CNA<\/a>).- Dignity of the human person, solidarity and care for creation are just a few topics author Brandon Vogt discusses in his new book, \u201cSaints and Social Justice: A Guide to Changing the World.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\u201cI hope that this book is a ringing call to saintliness for all readers to say, \u2018I want to be a saint and here\u2019s the game plan for doing it,\u2019\u201d Vogt told CNA July 11.<\/p>\n
\tThe book focuses on seven basic themes of Catholic social teaching \u2013 life and dignity of the human person; call to family, community and participation; rights and responsibilities; option for the poor and vulnerable; dignity of work and the rights of workers; solidarity; and care for creation.<\/p>\n
\tIt uses examples of the saints to show how those themes can be lived out in daily life.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThere\u2019s lots of books on Catholic social teaching that are helpful in terms of the theoretical principles they provide, but most of them are very abstract. That\u2019s what makes Catholic social teaching difficult \u2013 it\u2019s hard to apply.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBy providing readers with examples of how real people practiced the principles of Catholic social teaching, he hopes that readers will be able to more easily live them out themselves.<\/p>\n
\tVogt first became interested in learning more about the Church\u2019s teaching on social justice when he converted from Protestantism in 2008. Like many young Evangelicals, he was \u201cextremely enthusiastic\u201d about social justice.<\/p>\n
\tWhen he brought up these ideas to his fellow Catholics, he quickly realized that there were many negative connotations attached to the idea of social justice.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe more I started reading and learning, I discovered that over the last several decades, these words and phrases have really been twisted and hijacked for all sorts of purposes, but why that worried me was that one of the things that led me to the Catholic Church was social teaching,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\tIn reading Church teachings, writings of the saints and encyclicals, he found a \u201cdisconnect\u201d between what the Church actually taught and how certain words and phrases were interpreted \u201con the street.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI wanted to fix that, I wanted to sort of reclaim Catholic social teaching and give it an authentic presentation and I figured the best way to do that was by availing by the lives of the saints,\u201d Vogt said.<\/p>\n
\tFor each of the Church\u2019s teachings on social justice, Vogt chose two saints whose lives highlighted a particular principle.<\/p>\n
\tThe most important of the Church\u2019s social teachings is belief in the dignity of the human person, which Vogt called \u201cthe first and most fundamental principle.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe believe that, for instance, it\u2019s wrong to kill an unborn child, or an elderly person constrained to a wheelchair, because every person has inviolable dignity that was a result of them being created in the image and likeness of God,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt\u2019s that principle that drives everything that Catholics do to help the world whereas non-believers really don\u2019t have a basis in the same way that religious people do, especially Catholics.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIn his book, Vogt chose Blessed Mother Teresa and St. Peter Claver to highlight this principle.<\/p>\n
\tMother Teresa not only dedicated her life to serving the poor, but she also brought them dignity by seeing them as Jesus in the \u201cdistressing disguise of the poor.\u201d Similarly St. Peter Claver, who ministered to African slaves in South America, saw each person as a reflection of God and dedicated his life to living as \u201cthe Slave of the Slaves.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tVogt said he also wanted a wide variety of saints in his book so a wide audience would find them relatable. He chose single or married members of the laity as well as religious and clergy of various ages and times in history to highlight the different parts of Catholic social teaching.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe often times see the saints as museum pieces on pedestals that are unapproachable and unattainable, but really when you read this book and you read the stories of their own struggles, their own travails, their own difficulties and challenges, they\u2019re in many ways a lot like us,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\tVogt is not only writing about social justice, he is also seeking to live it out, as evidenced by his decision to donate all royalties of the book to Catholic Charities.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019m in a position where I have a job, I have food and I have drink and I have a home, so I didn\u2019t necessarily need the money,\u201d he said. \u201cI figured I\u2019d put into practice what I was advocating throughout the entire book.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSaints and Social Justice\u201d is available through Our Sunday Visitor publishing.<\/p>\n
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Huntington, Ind., Jul 22, 2014 \/ 11:59 am (CNA).- Dignity of the human person, solidarity and care for creation are just a few topics author Brandon Vogt discusses in his new book, “Saints and Social Justice: A Guide to Changing the World.”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
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