SOLIDARITY-COMMUNITY

We turn now to the value of SOLIDARITY. We do not actually see the word “community” in our list of values, but it is IMPLIED by many of them. The Latin roots of the word “community” mean “union with” or “one with,” implying an entity of individuals united with one another. SOLIDARITY means unity with other persons based upon our fundamental RELATEDNESS and interdependence. It entails acknowledging that interdependence and carrying out our resulting responsibilities to the common good. The Felician Values include “Solidarity with the Poor,” which is rooted in the human responsibility for community. Solidarity suggests an image of “standing solidly in union with.” So the Felician value means “standing in solid union with the poor.” We are emphasizing concern for the poor within the context of our implied call to live in community with our fellow human beings. Community and solidarity imply each other and are significant human values.

COMMUNITY is an essential focus in the Judeo-Christian tradition and in many religious traditions of the world. Recall that in the Exodus and giving of the Covenant, God calls the PEOPLE, God is concerned about what the PEOPLE are suffering, God frees the PEOPLE from slavery, God makes the Covenant with the PEOPLE: “I will be your God, you will be my PEOPLE.” The Covenant requires right living among the PEOPLE: If they are going to be God’s PEOPLE, they must do right by one another.

This emphasis continues in the mission of Jesus. Jesus announces the establishment of God’s reign over the earth – the healing of all brokenness, including brokenness of relationships and community (e.g., the return of the leper to his family and community). Many of his teachings emphasize love: “Love your neighbor”; “Love your enemy.” He deliberately forms a COMMUNITY of followers and sends them out to grow and extend that community. His disciples carry his message to the world, always calling people to COMMUNITY and fostering their faith through forming a COMMUNITY. The Greek word for “church” is ekklesia, which means “assembly.” The living out of the following of Christ always is rooted in, takes place in, and extends out from, the COMMUNITY (ekklesia) of disciples (followers of Christ).

In the Christian tradition, salvation is never a purely private, individualistic matter. It’s never “just between me and God.” It always includes, and unfolds in the context of, COMMUNITY. As we saw when considering human dignity, we are created for relationship, for COMMUNITY. We are created to be in relation to one another. We are placed into, and called to live out our lives in, COMMUNITY with others.

Community is not only essential to who we are. It is what we are called to be concerned about. We are social creatures, and our lives are possible only because of other people and because of the social institutions upon which we all depend – and which depend upon us for their functioning. As people of faith, we are called to be concerned about what is happening to other members of our human community and to take responsibility for it.

If this sounds like a tall order – it is! It IS a specific challenge offered by religious FAITH. As we saw with Gaudium et Spes, concern for the dignity of every person calls us to care for the COMMON GOOD. It calls us to stand in solidarity with all persons, but especially with those who are poor, marginalized, and vulnerable. And many other faith traditions besides Christianity issue that same call.

Community – in the sense we are using it here – is not something optional or extrinsic to us, but something essential. In our 21st century, first-world society, we may tend to assume that we can take it or leave it, that being involved in community is a CHOICE. It is not. Our culture’s emphasis on individualism may cause us to forget how deeply interconnected we are, from the very moment we begin to exist.

Community – meaning, again, our essential connectedness to one another – is part of who we are and part of our human vocation. We are ESSENTIALLY related to one another, created to be in relationship with one another. Because of our close interconnectedness, our thoughts, words, actions – our very existence – have a profound impact on the persons around us, just as theirs do on us. Most faith traditions, not only Christianity, acknowledge this fact and believe that we have serious responsibilities because of it.

A sense of community, of relatedness, of connectedness with others has characterized many societies throughout human history. Many cultures have had definite expectations about social roles and social obligations. In some cultures, social obligations take precedence over individual freedoms. OUR culture, on the other hand, emphasizes individual rights and freedoms to such an extent that our awareness of our essential connectedness (and the responsibilities it entails) often takes a back seat.