Who We Are
Common Good is a movement of faithful Christians dedicated to building a culture of life, family, freedom and solidarity. Common Good is authentically ecumenical and inter-religious, cooperating with other people of faith and all people of good will who share in our mission.
Our Mission
Common Good is a movement of faithful Christians, committed within their own Church traditions, working together for the advancement of true social justice, the protection of human rights, and the promotion of the Common Good.
Through our Foundation and its Alliance , Common Good is committed to education, motivation and effective social action proceeding from four pillars of participation; the dignity of life, primacy of the family, authentic human freedom and solidarity.
Through our Friends , Common Good seeks to leverage and expand our resources and influence to every segment of Church and society in order to transform human culture with the values informed by faith.
"And all who believed were together and had all things in common..."
Acts of the Apostles 2:44
Is this simply a vision of the nascent "idealistic" Church? Or is it a "utopian formula", as some twentieth century counterfeit movements claimed, for an economic and political system that would enforce some kind of new order?
NO!
It is a vision for and an invitation to the heart of those who would follow in the trail of faithful Christians who, for two thousand years, have continued the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ in the midst of human culture. Though some may choose, as in the monastic or intentional community life, to pool their material goods, most are not invited to that kind of expression. However, all are called to a conversion of heart, life and commitment that will fulfill the invitation to come together and walk in common.
"Common Good" is a response to this hour. At the beginning of the Third Christian Millennium, we are drawing from the great treasury, old and new, in order to respond to a great new missionary age and the "New Evangelization" that has been proclaimed by many Christian leaders and, in a particular and prophetic way, through the life and death of Pope John Paul II
Many of us are veterans of other movements. We believe that we need a new movement dedicated to promoting the common good. We have come together under the umbrella of "Common Good", a phrase that we embrace as a prophetic call and a way to move forward together.
What is the "The Common Good"?
"Do not live entirely isolated, having retreated into yourselves, as if you were already justified, but gather instead to seek the common good together" Epistle of Barnabus
Lying at the foundation of our hunger for and commitment to true freedom, is this concept called the "Common Good." Perhaps one of the oldest references to this concept is found in the "Epistle of Barnabus", an early Christian Church document dating back to 130 A.D. Enshrined in Christian social teaching, the concept of "the Common Good" is also one of the foundation stones of the political philosophy and patrimony of Western civilization.
Though "Common Good" is a movement of Christians from every tradition, confession and community, we recognize the lucid exposition of the term found in many sources within our common treasury. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines "Common Good" as " the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily."
In the Christian tradition the concept usually embraces three aspects of "fulfillment" as it relates to the human person and his/her rights to full participation in the social order; a respect for the human person, the social well-being and development of the entire society, and "peace" which is more than the absence of war, it is the stability and security of a just order (see Catechism of the Catholic Church #1905-1912)
At an even deeper level the concept requires the embrace of a vital Christian social "hermeneutic", a lens through which orthodox, faithful Christians are supposed to view
the very meaning of human existence and all of their efforts in human society. Christians should, if they understand the classical Christian faith, know that we were made for family, for community, and for social participation.
Contrary to the individualism and atomism of the age, the individual is not the measure of all things. Freedom is not found in solitude. Nor is it found in retreating into our little enclaves and fighting to protect "us" against them. This entire approach, no matter what the political label or feigned justification, is a recipe for division and despair. This is true even when such an approach is followed by Christians- who of all people should follow in the footsteps of the one who gave Himself up for all!
Christian anthropology (the understanding of the nature of human person) introduced the very concept of "person" to our civilized discourse. It is classical Christian thought that insists that we cannot be fully human without living together in family and community. We are social by nature and design. Our neighbor is to be received as another self and loved.
We are also bound to one another by an obligation of solidarity (we simply are our "brothers keeper") and we have a duty to one another, and most especially to the poor. We have a duty to participate in the social order and find a way to build a just society with all men and women, even those who are different then us or with whom we do not agree.
To not only understand all this but to live it-- is to serve and promote the "Common Good."
Our nation is desperately in need of an authentically Christian social outreach. The efforts at organizing and engaging Christian citizens have accomplished some good, but have also failed to accomplish all that was hoped. We believe that is partially because they had a faulty foundation.
We believe that we need a new "work", a movement that understands and embodies the classical Christian view of social, political, cultural and economic participation. In short, that those who bear the name "Christian" carry on the redemptive mission of the Lord.
That is our "apologetic" for authentic social and political action and public service. We are to be "in the world" to transform it by carrying forward the redemptive mission of the Lord. We are called to serve the "Common Good".
The values we proclaim- and seek to both live and work into genuinely "good" public policy and discourse- are good for all men and women. They are not "religious" in the sense that they are to be held only by those who hold to a distinct religious tradition. They are a part of our common human vocation. They are the glue of civilization.
These values that "religious" people hold so dear are actually not really to be held at all-in the sense of clinging. Rather, they are to be given away and worked into the leaven of the whole society so that we may share the bread with every man, woman and child in America . In that way we will promote the "common good"
These values are founded upon a respect for the dignity of all human life, from conception to natural death. They require that a special esteem, protection and honor be given to the first cell of society, monogamous, faithful marriage between a man and a woman and the family built upon it. They are founded upon a love and respect for authentic human freedom, which includes the first freedom, religious freedom. Finally, these values affirm our obligations in solidarity to one another and our call to embrace a love of preference for the poor, in all of their manifestations in our midst.
While many ask about the dwindling influence of some efforts that seemed so vibrant, we choose to look forward. Not limited by the labels that all too often marginalize and trivialize our convictions and our sense of duty, we have chosen our name carefully. We need a new movement for the Common Good.
Whatever happened to the "Common Good?" Though still discussed in academia and referred to in some political discourse, it has become all too uncommon; replaced with a model of isolated selfishness which pits group against group. Unfortunately this is true as well in even well intended efforts at social action by Christians based on a limited understanding of social justice and participation.
What is needed today is a new public philosophy that re-discovers and re-presents the Common Good as the hinge and the hope of our future freedom and flourishing as a nation -- and our experience of authentic peace. This philosophy must inform a movement committed to true social justice, human rights, authentic human freedom and solidarity.
In an age when many are asking what will become of the Christian political and social activism that characterized the efforts of some Christians in the last years of the second millennium, we come together now, dedicated to promoting the common good.
In the early days of some of the movements from which we have emerged a phrase was often used: "We may not have it all together, but together we have it all" We know that this is true because what we have together is the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that together we can better represent His love and saving mission for every human person and culture, both in our words and in our deeds, as we pursue and promote the "Common Good."
Common Good is organized into two separate and distinct entities, Common Good
Foundation and Common Good Alliance .