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Catholic Social TeachingBackForwardPauseCaption
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About
Catholic social teaching is a central and essential element of our faith. Its roots are in the Hebrew prophets who announced God's special love for the poor and called God's people to a covenant of love and justice. It is a teaching founded on the life and words of Jesus Christ, who came "to bring glad tidings to the poor . . . liberty to captives . . . recovery of sight to the blind" (Lk 4:18-19), and who identified himself with "the least of these," the hungry and the stranger (cf. Mt 25:45). Catholic social teaching is built on a commitment to the poor. This commitment arises from our experiences of Christ in the eucharist. (Source USCCB)
The Dignity of the Human Person is the foundational principle of Catholic Social Teaching. So, this is where we start our journey together as we dive into this beautiful wisdom of the Church.
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Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching
- LIFE AND DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
- CALL TO FAMILY, COMMUNITY, AND PARTICIPATION
- RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- OPTION FOR THE POOR AND VULNERABLE
- THE DIGNITY OF WORK AND THE RIGHTS OF WORKERS
- SOLIDARITY
- CARE FOR GOD’S CREATION
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Our Human Dignity Flows from Being Made in God's Image
“Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth. God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)
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1. LIFe and Dignity of the Human Person
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The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. This belief is the foundation of all the principles of our social teaching. In our society, human life is under direct attack from abortion and euthanasia. The value of human life is being threatened by cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and the use of the death penalty. The intentional targeting of civilians in war or terrorist attacks is always wrong. Catholic teaching also calls on us to work to avoid war. Nations must protect the right to life by finding increasingly effective ways to prevent conflicts and resolve them by peaceful means. We believe that every person is precious, that people are more important than things, and that the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person.
- This beautiful article by Bishop Timothy Dolan
- This additional teaching on the Dignity of the Human Person
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The Dignity of the Human Person is the foundational principle of Catholic Social Teaching. Every person is made in the image and likeness of God:
“Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth.
God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)
"Being in the image of God, the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone.” (CCC 357)
Cardinal Timothy Dolan says it beautifully: "This Doctrine of the Dignity of the Human Person should be taught our children along with the Sign of the Cross, for it is at the very essence of our Catholic faith."
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2. Call to Family, Community, and Participation
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The person is not only sacred but also social. How we organize our society—in economics and politics, in law and policy—directly affects human dignity and the capacity of individuals to grow in the community. Marriage and the family are the central social institutions that must be supported and strengthened, not undermined. We believe people have a right and a duty to participate in society, seeking together the common good and well-being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable.
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The Dignity of the Human Person makes each person sacred. Yet, God made us as social persons as well. Said another way, he made us both for him and each other! This profound truth has real implications for how we organize and live our lives. St. John Paul II speaks beautifully about the family's role, education, and participation:
"Insofar as it is a 'small scale Church,' the Christian family is called upon, like the 'large scale Church,' to be a sign of unity for the world and in this way to exercise its prophetic role by bearing witness to the Kingdom and peace of Christ, towards which the whole world is journeying. Christian families can do this through their educational activity-that is to say by presenting to their children a model of life based on the values of truth, freedom, justice, and love-both through active and responsible involvement in the authentically human growth of society and its institutions, and by supporting in various ways the associations specifically devoted to international issues." (St. John Paul II, The Family in the Modern World [Familiaris Consortio. . . ], no. 48)
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3. Rights and Responsibilities
The Catholic tradition teaches that human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met. Therefore, every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities--to one another, to our families, and the larger society.
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Rights: St. John XXIII Teaches Us Well
"We must speak of man's rights. Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. In consequence, he has the right to be looked after in the event of ill health; disability stemming from his work; widowhood; old age; enforced unemployment; or whenever through no fault of his own he is deprived of the means of livelihood." (St. John XXIII, Peace on Earth [ Pacem in Terris. . . ], no. 11, emphasis added)Each of us is blessed with gifts and graces to minister where these rights are compromised.
St. Catherine of Siena wrote beautifully: “I distribute the virtues quite diversely; I do not give all of them to each person, but some to one, some to others. . . And so I have given many gifts and graces, both spiritual and temporal, with such diversity that I have not given everything to one single person, so that you may be constrained to practice charity towards one another. . . I have willed that one should need another and that all should be my ministers in distributing the graces and gifts they have received from me.” (St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena)
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4. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
A basic moral test is how our most vulnerable members are faring. In a society marred by deepening divisions between rich and poor, our tradition recalls the story of the Last Judgment (Mt 25:31-46) and instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first. The primary purpose of this special commitment to the poor is to enable them to become active participants in the life of society. It is to enable all persons to share in and contribute to the common good. The "option for the poor," therefore, is not an adversarial slogan that pits one group or class against another. Rather it states that the deprivation and powerlessness of the poor wounds the whole community. The extent of their suffering is a measure of how far we are from being a true community of persons. These wounds will be healed only by greater solidarity with the poor and among the poor themselves. (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Economic Justice for All, no. 88)
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THE FACE OF THE POOR IS THE FACE OF CHRIST.
JESUS HAD A SPECIAL LOVE FOR THE POOR AND VULNERABLE."Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." (Mt 25:40) Jesus was born poor, ministered to the poor, and was clear about our own responsibility to love and care for the poor. Hence, the "Option for the Poor and Vulnerable" is a central theme in Catholic Social Teaching. Pope Francis reminds us of "the absolute priority of 'going forth from ourselves towards our brothers and sisters.'" (Evangelii Gaudium 179) As we live out our Christian values, we are called to always consider first the poor and vulnerable.
God's word teaches that our brothers and sisters are the prolongation of the incarnation for each of us: "As you did it to one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it to me." (Mt 25:40) The way we treat others has a transcendent dimension: "The measure you give will be the measure you get." (Mt 7:2) It corresponds to the mercy which God has shown us: "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you . . . For the measure you give will be the measure you get back." (Lk 6:36-38) What these passages make clear is the absolute priority of "going forth from ourselves toward our brothers and sisters" as one of the two great commandments which ground every moral norm and as the clearest sign for discerning spiritual growth in response to God's completely gift. (Pope Francis, The Joy of the Gospel [Evangelii Gaudium. . . ], no. 179)
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5. The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
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The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected--the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions, to private property, and economic initiative. (USCCB)
Think about your morning’s coffee, or about the clothes you wore to work (or mass) today. Trace the coffee back to the beans or the clothes back to their place of manufacture. Are the workers paid fairly? What are their working conditions? The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected—the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, and safe working conditions. May we urge business owners and policymakers to place the dignity of the human person at the center of economic decisions.
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THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON AND CREATION
LEADS TO THE DIGNITY OF WORKI would like to remind everyone, especially governments engaged in boosting the world's economic and social assets, that the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity: "Man is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life." (Pope Benedict XVI, Charity in Truth[Caritas in Veritate. . . ], no. 25, quoting Second Vatican Council, The Church in the Modern World [Gaudium et Spes. . . ], no. 63)
The obligation to earn one's bread by the sweat of one's brow also presumes the right to do so. A society in which this right is systematically denied, in which economic policies do not allow workers to reach satisfactory levels of employment, cannot be justified from an ethical point of view, nor can that society attain social peace. (St. John Paul II, The Hundredth Year [Centesimus Annus. . . ], no. 43)
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6. Solidarity
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We are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be. Loving our neighbor has global dimensions in a shrinking world. At the core of the virtue of solidarity is the pursuit of justice and peace. Pope Paul VI taught that “if you want peace, work for justice.” The Gospel calls us to be peacemakers. Our love for all our sisters and brothers demands that we promote peace in a world surrounded by violence and conflict.
It is good for people to realize that purchasing is always a moral — and not simply economic — act. Hence the consumer has a specific social responsibility, which goes hand-in-hand with the social responsibility of the enterprise. Consumers should be continually educated regarding their daily role, which can be exercised with respect for moral principles without diminishing the intrinsic economic rationality of the act of purchasing… It can be helpful to promote new ways of marketing products from deprived areas of the world, to guarantee their producers a decent return. (Pope Benedict XVI, Charity in Truth [Caritas in Veritate. . . ], no. 66)
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While our culture prizes independence,
we must instead act out of solidarity and interdependence.We are all part of one human family. As members of the larger Body of Christ, we are interdependent and, therefore, called to be in solidarity with others. Solidarity is a key theme in Catholic Social Teaching. St. John Paul II teaches that solidarity “is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and each individual because we are all really responsible for all.” (St. John Paul II, On Social Concern (Sollicitudo rei Socialis), no. 38)
Developing countries, where the most important reserves of the biosphere are found, continue to fuel the development of richer countries at the cost of their own present and future. The land of the southern poor is rich and mostly unpolluted, yet access to ownership of goods and resources for meeting vital needs is inhibited by a system of commercial relations and ownership which is structurally perverse. . . . As the United States bishops have said, greater attention must be given to "the needs of the poor, the weak and the vulnerable, in a debate often dominated by more powerful interests". We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family. There are no frontiers or barriers, political or social, behind which we can hide, still, there is less room for the globalization of indifference. (Pope Francis, On Care for Our Common Home[Laudato Si'. . . ], no. 52, quoting United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and the Common Good)
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7. Care for God's Creation
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We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. Care for the earth is not just an Earth Day slogan, it is a requirement of our faith. We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God’s creation. This environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that cannot be ignored.
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"The notion of the common good also extends to future generations. The global economic crises have made painfully obvious the detrimental effects of disregarding our common destiny, which cannot exclude those who come after us. We can no longer speak of sustainable development apart from intergenerational solidarity. Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future generations, we look at things differently; we realize that the world is a gift that we have freely received and must share with others. Since the world has been given to us, we can no longer view reality in a purely utilitarian way, in which efficiency and productivity are entirely geared to our individual benefit. Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us." (Laudato Si', no. 159)
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Care for God's Creation turns into Care for our Brothers and Sisters
Creation is a glorious gift from God. It certainly demonstrates the awesome wonder and power of God; and since he made it, it is indeed good! We must also realize that his creation provides the support system for human life. If this support system is abused, human life is put at risk. The poor are exposed to the greatest risk because they often live closer to the land and possess fewer resources to adapt to climate change, polluted environments, and scarce water supplies. Our nation has less than 5% of the world's population, yet it consumes "one-third of the world’s paper, a quarter of the world’s oil, 23 percent of the coal, 27 percent of the aluminum, and 19 percent of the copper." (Scientific American) Thus, our personal economic, and consumption decisions determine what kind of impact we personally have on God's creation and on our global brothers and sisters.
Pope Francis calls us to an "Ecological Conversion"
“It must be said that some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment. Others are passive; they choose not to change their habits and thus become inconsistent. So what they all need is an ‘ecological conversion,’ whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ becomes evident in their relationship with the world around them. Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.” (Laudato Si’, no. 217)
"A true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. . . . Everything is connected. Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a sincere love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society." (Laudato Si', no. 49, 91)
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COMPENDIUM OF THE SOCIAL DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH - Vatican
PACEM IN TERRIS ENCYCLICAL OF POPE JOHN XXIII ON ESTABLISHING UNIVERSAL PEACE IN TRUTH, JUSTICE, CHARITY, AND LIBERTY
LAUDATO SI’ ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME
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