6. Major Themes of Catholic Social Teachings

Question 1

What is Dignity of the human person?

Answer 1

• All people are sacred, made in the image and likeness of god
• People do not lose dignity because of any reason
• This principle is the foundation for all catholic social teaching

Question 2

What is Common Good, Family and Community?

Answer 2

• The human person is both sacred and social
• We realize our dignity and right in relationship with others, in community
• Human beings grow and achieve fulfillment in community
• All people have a duty to participate in society, seeking common Good.
• The family is central social institution that must be supported and strengthened (The smallest and most basic form of community)

Question 3

What are Right and responsibilities?

Answer 3

• People have a fundamental right to life
• All people have a right to participate in decisions that affect their lives.
• Rights can be divided into two categories Survival and Thrival rights.

Question 4

What are Survival Rights?

Answer 4

• Basic needs, such as food, shelter, water, basic health care, and nurturing our young

Question 5

What are Thrival Rights?

Answer 5

• Things needed to foster the full potential of God’s creation, such as respect, privacy, freedom of speech, religious liberty, education, meaningful work and time for recreation

Question 6

What is Option for the Poor and Vulnerable?

Answer 6

• The moral test of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable members
• The poor have the most urgent moral claim on the conscience of the nation
• We are called to look at public policy decisions in terms of how they affect the poor
• The poor and vulnerable are not listened to or heard.

Question 7

What is Dignity of work and the rights of workers?

Answer 7

• The economy exists to serve people, not the other way around.
• People have a right to productive work and fair wages.
• Workers have the right to safe working conditions,
• the right to participate in decisions that affect them in the workplace,
• right to security in case of sickness, disability, unemployment or old age.
• All workers have the right to form unions.

Question 8

What is Global Solidarity and Development?

Answer 8

• We are one human family.
• Our responsibilities to each other cross national, racial, economic and ideological differences. We are called to work globally for justice.
• Authentic development must be full human development. It must respect and promote personal, social, economic, and political rights, including the rights of nations and of people.

Question 9

What is Stewardship of God’s Creation?

Answer 9

• By the goods of the earth are gifts from God, and they are intended by God for the benefit of everyone
• How we treat the environment is a measure of our stewardship, a sign of our respect for the creator.

Question 10

What is Promotion of Peace and Disarmament?

Answer 10

• Catholic teaching understands peace as a positive, action-oriented concept. Peace is not just the absence of war. It involves mutual respect and collaboration between peoples and nations
• There is a close relationship between peace and justice. Peace is the fruit of justice and is dependent upon right order among human beings and human institutions.

Question 11

What is Living Justly?

Answer 11

• Pope Paul VI stated that justice is “love’s minimum requirement.”
• Justice: Striving to ensure the well-being of others as well as ourselves.
• Injustice: Both the lack of concern for, and the violation of the well-being of others or oneself.
  Apathy (not caring) is the same as causing harm as they create the same effect.

Question 12

Why Seek Justice?

Answer 12

• All of God’s creation is good, and therefore has WORTH!
• Rights are needed for our well-being, and they apply to all of God’s Creation.
• Rights also imply our obligation to respect the rights of others and of creation itself.

Question 13

What are the The Dimensions of Justice?

Answer 13

• Individual Justice → Concerned obligations between individuals, fairness and respect in one to one relationships
• Social Justice → Concerned with obligations that individuals within subgroups have towards their own community, the larger society and the world as whole
• Distributive Justice → Concerned with obligations that the society has toward all its members, and the roles of governments, corporations, communities and individuals in the just distribution of society’s resources
• Ecological Justice → Concerned with obligations that human beings have to all the rest of creation.

Question 14

What is the role of government?

Answer 14

• It is an instrument to promote human dignity, protect human rights, and build the common good.
• All people have a right and a responsibility to participate in political institutions so that the government can achieve its proper goals.

Question 15

What is the principle of subsidiarity?

Answer 15

• government should be performed at the lowest level possible, as long as they can be performed adequately and if not then a higher level of government.