Catholic Social Teaching

Christians, commandments

In his 11/1/22 article, I was delighted that Father Nathaniel Dryer spoke of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.  As per my own comment on Father’s article:

“The Church’s authentic social teaching seems poorly known by many Catholics who THINK they are advocating ‘social justice.’  In reaction, many orthodox Catholics act as though ‘social justice’ is a vulgar term!” 

By way of further introducing the Compendium, I am noting, in what follows, how I was most struck by its twelve magnificent chapters (plus conclusion).  In our time, I believe that it supports our focusing on promoting the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of the transmission of human love.

I hope that readers will want to go directly to the Compendium for more familiarity.

God’s Plan of Love for Humanity

God created human beings in His own image!  Through His natural law and divine revelation, we can know His unimaginable love and desire that we live with Him forever in perfect happiness.  He gives us a certain path to know, honor, and thank Him in the Ten Commandments, and all of salvation history reaches its conclusion in Jesus Christ.  How we live is our response to our infinitely loving God.

The Church’s Mission and Social Doctrine

Via her social teaching, the Church proclaims the Good News and tries to make it permeate our lives.

The Human Person and Human Rights

Each and every human being from the very first moment of fertilization/conception is an image of God and must be treated as such.

Principles of the Church’s Social Doctrine

These are the principles of human dignity, the common good, solidarity, and subsidiarity teach us that authority lies first and foremost at the smallest/lowest level of the social hierarchy.  With regard to children, the first level of authority lies with the parents.  So a higher level of authority, the state, must have an overwhelming reason for stepping into the relationships between parents and their children.

The Family, the Vital Cell of Society

Way back in the Garden of Eden, God invented the greatest social program for His people – the family!  Yet in disregarding the sanctity of human life, numerous people disregard the sanctity of His plan for the transmission of human life.  A man and woman united in marriage form a family, the very basis of society, and are entrusted to cooperate in God’s continuing work of creation. Jesus raised marriage to a sacrament. (cf, From Pope Leo’s Arcanum to 2013)

Human Work

Human work allows us to benefit from the goodness of God’s Creation.  The dignity of human workers must absolutely be respected. Much of workers’ nobility was captured in a 1954 Hollywood film called On the Waterfront:

Some people think the Crucifixion only took place on Calvary.  They better wise up …every time the mob puts the crusher on a good man – tries to stop him from doing his duty as a citizen – it’s a crucifixion. And anybody who sits around and lets it happen – keeps silent about something he knows has happened – shares the guilt of it just as much as the Roman soldier who pierced the flesh of Our Lord to see if He was dead….Every morning when the hiring boss blows his whistle, Jesus stands alongside you….how does He, who spoke up without fear against every evil, feel about your silence?  You want to know what’s wrong with our waterfront? It’s the love of a lousy buck. It’s making the love of the lousy buck – the cushy job – more important than the love of man!  It’s forgettin’ that every fellow down here is your brother in Christ!  But remember, Christ is always with you – Christ is in the shape up. He’s in the hatch.  He’s in the union hall….And He’s saying with all of you, if you do it to the least of mine, you do it to me!”(from the fictional Father Barry’s “Sermon on the Docks” in 1954’s On the Waterfront)

Economic Life

Economic life is to be at the service of human beings, addressing those glaring gaps in access to food, drinkable water, housing, security, self-determination, and independence.

Political Community

Our respect for human dignity calls us to protect and defend the basic human rights of all people.

The International Community

Similar to co-existence among people, co-existence among nations must be based on truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom.  We are called to respect the equal dignity of all, to reject war, to cooperate in pursuing the common good, to honor commitments, and to adhere to the rule of law to reduce tensions.

Safeguarding the Environment

Human beings are the pinnacle of God’s creations on earth and must be treated that way. As God’s gifts to us, we are called to be respectful towards and appreciative of all His earthly creations and to use them for the benefit of all. For example, we must acknowledge that access to drinkable water is a basic human right.

The Promotion of Peace

We are called to promote peace. The Catechism reminds us that “the strict conditions for legitimate defense [emphasis added] by military force require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:

  • the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
  • all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
  • there must be serious prospects of success;
  • the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modem means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 2309)
Social Doctrine and Ecclesial Action

While it is clear that our world falls short of announcing God’s glory and loving plan for each of us, we are called to put words into action.  As per Centesimus Annus, the encyclical of Pope St. John Paul  II (1991): “As far as the Church is concerned, the social message of the Gospel must not be considered a theory, but above all else a basis and a motivation for action.”

Conclusion, for a Civilization of Love

In the Compendium, we find supports to continue focusing on promoting the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of the transmission of human love: “In the present cultural context, there is a particularly urgent need to defend marriage and the family, which can be adequately met only if one is convinced of the unique and singular value of these two realities for an authentic development of human society” (Pope St. John Paul II, 1981).

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8 thoughts on “Catholic Social Teaching”

  1. Pingback: What Went Wrong With the Jesuits, Blessed Virgin Mary Allegedly Spotted in Sunset of Viral Photo Taken in Africa, and More Great Links! - JP2 Catholic Radio

  2. “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the world? No, not peace, but division.”
    The problem I have with Catholic Social Teaching is that it flatly contradicts the teaching of Jesus and his apostles, both in general and in detail. Jesus really didn’t send his disciples out into the world in order to make the world a better place. He sent them out to make disciples — to grow and nourish the church. CST often comes across as “another gospel”, a rival to and replacement for the real thing. Maybe if the church would concentrate on sanctifying its members instead of trying to make the world holy, it might not be in the state of collapse that it’s in.

    1. People have misused the term “Catholic Social Teaching.” No doubt about it.

      I maintain that “The Church’s authentic social teaching seems poorly known by many Catholics who THINK they are advocating ‘social justice.’ In reaction, many orthodox Catholics act as though ‘social justice’ is a vulgar term!”

      Give the authentic version a try: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html

  3. Pingback: MONDAY EDITION – Big Pulpit

  4. Jesus did a lot of social teaching. Yet when something obviously in line with it is proposed we get furrowed brows and talk about “prudential judgment”.

    Gender is considered a bedrock dogma yet Jesus said nothing at all about it (unless you take one passing phrase and wrench it out of context).

    1. Captain, you are taking the phrase “prudential judgment” out of context. Are you inferring that it is a cop out? If you read #2309 of the Catechism in its entirety, i do not see how you could come away with that impression.

      It is inaccurate to say that Jesus was unconcerned about gender. Jesus called us back to the beginning with regard to the permanence of marriage of a man and a woman. He raised marriage to a sacrament.

  5. Yes Bert, you are absolutely correct. The Catechism provides us with a very high bar for “the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.”

    “2309 The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:
    – the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
    – all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
    – there must be serious prospects of success;
    – the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.
    These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the ‘just war’ doctrine.
    The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 2309).

  6. I am very curious about this concept of “legitimate defense”. One of the criteria listed for a defense to be considered legitimate is “there must be serious prospects of success”. Yet, if we look at historical battles like the Battle of Britain, I have read that most military strategists of the time gave England less than a 10% chance of repelling the German advance. But, they fought anyway and ended up winning even though there was no serious prospects of success. Does that mean that the Battle of Britain was not a legitimate defense? For that matter, if we look at the current Russia/Ukraine conflict, few would question Russia’s overwhelming military advantage. If Putin wanted to, he has the military might at his disposal to wipe Ukraine off the map in an afternoon. Does that mean that any defense mounted by the Ukrainians is not legitimate?

    That doesn’t make sense to me.

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