• Below is a basic chart to help clarify the distinction between works of Justice and works of Charity.

  Charity – Social Service			Justice –Social change
  Scriptural Reference Good Samaritan Story The Gospel Story does not attempt to survey the causes of highway banditry. The Samaritan provides temporary and immediate relief. Private individual Acts			Scriptural Reference Exodus Story Moses does not ask for food and medicine For the Jewish slave-labor force. He Challenges the institutional system. Message “Let My People Go”. Public, collective actions
  Responds to immediate needs			Responds to long – Term need
  Provides direct service Food, clothing, shelter Directed at the effects of injustice symptoms			Promotes social change in institutions
  			Directed at the root causes of social injustice
  Examples Homeless shelters, food shelves, clothing drives Emergency services “Charity will never be true charity unless it takes justice into account… Let no one attempt with small gifts of charity to exempt themselves from the great duties imposed by justice.” Pope Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, #49			Examples Legislative advocacy, changing corporate Policies or practices, congregation based community organizing