Lately I've starting listening to more soul and R&B.

That's right, a 27-year-old white Catholic is growing an ear for music from the African-American community. And not from the '90s or '00s but from a generation ago.

That's because this music has a social conscience and a heartbeat. More so than a lot of white indie rock, which is sometimes self-obsessed and emotionally stunted. And among the things I appreciate about soul and R&B are not just the smooth rhythms and sweet melodies but also the lyrics that deal with love and social issues. This is why singers like Marvin Gaye and Al Green have an edge over artists such as Interpol or The Shins.

Recently I heard James Brown's "Santa Claus, Go Straight to the Ghetto" on the radio. And it struck me. Mr. Brown's song voices a concern for those who are down, out and forgotten. Calling for Santa to bring hope and plenty to the most underprivileged, he sings:

So, pick up a stocking you find.

You'll know they need you.

So, I'm begging you, Santa Claus,

Go straight to the ghetto.

Now I have a decent knowledge of contemporary music. But the artists who come to mind who would write a similar song are few and far between. Most don't do Christmas songs anymore. And those who do have little room for singing about the poor and don't have the experience of poverty to make it authentic.

This reminder of the poor is a gift from James Brown to anyone with an ear to listen. Especially when poverty in America is our dirty little secret. Now we rightfully point to our country's successes and our social mobility. But we also should remember that the least among us deserve to be recognized as human beings. We forget that Jesus had an option for the poor. For Jesus remarked, in the words of Paul Simon, that "Blessed are the sat upon, spat upon, ratted on."

So believe it or not, James Brown got me thinking about Catholic Social Teaching. In particular, he got me thinking about what's been called the preferential option for the poor.

For those of us unfamiliar with this term, it means living in solidarity with the poor. That is — to paraphrase Father Gustavo Gutierrez, the godfather of liberation theology — realizing that material poverty is always an evil and that we who are not poor are called to choose a spirituality of poverty in how we live our lives. We are to protest the conditions in which the poor live and collaborate to work for political, economic, social and cultural change for the benefit of those who are impoverished.

This is to open up a space for the least to claim their shared humanity. But instead of turning the tables — making the poor the rich and vice versa — this aspect of Catholic Social Teaching calls for a cross-class community in which the poor are upwardly mobile and the non-poor downwardly mobile. It's a meeting in the middle and relying on one another rather than turning the tables. It's the beginning of God's Just Reign on earth.

This idea is echoed in the Gospel of Luke in Mary's response to God (The Magnificat). After Mary accepts God's intentions for her to bear Jesus, she declares, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. ... He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart./He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. ... "

In short, this option for the poor is at the root of our faith. It is the concept symbolized in God entering the world through a woman who is pregnant out of wedlock and who gives birth to her firstborn in a feeding trough for livestock. It is revealed in a God who entered the world in the flesh but neither among the affluent nor even the middle-class. As we prepare for Christmas, we should keep this in mind.

Because, according to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, there are still 37 million people living in poverty in the United States, about 12.6 percent of our population. And as the Campaign also reminds us, there remains a connection between race and poverty. Because even though the largest number of those living in poverty are white, those communities with the highest percentages of the impoverished are communities of color, particularly African-Americans and Latinos. This reminds us that racial justice and reconciliation are always a part of the option for the poor.

Now living in solidarity with the poor, a spirituality of poverty by those of us who are not poor, doesn't mean that some of us don't have responsibility for their actions. What it does mean is that the options available to someone are often outside their control. And that the consequences that come from bad decisions may differ depending upon one's social location. This is the reality of how poverty and oppression intersect. This is what we're called to bring into the spirituality that provides the foundation for our lives.

This is part of a preferential option for the poor. In the United States, this option for the poor is part of being Roman Catholic. Even though we may sometimes forget this. Especially at this time of year. You know, when we're in danger of giving more time to Mammon than God during Advent.

To combat this we can re-hear the Gospels. We can brush up on Catholic Social Teaching. And we can meditate upon the fact that Jesus was born poor.

These all may help. But it also wouldn't hurt if more of us listened to James Brown.

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Kevin Considine is a graduate student at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Recently he was married to a most wonderful woman who keeps him in line and reads his columns to see if they make sense. He and his wife live on the South Side of Chicago. He welcomes comments, feedback or fits of anger and can be reached at {email considkp@yahoo.com}considkp@yahoo.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Kevin Considine.