We need to assess how often the principles that we believe are vital to maintaining our national commitment ensuring a life of dignity for our parents, ourselves, and our children are reflected in the national dialogue over the future of Social Security and national economic policy. We must recognize our responsibilities to the elderly and persons with disabilities to insure their dignity and worth so that they can enjoy their God-given rights. Because we live in community, our human rights are realized as part of that community. We must all work together, across generations and economic lines, for the sake of the common good, for the general welfare of the entire human family. The Biblical mandate requires us to care for the widow, the orphan, and the stranger.
Today there are still widows and orphans needing assistance.
Subsidiarity Individuals, employers, and employees, often cannot achieve security for themselves and their families without some form of support offered by the entire nation. This concept of social insurance is a necessary complement to achieving that security for average and low wage earning families. Government should participate in creating a comprehensive program for insurance against illness, disability, unemployment, and old age. On this Labor Day, we need to take our faith into the world. Catholicism does not call us to abandon the world, but to help shape it.