CHAPTER 9

Catholic Social Doctrine

• Also known as Catholic Social Doctrine
• Summarizes the Catholic Church's teachings on social justice
• Addresses moral issues in political, economic, and cultural life
• Rooted in Sacred Scriptures and the Church's Magisterium
• Guides the Church's response to social justice issues across history
• Helps Christians understand the Church's role in social issues, particularly those involving moral and Gospel values

Three Different Elements

• Principles for Reflection ("See")
• Criteria for Judgment ("Judge")
• Guidelines for Action ("Act")

Catholic Social Teaching of the Church (1891)

• 1891: Pope Leo XIII issues Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Labor)
• 1931: Pope Pius XI issues Quadragesimo Anno (On Reconstructing the Social Order)
• 1961: Pope John XXIII writes Mater et Magistra (On Christianity and Social Progress), and later, in 1963, writes Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth)
• 1962-1965: The Second Vatican Council emphasizes social teachings in Gaudium et Spes (The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World)
• 1967: Pope Paul VI issues Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples)
• 1971: Pope Paul VI writes Octogesima Adveniens (A Call to Action) for the 80th anniversary of Rerum Novarum. The Second General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops releases Justitia in Mundo (Justice in the World)
• 1981: Pope John Paul II writes Laborem Exercens (On Human Work)
• 1987: Pope John Paul II issues Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (On Social Concern)
• 1991: Pope John Paul II writes Centesimus Annus (On the Hundredth Year), celebrating Rerum Novarum's 100th anniversary
• 2005: Pope Benedict XVI releases Deus Caritas Est (God is Love)
• 2009: Pope Benedict XVI issues Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth)
• 2015: Pope Francis issues Laudato Si' (On Care for Our Common Home)
• Philippines: The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines addresses social issues through local pastoral documents, focusing on morality and social justice in the Philippine context

Ten Principles of Catholic Social Teachings

• Principle of Human Dignity

  • Human dignity is central, based on the belief that all people are made in God's image.
  • Life is sacred and must be protected from conception to natural death.
  • All humans have equal dignity and are called to divine joy (CCC 1934).
  • Humans are uniquely willed by God, deserving to be treated as "another self” with dignity (Gaudium et Spes, 24 & 27)
  • Ensures everyone has the means for a dignified life.
  • Dignity reflects God's presence and guides Church actions for justice and peace.
  • Actively engaged in social issues to uphold moral and Gospel values.

• Principle of Human Solidarity

  • A commitment to the common good for everyone, beyond goodwill.
  • We are responsible for each other, with a focus on the poor and social justice.
  • Solidarity extends to international relations, fostering ethical interdependence.
  • Calls for changing unjust systems into ones that prioritize solidarity and justice.
  • Social institutions should protect human dignity.

• Principle of Common Good

  • The common good is the set of conditions that allows individuals and groups to achieve fulfillment more fully and easily (Gaudium et Spes, 26).
  • Three Essential Elements: Respect for Rights, Social Well-Being, Peace and Justice
  • Role of Social Justice: "justice of the common good,” Equitable Distribution, Condemns Disparity

• Principle of Respect for Human Life

  • Human life is sacred as it originates from God's creation and remains in special relationship with Him.
  • Life must be respected at all stages, from conception until natural death.
  • The Church opposes euthanasia, aggressive treatment for the terminally ill, and the death penalty.

• Principle of Association and Participation

  • Responsibility to actively participate in the cultural, economic, political, and social life of their community.
  • Participation should extend to all areas: workplace, social life, and even international relations.
  • Emphasizes the importance of participating in decision-making.

• Principle of Preferential Option for the Poor

  • Focus on the needs of the poor and marginalized.
  • Emphasizes Christian charity and prioritizing the poor in our lives and social decisions.
  • This principle extends to global concerns, urging action for those deprived of basic needs and a better future.

• Principle of Stewardship

  • Humans are called to responsibly care for and manage the earth, acknowledging God as Creator.
  • While humans have dominion over the earth, it is not absolute.
  • Although private property is recognized, resources is meant for all.

• Principle of Subsidiarity

  • Prevents higher authorities from interfering unnecessarily in the responsibilities of individuals and smaller communities.
  • Calls on larger institutions to empower families and communities to fulfill their duties.
  • Encourages private initiatives and respects the roles of intermediate organizations in contributing to the common good.

• Principle of Human Equality

  • All people, regardless of gender, race, or background, have equal dignity as they are all created in God's image.
  • Embraces the idea that everyone is part of a united human family, reflecting God's love and equality.
  • Rooted in scripture, which emphasizes that all are equal before God.

• Principle of Universal Destination of Goods

  • God created the earth for all people, so resources should be shared fairly and justly.
  • Wealth and goods should be managed to ensure everyone has access to basic needs.
  • While private ownership is recognized, owners have a duty to use resources responsibly for the benefit of all.

Morality: Criteria for Good Governance

• It cannot be denied that many of our government leaders are educated and professionals. But these characteristics are not enough to govern the country.
• All those who enter politics must necessarily be persons of wholeness and integrating especially in the area of morality. The common good or common welfare demands it. The absence of it can bring the nation to disastrous consequences.

Responsive and Responsible Governance

• The kind of responsive and responsible governance depends largely on competent and morally upright leadership. These spiritual leaders invoked this leadership in spiritual and moral matters in society as a characteristic of responsive and responsible governance from the holy books, the Qur'an and the Bible.

Morality and the Economy

• In a passage from the Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, Pope Pius XI, speaks of the relationship between economy and morality.
• Even though economics and moral science employ each its own principles in its own sphere, it is, nevertheless, an error to say that the economic and moral orders are so distinct from and alien to each other that the former depends in no way on the latter.
• Economic life is not meant solely to multiply goods produced and increase profit or power; it is ordered first of all to the service of persons, of the whole man, and of the entire human community.

Man's Vocation and The Economy

• In the light of Revelation, economic activity is to be considered and undertaken as a grateful response to the vocation which God holds out for each person. Man is placed in the garden to till and keep it, making use of it within well-specified limits with a commitment to perfecting it.

Transforming the Economy Through Christian Values

• If people dedicate themselves to these with the faith, hope and love of Christ's disciples, even the economy and progress can be transformed into places of salvation and sanctification
• In these areas too it is possible a love and a solidarity that are more than human, and to contribute to the growth of a new humanity that anticipates the world to come.

Morality and Culture

• In the midst of our socio-cultural condition, there is a "need for a radical personal and social renewal capable of ensuring justice, solidarity, honesty and openness.
• At the heart of the issue of culture we find the moral sense, which is in turn rooted and fulfilled in the religious sense (Veritatis Splendor, no. 98).

Evangelizing and Inculcating the Gospel

• It is imperative to evangelize cultures in order to inculturate the Gospel. In countries of Catholic tradition, this means encouraging, fostering and reinforcing a richness which already exists. (Evangelii Gaudium, no. 69)

Inculturation in Christianity

• Equivalent to "evangelization," "incarnation," and "contextualization," the Gospel values as well as the moral teachings of the Church penetrates into the culture of man

Goal of Inculturation in Political Culture

• Christian stewards should evangelize political culture by bringing Christic inculturation into the given historical context and cultural setting of the corporate personality or social grouping of this present time.

1 Thessalonians 5:23

• Everything that happens in the society affects the human person in his or her entirety, i.e. spirit, body and soul.