enrollment of 115,000 persons. Costly premiums discourage further participation. Access to care is now also threatened by extreme staff shortages in health care facilities. Nursing homes and certain admissions to hospitals are closed for lack of staffing. Health insurance premiums are skyrocketing again.

We call for public policies that:

* Reduce the number of uninsured by making MinnesotaCare more affordable and simpler to access;

* Increase funding to address the staffing crisis faced by health care facilities to step up recruitment and retention strategies for health care workers;

* Use tobacco settlement dollars to expand, not replace, the state’s commitment to health care access;

* Remove coverage barriers to necessary services, specifically prescription drugs and mental health or chemical dependency treatment;

* Move toward universal coverage of all children by enacting 12 month continuous coverage and presumptive eligibility under medical assistance for children;

* Increase the amount of money seniors and people with disabilities can keep and still be eligible for Medical Assistance;

* Expand assisted living and home health care options;

* Strengthen consumer protections.

Campaign finance reform

While Minnesota may lead the nation in its development of campaign finance law, problems remain. Political Action Committees (PAC) dollars, soft money and corporate conduit funds continue to serve special interests in the electoral process. Our current system of campaign financing retards public participation by imposing financial burdens on prospective candidates and by preventing the average citizens’ participation in the electoral process.

We call for public policies that:

* Expand access by citizens of average financial means to the political process as candidates;

* Foster increased citizen participation in campaigns as volunteers and encourages higher voter turnout;

* Reduce the potential for a small number of powerful interests to dominate or distort political debates;

* Enhance public awareness of who makes campaign statements or finances campaign advertising.

These policy suggestions were developed in accordance with Catholic Social Teaching by the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

Board of Directors

Most Rev. Harry J. Flynn, Archbishop, Archdiocese of St. Paul/Mpls.

Most Rev. Victor H. Balke, Bishop, Diocese of Crookston

Most Rev. Frederick F. Campbell, Auxiliary Bishop, Archdiocese of St. Paul/Mpls.

Most Rev. Bernard J. Harrington, Bishop, Diocese of Winona

Most Rev. John F. Kinney, Bishop, Diocese of St. Cloud

Rev. John G. Berger , Diocese Administrator, Diocese of New Ulm

Rev. David Tushar, Past Diocesan Administrator, Diocese of Duluth

Most Rev. John R. Roach, Archbishop (Retired), Archdiocese of St. Paul/Mpls.

Most Rev. Raymond A. Lucker , Bishop (Retired), Diocese of New Ulm

Staff

Rev. David F. McCauley, Executive Director

Dr. Peter Noll, Education Director

Mr. Toby Pearson, Social Concerns Director

For a complete copy of Children, Families and the Common Good: A Catholic Perspective on Public Policy Issues in Minnesota contact the Office of Social Concerns, Diocese of New Ulm, (507) 359-2966 or the Minnesota Catholic Conference, (651)227-8777.