Introduction to Catholic Social Teaching

What is Catholic Social Teaching?

 It is an authoritative Church teaching on social, political, and economic issues

 It is informed by Gospel values and the lived experiences of Christian
reflection
 It analyses the lived experience of Christian reflection from different historical,
political and social contexts
 It provides principles for reflection, a criteria for judgement and guidelines for
action
Thus, it enables us in our struggle to live our faith in justice and peace. Catholic social
teaching is a doctrine developed by Catholic Church on matters of poverty and
wealth, economics, social organization, and the role of state.
PURPOSE
“Is simply to help purify reason and to contribute, here and now, to the
acknowledgement and attainment of what is just… (The Church) has to play her part through
rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice… cannot
prevail and prosper”
- (Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 28)
FOUNDATION
“Rests on the threefold cornerstones of human dignity, solidarity, and subsidiarity”
- (John Paul II, 1999 Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in America, 55)
It is the foundation on which to form our conscience in order to evaluate the
framework of society and is the Catholic criteria for prudential judgement and direction in
developing current policy-making. With knowledge to these social principles, in combination
with our faith, we will be more armed and informed as to articulate the Catholic vision of
reality, the truthful nature of human person and society, to apply and integrate the social
teachings in our everyday administrative and clinical encounters, and through the virtue of
charity take action within the social, political, and economic spheres in which we have
influence.
The History of Catholic Social Teaching
At its core, Catholic Social teaching is simply the attempt to spell out the ethical
consequences of the confession, “Jesus is the Lord”, for the way in which we live. It is
important to note that it is faith which is the starting-point for this reflection, not simply
concern about particular issues facing society. Such reflection has been a feature of Christian
faith since the first Easter.
Later on, in the High Middle Ages;

 Catholic theologians were key players in the attempt to restrict the violence unleashed
by warning princes
 Developed what became “The Just War” theory, with its various checks and balances
 St. Francis is now membered for rethinking our relationship to the natural world
 During the colonization of the American, Spanish, Dominican and Jesuit theologians
upheld the dignity of the indigenous peoples whose lands were being invaded and laid
the foundation for much of the modern concern of human rights.

Rerum Novarum – “Of New Things” (1891)

Pope Leo XIII wrote the Encyclical letter, Rerum Novarum – “Of New Things”
addressing the new issues facing European societies as a result of the Industrial revolution and
the social transformation this brought about.
It promotes:
1. The right to private property and rejected Marxist belief in the inevitability of “class
struggle”
2. Dignity of human work
3. Laid down the basic principle of the priority of Labor over Capital means people are
more important than property
4. Right to basic necessities of life and a just wage
5. Promotion of the Common Good
 The principle that the rights of one group cannot be set aside for the
convenience of the majority
 Demands of the state a special concern for the protection of the rights of the
poor
6. Acknowledge the role of Trade Unions as defenders of the working class
7. Concern for the dignity and value of the human person and the poor