CLE REVIEWER

CST A.K.A CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING

-WRITINGS BY POPES AND OTHER CATHOLIC LEADERS
-OFTEN THESE WRITINGS ARE ENCYCLICALS (LONG LETTERS
WRITTEN BY POPES TO THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD ABOUT
ISSUES THAT AFFECT SOCIETY)

TROCAIRE: WORKS TO THE KEY PRINCIPLES THAT UNDERPIN CST

CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING PRINCIPLES:

DIGNITY: WE ALL HAVE THIS BECAUSE WE ARE CREATED IN GOD’S
IMAGE.
OPTION FOR THE POOR: WE SHOULD OPT (CHOOSE) TO PUT THE
POOREST AND MOST VULNERABLE PEOPLE FIRST.
COMMON GOOD: COMMON MEANS EVERYONE IS INCLUDED WITH A
RIGHT AND RESPONSIBILITY TO PROMOTE THE COMMUNITY’S GOOD
AND TO BENEFIT FROM IT.
The body of the Church’s social teachings is collectively called Catholic
Social Teaching (CST).

The Church develops CST based on Sacred Scripture, Church Tradition,

and human nature and experience.

It gives us:
1.Moral principles that can help us reflect on our social problems,

2.Guidelines for moral action, and

3.Criteria for judging our moral decisions and evaluating social

systems.

Social Documents:
-social encyclicals
-Gaudium et Spes
-Justice in the World
-interviews with popes
-studies of Vatican congregations
-statements from different national Episcopal Conferences
-homilies of bishops and priests
-CBCP’s timely pastoral letters and exhortations on various social issues

Best Kept Secret

CST teaches hard truths.
It’s not just being aware of CST but putting the Church’s social
teachings into practice.

CST is a significant means for the Church to carry out its mission of
integral evangelization. Since it is based on the Scriptural living Word
of God and Tradition of the Church, CST can be a potent source of
personal change and social transformation. When it is deeply
understood and interiorized, it can inspire socially-oriented Catholics to
devote their whole life to the pursuit of justice and peace.

Characteristics of CST
1. PERMANENT
2. DEVELOPING

These two characteristics prove to us how the Church is present, alive,

and active in the history of humankind while struggling to live up to its
mission from Christ.

METHODS AND SOURCES

Where does the Church get its teachings? How does the Church read
the signs of the times and reach a conclusion as to the kind of social
responsibility current Christian discipleship demands? These are the
four major sources:

1. Sacred Scripture
From the inspired Word in Scripture, the Church receives God’s
Self-disclosure: who He is, His love for His people, and His plan for
them.
2. Reason
In formulating its CST, the use of natural-law reasoning allows the
Church to believe in the person’s ability to understand what is good and
what is evil.
The use of natural-law reasoning allows the Church to believe in the
person’s ability to understand what is good and what is evil.

3. Tradition
When the Church consults tradition, it is more or less limited to those
few sources that happen to have been written down, such as published
homilies and letters about the Christian response to social challenges at
the time.

4. Human Experience
See
Judge
Act
Celebrate
Evaluate

CHRISTIAN MESSAGE
CST is the Church’s body of teachings on social realities based on the
Sacred Scripture, natural law, Church Tradition, and human experience.
By reflecting on social realities and assessing them in light of the
Gospel, the Church provides a Christian moral vision that grounds
sound responses to many issues raised in daily life.

The Church uses the Scriptures and natural law reasoning, Church
Tradition, and human experience as sources and methodologies in
creating CST.

REFLECTION
The challenge of St. Paul for us Filipinos is to extend our sympathy
beyond our families, to those who are in need. We must widen the
scope of our family by seeing our fellow Filipinos as brothers and
sisters whose suffering is also our suffering.