The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 255: Human Solidarity (2026)

Episode Date: September 12, 2026

Together, with Fr. Mike, we reach the conclusion of the article on Social Justice. Fr. Mike emphasizes that although we have a right to private property, we also have a duty to meet the needs of those around us. Every human being has a right to what they need to thrive in this life. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1939-1948. 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 Ear podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in Ears brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's families. We journey together toward our heavenly home. This is a 255.

We're reading paragraphs 1939 to 1948. As always, I'm 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 Catholic Church. you can also download your own catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash c i.y you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates daily notifications one quick note just a thank you to all those who have supported the production of this podcast with prayers financial gifts we couldn't do this without you definitely could not make it to day 255

and also you made it to day 255 we are in the next section we're on the last day of chapter two of pillar three section one you know what I'm saying so today we're we're concluding with community, we started in this pillar with human dignity, then community. Tomorrow we're launching into salvation, which I think, well, this has been fascinating, right? I think, hopefully you've been fascinated by this, but it's really incredible that we're going to start talking about, okay, so what is the moral law, the natural moral law, especially the old law, the new law, or the law of the gospel, and what, how does grace work in us and justification? What is that? What's merit? What's the role of merit? All those things we're going to start talking about tomorrow,

today we're talking about human solidarity yesterday you probably remember because it was only yesterday we talked about equality and differences between people that we all have this equality when it comes to our dignity is being made in god's image and likeness and the fact that christ has died for every every person whether they know it or not whether they've accepted that the grace that he's offering them or not and god has a destination for every one of us and that destination is that he wants us to go to heaven we can say yes to that we can say no to that because of that we have this new not not not new thing, but today we're introducing the concept of human solidarity. And human solidarity is this principle that might be, you might say use the word friendship.

You might use the word social charity. But solidarity is a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood. Basically, remember, I think I've quoted Mother Teresa a thousand times. Actually, it's funny. You know, the quote is that if we have no peace, it's because we've forgotten that we belong to one another. I was thinking about where did I get that? Why is that one quote from Mother Teresa? stuck in my head all of the time. And I realized that my mom, my mom who just had, you know, plaques all over

the place, like over every door, you know, from Hobby Lobby or wherever they go Michaels or maybe some other Catholic store. There's all these quotes, right? You know, faith, family, fellowship, or whatever. Prayers go up, blessings come down. Some of these plaques, you know, you know, you know what I'm talking about. My mom, one of them, I just was visiting my dad. And I was just like, oh my gosh, that's where it is. There's Mother Teresa's quote. If we have no peace, it's because we've forgotten we belong to each other, Mother Teresa. So, my mom put that up and now it's in my heart. It's just like so many things. So many things we get from our family, from our parents, so many things I've gotten from my mom and dad. And that's what

we talked about yesterday, right? That we're not born the same. We're born equal, but we need each other. And so human solidarity is that sense that you know something that I don't and I might have something that you don't. And so in order to flourish, in order to have a society that is like the society that God wants for us, we need to have this friendship. We need to have this social charity. We need to have this human solidarity. So we're talking about that today as well as at the end of this, we got some nuggets. We got a few nuggets. And honestly, you know, how long can you go without some nuggets? I don't know how long I can last without nuggets. So today, here we are. We get some nuggets at the end of this chapter two on community. But in order to launch into human solidarity, as well as the

nuggets at the end, let's call upon our heavenly father. Father in heaven, you are good. In the name of Jesus, we ask you to please receive our thanks. but always receive our praise, receive the glory that is yours. Well, God, we ask that you be known, that not only are you known in far off places by people who have not yet heard of you, but also that you be known by us, by your children,

those you have redeemed by the blood of your son and brought to new birth through baptism and brought into your church. Help us to know you, and in knowing you to glorify you, and knowing you to love you and in knowing you to also do your will. Father, we ask that you please, in the name of Jesus, send that spirit.

The spirit helps us to know you so that we can see you as you truly are, and that we can see each other as we truly are, both in our strengths and our weaknesses, and to be brothers and sisters to the human race, to be neighbors to our neighbors, and to love and pray for our enemies. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son. of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It's day 255. We're reading paragraphs in 1939 to 1948. Human solidarity. The principle of solidarity, also articulated in terms of friendship or social charity, is a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood. Pope Pius XVI 12th stated, an error, today abundantly widespread, is disregard for the law of human solidarity and charity,

dictated and imposed both by our common origin and by the equality and rational nature of all men. whatever nation they belong to. This law is sealed by the sacrifice of redemption offered by Jesus Christ on the altar of the cross to his Heavenly Father on behalf of sinful humanity. Solidarity is manifested in the first place by the distribution of goods and remuneration for work. It also presupposes the effort for a more just social order where tensions are better able to be reduced and conflicts more readily settled by negotiation. Socioeconomic problems can be resolved only with the help of all the forms of solidarity. Solidarity of the poor among themselves between rich and poor, of workers among themselves, between employers and employees in a business, solidarity among nations

and peoples. International solidarity is a requirement of the moral order. World peace depends in part upon this. The virtue of solidarity goes beyond material goods. In spreading the spiritual goods of the faith, the church has promoted and often opened new paths for the development of temporal goods as well. And so throughout the centuries has the Lord's saying been verified, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. Pope Pius X-12th further stated, for two thousand years this sentiment has lived and endured in the soul of the church, impelling souls then and now, to the heroic charity of monastic farmers, liberators of slaves, healers of the sick, and messengers of faith, civilization, and science to all generations, and all peoples for the

sake of creating the social conditions capable of offering to everyone possible a life worthy of man and of a Christian. In brief, society ensures social justice by providing the conditions that allow associations and individuals to obtain their due. Respect for the human person considers the other another self. It presupposes respect for the fundamental rights that flow from the dignity intrinsic of the person. The equality of men concerns their dignity as persons and the rights that flow from it. The differences among persons belong to God's plan who wills that we should need one another.

These differences should encourage charity. The equal dignity of human persons requires the effort to reduce excessive social and economic inequalities. It gives urgency to the elimination of sinful inequalities. Solidarity is an eminently Christian virtue. It practices the sharing of spiritual goods even more than material ones.

right there we have it paragraphs 1939 to our nuggets at the end 1948 you know human solidarity again we can say this again and again because it's needed to be said again and again all that we're talking about here remember this human solidarity the fact that for the christian we're going to hear this again when it comes to the commandment about stealing about private property that private property is a good that is one of the principles of catholic social teaching that every person has a right to private property. At the same time, there's another Catholic social teaching called the universal destination of goods. So at one at the same time, the church holds on to these two things. The one is, you have a right to write your own property. You have a right to your own stuff.

And at the same time, the universal destination of goods, which means that there are enough resources in this world for all people. And that if there are some people who are not receiving the resources that they need to survive, that they need to thrive, then then there is an imbalance. Then there needs to be a change in things. Right. So my right to private property at some place, at some level, it ceases when we meet the needs of those around us. But again, it doesn't cease by force. We talked about this yesterday. There's no legislation. There's no law, right, that can change the human heart. We have these brokenness. We have prejudices. We have selfishness. We have greed in our own hearts. And no law can change that.

What can change that is grace. What can change that is recognizing okay, I belong to the Lord, and here is how good God is. God emptied himself. He poured himself out, took the form of a human being. And in that, in that life, he continued to pour himself out. He embraced poverty. He gave himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. And so I need to have that same attitude. I need to have that same mindset that it belongs to Jesus Christ. So, you know, we're going to hear this later on. But if I, yes, you have a right to private property. I have a right to private property. But because I've been loved in this way and because we have this human solidarity,

we have friendship, we have brotherhood. If my brother, if my friend is going without, then I have the right and also have the duty to use my private property for the needs of my brother, for the needs of my friend, for the needs of my neighbors. Does that make sense? So it's not enforced, right? It's not legislated. It's not from law.

It's from grace. but it's rooted, again in this, it's rooted in justice. It's rooted in justice. That it belongs to the dignity of every human being that he or she has what they need, not simply to scrape through life, but they have what they need to thrive in this life. They have what they need to be able to say yes to the Lord. And so what I get to do, I get to when it comes to human solidarity, when it comes to friendship, when it comes to social charity, it's a direct demand of human

and Christian Brotherhood, I have to ask that question. If this was my actual brother or my actual sister, like the one that I know, the one that I love, the one that I would do anything for, if this was them, what would I do then? And this is just so important because it all has to start on an individual level. Yes, it goes to social realms, it goes to associations. In fact, paragraph 1941 talks about this. It says that those socioeconomic problems can be resolved only with the help of all the forms of solidarity, right? So we need solidarity among the poor themselves. between the rich and the poor, workers among themselves, being plain employers and employees in a business between nations and peoples, and all those forms of solidarity, where we begin to see each

other as brothers and sisters. That's where it has to start. And so what it involves is it involves putting on a new lens, putting on a new lens and saying, okay, this person, this stranger, okay, the stranger is my friend. The stranger is my brother. The stranger is someone for whom Christ died. This stranger is someone who, I mean, in some ways we do it like this, right? How do you do this? I would say, oftentimes, I have to remind myself of this. When I see someone who, who, for lack of a better way to describe it, someone who, I'm like, are they just there to take advantage of me, right?

Are they, you know, maybe someone begging, that kind of situation? Are they just there? Are they going to, you know, take what I'm offering them and they're going to use it to to buy drugs or buy alcohol or just wasted on themselves? One of the things I have to ask is, okay, do I remember that they have a mom? Do I remember that they have a dad? Do I remember that at some point, at some point there was someone for whom this person in front of me was everything? And even if that individual in front of me never actually had that to realize, oh, maybe this is someone right in front of me who was never really loved by their mom, was never really loved by their father.

they were never chosen by someone else. And my heart has to go out to them. Yes, of course, the answer is not just money, right? The answer is not just give this person money. Oftentimes, as we all know, one of the main reasons for people who are homeless, yes, can be drug addiction or can be alcohol addiction, also mental illness. And that sense of being able to say, what can we do not just to throw money out of a person, but to treat a person like a person.

And that's why paragraph 1942 highlights this. It says the virtue of solidarity goes beyond material goods. That it's not just giving a person what they're asking for. It's not just giving them 20 bucks. Not just giving them whatever the thing is. Although that's, I mean, sometimes it starts there, right? Obviously. But it involves seeing a person.

Again, if my brother was on the street, would I say, here's 20 bucks, I'm praying for you? Or would there be something more? Would I say, how have you been? How's your day? And oftentimes, again, that's so small, isn't it? It's so small. Just how are you?

How are you doing? But sometimes it involves just treating people like people. Now, I'm using this extreme example of a homeless person, but let's make it applicable to right now, to maybe your day. And you have that coworker. And maybe that the coworker that you love, their coworker you enjoy, their presence, maybe it's that coworker that is kind of tough to talk to when they stop by your desk or stop by wherever you're working, it's kind of like, okay, the quicker I can get away from this

conversation, the better. And, you know, a lot of us know people like that, where we find ourselves looking for the exit the moment they show up. Maybe for that person, we realize, okay, this is human solidarity. And again, this is not necessarily the same thing as here's a homeless person who needs material help. They need, you know, something from my kitchen or they need something for my wallet, but maybe it's a, here's just a person who is like me or is like my sister or is like my brother and they just need some time and attention. Because how many of us, how many of us, just, that's all I need. I don't actually need your money. I don't need your extra coat. I don't need, but you know, it would be really nice for someone to look me in the eye and say, how are you?

and let me answer them. So again, it could be the person on the street, could be the homeless person, or it could be the person, maybe the person you sleep next to. You know, we know this all the time, that there are a lot of married couples who have just find themselves,

okay, we become roommates, and not even like really fun roommates, but just kind of like roommates who tolerate each other. And how would that change if just today, when maybe you asked your spouse, how are you? And then gave them a chance to respond without rushing off to the next thing. I don't know. Again, here I am. This is a big community. And every one of us is coming from a different place. Every one of us has different opportunities to help others. And every one of us has different needs in our own hearts. We all have these different situations.

And so I'm just throwing out some of these opportunities or some of these maybe what might be the case. This might be one of the ways that God is asking you today to exercise friendship, to exercise social charity, to exercise human solidarity. I don't know. But maybe you do. Again, I don't know how God's calling you to move forward today, but maybe you do. And maybe it's going to be really hard. Maybe it's something that you've tried before and have been shot down, in which case, let's pray for each other. We're all in different situations.

We're all in different circumstances. We all have different degrees of courage and different degrees of patience. and different degrees of patience and different degrees of a willingness to love because we all have different degrees of wounds. Let's pray for each other. I'm telling you, I'm praying for you. I really am. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.