A Nation for All

On the eve of the most important presidential election in decades, A NATION FOR ALL sounds the trumpet to the tens of millions of U.S. Catholics who have refused to buy the notion that people of faith must subscribe to the narrow agenda of the far right. By shining the light of authentic Catholic teaching on pressing contemporary concerns like war, human dignity, poverty, and the looming global climate crisis, this book shows Catholics how their own faith tradition calls them to tackle a sweeping array of issues commonly left out of the faith and politics dialog. Most important, A NATION FOR ALL demonstrates how the core Catholic and Christian belief in promoting the common good can provide Americans of all faith traditions with a much-needed solution to the downward spiral of greed, materialism, and excessive individualism. Foreword by Senator Robert P. Casey Jr. vii

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xiii

1. The Common Good 1

Origins of the Common Good 3

A Catholic Vision of the Common Good 4

Restoring the Common Good 9

Challenges to the Common Good 9

Building a Culture of the Common Good 10

Rebuilding the Common Good for Our Families, Jobs, and Environment 14

2. The Catholic Social Tradition 19

Surprising or Familiar? 20

Key Themes of the Catholic Social Tradition 23

The Dignity of the Human Person 24

The Common Good 24

Solidarity 25

Subsidiarity 25

The Preferential Option for the Poor 26

The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers 26

Rights, Responsibilities, Participation 27

Universal Destination of Goods 27

Stewardship of God’s Creation 28

Peace 28

Popes and Principles 29

TheWorkers' Pope: Leo XIII 29

The Social Justice Pope: Pius XI 31

A Pope for the Common Good: John XXIII 32

Engaging the World: Vatican II 33

The Human Development Pope: Paul VI 34

The Life and Social Justice Pope: John Paul II 35

The Pope of Love and Hope: Benedict XVI 37

Living the Catholic Social Tradition 39

3. Church and State 43

The Truth About Separation 46

A Place for Faith 48

The Importance of Compromise 51

Church and State in the Catholic Tradition 53

Political Compromise and the Culture of Life 57

4. Voting Catholic 65

Catholics and the Religious Right 67

Theology and the Politics of Division 73

Voting for the Common Good 78

Inform Your Conscience 79

Use Prudence 79

Vote for the Common Good 80

Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship 81

5. An Agenda for the Common Good 83

Poverty: The Root of All Problems 86

Abortion 92

The Global Climate Crisis 96

Health Care 98

War 100

Immigration 102

6. Practicing the Common Good 105

Conviction or Cowardice? 109

Civility or Destruction? 112

Compromise or Disengagement? 115

Persuasion or Coercion? 118

Faith, Politics, and the Future of America 119

Resources on Catholic Social Teaching and the Common Good 125

Election Day Checklist 137

The Authors 139

Index 141

Chris Korzen is co-founder and executive director of Catholics United. He served as executive director of the Catholic Voting Project in 2004 and 2005 after working as an organizer with the Service Employees International Union and Pax Christi USA.

Alexia Kelley is a principal founder and executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. She has served in diverse capacities with nongovernmental organizations committed to poverty reduction, social justice, and the environment. For nearly a decade, she worked in media, outreach, and development at the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the Catholic Church's national anti-poverty program.

Praise for A Nation for All

"Alexia Kelley and Chris Korzen brilliantly bring alive the Common Good tradition not only because they understand it from the inside out, but also because they are deeply informed by their own efforts to do the hard work of justice. A Nation for All is a wise book that reminds Catholics of the astonishing relevance of their church's social teaching and offers Catholics and non-Catholics alike a genuinely fresh approach to healing the politics of division."
—E.J. Dionne Jr., senior fellow at Brookings Institution; University Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University; and author, Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right

"In the divided state of American politics, an agenda of 'the common good' presents a clear and compelling vision for our future. With its history of the Catholic social tradition and its public policy ideas for today, A Nation for All persuasively offers that vision. I am an evangelical convert to Catholic social teaching, and this book by Korzen and Kelley is one of the best presentations I've seen. This book should be read by everyone seeking a society that works for the benefit of all of us, not just some of us."
—Jim Wallis, author, The Great Awakening, and president, Sojourners

"While this book is guided by deeply Catholic principles, Americans of all faith traditions will draw inspiration from its powerful call: to build a culture, economy, and politics in which everyone, rich and poor, has a place at the table, and everyone has a voice."
—Sr. Helen Prejean, C.S.J., author, Dead Man Walking and Death of Innocents

"This book effectively challenges the politics of division by encouraging a creative commitment to the tradition of Catholic social thought."
—William J. Byron, S.J., past president, University of Scranton and the Catholic University of America, and author, Individuarian Observations: Essays in Catholic Social Reflection