SESSION 2
Secular foundation (state)
Salvation history – the progressive unfolding
of God’s plan to save human race from sin and
death after the Fall.
Salvation – a healing, a bringing back to
health or making a person whole again
- Liberation from the bondage that
oppresses the human person
- Freedom form all forms of evil
God’s plan of salvation is the desire of God
for man, woman and all creation to be united
with Him in eternity.
ROLES OF HUMANS IN SALVATION (FR)
1. Moral exercise of freedom – we can
be united with God by freely choosing
to love Him
2. Moral experience of responsibility –
a person cannot be united with God
unless he commits himself to God’s
will
(Follow the 10 commandments; to
love God and to love our neighbor)
God created everything that came to exist.
Beginning can be described by 2 factors:
- Original Holiness – grace for human to
share in the divine life of God
- Original Justice – inner harmony of the
human person (man and creation, man
and woman
SESSION 3
Foundation of the Right to Freedom
Dignitates Humanae – this encyclical has
given the most basic principle with regards to
the Church’s relation with the state.
“The freedom of the Church is the
fundamental principle in what concerns the
relations between the Church and
governments and the whole civil order.”
1. Theological foundation (church) -
mandate of Christ to preach the
gospel to observe His commandments
2.
Secular grounds:
Truth – foundation
Justice – goal
Love or civic friendship –
motivating and unifying force
Freedom – goal and method of
pursuing the goal of justice
Gaudium et Spes – explains the correct notion
of the relationship between the political
community and the church.
Transcendence of the Church in Political
Matters
- Links both the universality of her
mission and her freedom in its
accomplishment
- Transcendence doesn’t mean
isolation, rather it is the immersion.
- The church is the “leaven”
(Leaven is a substance added to make
the dough rise and porous. It affects
the flour when added; it is the agent
of change in the mix.)
The church as the “leaven” can only
affect and inflict change to the world
if, and only if, it participates in the
issues surrounding the modern
society. It cannot affect the world if it
is unconcerned with what is currently
being faced by the people. The church
must immerse, not isolate itself from
the current dilemmas and be a leaven
that transforms and gives the world
greater vitality and meaning.
Separation of the Church and State
1. The State is autonomous and
independent from the Church.
The Church and State should not
interfere in each other’s affairs, nor seek
to control each other, nor allow
themselves to be simply the instrument
of each other. This also means that there
is equality of all religions before the law,
and there is freedom of religion and
worship by each citizen.
The mandate provides that:
1. There can be no official State religion
2. No religious test shall be required
3. No public money or property shall be
appropriated for the benefit of any
church
2. Distinction between State and Society
- Catholic theology supports and
defends the separation of the church
and state
- The separation of the Church and
State does not mean separation of the
church and the society.
- No conflict between the theological
vision that allows the church to
engage in social and political matters
more so to participate in shaping
society as volunteer associations that
contain the needed moral religious
vision.
3. Separated but does not mean absence
of dialogue
The church must initiate dialogue about the
relationship of religious communities and the
political process. The direction our society
takes must include an assessment moral and
religious conviction.
4. No official State religion
The best solution for the State is the
avoidance of any official identification with
one of the religious groups. But since the
most fundamental values of society belong to
the central substance of the Church’s
proclamation, the Church proves to be a
guarantor of the common good.
5. Loyalty to civil authority
The loyalty to civil authority need not
contradict obedience to God. To render unto
God what is God’s, is never to render
uncritical obedience to Caesar. Hence, the
separation of Church and State cannot be
used as an argument against the involvement
of the Catholic faithful and of the Church itself
in shaping the political failure of the State.
SESSION 4
Octogesima Advieniens – On the Eightieth
Anniversary (Pope Paul VI, 1971)
Background/context: A call to action
- written on 80th Anniversary of Rerum
Novarum, it calls individual Christians and
parishes to take personal responsibility
for promoting justice not only through
charity but also through political efforts
to change the structure of injustice.
Teachings and contributions
1. Speaks of aspiration to equality beyond
strict equality before the law. It calls for
all people to be cared for and allowed to
participate in society, regardless of race,
age, or gender.
2. Reminds Christians that “the Gospel
instructs us in the preferential respect
due to the poor and the special situation
they have in society: the more fortunate
should renounce some of their rights so
as to place their goods more generously
at the service of the POOR.”
Rerum Novarum: The Revolutionary Change
(Pope Leo XIII, 1891)
Background/Context: On the Condition of
Labor
- “Father of Social Encyclicals.” This first
document was a response to the social
situation caused by Capitalism, Marxism
etc.: the exploitation of poor industrial
workers.
- The basic concerns of Rerum Novarum
include: the suffering of poor people,
cooperation between groups, the dignity
of work, the role of the state, and so on.
Above all it, supports unions and the just
wage.
Teaching and contributions:
1. Outlines important principles that guide
the response to the needs of the poor in
 the person of the working class. First step
taken by the Vatican.
2. Its impact came not so much from its
content but from the fact that by issuing
an encyclical on this topic, the Pope was
seen to be in defense of the poor.
3. The beginning of a process that
eventually led Church leaders to approve
of the notion of an ‘option for the poor.’
Populorum Progressio (Pope Paul VI, 1967)
Background/context: The Development of
People
- Talks about human development:
progress towards the economic, social,
cultural and spiritual fulfillment of human
potential.
- Shows how the gap between rich and
poor nations blocks human development.
- It criticizes capitalism
Teaching and contributions:
1. It calls for rich nations to help poor
nations.
2. It presents peace as the full human
development.
3. It presents a stance depicting the
Church Recoiling in the horror at the
cry of the poor.
4. It focuses on the issue of the poverty
of the Third World and stresses the
crucial importance of integral human
development.
5. It challenges Christians to a profound
conversion to the “cause of the poor.”
6. It shows that poverty does not simply
arise from purely natural causes but
from injustice.
7. It calls for a radical change in social
structures—one of the most basic
tenets of the option for the poor.
Evangelii Nuntiandi (Pope Paul VI, 1975)
Background/Context: Evangelization in the
Modern World
- The Church’s central mission is to preach
the Gospel to the world. Additionally, it
presents justice as an essential part of that
evangelization.
Teachings and contributions:
1. It Calls for transformation of cultures as
central to the question of liberation
2. It presents “Liberation” as not only calls
for the transformation of society
structures in economics and politics but
also for radical changes in the patterns
and structures that mold the way people
think, feel and evaluate.
Laborem Exercens (St./Pope John Paul II,
1981)
- Written for the 19th Anniversary of Rerum
Novarum,
- work is at the center of social issues.
- Main concern: to affirm the dignity of
workers as human persons.
- Labor, rather than being an independent
entity, is constituted by human persons
and the work that they do.
- Critique of Marxism and capitalism
- The point is made that all capital is the
result of labor. The issue then becomes the
proper use and ownership of capital.
Teachings and contributions:
1. Offers an analysis of the nature of human
work and how workers are to be treated
with respects to their dignity; people are
more important than profits or the things
they make.
2. Places great stress on solidarity with and
among the poor and oppressed.
3. Poverty is a result of human actions,
those who benefit from exploitation are
challenged to take responsibility for the
complicity in the system and called to
play a part in changing the structures.
4. It offers an idea that the purpose of work
is to develop creation and support family
life.
5. It proposes that all who are able have the
right and duty to work, regardless of
race, gender, or disability; those who
cannot work must be supported by the
society.
SESSION 6
Common good - the sum total of social
conditions which allow people in a
community, either as groups or as individuals,
to reach their full human potential and fulfill
their human dignity.
- The principle of the common good stems
from the dignity, unity and equality of all
people.
- Elements: Rights, basic needs, peace
Common good according to Gaudium et Spes
- Common good today takes on an
increasingly universal complexion and
consequently involves rights and duties
with respect to the whole human race.
Every social group must take into account
the needs and legitimate aspirations of
other groups, and even of the general
welfare of the entire human family.
- Since all humans possess a rational soul
and are created in God’s likeness, the
basic equality of all must receive
increasingly greater recognition.
- Common good is reached when we work
together to improve the wellbeing of
people in our society and the wider
world.
How common good is applied in
Fundamental Rights of the human person?
With respect to the fundamental rights of the
person, every type of discrimination, whether
social or cultural, whether based on sex, race,
color, social condition, language or religion, is
to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to
God’s intent.
SESSION 7
CST’s ways on solving conflict
Three Elements in Jesus’ Approach to Peace
1. Rejection of Violence - the church
believes that violence is never a
proper response.
2. Love and Reconciliation rather than
Retaliation - Love of neighbor is the
heart of Christian message and is
considered Jesus’ most important
commandment. He extended this
commandment of love to include
enemies.
3. Use of Transforming Initiatives -
Christians are called to actively
engage in peacemaking. Jesus told his
disciples to respond to violence by
taking unexpected, surprising
initiatives. “When a person strikes
you on the other cheek, turn and offer
him the other.” This teaching means
taking positive initiatives to
‘neutralize’ situations of violence and
injustice so that the transforming
message of God’s love can take root.
Violence is any human action that causes
harm to the life and dignity of another person.
Injustice itself is a form of violence.
Institutional violence - result of unjust social
structures rather than as a direct result of
one’s person’s actions (ex. Racism, poverty)
Spiral of violence - people usually respond to
violence by retaliating with an even greater
act of violence. As one act of violence leads to
another, it grows in intensity.
At the root of this spiral violence is conflict.
When people attempt to resolve conflict by
seeking their own good at expense of the
good of others, injustice results.
Kinds of Violence
1. Youth violence
i. Broken relationships - absence of such
relationships might lead young people
 to respond with violence. Other
people might also be a source of
abuse and rejection. Being humiliated
and dehumanized might also trigger
the youth to see violence as a way to
gain respect.
ii. The Influence of a culture of violence
– the acceptance of legalized violence,
such as abortion, capital punishment,
and war may contribute to youth
violence. Moreover, media often
portrays the use of violence in a way
that makes it seem acceptable or even
heroic.
2. Militarism - nations resort to violence
for the same reason that individuals
do: it seems to be the best response
to a violent and unjust world. War,
many would claim, is necessary to
keep the world a just and safe place.
However, peace won by war it is too
fragile, and often, one war seems to
sow the seeds for greater violence as
shown in history.
3. The arms race: Deterrence
Theory of Deterrence - the potential of
one country to inflict significant harm on
its adversaries will deter, or discourage,
those adversaries from attacking it first.
Arms race – competition between nations
to have the biggest and best military force
4. Terrorism - a type of violence
designed to achieve the attackers’ goals
not by using overwhelming force but
causing fear in the opponent.
It is carried usually by groups of people
who cannot rely on the power of a
national government to achieve their
goals. They make up for this lack of power
by committing smaller, unexpected acts of
violence against ordinary people.
Definition of Peace
- Peace is much more than the absence of
war; it represents the fullness of life.
- Peace is the fruit of justice and love.
Justice is giving what is due to the
person. And when we act out of love, we
want our beloved to experience peace.
How to achieve true peace?
The way of Christ is the way to true peace for
the world.
According to Gaudium et Spes no.78,
This peace on earth cannot be obtained unless
personal well-being is safeguarded and people
freely and trustingly share with one another
the riches of their inner spirits and their
talents.
A firm determination to respect other persons
and peoples and their dignity, as well as the
studied practice of brotherhood are absolutely
necessary for the establishment of peace.
Hence peace is likewise the fruit of love, which
goes beyond what justice can provide.
Peace is more than even the fulfillment of
justice; it is also the fullness of love. Peace is
the harmony that results when people resolve
conflicts by working in love for the good of all.
SESSION 8
Human Person as the “Imago Dei”
The human person is a creature of God, and
sees in his being in the image of God the
element that characterizes and distinguishes
him. Therefore, the human individual
possesses the dignity of a human person, who
is not just something, but someone. He is
capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession
and of freely giving himself and entering into
communion with other persons.
CST on Human Dignity
a. Human dignity is something that can’t be
taken away. Catholic Social Teaching
states that each and every person has
value, are worthy of great respect and
must be free from slavery, manipulation
and exploitation.
b. CST believes that human beings, created
in the image and likeness of God have by
their very existence an inherent value,
worth, and distinction”.
Sacredness of Human Life
The Catholic Church proclaims that human life
is sacred and that the dignity of the human
person is the foundation of a moral vision for
society.
This belief is the foundation of all the
principles of our social teaching. Nowadays,
human life is under direct attack from
abortion and euthanasia. The value of human
life is threatened by advancements in science
as well as death penalty.
Catholic teaching also calls on us to work to
avoid war. Nations must protect the right to
life by finding increasingly effective ways to
prevent conflicts and resolve them by
peaceful means.
Mater et Magistra
This teaching rests on one basic
principle: individual human beings are the
foundation, the cause and the end of
every social institution.
Wherefore, whatever the progress in
technology and economic life, there can be
neither justice nor peace in the world, so long
as men fail to realize how great is their
dignity; for they have been created by God
and are His children.
Gaudium et Spes
Everyone must consider his every neighbor as
another self….
Everyone must consider his every neighbor
without exception as another self, taking into
account first of all His life and the means
necessary to living it with dignity.
SESSION 10
The Value of Human Rights
Catholic Social Teaching stresses that the
human rights of each person are balanced by
a responsibility to respect the rights of all
other people in the community. (The dignity
of the human person does not depreciate.)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- adopted by the United Nations in
December 10, 1948, which Pope John
Paul II defined as “a true milestone on the
path of humanity’s moral progress.”
- The Church sees in these rights the
extraordinary opportunity that our
modern times offer.
- The affirmation of these rights more
effectively recognized human dignity and
universally promoted it as a characteristic
inscribed by God as the Creator in his
creature.
The Foundation of Human Rights
“The roots of human rights are to be found in
the dignity that belongs to each human
beings.”
This dignity, inherent in human life and equal
in every person, is perceived and understood
first of all by reason. The natural foundation
of human rights appears more solid when, in
the light of the supernatural, it is considered
that human dignity, after having been given
by God and having been profoundly wounded
by sin, was taken on and redeemed by Jesus
Christ in his incarnation, death and
resurrection.
“The ultimate source of human rights is not
found in the mere will of human beings, in the
reality of the State, in public powers, but in
man himself and in God his Creator.”
These rights are “universal, inviolable, and
inalienable.” It is:
  Universal. because they are present in all
human being, without exception of time,
place or subject.
 Inviolable. insofar as “they are inherent
in the human person and in human
dignity” and because
 Inalienable. insofar as “no one can
legitimately deprive another person,
whoever they may be, of these rights,
since this would do violence to their
nature.”
SESSION 12
Different notion on family
1. The family is the first place where we
learn to become human, it is the ‘cradle of
life and love’.
It is our primary experience of community and
the first and vital cell of society. This places it
at the heart of social life, such that
participation in family life and society go hand
in hand.
2. Family is born from the communion of
persons.
Since the ‘family unit is born from the
communion of persons’, being at the service
of family life is one of the best ways that a
society can be at the service of community
3. The family is the temple where the flame
of life is transmitted.
It is a temple dedicated to the Lord of
Life. The family is naturally ordered to serve
what John Paul II has called the Gospel of life,
the Evangelium vitae. Every birth ought to
declare: Life is good news!
4. The person is not only sacred but also
social.
How we organize our society—in
economics and politics, in law and policy—
directly affects human dignity and the
capacity of individuals to grow in community.
Challenges to Family Life
1. Anthropological-Cultural Changes:
Individualism.
 This happens when individuals in their
emotional life and life as a family,
receive increasingly less support from
social structures than in the past.
 This was brought also by the
development of an exaggerated
individualism which distorts family ties,
giving precedence to the idea that one
can make oneself according to one’s
own wishes, and thus weakens every
family tie.
2. The Religious Context: Significant drop in
Religion
 The Christian faith is strong and alive.
Some regions of the world are
witnessing a significant drop in
religion in society, which,
consequently, has its effect on family
life. The Church is called to provide
guidance to families in their practice
of religion so as to give it a Gospel
orientation.
3. Anthropological Changes
 Sense of belongingness. In various
cultures, relationships and a sense of
belonging are important values which
shape an individual’s identity. The
family provides the opportunity for
personal fulfilment and contributes to
the growth of other persons in society-
at-large.
 Commitments in Relationships. In
different cultures, many young people
demonstrate a resistance in making
definitive commitments in
relationships, and often choose to live
together or simply to engage in casual
relationships.
 Consumerism may also deter people
from having children, simply so they
can maintain a certain freedom and life-
style.
  Separations and divorces are common.
The number of marriages taking place
in some parts of the world is declining.
4. Cultural Contradictions
 Differences. The tensions caused by an
overly individualistic culture, which
concentrates on possessing and
gratification, leads to intolerance and
aggression in families.
 Gender ideology
1. Certain feminist concepts view
motherhood as an exploitation of a
woman and an obstacle to her full
realization. There is an increasing
tendency among people to
conceive a child simply as a means
of self-affirmation.
2. Gender ideology denies the
difference in nature of a man and a
woman and envisages a society
without gender differences,
thereby removing the
anthropological foundation of the
family. This ideology leads to
educational programs and
legislative guidelines contrary to
the concept of the biological
difference between male and
female.
5. Conflicts and Social Tensions
 The affective and spiritual quality of
family life is seriously threatened by the
proliferation of conflicts. The burden of
economic policies and social inequity,
even in affluent areas, has a severe
impact in providing for children and
caring for the sick and the elderly.
6. Technology:
 Modern technology has invaded the
temple of the family in a sort of
abomination of desolation which
separates the procreative act from the
unitive act and seeks to replace or
substitute the conjugal act.
 The child comes about more as the
result of an act of technology than as
the natural fruit of a human act in
which there is a full and total giving of
the couple.
SESSION 14
Stewardship - the responsibility that people
have to respect and care for all creation
Human Life is grounded in three fundamental
and closely intertwined relationships:
o With God
o With our neighbor
o With the earth itself
According to the Bible, these three vital
relationships have been broken, both
outwardly and within us. This rupture is sin.
Because of sin, our Original dignity was
corrupted along with our perception of our
stewardship of the Earth. Pope Francis says
that Earth should not be seen as “PROFIT” but
as a “GIFT”.
How can we take care of creation?
According to Laudato Si:
1. avoiding the use of plastic and paper
2. reducing water consumption
3. separating refuse
4. cooking only what can reasonably be
consumed
5. showing care for other living beings
6. using public transport or car-pooling
7. planting trees
8. turning off unnecessary lights
9. reusing something instead of
immediately discarding it
The following themes drawn from this
tradition are integral dimensions of ecological
responsibility:
1. God-centered and sacramental view
of the universe, which grounds human
accountability for the fate of the
earth;
 2. Consistent respect for human life,
which extends to respect for all
creation;
3. World view affirming the ethical
significance of global
interdependence and the common
good;
4. An ethics of solidarity promoting
cooperation and a just structure of
sharing in the world community;
5. An understanding of the universal
purpose of created things, which
requires equitable use of the earth's
resources;
6. An option for the poor, which gives
passion to the quest for an equitable
and sustainable world;
7. A conception of authentic
development, which offers a direction
for progress that respects human
dignity and the limits of materiel
growth.
SESSION 15
Why technology is both amazing and risky?
- It is risky precisely because of the Pope’s
basic anthropological vision: we are sinful
people and have not proven to use power
well.
- It is also risky because this technological
growth has not been accompanied by a
development in human responsibility,
values and conscience
In other words, using technology for noble
ends requires an ethical framework, a spiritual
culture, and a vision of the purpose of life,
none of which our world seems to exude.
“Creation is not a property, which we can rule
over at will; or, even less, is the property of
only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful
gift that God has given us, so that we care for
it and we use it for the benefit of all, always
with great respect and gratitude.”
The Pope challenges humanity “to develop a
new synthesis capable of overcoming the false
arguments of recent centuries” He is asking us
to look at reality from our spiritual vision,
recover the values and goals of our tradition,
and with freedom and beauty, “to generate
resistance to the assault of the technocratic
paradigm.”
Paris Agreement
- a concrete example of what Pope Francis
calls for
- The Paris Agreement was hailed as a
landmark international deal when 194
countries, including the EU and China,
signed up to sweeping pledges on the
environment at a UN meeting in the
French capital in late 2015.
- Aims to limit the increase in global average
temperatures to “well below 2°C above
pre-industrial levels” – the level beyond
which scientists say we will see the worst
extremes of global warming.
- It also aims to “pursue efforts to limit the
temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-
industrial levels, recognizing that this
would significantly reduce the risks and
impacts of climate change”.
Moral duty of developed countries to
underdeveloped ones
First World Countries are supposed to pledge
to provide funding to the third world countries.
The thorny question of how much money rich
nations must give only appears in a non-legally
binding 'decision text' accompanying the Paris
Agreement.
This implies that the provision of the
agreement depends on the “generosity” of
“richer countries.”
Our “Common Home” is in a dire situation:
 It is plagued by a variety of forms of
pollution.
 Increasing deforestation.
 A disturbing warming of the climate.
 Depletion of natural resources (especially
quality drinking water).
 Loss of biodiversity.
 The decline of quality of human life and
relationships.
 And the global inequality gap between
the poor and the rich

Root causes of the problem

1. A “throwaway culture” that ruthlessly

consumes, exploits, and discards
human life and our natural resources.
2. He also indicts the all-pervasive
“techno-economic paradigm” of the
last two hundred years that
emphasizes above all things
efficiency, speed, technology,
commodification of goods and
services, and quick and easy profit.

While it seems that we lack a culture and

leadership to confront this cultural crisis, this
chapter ends with the Pope asking us to cast
off the distractions that dull our
consciousness, listen the cry of the earth and
the cry of the poor, and begin to dialogue
about solutions.