THEOLOGY 3:

CHRISTIAN VISION OF THE CHURCH IN SOCIETY:

NATURE OF THE SOCIAL
TEACHING OF THE CHURCH
 How do we understand the
Social Teachings of the Church?
The Humanitarian Work of the Church
amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3JcAaTkP2M&list=P
LuK5ZVXOaYHTET0KZKToXhVO6B2wDKaZg
1. Research on concrete acts of both your local Church and
local government unit during this pandemic.
2. You may access the websites and social media
account/pages of your parishes, barangay, municipalities
to collect information.
3. Keep a record and be mindful of what you have
researched; you shall share it with your group mates
during the Unit 2 Formative Assessment.
What is the essence of the Catholic
Social Teachings considering the
Church’s Social Mission?
 Nature of the Social Teaching of the Church
The Social Teaching of the Church is at the core
of Christianity. It needs to be pointed out that
Jesus is an active agent in the renewal of the
Society.

His proclamation of the Kingdom of God means

that certain practices in the community would
even have to be renewed in order to show to
the people that indeed God’s reign is at hand,
even if at the same time, it cannot be fully
fulfilled in the present.
1. The Truth of Faith The First Christians were true followers
of Christ in the sense that they have
endeavored to persevere in the ministry
that Christ has started. This is especially
shown in their commitment to equality,
respect and love for each other.

Moreover, decisions in their communities

are done “in remembrance” of the
memory of Christ.
 The Middle Ages Church, despite the
infamous abuses of some members of
the hierarchy and the clergy, remains
faithful to Christ’s call to bring about the
reign of love in our communities.

Important thinkers in the Middle Ages

especially Thomas Aquinas continues to
talk about justice and charity for the
poor.
 The challenge to aid the needy in the community has become
more pressing with the emergence of modern ideologies that
were brought about mainly by the Industrial Revolution.

Capitalism and Socialism were two ideologies that were both

supposedly aimed at improving the conditions of every person’s
life. However, because of their neglect to talk about God in their
endeavours, they have instead also contributed to the increasing
problems of poverty and injustice in the community.

Hence, the modern social encyclicals were Catholic contributions

to the talk about human flourishing pointing out especially the
important points from these two ideologies.
The Catholic Church has issued important documents in order
to officially announce its stand on pertinent social issues that
confront our communities at particular moments in history.

These are Catholic contributions to the talk about human

flourishing based on important principles such as the dignity
of the human person, subsidiarity, solidarity and the
preferential option for the poor.

Moreover, each of these documents, while sensitive to the

historical conditions of particular times, are grounded in the
Tradition of the Church that finds its beginning in the person
and ministry of Jesus Christ.
 Nature of the Social Teaching

Emphasis on the Celebrates Promotion of

Human Person as Humanity and our Justice according to
Imago Dei Interconnectedness God’s Plan
 a. The Human Person as the Image of God
Church’s understanding of human dignity - is the
conviction that the human person occupies a central
role in the creation of God, and that the human
person is the only creature that is created in the
image and likeness of God, and is the only creature
that has the capacity for God.
• Human dignity is a core-concept in the social
teaching of the Church. The Church believes that
the human dignity is a concept that is both
inviolable and inalienable, that is, it can never be
compromised regardless of the circumstances and
consequences of the action.
The apex of the affirmation of human
dignity is the coming of Christ. Christ
embraces humanity through the
mystery of Incarnation, which affirms
that humanity is central to God’s plan.

The centrality of the dignity of the

human person is even highlighted
more with the Paschal Mystery of
Christ. He showed us that the cross
is not a meaningless symbol, but is
rather a testimony of God’s love.
b. Celebrating our Shared Humanity,
Our Human Interconnectedness

Yahweh’s covenant with Abraham

and the people of Israel is Yahweh’s
own initiative and gift which is even
beyond what humanity deserves.
The covenant is an
expression of Yahweh’s
In turn, the covenant
willingness to reach out to
becomes the people’s
His people. In fact, by the
assurance that Yahweh will
covenant, Yahweh makes
never abandon them.
himself bound to fulfil his
promises to His people.
Moreover, “there comes from
the Decalogue a commitment
that concerns not only fidelity to
the one true God, but also the
social relations among the
people of the Covenant… The
gift of freedom and the
Promised Land, and the gift of
Covenant on Sinai and the Ten
Commandments are therefore
intimately linked to the practices
which must regulate, in justice
and solidarity, the development
of Israelite society.
A society that wishes and intends to remain at the
service of the human being at every level is a
society that has the common good – the good of
all the people and of the whole society – as its
primary goal.

In the diversity of cultures, the natural law unites

peoples, enjoining common principles. Since
something of the glory of God shines on the face
of every person, the dignity of every person
before God is the basis of the dignity of man
before other men.
c. Toward a Just and Humane Society according to God’s Plan

God destined the earth and all it contains for all men and
peoples so that all created things would be shared fairly by
all mankind under the guidance of justice (CSDC, 165).

The principle of the Universal Destination of Goods is an

invitation to develop an economic vision inspired by moral values
that permit people not to lose sight of the origin or purpose of
these goods, so as to bring about fairness and solidarity.

Everyone has the right to enjoy the conditions of social life that
are brought about by the quest for the conditions of social life
that are brought about by the quest for the common good.
Pope Pius XI: ‘the distribution of created goods, which, as
every discerning person knows, is labouring today under
the gravest evils due to the huge disparity between the
few exceedingly rich and the unnumbered property less,
must be effectively called back to and brought into
conformity with the norms of the common good, that is,
social justice. This then prompts the Church to call for a
more just distribution of the world’s wealth (CSDC 171).

Man, then, must never forget that his

capacity to transform and in a certain
sense create the world through his own
work… is always based on God’s prior
and original gift of the things that are.
2. The Paradigm of Love and Justice versus the Way of Violence

Love is the most

identifying value of the
Church's social teaching.
It is what makes us
uniquely Christians. It is,
in fact, unachievable
without grace, but the
grace is freely supplied
to the willing, which is
grace itself.
a. The Way of Love and Justice In the Church’s perspective, love as a
value is “the highest and universal
criterion of the whole of social ethics.”
(CSDC, 171)

“From the inner wellspring of love the

values of truth, freedom, and justice
are born and grow. Love is what makes
us able to see the other as a friend, as
another self, so that the needs and
requirements of others seem as one's
own.” (CSDC, 205)
 Love presupposes and transcends
justice. This means that love builds upon
justice just like grace builds upon nature.
Kant insisted that, in justice, the law of
For what happens when love meets
punishment was a categorical imperative
justice, look at the cross of Christ, the
which admitted no exception. For if
cross of Christ which is our law. Without
justice goes, there is no longer any value
justice, there is no love. Without justice,
in human beings living on the earth. Kant
love does not survive. Justice is the
is entirely correct. A world without
prerequisite of love. Justice is fulfilled by
justice is, to be sure, too horrible to
love.
behold.
However, a world with justice but without love is
equally as bad or worse. Human relationships
cannot be governed solely by the measure of
justice. The prophet Malachi tells us that God
requires more than doing justice. He requires us
to love mercy and to walk humbly with Him
(Malachi 3:3).

Summum ius, summa iniuria was a Roman maxim

mentioned by Cicero. It is a brilliant, ambiguous
saying which can be translated, “extreme justice is
the greatest injustice,” or an "extreme justice is an
extreme wrong.
Here is a truly radical challenge: to take love,
which, as St. Thomas mentions in his
Summa Theologiae, is the form of the
virtues, and to socialize it or institutionalize
it into social and political charity. This task is
the modern challenge of our time.

Social charity makes us love the common

good. It makes us effectively see the good of
all people, considered not only as
individuals or private persons but also in the
social dimension that unites them. (CSDC,
207)
We need a new world order that is grounded not only
on secular values but on Christian love, on social and
political charity, which is identical with solidarity, i.e.,
a direct demand of human and Christian
brotherhood.

Social and political charity is not

exhausted in relationships between
individuals, but extends to the network
formed by communal relationships,
which is precisely the social and political
community; it intervenes in this context
seeking the greatest good for the
community in its entirety. (CSDC, 208)
b. Versus the Way of Violence The Church does not approve
the use of violence and the use
of arms because it is aware that
violence only leads to more
violence, which often results
only in new forms of oppression.
Violence is never a Violence is a lie, for it
proper response. The goes against the
Church proclaims truth, the truth of
that violence is evil, our humanity.
that violence is Violence destroys
unacceptable as a what it claims to
solution to problems, defend: the dignity,
that violence is the life, the freedom
unworthy of man. of human beings.
c. Understanding ‘critical collaboration’ with the State

The Church recognizes its

autonomy from the State.
However, many understand this
to mean that the Church should
not be involved in political issues,
or with politicians and public
policies. This is not the meaning
of the separation of Church and
State.
a. From Separation What really is the meaning of this
separation? There are three main ideas:

the Church should

not control or
the state should not
the state has no dominate any
discriminate any
official religion, religious group, the
religion; and
police or armed unit
of the State.

The principle of the separation of Church and

State is a reaction to some medieval
arrangement of church-sponsored religions
or a State persecution of some undesirable
religions.
In order to respect the autonomy of the Church,
the State shall not establish one religion as the
religion of the State.

It shall not favor one religion over the other.

It shall foster the freedom of all religious beliefs

and should not interfere with their practices
unless these actions become detrimental to
public order.
In order to respect the autonomy
of the State, the Church prohibits
its ministers and priests to run for
public office or, if they do, they
should resign from their ministry
as priests.

This is also done in order to guard

the Church’s role as agent of unity
as exemplified in a community of
different political persuasions.
 Separation of Church and State does not mean,
however, that the Church and its ministers cannot take
a stand on social, economic and political issues
affecting the welfare of the people.

And, if taking sides on these issues necessitates

choosing one candidate over another, the Church can
encourage its members to pursue their own options to
address the situation according to its moral values.

In the end, it is the individual Christian who decides

based on his or her own conscience, not its leaders or
ministers.
b. To Cooperation

Using a bicycle, one can surely

reach his or her destination if
the two wheels are consistent
in moving to the same
direction. The same is true
with the relationship between
the Church and State, i.e.,
both have the same goal of
reaching the common good
and realizing the Kingdom of
God.
 The distinction between the Church and the State does not
imply a complete separation, nor does it mean that the Church
should restrict her activity to the private and spiritual sphere.

Certainly the Church “cannot and must not replace the State. Yet
at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the
sidelines in the fight for justice.” (Benedict CVI, Deus Caritas est)

The Church has the right and the duty “to teach her social
doctrine, to exercise her role freely among men, and also to
pass moral judgment in those matters which regard public order
when the fundamental rights of the human person or the
salvation of souls require it.” (Gaudium et Spes, 76)
Both the Church and those who
govern society are seeking to serve
mankind (although under different
titles), and they “will carry out this
service with greater efficacy, for the
good of all, the healthier and better
is the cooperation between them.”
(CSDC, 425)
 Paradigms

Way of
Way of Critical Collaboration
Love and
Violence with the State
Justice

Separation Cooperation
Reflection:

• What concrete acts of justice and love can I do for the

following:
a. my family
b. our locality/community
c. environment
d. marginalized sectors of the society
e. Filipino nation