Although it’s
posted on the CESJ website, we made a reference
yesterday to the Core Values of the Center for Economic and Social
Justice. Therefore, without further ado,
we post them today, either as a refresher or an introduction. There is, of course, much more about CESJ on the website, which you are encouraged to visit:
Successful organizations start with
people firmly committed to a set of core values, which cannot be compromised
without weakening the organization. CESJ’s strength, unity and programs flow
from our founding principles, agreed upon by consensus from our first meeting
on April 7, 1984. Our core values were developed to guide us in our work, to
attract others sharing these values and to serve as the very basis of CESJ’s
existence.
As an organization open to all
people, we think that our core values, once understood, are universally
appealing. We see this reflected in the broad diversity of the backgrounds of
those who come together because of these shared values. The essence of our
founding principles has not changed from the founding of CESJ. But, as we
discuss them together and with others, we will continue to refine and clarify
our values by consensus. The following are CESJ’s core values:
·
There
is an ultimate Source of all creation and of all universal and absolute values
such as Truth, Beauty, Love and Justice, which represent the highest ends of
human actions. Many people call this Source, God.
·
Nothing
should stand between God and the human person.
·
There
is a hierarchy of human work: The highest form of work is perfecting the social
order to elevate each person in his or her relationship to God. The lowest but
most urgent form of work is for sheer personal survival.
·
In
interacting with nature to promote one’s own perfection, every person must
respect the rest of creation. Each human being, a steward of nature, remains
responsible for conserving natural forms of existence, each of which is
interdependent and shares the same divine origin with humanity.
·
Under
the ultimate sovereignty of God, all sovereignty in the social order begins
with the human person—not institutions including the family, the State,
organized religion, the business corporation, the labor union, or academia.
·
The
essential means to achieve the sovereignty of the person include such
inalienable human rights as the right to life, liberty, and access to
productive property and free markets, equality of opportunity, and the secret
ballot. These rights—including the rights of property—are not ultimate ends in
themselves, but they are intermediate ends or fundamental means to enable each
person to pursue Truth, Beauty, Love and Justice.
·
People
create tools, shaped from the resources and energies of nature, to support the
economic and social sovereignty of the person. Through private property
ownership, each person can become master of the technology needed to realize
his or her fullest human potential and dignity.
·
People
also create and maintain social institutions as highly specialized “invisible
tools” designed to serve highly specialized social functions within a just
social order. Institutions, as organized expressions of society’s values and
goals, largely determine the quality of each person’s individual and social
life. As historical creations of humanity carrying within themselves the wounds
of history, institutions are continually in need of healing and perfecting.
·
The
highest responsibility of each person is to pursue absolute values and to
promote economic and social justice in his or her personal life and all
associations with others.
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