The foundation of Catholic Social Teaching is that every person has an intrinsic dignity regardless of their ability or age. All people come from a mother and father and are born into a family with its own history and brokenness. Our Savior chose to elevate familial relationships by becoming incarnate and being born into a family. As Pope St. John Paul II shared at the XXVII World Day of Peace in 1994,
“The family, as the fundamental and essential educating community, is the privileged means for transmitting the religious and cultural values which help the person to acquire his or her own identity. Founded on love and open to the gift of life, the family contains in itself the very future of society; its most special task is to contribute effectively to a future of peace.”
The importance of the family is evident and “we Christians have to be ever closer to the families whom poverty puts to the test. But think, all of you know someone: a father without work, a mother without work … and this makes the family suffer, the bonds are weakened. This is terrible. Indeed, social destitution strikes the family and sometimes destroys it,” (Pope Francis, June 3, 2015).
Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas is rooted in first stabilizing, then strengthening families through our programs and services with the dignity of each person at the heart of what we do. How is your family called to serve the local community?