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Catholic Social Teaching

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36 views

Catholic Social Teaching

Uploaded by

Jesca Alitubeera
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MARIAN UNIVERSITY

Indianapolis ®

Catholic Social Teaching


Catholic Social Teaching (CST) is often called the “best kept secret” in the
Catholic Church. CST is rooted in Biblical revelation and the experience of
proclaiming God’s justice, needed both within and outside of the Church
throughout the past two millennia. Today, CST is a consensus-building voice for
the dignity of human life, just labor practices, human rights, and the common
human responsibility for eradicating poverty and promoting peace.

Life and dignity of the human person


Call to family, community, and participation
Rights and responsibilities
Option for the poor and vulnerable
Dignity of work and the rights of workers
Solidarity
Care for creation
THE ORIGINS OF CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING
Catholic Social Teaching (CST) has been called the “best kept secret” in the
Catholic Church. While this statement may be true, CST is neither strictly
Catholic, nor is it only about social issues. At its core, CST is a set of essential
beliefs common to Christians, as well as people of other religious traditions.
These beliefs center upon the dignity of the human person, the justice that
pertains to human community, and the nature of the God who ordains both
dignity and justice.

CST has its origins in the mid-19th century. With the industrial revolution
came a nearly insatiable demand for labor, which included low wages, unsafe
working conditions, 12-hour days in fume-ridden factories, and the exploitation
of children and the elderly. These harsh work expectations were accompanied
by low wages, tenement housing, and open sewage. In these conditions,
malnutrition, disease, and injury were all too common. All the while, the
employers of the urban poor were able to grow painfully wealthy at their
workers’ expense. Amidst the suffering of this period, Christian pastors, both
Protestant and Catholic, began to notice the alarming state of their people.
They, along with committed laborers in their congregations and parishes,
helped to advocate for more just wages, more measured work hours, labor
organization, and safer work and living conditions.

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As they fought for these labor rights, Christian pastors noticed how well
the Gospel aligned with their plight. They began to revisit the meaning of
the Kingdom of God, Jesus’ attention to the sick, and parables which drew
attention to the abuse of the poor. Likewise, pastors noticed that this very
Gospel was aligned with the Old Testament prophets, who condemned the
Israelites’ systemic abuse of the poor in their midst. The Christians of Europe
and the Americas came to realize that they, too, were part of a social system
that ignored the dignity of the human person, resisted the true meaning of
labor, and caused great injustice to the human community. As such, they
realized that the biblical call to justice applied to them.

Because of the advocacy of many local pastors, bishops, and lay leaders,
these injustices came to the attention of global Christian leaders. One of
these leaders was Pope Leo XIII, who authored the first work of modern
Catholic Social Teaching, entitled Rerum Novarum, on the rights and duties
of capital and labor. Pope Leo XIII began what is now more than a century
of official Catholic teaching devoted to a concern for social justice and care
for the poorest among us. These concerns have allowed CST to encompass
issues such as war and peace, international trade and diplomacy, access to
education, human rights, and the dignity of family life.
Life and dignity of
the human person

Every person is created in the image and likeness of God intentionally.


Because of this, every person deserves respect not because of what they do,
but because of who they are: an intentionally created being.

Applies to such issues as:


Irreducibility and mystery of the person
Sanctity of developing life Galations 3:28
End of life care

Representative books:
If This is a Man, Primo Levi
Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejean
The Violent Bear It Away, Flannery O’Connor
Gaudium et Spes., Evangelium vitae
Call to family, community,
and participation

The call to become fully human cannot happen in isolation. Humans learn
to love, forgive, speak, and even move through the gift of interaction with
other humans.

Applies to such issues as:


Racial and gender equality
Access to education Romans 15:5-7
Religious freedom

Representative books:
The Betrothed, Alessandro Manzoni
Zeitoun, Dave Eggers
Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis
Rights and responsibilities

Human rights flow from the relationships we have as persons in community.


Being human, each person has an innate response when rights are denied
and s/he naturally cries out for justice. Awareness of due rights such as
food, shelter, water, safety, places a demand on us to be responsible for
protecting the rights of all.

Applies to such issues as: Tobit 4:7


Democratic participation
Human rights
Civic welfare

Representative books:
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
Little Bee, Chris Cleave
Half of the Sky, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Pacem in Terris, Pope John XXIII

JUN. 2017
Option for the poor
and vulnerable

God’s love of the poor takes precedence. If one person is suffering,


all persons are affected and diminished.

Applies to such issues as:


Care for the marginalized—of ethnicity, gender, age, etc.
Care for migrants, immigrants, and refugees
Attention to the sick and suffering

Representative books:
American Salvage, Bonnie Jo Campbell
Isaiah 58:6-7
The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander
The Price of Inequality, Joseph Stiglitz
Nickle and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich
Populorum Progressio, Pope Paul VI
Dignity of work and
the rights of workers

Work, as first exemplified by God’s generous and creative act, brought


forth the universe and life as we know it. Work brings a means of human
fulfillment on both an individual and communal level and so, it can foster
creative human power. Through work, we ease the burdens of daily living,
overcome challenges and contribute to the common good.

Applies to such issues as:


Living wage, employee benefits, and labor organization
Equal pay for equal work
Safe working conditions
James 5:4
Representative books:
The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
The Jungle, Sinclair Lewis
Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII
Laborem Exercens, Pope John Paul II
Solidarity

Human beings are essentially social beings, and through interdependence,


are able to build great societies, form deep relationships, overcome extreme
crises and solve crippling diseases which plague humanity.

Applies to such issues as:


International trade relief
Just war and reconstruction
Willingness to dialogue among nations

Representative books: Matthew 5:9


The Needs of Strangers, Michael Ignatieff
On the Side of the Poor, Gustavo Gutierrez
Think and Act Anew: How Poverty in America Affects Us All and
What We Can Do About It, Larry Snyder
Mater et Magistra, Pope John Paul XXIII
Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI
Care for Creation

St. Francis taught that all creation reflects the Creator’s love and is therefore
deserving of reverence and respect. Even the ability to care for creation is a
gift that humans are called to take up and act upon.

Applies to such issues as:


Responsible stewardship of the environment
Renewable energy
Resisting unjust domination over animals, plant, and the earth

Representative books: Romans 1:20


Oh, Pioneers, Willa Cather
Laudato Si’, Pope Francis
Care for Creation, Ilia Delio and Keith Warner
My Antonio, Willa Cather
Centesimus Annus, Pope John Paul II
Laudato Si, Pope Francis

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