SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC

CHURCH
St. Monica Institute of
Religious Studies OAD
School of Theology
Tabor Hill, Brgy. San Jose, 6000 Cebu City

Professor: Fr. Martin

Fonte, Fl
Contact info:
Mobile: 09173042720
Email: fr.martinmary@qmail.com
FB: fb/FrMartin Mary

SYLLABUS AND COURSE OUTLINE

l. Introduction
The social teachings of the Catholic Church as a course
is a compendium of the Church's doctrine pertaining both to
man's individual and social life that is grounded in divine
revelation and the consistent teaching of Tradition and the
magisterium. Far from being a fragmented collection of
teachings, there is an inner logic and synthesis in them and
which finds their intrinsic connection with the Church's
mission of proclamation of the Gospel to the world. The
comprehension and communication of the vast scope of these
teachings is an ambitious task that can not be covered
completely in a semestral course. Hence, the present approach
of the professor is to highlight a thematic approach on these
topics to strike at the most fundamental principles
underpinning Church's practices in matters of temporal life
in the society. This will provide the students a framework in
understanding social and political realities from the
perspectives of the Church's teachings.

Il. Objectives:
The students are expected in following this course:

Social Teachings of the Catholic Church: Syllabus, Course Outline,

Bibliography - page
1 . To have a better and synthetic understanding of the Church's
social teaching.
2. To have the ability to relate this course with their other
theological discipline as dogma, Sacred Scriptures and Moral
theology.
3. To provide principles for thinking and action on the many
issues being raised in society today.
4. To train them to be able to tackle and answer, in their
future ministries, queries from the faithful regarding the
official position of the Church on specific issues.
5. To be able to communicate the inner logic that govern
Church's teachings on issues that are only superficially
understood by the deployment of systems alien to
Catholic
Church.
6. To provide background on reasons why the Church assumed
a position on certain social issues and how its
understanding is refined as per her religious
experience.

I t

Social Teachings of the Catholic Church: Syllabus, Course Outline,

Bibliography - page
ll. Methodology
Given that we have only 16 lecture weeks (32 lecture
hours) for the Second Semester 2022-23, the bulk of the
material in this course will be a selection of topics arranged
in my own thematic way. Hence, a lecture/powerpoint method
will be the primary means of learning. But these lectures will
be either preceded or followed by occasional selected assigned
readings/research that will require writing a theological
reflection of at least two pages each time. There will be two
examinations within this course: the midterm exam which
constitutes the introductory presentation forming the general
principles both moral and social of the Church's teachings,
while the final exam will focus on the thematic teachings on
politics, state, culture and the environment. Both exams will
be oral.

Ill. Term Paper

Since this course is in the nature of seminar, each student
is required to submit a term paper based on the following
specification:

A. Topic
1. Each student is to choose and read the entirety one (1) of the
official social encyclicals/ documents listed below.
2. Each student must choose a unique encyclical without
taking the ones already taken by their classmates.

B. Parts of the Paper:

1. The term paper should consists of the (a) Introduction (1
page), (b) Detailed Outline of the Encyclical (2 pages),
(c) Summary of the Encyclical (2 pages), (d) Evaluation/
Valuation of the Encyclical (2-4 pages)
2. For Introduction: Specify the social, political or
cultural background addressed by the document/encyclical.
3. For Detailed Outline: Include the main headings with sub-
sections and items within these sub-sections
4. For Summary: Discuss the main ideas and points of the
encyclical with due attention to underpinning theological
arguments.
5. Evaluation/ VaIuation: Discuss here the value of the
encyclical both in its time of writing and in the present
contemporary situation. Cross references
comparison/contrast with other documents are permitted in
this section.

C. Mechanics of the paper

1. Term paper should be submitted in A4 size of paper (one
side only) with .5 inch margin around and a 1.5 line
spacing using not less than 12pt. font size, Verdana or
Helvetica
font

Social Teachings of the Catholic Church: Syllabus, Course Outline, Bibliograohy - page 3
2. When using references or citations in the footnotes or
endnotes, one should use the Turabian format of citations:
(see Boxed Illustration on page 3)

D. Plagiarism.
Students submitting written material in courses are
expected to provide full documentation for sources of both
words and ideas in footnotes or endnotes. Direct
quotations should be placed within quotation marks. (If
small changes are made in the quotation, they should be
indicated by appropriate punctuation such as brackets and
ellipses, but the quotation still counts as a direct
quotation.) Failure to document

Outline, Bibliography - I page

Website:
Lastname, Firstname. ''Title of Web Page."
Publishing Organization or Name of
Website in Italics. Publication date
and/or access date if available. URL.

Book:
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of
publication: Publisher, Year of
publication.

Article from a database

Lastname, Firstname. "Title of the Article."
Title of the Journal volume#, issue # (year
of publication): pagenumber-pagenumber.
Accessed date. URL.
borrowed material constitutes plagiarism, which is a
serious breach of academic, professional, and Christian
ethics. Anyone being discovered plagiarizing or copying
term papers either from the internet or from written
published source without proper documentation will
immediately be given a failing grade in the assignment.

Ill. Bibliography
A. Primary Source:
1. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church by
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. (2004) -
REQUIRED READING
Social Teachings of the Catholic Church: Syllabus, Course 4
 2. The Social Agenda: A Collection of Roman Catholic
Magisterial Texts by Edited by Robert A. Sirico,
Maciej Zieba (Pontifical Council for Justice and
Peace, 2000)

B. Papal Encyclicals:
I . Rerum Novarum (On Capital and Labor) Pope Leo Xlll -
May 15, 1891
2. Quadragesimo Anno (After Forty Years) - On
Reconstruction of the Social Order
Pope Pius X/ - May 15, 1931 - the 40th anniversaty of Rerum Novarum
3. Mater et Magistra (On Christianity and Social
Progress) Pope John XXIII - May 15, 1961 - the 60th
anniversary of Rerum Novarum
4. Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) Pope John XXIII -
April 11, 1963 - on Establishing Universal Peace in Truth,
Justice, Charity, and Liberty
5. Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples)
Pope Paul VI - March 27, 1967
6. Laborem Exercens (On Human Work) Pope John Paul Il -
September 14, 1981 the 90th anniversaty of Rerum Novarum
7. Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (20th Anniversary of
Populorum Progressio) Pope John Paul Il - December 30, 1987

Social Teachings of the Catholic Church: Syllabus, Course Outline, Bibliograohy - page 5
 8. Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year) Pope John Paul // - May
1, 1991 - the 100th anniversary of Rerum Novarum
9. Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) Pope John Paul Il -
March 25, 1995
10. Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason) Pope John Paul Il - September
14, 1998
11. Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love) Pope Benedict XVI -
December 15, 2005
12. Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) Pope Benedict XVI -
June 29, 2009
13. Laudato Sif (On Care for Our Common Home) Pope Francis -
May 24, 2015

C. Apostolic Letter:
Octogesima Adveniens (A Call to Action) Pope Paul V/ - May 14,
1971 - the 80th anniversary of Rerum Novarum

D. Apostolic Exhortation:
Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospel) Pope Francis -
November 24, 2013 Apostolic Exhortation on the
Proclamation of the Gospel in Today's World

E. Seconday Sources:
Schlag, Martin, Handbook of Catholic Social Teaching (The
Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C.,
2017.
Catta, Grégoire, 'God For Us' in the Challenge of Integral
Human Development:
Theology in Post- Vatican Il Catholic Social
Teaching (A Dissertation for Doctorate in sacred
Theology. Boston College Press, Boston, 2015)

Piccinin, Antonella, Catholic Public Reason: John

Rawls and Catholic Social Teaching.
From Vatican Il to Pope Francis (Luis Guido Carli
Press, Roma, 2016)
O'Brien, David and Shannon, Thomas, editors, Catholic
Social Thought: Encyclical and
Documents from Pope Leo Xll/ to Pope Francis, 3rd
Revised Edition (Orbis Books Maryknoll, NY, 2015)

Sullins, Paul and Blasi, Anthony, editors, Catholic Social

Thought: American
Reflections on the Compendium (Lexington
Books, Plymouth, UK, 2004)
Aubert, Roger, Catholic Social Teaching: An Historical
Perspective (Marquette University
Press, Milwaukee, 2003)

*Curran, Charles, Catholic Social Teaching and Pope

Benedict XVI (Georgetown University Press, 2014)

Hornsby-Smith, Michael, An Introduction to Catholic Social

Thought (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006)
Social Teachings of the Catholic Church: Syllabus, 6
 Kwasniewski, Peter, editor, A Reader in Catholic Social
Teaching: From Syllabus Errorum to Deus Caritas Est
(Cluny Media, NE, 2017)

Singer-Towns, Brian, Catholic Social Teaching: Christian

Life in Society (St. Mary's Press, MN, 2012)

Esolen, Anthony, Reclaiming Cato/ic Social Teaching (Sophia

Institute Press, New Hampshire, 2014)

Course Outline, Bibliography - I page

Brumley, Mark, 20 Answers on Catholic Social Teachings

(Catholic Answers Press, California, 2020)
Schwindth, Daniel, Catholic Social Teaching: A New
Synthesis - Rerum Novarum to Laudato Si (McPherson
Press, KS, 2015)

V. Course Outline
Syllabus and Introduction to the Course
Week 2: The Nature of Social Catholic Teaching
Week 3: Theological and Social Dimension of Catholic
Social Teachings (Read: Compendium Chap. 1)
Week 4: Adequate Anthropology: Core and Foundation of
CST (Read: Compendium Chap. 3)
Week 5: Principles of Catholic Social Doctrine (Read:
Compendium Chap. 4)
Week 6: CST on Family and Marriage (Read: Compendium
Chap. 5)
Week 7: Human Work, Labor and Workers' Rights in
Catholic Social Teaching
(Read: Compendium Chap. 6)

MIDTERM EXAM (April 12, 2023 at Bam -

loam)
Week 8: Political Community and Society in CST (Read:
Compendium Chap. 8) The Universal Destination
of the World's Resources
Week I Religious Liberty and Non-Catholic Religions
O: in CST
Week 1 1 Globalization
:
Week 12: Social Teaching in Pope John Paul Il
Week 1 Pope Benedict XVI on the Political and
3: Social Order
Social Teachings of the Catholic Church: Syllabus, Outline,
Bibliography - page
Week 14: The Social Teaching of Pope Francis
Week 1 5: The Challenge of Catholic Social Teachings
Review Period, Passing of Term Paper

FINAL EXAM (June 21, 2023 at 8am - loam)

Prepared by:

Fr. Martin M. Fonte, Fl

SMIRS - OAD School of Theology, SY 2022-23

Course I 5

Social Teachings of the Catholic Church: Syllabus, 8