Brittany Broomall
November 3, 2014 Paul Ryan represents the Republican political party as a U.S. Representative for Wisconsin. Back in 2012, he was selected as Mitt Romney’s Vice President in the presidential election but lost to Barrack Obama and Joe Biden. Along with being a well-known political figure, he is a part of the Catholic faith. In the article “Preferential Options” we see Ryan’s experiences with the poor, his suggestions on poverty, and how he integrates Catholic beliefs and values into his decisions. Ryan has visited a variety of different places across the United States that are struggling with poverty. Although everyone comes from different backgrounds a common barrier links them all together. Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio stated that “The poor must not be perpetually marginalized, we must integrate them into our community” (America, 2014). Based on Cardinal Bergoglio statement, in order to allow more opportunities for the poor in this country, we must accept them into our families and communities and allow them to grow and learn to become equals in society. By accepting the poor as part of our communities we are helping them find work and become financially stable. Paul Ryan references two mutually exclusive Catholic Social Teaching principles, solidarity and subsidiarity. Ryan states, “Our goal, then, is to foster a healthy economy, one that promotes the most talented and protects the most vulnerable” (America, 2014). He believes that by accepting the poor into our communities, helping them find jobs, and becoming financially stable will ultimately benefit the whole country. This is the ultimate goal of the preferential option for the poor. Ryan strongly believes that every public policy should fall in between these two Catholic social teaching principles. Too much of either principle would not bring us to the best common goal for the good of