Charity and Justice by Sr. Gloria Haider

CHARITY AND JUSTICE

Many people view charity as very different from justice in that charity equals social service and justice equals social change.  Also, charity is directed at the effects of injustice, its symptoms; while justice promotes social change in institutions or political structures.  All this is true.  But there are some ways that charity and justice are in close relationship to each other and effect each other.

Many people are involved in individual charitable acts that help their neighbor or community.  With these charitable acts they are hoping for social change.  Christian churches have social services that they offer to the public.  Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services, Methodist Mission Social Services, and Baptist Community Services are just a few Christian social organizations offering charitable services to the public.  These organizations do not directly separate social service from social change.

The way I see it is that by acting with charity an individual person or a charitable organization is doing justice.  Micah 6:8 says, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  To “act justly” can include both active charity and work for social change.  Isaiah 1:17 says, “Learn to do right!  Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.  Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”  Immediately after Isaiah says do right, he says to seek justice that includes encouraging, defending, and pleading for the oppressed, the orphan, and the widow. 

Seeking justice can, and often does, include a charitable action.  I personally was concerned about immigrants to the U.S. receiving justice through our immigration policies.  I wanted to learn more about the immigrants and our immigration policies, so I volunteered at the Catholic Charities Respite Center in McAllen, Texas.  My charitable work helped me to see how charity and justice work hand in hand.  One reinforces the other.

PHILANTHROPY AND JUSTICE

Of course, it is possible that not every person or organization that does a charitable action is also concerned with justice. People can do charitable actions to ease their conscience.  For instance, this is what Martin Luther King says about philanthropy:

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice, which make philanthropy necessary.” Philanthropists and philanthropic advisors who champion equality must work to shift from a framework that grounds giving in “charity” to one that grounds giving in “justice.” A framework rooted in charity alone ignores past realities that forced communities into oppressive situations, and risks reinforcing givers’ lack of understanding with rewards that recognize their benevolence. This sort of charity might relieve guilt and help some people sleep better, but it produces no reflection on either the genesis or perpetuation of inequality. In proposing this fundamental shift, we are not suggesting that giving is not admirable. Instead, we believe the field should seek to reclaim charitable giving by supporting practices that liberate—and that change the attitudes, beliefs, and policies of—society as a whole. It should seek to break down longstanding, intentional, institutional policies that have shaped social divides in the United States and that continue to promote inequality today.https://ssir.org/articles/entry/shifting_philanthropy_from_charity_to_justice#

THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL

What King is pointing out is that a framework must not include charity alone.  Charity must be rooted in justice.  Pope Francis says something similar to this in “The Joy of the Gospel”:

Reading the Scriptures also makes it clear that the Gospel is not merely about our personal relationship with God. Nor should our loving response to God be seen simply as an accumulation of small personal gestures to individuals in need, a kind of “charity à la carte”, or a series of acts aimed solely at easing our conscience. The Gospel is about the kingdom of God (cf. Lk 4:43); it is about loving God who reigns in our world. To the extent that he reigns within us, the life of society will be a setting for universal fraternity, justice, peace and dignity. Both Christian preaching and life, then, are meant to have an impact on society.
Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”), Pope Francis, 2013 #180.

However, justice alone that is not connected to charity is also not a good framework.  This is shown in a quote from Pope Benedict XVI:

Charity goes beyond justice, because to love is to give, to offer what is “mine” to the other; but it never lacks justice, which prompts us to give the other what is “his”, what is due to him by reason of his being or his acting. I cannot “give” what is mine to the other, without first giving him what pertains to him in justice. If we love others with charity, then first of all we are just towards them. Not only is justice not extraneous to charity, not only is it not an alternative or parallel path to charity: justice is inseparable from charity, and intrinsic to it.

Caritas in Veritate (“In Charity and Truth”), Pope Benedict XVI, 2009 #6.

CONCLUSION

I’ve written this article from a Christian perspective. However, all faiths believe that both charity and justice are important in the eyes of God.  There are Jewish, Muslim, Baha’i, and Hindu individuals and organizations that pursue both charity and justice.  Human beings can separate charity and justice saying that one is better than the other, but I believe that neither justice nor charity is better than the other.  They complement each other and are inseparable.