Read the Catechism in a Year
Day 240 - The Common Good
How can the common good be promoted?
The common good follows wherever the fundamental rights of the person are respected and men can freely develop their intellectual and religious potential. The common good implies that men can live in society with freedom, peace, and security. In an age of globalization, the common good must also acquire a worldwide scope and allow for the rights and duties of all mankind.
The common good is best served where the good of the individual person and of the smaller units of society (for instance, the family) is central. The individual and the smaller social unit need to be protected and promoted by the stronger power of State institutions.
What can the individual contribute to the common good?
Working for the common good means assuming responsibility for others.
The common good must be the business of everyone. This happens first of all when men get involved in their particular surroundings—family, neighborhood, workplace—and take responsibility. It is important also to exercise social and political responsibility. Someone who assumes this sort of responsibility, however, wields power and is always in danger of misusing that power. Therefore, everyone in a position of responsibility is called upon to engage in an ongoing process of conversion, so that he can exercise that responsibility for others in lasting justice and charity. (YOUCAT questions 327-328)
Dig Deeper: Corresponding CCC section (1905-1928) and other references here.
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