The phrase “social justice,” when invoked by members of the Catholic left, is a euphemism for the agenda of the Democratic Party. “Social justice” refers not to objective principles of justice but to specific policies of Democrats on health care, labor, welfare, and other matters.
This is why the historic November defeat of Democrats was treated as such troubling news in many chanceries and Catholic university faculty lounges. Worried headlines, of the kind that were nowhere to be found in the Catholic left’s publications after the election of Barack Obama, suddenly appeared, such as Catholic San Francisco’s headline, “Social Justice Agenda in Jeopardy in US.”
America magazine also sounded an alarm. Steve Schneck, director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at the Catholic University of America, wrote in a piece on its website that the Church’s “years of efforts in America to support public policies that reflect its moral vision were dealt a blow Tuesday evening.”
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