The Catholic Campaign for Human Development doesn't do much better. We do some Habitat for Humanity, building one or two homes while turning a blind eye to the destruction of thousands, even millions, of low-income dwellings. Instead of empowering the laity in the work of redemption in the world, eyes and hearts have turned inward and focused on structure and process within the Church itself. There is no doubt that the Church must always find within itself the ability to be ever new, yet ever faithful, and must itself be just in its actions, but much of the modern conversation on church reform and social justice are two different sets of issues. All too often, we start talking about justice, but we end up with a segue to something else that is more elitist, less populist, and partisan in its orientation.
Most people form their social and political consciences according to their political affiliations.
We then look within the justice teaching to find things that agree with our politics, and then ignore or explain away those aspects with which we disagree. We have itching ears, and embrace a wide variety of the most outrageous beliefs about social justice and poor people, the Church's teachings to the contrary notwithstanding. Never let it be said that a little papal encyclical or Bible verse ever got in the way of us doing pretty much whatever we wanted socially and economically, on the left or the right, or in the middle. The social justice teaching of the Catholic Church is about feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and sheltering the homeless. The work of justice and peace is orthopraxis, that is, the right practice, the way of life that flows from our beliefs as Catholic Christians.