The Virtue of Solidarity: Reinterpreting Charity in Mujerista Theology

Theologians have a moral responsibility to attend to the grave disorder in which the language of morality currently suffers. I argue that the healing of this disorder involves a morally prescribable disloyalty to the semblance of the virtue of charity. In this paper, I will review the moral blind spots and ethical inconsistencies in how the semblance of the virtue of charity is confused with the actual virtue of charity and is thus actualized inappropriately in today’s society. I will then investigate the virtue of solidarity as a prescription to help repair the potentiality of what the virtue of charity ought to be and look like. In looking to solidarity, I will turn to Ada María Isasi-Díaz’ epistemological concept of lo cotidiano as a means of practicing accountability in virtue theory and virtue practice. First, I will explore mujerista theology as an approach and why it is important to ethically attend to the voices on the margins; then, I will investigate the concept of lo cotidiano as a methodology that centers a commitment of responsibility to the other; lastly, I will turn to the virtue of solidarity and argue how attending to solidarity enhances our call to charity in an authentic and accountable way (A version of this paper was presented at the 2025 Convention of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA) in Portland, Oregon).