Common Good Foundation is a not for profit organization committed to education, inspiration, motivation and missionary activity proceeding from four pillars of social and cultural participation; the dignity of life, primacy of the family, authentic human freedom and solidarity. The Foundation is recognized as a tax-exempt 501 c 3 organization under the Internal Revenue Code. All contributions are tax deductible and are used to advance its educational and evangelistic mission. Common Good Foundation also has a Legal Defense Fund that provides legal advocacy and support in the form of Amicus Briefs or intervention in cases concerning its four pillar mission to the culture.
The early Church had a vision for its redemptive role in human culture that flowed from its own understanding of the Christian mission. Common Good has taken as its own the insights derived from one of the earliest post-New Testament writings, a letter written by an anonymous early Christian leader to an inquirer. This excerpt from .The Letter to Diogenetus. informs our approach to our mission to the culture during the Thrid Christian Millennium.
In a word, what the soul is in a body, the Christians are in the world. The soul is spread through all the members of the body, and Christians (are spread) through the diverse cities of the world. The soul has its abode in the body, and yet it is not of the body. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, so Christians love those that hate them. The soul is enclosed in the body, and yet itself holds the body together; so Christians are kept in the world as in a prison .house, And yet they themselves hold the world together.
For Christians are not distinguished from the rest of mankind either in locality or in speech or in customs. For they dwell not somewhere in cities of their own, neither do they use some different language.their existence is on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, and they surpass the laws in their own lives.
The primary purpose for our educational and evangelistic mission to the culture is to transform it from within through the witness of our words and our lifestyle. We do not withdraw from the culture or seek to .protect. Christians from .the world. as if the culture were to be avoided. Rather, we believe that the Church carries forward the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ, which includes a call to transform human culture. We do attempt to advance the .power. of Christians within human society as if we were some kind of .interest group., rather we seek to serve and promote the common good.
The First Neighbor Project
Children in the womb are our first neighbors. They reside in the first home of the whole human race, their mothers womb. Common Good supports and advances every legitimate effort to ensure that the dignity of every human person, at every age and stage, becomes the polestar of all public policy. Our position on life is not a "single issue" commitment but rather a framework within and against which every other issue must be measured in our mission and our economic, political, cultural and social participation.
The right to life and the dignity of every human life at every age and stage is NOT, in the first instance, a .religious. position; it is a human rights position. Without the right to life and the freedom to be born, as well as the further right to live a full life and die a natural death, unimpeded by euthanasia, passive or active, there simply are no other rights or human freedoms. Our entire system of rights is at risk in a contemporary .culture of death., where human persons are regarded as property to be used rather than gifts to be received.
When .freedom. becomes reduced to a notion of doing whatever one .chooses., including the intentional killing of children in the womb, the elderly, and disdain for the .dependent.. it is gutted from its true meaning and reduced to a raw power over others. This counterfeit definition of .choice. as a right to do what is wrong never promotes true freedom. It inevitably leads to profane forms of slavery and will bring about the demise of the entire system of rights which is the basis of a free society.
The First Neighbor Project opposes the taking of innocent human life in the first home of the entire human race, the womb. Science has confirmed what our conscience has long known; the child in the womb is out neighbor. It is always and everywhere intrinsically evil to take innocent human life. It is also intrinsically evil to .manufacture. human embryonic life in order to then kill that life for spare parts which is precisely what occurs when embryonic stem cells are .extracted.. It is bad science as well. Good Science must serve the common good. The use of adult Stem Cells, fetal Chord blood use and adipose tissue use for the extracting of stem cells holds profoundly promising potential. We support good medical science at the service of the common good.
The First Neighbor Project affirms our obligation in solidarity to our first neighbor in the first home of the entire human race, the child in the womb. We call for a massive show of solidarity with those whom Mother Theresa of Calcutta rightly called the .poorest of the poor., children in the womb. We will give them our voice because they are not being heard in an age that has lost its way, following a counterfeit notion of freedom. We will stand together for life; we will stand in solidarity with our .First Neighbor. until they are given their rightful place in our National family.
The First Society Project
The First Society Project affirms that marriage - and the family founded upon it - is the first society. It is also the first church, first school, first hospital, first economy, and the first mediating institution of society. Our philosophy of government is predicated upon the core belief that the family is the first government and that all other government is first at its service. The two parent, one man and one woman, marriage bound family is the foundation of civil society. The Project defends the primacy of the family as the first society and affirms that monogamous faithful marriage and the stable families built upon such marriages are not vestiges of the past but the very path to a future of freedom.
First Society supports parents as the first teachers of their children, affirming that all education begins in the home. All parents deserve the right to choose from a full array of options, public, private, parochial, and charter schools, no matter what their economic status, as an extension of that educational mission. We support any effective and constitutionally sound efforts to encourage, empower, and support parents in extending their educational mission through parental choice.
The flourishing and advancement of the family as the first and vital cell of society is inseparable from the economic life of persons and the common good of society. From this cornerstone of our culture we derive the importance of property rights, work, and charity as the foundation of a properly ordered economic system. The market economy must be ordered toward the service and flourishing of the person, the family, and the common good.
Finally, we support parents, students, associations, organizations, and religious institutions that support, defend and promote marriage and the family. It is through defending and promoting marriage and family that authentic freedom will be achieved.
The First Freedom Project
The First Freedom project affirms that Religious freedom is the first freedom and a fundamental human right of all persons. We are committed to a fundamental vision of human freedom that is informed by the insights derived from classical Christian thought. Freedom has two sides to its reach; both a freedom .from. and a freedom .for.. Though we may be free to choose, we are never free to make the objects of our choice good or evil; right, or wrong. Freedom must be bounded by truth and exercised within a moral constitution. Our capacity to choose reflects the image of God within us. The choices we make have consequences not only individually and personally, but in our communities as well. Our exercise of freedom must consider the common good of the entire human community to which we are joined.
We embrace the American proposition that religious freedom is best protected by the principles of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and that there should be no establishment of religion in the sense of a Federal or State sponsored Church, which mandates adherence. Nor do we believe that coercion has any place in authentic religious expression or practice. We affirm that religious faith is a human and social imperative and that the values informed by faith as applied to our life together provide a foundation for freedom for all men and women of every faith or no faith.
However, that prohibition against the establishment of a religion must not become a barrier or give rise to governmental hostility toward religious faith, religious persons or religious institutions. The so called .establishment clause. of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is best viewed as an .anti-establishment. clause. It must always be interpreted in light of the Free Exercise and free Speech clauses of that same amendment. Religious faith, religious persons and religious institutions should be encouraged and accommodated. Religious faith and the values informed by faith serve and promote the common good..
The First Freedom Project supports religious freedom as a basic human right which must be secured and protected by law. Rightly understood and applied, religious freedom means a freedom for religious expression; not a removal of such expression. This entails a freedom for people of all faith to participate in the public square and to be a part of the daily social interactions that constitute the very fibers of our earthly existence.
Religious faith is a human and social "good" and the values informed by faith as applied to our life together, have provided a foundation for freedom. Therefore we support religious freedom; rightly understood and applied, as a freedom for religious expression not a freedom from such expression. Hostility toward the role of faith in our life together as a free people and its correct role in our history and founding is corrosive to freedom and does not serve the common good.
The First Friend Project
The First Friend project affirms the social obligation of solidarity with the poor and the needy that has been the foundation of all effective compassion and charity. At the heart of the Christian message is the preferential love and concern shown to the poor by the Lord. He insists that those who bear His name demonstrate that same concern. They are our first friends. This obligation is well served by the insights derived from classical Christian thought. The principle of solidarity acknowledges that we are all neighbors and that we truly are .our brothers' keeper.. The principle of subsidiarity affirms that those closest to the need are best suited and most effective in helping to meet it. Both principles must be considered and applied in this vital task.
The First Friend project affirms that Christians are called to a special obligation to the poor; to have a .heart. (in the biblical sense of a fundamental core commitment) for the poor and the needy in all of their manifestations in our midst. Poverty is not only an economic reality. There are many who have wealth but are also poor and needy. There has been a growing callousness in our contemporary culture toward those in need. We risk becoming a culture that fails to hear the cry of the poor.
Some overly centralized efforts to help those in need, even if well intended, have not been the most effective vehicle for fulfilling our obligations in solidarity and have often violated the principle of subsidiarity by relying on an overly centralized approach to governance that has usurped the role of the family, the church, and other mediating institutions.The First Friend Project supports the proper role of government in recognizing, encouraging and empowering faith based and community initiatives in their social mission. They are the .little platoons. of compassion and are often more efficient and effective in their work of compassion and care.
Truly free enterprise, guided by a moral compass and infused with a social conscience, involves free persons, promotes human flourishing and broadens the circle of participation by promoting a culture of ownership and responsibility. This entails enabling and empowering men, women, and families to meet their own needs, the needs of the community, and the needs of the poor by promoting true freedom within an economy committed to communion, solidarity, and authentic liberation. The Common Good Movement will give a voice to the poor and defend those who speak and work on their behalf.
SOME FIRST NEIGHBOR PROJECT ISSUES: Abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, cloning, euthanasia, human slavery, pornography, dignity for the disabled, concern for the elderly and infirmed, the dignity and equality of men and women, an end to racism and discrimination based on skin color or ethnicity.
SOME FIRST SOCIETY PROJECT ISSUES: Marriage, Family, Abstinence, Fidelity, Marriage Support, Family Friendly Culture, Family Friendly workplaces, family friendly tax reform, Federal Marriage Amendment, State Marriage Amendments and Defense of Marriage, promoting Marriage and Family education
SOME FIRST FREEDOM PROJECT ISSUES: Religious expression in the public square, religious heritage, religious freedom and respect for people of faith, An end to the hostility and animosity to institutions such as the Boy Scouts, an end to the censorship of monuments and historic religious references and the censoring of religious historical reference in public school curriculum and instruction, defense of the pledge and references to God in our national traditions.
SOME FIRST FRIEND PROJECT ISSUES: Support of the Faith Based and Community Initiative, projects and proposals that embody a genuine concern for the poor and needy that apply the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity, the promotion of the concept of an .ownership society., the expansion of economic opportunity and participation, the encouragement of home ownership and entrepreneurship,
COMMON GOOD COMMUNITIES OF ASSOCIATION
Introduction
Common Good is founded upon, rooted in and dedicated to - classical Christian thought and action. Part of its vision and mission involves the formation of .mediating associations., communities of common interest that can support their members as well as effect social, cultural, economic and effective political change. The formation of such associational communities is an alternative to big government and .stat-ist. approaches to social organization. It promotes human freedom and initiative while also providing a model of governance that is closer to the people engaging in the efforts. Thus, it is a demonstration of the Christian organizational principle of subsidiarity.
Further, in today's world of internet communication and instant connectivity, geographical representation has given way to affinity or kinship association. By a keystroke on a computer or a number on a cell phone, modern culture is connected. Marshall McLuhan, the twentieth century .guru. on media, said regularly that .the medium is the massage.. Given the continued advancement in media since he penned those words almost a half-century ago, Common Good is committed to harnessing the best this new world of technology can offer while maintaining the personal touch so important in a high-tech society.
Each of these associations will operate under the umbrella of the movement but develop their own goals, actions and objectives that are consistent with the mission of Common Good. The following are examples of such associational groupings representative of interests already expressed to the leadership of the movement. The final example, .Seniors Alliance for the Common Good. is broken out in more detail as an example of the potential influence and scope of such associational communities.
Every association, while uniquely given to a specific emphasis, will follow similar guidelines and be established with a common ethos:
*Informed by faith
*Committed to one another
*Serving the Common Good
Associational Groups in formation