The Pope is at once very liberating ("I don't have to save the world") and challenging ("I need to live justly.")

Creation of a just society, in short, depends on us—the lay faithful—as a starting point. We may be passionate about different issues, different injustice.

Our Church leaders also have an obligation to share and teach the Good News, so that the Catholics have a solid foundation from which to engage in public policy debates.

For example, given a grave concern for human life, how does that translate to women in crisis pregnancies, the death penalty, stem cell research and other life matters?

Does the sadness we feel when we see a homeless family or a dejected street dweller drive us to action on affordable housing, addiction relief programs, or other ways of address societal ills and individual predicaments?

Some of these injustices may result in direct action by us, some may result in driving us to contact our elected representatives, and others may not touch us deeply at all.

The Church has provided an excellent blueprint for social justice derived from the life of Jesus, the lessons of the Gospel and natural law. (For a list of themes visit the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' website.)

Based on current events, I just highlight some of the following which speak to me:

Human life and dignity must be respected in a just society. All other human rights are derived from being alive in the first place. Without life, no other rights are conceivable and all are secondary. One of the challenges of political life in the United States—and a much larger topic—is just how to live and promote this view without being preemptively dismissed from the public policy debate.

A broad consideration of who is my neighbor is essential to a just society. Is it neighborly to brand all undocumented people as criminals, not deserving of assistance?

If the family who lived next door to us had trouble, wouldn't most of us find a way to help? In the family of nations, how can we best help our national neighbors? Saying "it is their problem" doesn't strike me as being very neighborly.

Religious freedom is central. In the 21st century United States, that is often interpreted as freedom from religion, not of religion. Some insist that their interpretation of religion must be imposed on all. In other cases, some attack conscience clauses as an assault on civil liberties, instead of a religion's honest questioning of societal trends.

The debates raging in the United States today—abortion, immigration, poverty, inadequate housing, education, addiction—are moral and ethical issues that people of faith have every right to speak out on.

In fact, we are obliged to preach the values of the Gospel. We may disagree on policy, implementation or, even, what the most important issues are—as long as the debate remains civil.

And that is what is lacking in so much of politics today. A just society can not form if it is constantly being polarized.

There are a lot of gradients between all and nothing. People of good will may disagree.

Steve Pehanich is the executive director of Catholic Charities of California. He supports public policy and other initiatives for the twelve Catholic Charities agencies. Contact him at spehanich@cacatholic.org.