Evening of prayer, reflection and conversation tackles papal documents, Catholic social teaching

Maura Baker

Staff Writer

A crowd gathered in the Curia’s Bishop Howard Memorial Hall, Covington, for a presentation titled “An Evening of Prayer, Reflection and Conversation”, March 2. The presentation, organized by the Intercommunity Sisters Peace and Justice Committee, welcomed Thomas More University’s Hannah Keegan, director of the Center for Faith, Mission and Catholic Education, as the speaker. The presentation discussed Catholic social teaching and its key principals through the lens of two Papal documents: Pope Francis’s “Dilexit Nos” (“He loved us”) and Pope Leo XIV’s “Dilexi Te” (“I have loved you”).

The documents — which speak mutually on Christ’s human and divine love — are continuations of each other. “Dilexi Te” was originally conceived by Pope Francis before his passing and later completed and published by Pope Leo XIV last October.

The presentation tackled themes such as humility, love and the dignity of the poor — with Hannah Keegan defining key principles within Catholic social teaching. (These principles being human dignity, common good, solidarity, subsidiarity, universal destination of goods and option for the poor and vulnerable.)

“Everything that Pope Leo is saying is built on the non-negotiable reality that all human beings share an intrinsic dignity due to being made in God’s image and likeness,” Mrs. Keegan said. “And this dignity is not dependent on wealth status, economic status, mental or physical functioning.”

She described this with the words “Dignitas Infinita,” or infinite dignity — as outlined in “Dilexi Te.”

“There’s a kind of material dignity that you can’t lose,” said Mrs. Keegan. “Someone who’s living in homelessness is not living in a dignified place, and we have to recognize that, but they can never lose their intrinsic dignity.”

“We, who have enough, have the responsibility — we’re obligated — that we should have a particular preference for the poor and the vulnerable, for those who can not care for themselves adequately,” she said.

Mrs. Keegan also encouraged those at the presentation to read the documents for themselves — citing them as a “great thing to read for Lent.”

“It’s so helpful to put your heart in the place of receiving what the Holy Spirit is asking right now,” she said.