The Common Good: What does it mean for the family?

The Benedict XVI Centre at St Mary's University, with Together for the Common Good, The Centre for Social Justice and Caritas Social Action Network, invites you to an evening discussion on ‘The Common Good: What does it mean for the family?’ with Edward Hadas, Cristina Odone, Mercy Muroki, and chaired by Ruth Gledhill.

The focus of much of social and economic policy and rights-based rhetoric is the individual. However, we all grow up in and belong in families. That is so, even if families come in all shapes and sizes and are sometimes fragile and face immense challenges. But there is evidence that the focus on the individual can create conditions that weaken family life. It is the family in which we are formed, it is where we learn to share resources, reconcile collective goals with our unique individuality, grow up and then assist the older generation, returning the love and service we received as children. The family is the fundamental unit of socialisation and the foundation upon which the common good is built. Drawing on the first event and acting as a precursor to the two subsequent events in the series, our panel will consider what needs to happen in civil society and public policy to create the conditions in which the family can fulfil its critical role.

This is the second of four events in the series: 'The Common Good: what does it mean for families, society and government' produced in partnership between Together for the Common Good, The Centre for Social Justice, Caritas Social Action Network and the Benedict XVI Centre at St Mary’s University Twickenham. The series is sponsored by CCLA, one of the UK's largest ethical fund managers, home of the Catholic Investment Fund.