By Fred Kammer, S.J. Critical to Catholic thinking is the
fundamental concept of the common good. The Catechism, following
Pope John XXIII in Mater et Magistra and Vatican II, defines the
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.”1 The common good
applies to each human community, but its most complete
realization occurs in the political community where the state’s
role is “to defend and promote the common good of civil society,
its citizens, and intermediate bodies.”2 Three Essential
Elements The Catechism notes three essential elements of the
common good: respect for the individual, the social well-being
and development of the group, and peace which results from the
stability of a just society. The common good’s conceptual roots
lie in Greek and Roman philosophy as the goal of political life,
the good of the city (pólis), and the task entrusted to civic
leaders.3 Regarding the first essent