The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 253: Participation in Public Life (2025)

Episode Date: September 10, 2025

The Catechism has shown us how the common good begins with the good of the individual. It further shows us that each individual can participate in the pursuit of the common good for all—and that this participation is not optional, but an obligation. Fr. Mike explains the nature of this obligation in quite simple terms: “see a need, fill a need.” Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1913-1927. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of pure goodness for us, revealed in scripture, and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 253. We are reading paragraphs 1913 to 1927, as all. Always, I am using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of faith approach.

But you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress. com slash C-I-Y. Lastly, you can click follow or subscribe on your podcast app for daily updates. The only notifications today is day 253. We're reading 1913 to 1927. It's the end of this little section, the section we talk about participation in social life. So we talked about authority a couple days ago.

Yesterday we talked about the common good. And today we're talking about responsibility and participation. that essentially everyone, to whatever degree they're able, to whatever, how about this, like a personal, all of us, to whatever degree we are able, must participate according to our position and role in promoting the common good. This is kind of baseline humanity. So remember, we're talking about human dignity, the dignity of the human individual, the human person. That's so good. But we need a community. And as part of community, we need to participate in that community. We can't just merely be recipients of the benefits of the common good. We have to be contributors

in some ways as well. We can't just be consumers, the Church is saying here, we have to participate and take personal responsibility for whatever we can do. So we're going to talk about that today. It's pretty straightforward. I'm pretty, pretty clear. But it involves also a deeper sense of conversion, which is also why we're going through this whole catechism, right? That's not just data transfers, not just information transfers about transformation. And paragraph 1916 highlights this. It highlights that there must be a continual renewed conversion of everyone involved. And that's we're here for, we're here for conversion. We're here to take responsibility for our own spiritual lives, responsibility for what we can do to promote the common good and participate in the life

of the society. So, since we need help, let us pray. Let's pray and call upon our Father in heaven. Father, in heaven, we praise you and we glorify your name. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, we ask that you please help us. Help us to see where it is we have a circle of influence and where we have merely a circle of interest. We ask that you please, Help us in that circle of influence to act in whatever way is best, not just for ourselves and for those who are close to us, but also for the common good. Help us to act in whatever way is best for the most amount of people. Help us to always, always take responsibility for our individual and personal participation in our society, in your church, and in the way in which you desire to save the world. Jesus, please, send us your Holy Spirit.

send your Holy Spirit upon the earth and renew the face of the earth. Pour forth your spirit into our hearts, into our minds, and help us take responsibility for the tasks and the positions, the roles that you've given to us. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen, it's Day 253. We've got some nuggets at the end of 1913 and 1927. Responsibility and Participation.

Participation is the voluntary and genuine. generous engagement of a person in social interchange. It is necessary that all participate, each according to his position and role, in promoting the common good. This obligation is inherent in the dignity of the human person. Participation is achieved, first of all, by taking charge of the areas for which one assumes personal responsibility. By the care taken for the education of his family, by conscientious work, and so forth, man participates in the good of others and of society. As far as possible, citizens should take an active part in public life. The manner of this participation may vary from one country or culture to another. One must pay tribute to those nations

whose systems permit the largest possible number of the citizens to take part in public life in a climate of genuine freedom. As with any ethical obligation, the participation of all in realizing the common good calls for a continually renewed conversion of the social partners, fraud and other subterfuges by which some people evade the constraints of the law and the prescriptions of societal obligation must be firmly condemned because they are incompatible with the requirements of justice. Much care should be taken to promote institutions that improve the conditions of human life. It is incumbent on those who exercise authority to strengthen the values that inspire the confidence of the members of the group and encourage

them to put themselves at the service of others. Participation begins with education and culture. One is entitled to think that the future of humanity is in the hands of those who are capable of providing the generations to come with reasons for life and optimism. In brief, there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Every human community needs an authority in order to endure and develop. The political community and public authority are based on human nature and therefore belong to an order established by God. Authority is exercised legitimately if it is committed to the common good of society. To attain this, it must employ morally acceptable means.

The diversity of political regimes is legitimate, provided they contribute to the good of the community. Political authority must be exercised within the limits of the moral order and must guarantee the conditions for the exercise of freedom. The common good comprises the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily. The common good consists of three essential elements, respect for and promotion of the fundamental rights of the person, prosperity, or the development of the spiritual and temporal goods of society, the peace and security of the group and of its members. The dignity of the human person requires the pursuit of the common good.

Everyone should be concerned to create and support institutions that improve the conditions of human life. It is the role of the state to defend and promote the common good of civil society. The common good of the whole human family calls for an organization of society on the international level. All right. There we are. Paragraphs 1913 to 1927. I think this is just really remarkable. I just, I say that all the time, right? But these five paragraphs, before the in brief, right, before the nuggets, the five paragraphs, 1913 to 1917, I just, let's define participation. Great. Let's go for it. here in 1913, participation is the voluntary and generous engagement of a person in social interchange. So keep this in mind, it is voluntary. One of the things we're going to hear,

I mean, as we continue to talk about community, which is only two more days after this, but also when we talk about the Fourth Commandment, we're definitely going to talk about what kinds of government are good, what kinds of participation is necessary. It all comes back to freedom, right? It all comes back to human dignity. And so participation is the voluntary and generous engagement of a person in social interchange. Keep that in mind. Never, we cannot ever, ever forget that. Because as often as we talk about the common good,

which is so important, obviously, right, help each other to go beyond our mere selves and assist others and work with others for the advancement of the human society, for the advancement of the church, for advancement of just people in general. Yet, participation is the voluntary and generous engagement of a person in social interchange.

And so it must be chosen, right? has to come from a place of freedom. So it's the voluntary, you know, free and generous engagement of a person in social interchange. I like this next sentence. It is necessary that all participate each according to his position and role in promoting the common good. And this obligation is inherent in the dignity of the human person. This is not an option. We'll say like that.

This is not optional. This is an obligation to participate as much as we possibly can, according to our position and role in promoting the common good. that again let's go back to Mother Teresa's quote the reason we have no peace is we forgot that we belong to each other and some of the reasons in some ways right that that we forget and we are not able to have this this advancement of the common good then the reason why some in so many ways we have many of the problems that we have is have I taken personal responsibility in whatever my role whatever my position is in promoting the common good and if I if I haven't

and again keep this in mind remember the principle of subsidiarity principle of subsidiarity is if a thing can be done at the local level, whatever lowest level is, it should not be taken away by a higher level. Therefore, if I can do the thing, then I should do the thing. Maybe you mentioned this before. We have kind of a motto here at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, at the Newman Center, at the student center here. And the motto is we got it from a young woman, her name's Lydia. Actually, her name right now, she's a religious sister, but her mom would always say this. Her mom would, I can't remember her religious name. That's the reason I didn't say it. Her mom would always tell her, and then she told this to us, and now we embraced it.

see a need fill a need that's it so this motto around the newman house right just right now at the current moment it's just a small little house that we operate out of and do this ministry to our students so because of that you know there's a vacuum there's one vacuum for the house and so it's one of those situations where it's okay students hey you see that it's dirty in the carpet pick a vacuum and do it do something about it like see a need fill a need you see that the the garbage can is overflowing hey see a need fill a need you see that there's someone here and they clearly don't know what what they're doing they don't know that the garage is the chapel. They don't know how to get there. So see a need, fill a need. And this is so important

for all of us, right? If we did that, if we were to say, okay, this is according to my position, my role, promote the common good, see a need, fill a need. That's the principle of subsidiarity. Now it goes on to say paragraph 1914, participation is achieved first of all by taking charge of the areas for which one assumes personal responsibility. If there is anything that, again, going back to working with college students, if there's anything that I will try to telecollegeons beyond the basic gospel, beyond Jesus Christ, saves beyond the fact that Christ has established a church on this earth. It is this.

It is the need, the need as mature human beings and the need as mature Christians to take personal responsibility, that we all of us, we cannot be mature Christians unless we take responsibility, personal responsibility for our own spiritual growth. We cannot be mature adults until we take personal responsibility for the areas in which we ought to be responsible. If I'm just looking to someone else, always, and I'm abdicating responsibility, I will never grow, I will never grow up, I will never mature, I will never be the person God wants me to be. And so here, paragraph 1914, love it because participation is achieved, first of all, by taking charge of the areas for which one assumes personal responsibility and gives a couple examples, A, by the care taken for the education of his family. So if you have a family, when it says education, yes, of course it means education like ABCs, one, two, three,

that whole thing. But it also means the care and the protection and the raising, like the formation of one's own family. So my own personal responsibility, when I take responsibility for someone else, like someone who's been entrusted to me, that is an incredible sign of maturity. So that's one example. I have to. At the very basic place, care taken for education of his family, by conscientious work is the other example. And you know, I might not have like a flashy job, I might not have an important job. Yet if I have a job, if I have a task, and again, when I say job, I don't just mean somewhere I get paid, but if I've been given a task, so, you know, there are people who go out of their homes and they work, or people I guess

work from home as well, there's also people, many people, moms and dads who might work at home, meaning their primary work, their primary task doesn't pay them. They take care of their children. They take care of their home. They take care of the family. That can be the task. So conscientious work in that. And also, you could be retired. Being retired is no excuse for abdicating the conscientious work that the tasks that God has placed in your life. And to keep that in mind, I'd probably realize this.

If you're listening to this and you're retired, you probably know this already. You probably know that one of the big adjustments you made was going from, okay, I'm punching a clock. You know, I'm going to work every single day. Now, wow, I'm retired. Break. Freedom. Awesome.

I'll do a couple of these things on my fun list. Maybe hopefully you got to do some of those things on your, fun list, the bucket list. And then you get home and you realize, oh, I need more tasks. Like I, you know, as the human person, we're made for work. As the human person, we're made to do stuff because we're made to God's image and likeness, right? And so one of the things that that God put us in the garden to do, right, labor. And so you realize that I still need a task, even if it doesn't bring me a paycheck, I need a task. And in doing that task, how do we do it? Consentiously. That's it. With intentionality, with purpose. If we do that, it says here in

paragraph 1914, we participate in the good of others and of society. So important. Now, that's personal responsibility. That's where it starts. Paragraph 1915 says as far as possible, citizens should take an active part in public life. We're going to talk about this again when it comes to the Fourth Commandment, but we need to take an active part to whatever degree we can in public life. And it says here, clearly, the manner of this participation may vary from one country or culture to another. But if you're living in some place like the United States of America, where I live, and that's where we're making this podcast out of, you know that we have a lot of rights. We have a lot of rights as American citizens of the United States. But there's also,

those rights come with responsibilities, just like in the church. I have so many rights in the church, but those rights also come with responsibilities. And so we must take an active part in public life. Again, the Fourth Commandment is going to highlight this that, for example, just as a brief example, we are under an obligation. If we have the right to vote, we're under. an obligation to vote, which also means we're under the obligation to learn enough to be able to vote wisely. We must take an active part in public life. I love this quote. It's from Gaudiom Expez. Remember Gaudi McSpez? What incredible document from the Second Vatican Council. It says this, one must pay tribute to those nations whose systems permit the largest possible number

of the citizens to take part in public life in a climate of genuine freedom. I'm so grateful for that. I mean, that's kind of describing, I'm not kind of describing, it's describing what you might call a representative republic or a democracy in those ways, one must pay tribute to those nations whose systems permit the largest possible number of the citizens to take part in public life in a climate of genuine freedom. And so the church is highlighting there are countries, there are nations that do not allow the largest number of its own citizens to take part in public life. Or you can take part of it, but it's not in a climate of genuine freedom. And so we have to. As the Church affirms, we pay tribute to those nations whose systems do that.

And whatever, if you're in a country right now, maybe you would say, I live in the United States and it doesn't allow the largest number of citizens to take part in public life and climate of genuine freedom. Okay, great. Then what do we need to do? Then we need to participate and take an active part in public life to advance the common good, right? That makes sense. It's incredible.

None of us live in a perfect society. None of us live under perfect government because why? Because our government, our society is being up with people like us. And so we need to advance the common good with each other. Now, moving on, paragraph 1916, as with any ethical obligation, participation of all in realizing the common good calls for a continually renewed conversion of the social partners. What does that mean? That means that every one of us is broken by sin, right?

We're all affected by original sin. Because of that, there is a temptation towards fraud, there's temptation towards subterfuges, there's a temptation to evade the constraints of the law, all those things. That has to be firmly condemned because it's incompatible with justice. and we can't have justice if some laws apply to some people and they don't apply to all people, right? That has to be the kind of case. And so, what do we do? Much care should be taken to remote institutions that improve the conditions of human life.

And so if you know of any of those, that might be an area that God is inviting you to support or be a part of participate in. That might be a word for today, participation. Lastly, says paragraph 1917. Let's pause on this one for a second. I know sometimes people are like, hey, Father, you're just going through the first. the paragraphs. Give us more examples. I don't know. This is really helpful. This is so clear that let's just go paragraph by paragraph 1913 to 1917. So here we are in the last paragraph before the Nuggets. And just so you know, we're going to leave the Nuggets alone today. They're there and they're

great. Go back and reread them if you'd like. We're going to end on paragraph 1917. It is incumbent on those who exercise authority to strengthen the values that inspire the confidence of the members of the group and encourage them to put themselves at the service of others. I just think this is remarkable. I read a book years and years ago called Why Johnny Can't Tell Right from Wrong. I think it was the titles that take off from Why Johnny Can't Read or something like that. It was a book popular in the 80s. But why Johnny can't tell right from wrong. I remember it was so compelling because the author highlighted the need for society to tell stories, not just tell stories, but stories that form the next generation, stories that promote justice and virtue,

stories that promote honesty and hard work, stories that promote mercy and the need to take care of others. And there's something about this that it says here so clearly, it's necessary, incumbent on those who exercise authority to strengthen the values that inspire the confidence of the members of the group and encourage them to put themselves at the service of others. The one story in this that just stuck with me so powerfully, and I wish I had all of the details. But it was a story about a, I believe he was a general. and this general was going to award the Congressional Medal of Honor to a soldier who had died in action, right? So he was awarding this, this Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously after this man's death.

And he went to this soldier's hometown to give the medal to his family in the presence of this community. Now, he had gotten to this town and he didn't know what to say. So he went to the local library, and in that library, he found a book on the Medal of Honor. And in this book, it had all these stories of bravery, all these stories of these other soldiers who had a great personal cost, had gone above and beyond the call of duty, and laid down their lives for their fellow soldiers, laid down their lives for their nation. And he looked in the back. Remember when you went to the library and you signed your name in the back when you checked

it out and when you brought it back, your name would be signed there? And this book had been checked out many times, many, many times by one person. There was one name there over and over. And it was the name of the soldier that he had gone to that town to award the Medal of Honor after his death. And it was this, the point that the author was making about this in relating the story is, is we tell stories and stories move us, stories shape us. That if we want the next generation to be just, we tell stories of justice. We want the next generation to be merciful.

We tell stories of mercy. If we want the next generation to be courageous, we tell stories of courage. If we want the next generation to be holy, we tell stories of holiness. That's why it's so powerful. I just love this. It's incumbent on those who exercise authority. That's parents, that's teachers, that's priests, that's anyone who, anyone who has authority to strengthen the values, the values there, right? The virtues that we hold dear

that inspire the confidence of the members of the group and encourage them to put themselves at the service of others. Participation begins with education and culture. And I just think this so powerful, Gaudi Mitz-Pez, or this paragraph concludes with a quote from Gaudi Metspez, it says one is entitled to think that the future of humanity is in the hands of those who are capable of providing the generations to come with reasons for life. and optimism. And I think, I think this is so true. I think that there are,

there's such a need for us to be able to tell those stories that don't just, you know, don't just describe the way forward, but they paint the way forward, right? They don't just say, here's what you need to do next. They show pictures. They write, they show the reveal stories of like, here's what it is to live justice.

Here's what it is to be honest in this world. Here's what it is to be brave or courageous. Here's what it is to choose. Others before yourself is what it is to lay down your life. And we get those stories in the gospel and that's one of the reasons why I think go back to the Bible in a year or even just the Bible itself as a whole. It's so important and so necessary for us to fill our minds with our biblical stories so that we can shape our lens and see this world that's incumbent upon us, any of us who have any kind of authority over anyone to tell those stories that say, this is a good way to live, this is the best way to live. This is the wrong way to live, and this is a great way to live. And I think that's what all of us are called to do when it comes to participating in our community,

participating in advancing the common good. Tomorrow, we're going to talk even more about justice. And it's not just the justice for individuals, but it is a justice that is for all of society. We'll call it social justice. And that'll be Article 3, and that's tomorrow. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike.

I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. Thank you.