Day 252: The Common Good (2026)
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What is the basic definition of the common good according to the Catechism?
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in Scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 252. We are reading paragraphs 1905 to 1912. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism. which includes the Foundations of Faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own Catechism in a Year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com.
And you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates, daily notifications. You might even be willing to leave a review. Actually, if you leave a review... It does something with the algorithm and it really boosts things and more people see this and maybe more people would hear about it and then maybe more people would listen and maybe more people would come to know the love that God has for them. So if you don't mind, don't leave a one-star review. For crying out loud, if it's day 252, you love this. Can I say that? You love this? I don't know if you love it or not. Maybe you just tolerate it. That's fine too. Today we're talking about the common good. It's day 252, paragraphs 1905 to 1912.
Yesterday we talked a bit about authority and how legitimate authority is exercised legitimately only when it seeks the common good and if it employs morally illicit means to attain this and that all the laws they enact are according with right reason. So what is the common good? Now, this is really interesting. Actually, this is fascinating because we have the individual good, right? What is good for the individual is one thing. And what is good for the group of individuals? What's good for more? So 1905, again, lays it out really clearly. It says this, in keeping with the social nature of man, the good of each individual is necessarily related to the common good, which in turn can be defined only in reference to the human person.
And that's just, I love this because it goes, it's a, it's a, I don't want to say it's not a circular definition. That's not what it is, but we recognize the dignity of the individual can only be really fully realized when there's the dignity of the group of individuals, which must never violate the dignity of the individual. Does that make sense? Because there are times there, and there have been times when someone has asserted the individual dignity to the exclusion of the group and There are also times when people have asserted the good of the group to the detriment of the individual. And what the church is saying is we can do neither of those. We must assert the dignity of the individual because of how good individuals are.
we must care for the common good. But in caring for the common good, we must never forget the individual. Does that make sense? Well, if it doesn't now, it will because we're going to read paragraphs 1905 to 1912 and launch into this. So let's pray, you guys, because it's good to pray and it's good to be with you today. Father in heaven, oh God in heaven, you are good. You've made us in your image and likeness. You've called us to be brothers and sisters. You've made us into a family through baptism. And we also belong to the human family just by the very fact that we share our human nature. We share that image that you have created us in. Lord God, we ask that you please. Help us to always remember and recognize and affirm the dignity of the individual.
Help us also to be wise in making decisions about the common good, decisions about the group of individuals. Help us to never lose sight of either individual good or the common good. Help us walk that tightrope. Help us live that balance. Help us to assert all that is good in this world.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the basic definition of the common good according to the Catechism?
0:05–7:16
2
How does Father Mike explain the relationship between individual good and the common good?
7:16–10:37
3
What thought‑experiment does he use to show that the common good starts with the individual?
10:37–15:39
4
What are the three essential elements of the common good outlined in paragraphs 1907‑1909?
15:39–18:11