Unit III Lesson B: PRINCIPLES

OF THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF

THE CHURCH
1. HUMAN
DIGNITY

• The human person is at the

center of our talk about
social, political and economic
progress.
• In his original vocation, man,
placed at the center of God’s
creation, is ordered towards
serving the whole of creation
instead of abusing them.
1. The Human Person with
Dignity and Rights
▪ Priority of labor over capital. Persons are more
important than things. Material goods are not the
sole reason for the economic community, for the
dignity of persons is primary, and work must serve
this dignity.
2. COMMON GOOD

It is the “sum total of social

conditions which allow people
either as groups or as individuals
to reach their fulfillment more
fully and more easily”
(GS, 26 and CSDC, 164)

It is the Church’s response to both the

extremes of any form of totalitarianism
and of a kind of individualism.
 2. Common Good

▪A commitment to the common good

rejects the individualist bias of modern
secular society which privileges individual
rights at the expense of the good of the
community.
▪Distributive justice - of principal concern,
to the common good is just distribution.
The purpose of the economy is to serve
the common good (rather than the
maximization of profit.)
 3. UNIVERSAL
DESTINATION
OF GOODS

This principle:
• Calls to facilitate the conditions
necessary for integral human
development
• Reminds us of our responsibility
to look after the decency of life
of other people and the
provision of their basic needs
• Reminds us of the legitimacy of
our private properties but only
as a means
 4. SUBSIDIARITY

• The Superior order must adopts

attitudes of HELP (support,
promotion, development) with
respect to lower-order societies.

• This is the Church’s alternative to

imperialism, totalitarianism, and
managerialism.
 4. Principle of Subsidiarity
▪ “The principle of subsidiarity protects
people from abuses by higher-level
social authority and calls on these
same authorities to help individuals
and intermediate groups to fulfill
their duties.”
▪ “This principle is imperative because
every person, family, and
intermediate group has something
original to offer to the community.”
(Compendium # 187)
 4. Principle of Subsidiarity

▪ Whenever possible decisions

should be made at local levels
rather than by higher bodies,
thus giving primacy to
individual initiative.
▪ Intermediate associations
(families, local communities,
unions, societies, etc.) should
be free to perform operations
proper to themselves without
interference from the state.
 5. Participation

▪The characteristic implication of subsidiarity is participation -

of which the citizen, either as an individual or in association
with others, whether directly or through representation,
contributes to the cultural, economic, political and social life
of the civil community to which he belongs.
▪“Participation is a duty to be fulfilled consciously by all, with
responsibility and with a view to the common good.” GS 75
5. Participation
Right to participation
▪All people have a right to
participate in the economic life of
a society. This includes the right to
work, given that the work is
essential to human dignity.
▪Work is not merely an economic
function but also an activity that
influences the psychological and
spiritual character of the person.
6. SOLIDARITY
• Firm and persevering
determination to commit
oneself to the common good,
not a mere feeling of vague
compassion of shallow distress
(CSDC, 193)

• Church’s response to growing

culture of apathy and
indifference.
 6. Solidarity

“Solidarity highlights in a
particular way the intrinsic social
nature of the human person, the
equality of all in dignity and rights
and the common path of
individuals and peoples towards
an even more committed unity.”
CSDC 192
7. Preferential Option
for The Poor

“The principle of the universal

destination of goods requires
that the poor, the marginalized
and in all cases those whose
living conditions interfere with
their proper growth should be
the focus of particular concern.
To this end, the preferential
option for the poor should be
reaffirmed in all its force.”
(CSDC 182)
7. Preferential Option
For The Poor

Both individuals and civil societies

have obligations to those most
vulnerable. Not everyone has an
equal start in economic life, and
hence blame for poverty does not
lie exclusively with the individual.
Regardless of the cause of
poverty, the poor have equal
dignity with all others.
7. Preferential Option
for the Poor

Being for the

poor/marginalized, the Church
recognizes them as people with
human dignity as belonging to
the people of God and have
rights to the common good.
7. Preferential Option
for the Poor

Being with the

poor/marginalized, the
Church decentralizes its hold
to power and acknowledges
the full and active
participation and the
contribution of the
marginalized to the life and
mission of the Church.
7. Preferential Option
for the Poor

Becoming Church of the

poor/marginalized, the
Church makes a definitive
preferential option for the
poor struggling with them
in solidarity for global
justice, love and peace.
 Society

Individual Individual
Commutative (Contractual)
C. FUNDAMENTAL VALUES OF
SOCIAL LIFE
Spirituality of the Catholic
Social Teaching

TRUTH FREEDOM

LOVE JUSTICE
 1. TRUTH
Part of our Christian
vocation is to speak the
truth even during those
moments when being
truthful is inconvenient
and difficult.
We are called to
proclaim the
message of Christ
within a culture of
openness and
dialogue that
remains faithful
to the demands of
justice and truth.
2. FREEDOM
• Freedom is the highest sign in man of his being
made in the divine image and consequently, is a
sign of the sublime dignity of every human
person. CSDC, 199

• Christian freedom is aware

of its limitations and
responsibility.

• Its expression is limited by

the moral order.
3-4. JUSTICE AND LOVE

• Christian justice is
transformational and
liberative.
• Justice has to lead to the
CONVERSION of both the
victim and the
oppressor; but
CONVERSION is best
guaranteed by the act of
love.
3-4. JUSTICE AND LOVE

Following the social teachings of the

Church, we can affirm the following:

1. It is true that the world is not a

perfect place.
2. The Human Person is by nature good,
and such goodness could never be
totally corrupted.
3. There is the invitation to continuously
attempt to build a CIVILIZATION of
love and make our world a better
place to live in.
 Principles of the Catholic
Social Tradition

Private Property Common Good

Subsidiarity THE HUMAN

PERSON Participation
WITH DIGNITY
Universal Destination AND RIGHTS Preferential Option
of Goods of the Poor

Truth Love Justice Freedom