How Do You Contribute to the Common Good?
The Catholic and Marianist emphasis on solidarity and the common good emerges from the conviction that respect for human dignity draws us into . The Catholic emphasis on the common good is countercultural. Rather than prioritizing freedom of the individual over the needs of others, a concern for the common good leads us to make choices as individuals, groups or organizations in light of how these choices positively affect other persons and the community as a whole.
The common good is the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily … Every group must take into account the needs and legitimate aspirations of every other group, and even those of the human family as a whole.6
Our decisions and actions affect people where we live, in our classrooms, residence halls, houses, neighborhood, campus, city and country, and ultimately the world community.
As we make these decisions and live in , we remember that the common good is more than compassion from afar and more than what is best for the greatest number of people. The Catholic understanding of the common good is rooted in the practice of solidarity and in a preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters.
In the present condition of global society, where injustices abound and growing numbers of people are deprived of basic human rights and considered expendable, the principle of the common good immediately becomes, logically and inevitably, a summons to solidarity and a preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters.7
[Solidarity] is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each because we are all really responsible for all.8
Practicing solidarity means being actively present with those who are struggling. Practicing solidarity is about challenging behavior that is harmful to others. It also involves working to change unjust social structures that inhibit people from reaching their fulfillment. Practicing solidarity includes a commitment to care for our common home, the environment, by being mindful of and making decisions that benefit the earth and all God’s creatures. We are called to practice solidarity and to actively contribute to the common good at UD and beyond.
1 Rule of Life of the Society of Mary,(Dayton, OH: Marianist Press, 1984), article 8.
2 Characteristics of Marianist Universities: A Resource Paper (Chaminade University of Honolulu, St. Mary’s University, University of Dayton, 1999), 36.
3 Ibid, 38.
4 Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World in Vatican II, the Basic Sixteen Documents, Austin Flannery, O.P. (Northport, NY: Costello Publishing Co., 1996), 29.
5 “
Statement of Dignity,” University of Dayton.
6 Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World in Vatican II, the Basic Sixteen Documents, Austin Flannery, O.P. (Northport, NY: Costello Publishing Co., 1996), 26.
7 Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 158, May 24, 2015. Available at http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html (Accessed February 27, 2018).
8 Pope John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 38, December 30, 1987. Available at http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_30121987_sollicitudo-rei-socialis.html (Accessed Feb 27, 2018).
The Catholic and Marianist vision of education makes the University of Dayton community unique. It shapes the "warmth of welcome" we first experience when we arrive on campus and the family spirit we treasure long after graduation. It calls us to academic rigor integrated with faith and life. It challenges each of us to take up the hard work necessary to build the intellectual, spiritual, religious, moral, physical, and social dimensions of our educational community.