One of the websites opposed to the Oklahoma Sponsoring Committee is the Catholic Community Network.  One of their primary points, if not THE primary point of their argument is that the Church should not pay for membership in an organization, and they cite a quote from Deus Caritas Est:

“The Church's charitable organizations, on the other hand, constitute an opus proprium, a task agreeable to her, in which she does not cooperate collaterally, but acts as a subject with direct responsibility, doing what corresponds to her nature”.  [Para 29:3]

Special emphasis has been placed on "does not cooperate collaterally" and they are using the common definition of collateral as meaning money.  I read this quote over and over again and tried to make sense of it in general.  How could you not cooperate with something financially but act as a subject with direct responsibility?  What was Benedict trying to say?  Then, it came to me that "collateral" doesn't mean "money" in this passage.  It means "parallel" or "indirectly".   So what this passage is telling us is that the church shouldn't just allow charitable organizations, but it should engage in them actively.  Honestly, I don't think any Catholics would dispute this.

So why is Benedict stating the obvious?  In context, this passage in Deus Caritas Est is contrasting Justice and Charity and the Church's role in each because they are often thought to be the same thing.  If I hadn't taken JustFaith in 2006, I probably would've thought of charity and justice as the same things, too.

Without a complete understanding of the Church's teaching regarding social justice, it's all too easy to write off social justice issues as too political for the Church.  While we're taught that the Church should not be the government and clergy should not run for office, it doesn't mean the Church shouldn't take a position on issues.  Don't we have positions on abortion and the death penalty?  We also have positions on fair wages (economic justice) and being stewards of God's creation among other things.

The latest Papal Encyclical, "Caritas En Veritate", explicitly encourages the lay faithful to get involved in these matters and work for justice within our social structures.  And following the principal of subsidarity, the Oklahoma Sponsoring Committee is exactly the vehicle to fulfill that mission.