Parish Social Ministry Themes of Catholic Social Teaching
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Notable Quotations from Scripture and Tradition - The Preferential Option for the Poor

"He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.' Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, 'Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:16-20)

Other Scriptures passages on the theme of the option for the poor and vulnerable:

Exodus 22:20-22;
Leviticus 19:33-34;
Deuteronomy 24:17-18 (laws protecting aliens, widows, orphans)
Exodus 22:24-26;
Leviticus 25: 23-28;
Deuteronomy 15:1-11; 23:20; 24:6, 10-13 (laws protecting debtors)
Deuteronomy 14:28-29, 26:12-13 (laws providing for the poor)
Luke 14:12-14 (reach out to the poor and vulnerable)
Matthew 25:31-46 (judgment of nations)
James 2:1-5, 9 (dishonor not the poor)

Related Excerpts from Catholic Social Teaching

"Still, when there is question of defending the rights of individuals, the poor and badly off have a claim to especial consideration. The richer class have many ways of shielding themselves, and stand less in need of help from the State; whereas the mass of the poor have no resources of their own to fall back upon, and must chiefly depend upon the assistance of the State." (Pope Leo XIII, On the Condition of Labor [Rerum Novarum], 1891, no. 37)

"Therefore everyone has the right to possess a sufficient amount of the earth's goods for themselves and their family. This has been the opinion of the Fathers and Doctors of the church, who taught that people are bound to come to the aid of the poor and to do so not merely out of their superfluous goods. Persons in extreme necessity are entitled to take what they need from the riches of others. Faced with a world today where so many people are suffering from want, the council asks individuals and governments to remember the saying of the Fathers: Feed the people dying of hunger, because if you do not feed them you are killing them,' and it urges them according to their ability to share and dispose of their goods to help others, above all by giving them aid which will enable them to help and develop themselves." (Second Vatican Council, Church in the Modern World [Gaudium et Spes], 1965, no. 69)

"'The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich.' These words indicate that the right to private property is not absolute and unconditional. No one may appropriate surplus goods solely for his own private use when others lack the bare necessities of life." (Pope Paul VI, On the Development of Peoples [Populorum Progressio], 1967, no. 23)

"The prime purpose of this special commitment to the poor is to enable them to become active participants in the life of society. It is to enable all persons to share in and contribute to the common good. The 'option for the poor,' therefore, is not an adversarial slogan that pits one group or class against another. Rather it states that the deprivation and powerlessness of the poor wounds the whole community. The extent of their suffering is a measure of how far we are from being a true community of persons. These wounds will be healed only by greater solidarity with the poor and among the poor themselves." (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Economic Justice for All: Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy, 1986, no. 88)

"In a world characterized by growing prosperity for some and pervasive poverty for others, Catholic teaching proclaims that a basic moral test is how our most vulnerable members are faring. In a society marred by deepening divisions between rich and poor, our tradition recalls the story of the Last Judgment (Mt. 25:31-46) and instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first." (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions, 1998, 5)

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