Major Themes of Catholic Social Teachings (Unit 3)

Question 1

What are the eight major themes?

Answer 1

1. Dignity of a human person
2. Common good, family and community
3. Rights and responsibilities
4. Option for the poor and vulnerable
5. Dignity of work and the rights of workers
6. Global solidarity and development
7. Stewardship of God’s creation
8. Promotion of peace and disarmament

Question 2

What is the dignity of a human person?

Answer 2

All people are sacred, made in the image and likeness of God
- People don’t lose dignity because of disability, poverty, age, lack of success, or race
- Emphasizes people over things, being over having.
- Principle is the foundation for all Catholic social teaching and for the church promotion of respect for human life

Question 3

What is the common good, family and community?

Answer 3

The human person is both sacred and social
- Realize our dignity and right in relationship with others, and grow and achieve fulfillment in community
- Right and a duty to participate in society for the common good

Question 4

What are rights and responsibilities?

Answer 4

People have a fundamental right to life, food, shelter, health care, education and employment.
- All people have a right to participate in decisions that affect their lives.

Question 5

What are survival rights?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

What are thrival rights?

Answer 6

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 7

What are options for the poor and vulnerable?

Answer 7

Moral test of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable members, poor have the most urgent moral claim on the conscience of the nation
- Called to look at public policy decisions on how they impact the poor
- Doesn’t pit one group or class against another, rather states the deprivation and powerlessness of the poor wounds the whole community
- We are only as strong as our weakest link

Question 8

What is the dignity of work and the right of workers?

Answer 8

Economy exists to serve people, not the other way around, people have a right to productive work, fair wages, and safe working conditions
- Right to: participate in decisions that affect them in the workplace, to security in case of sickness, disability, unemployment or old age, and form unions
- Unions are referred to in the teaching as an “Indispensable” element in the search for social justice.

Question 9

What is global solidarity and development?

Answer 9

We are one human family, our responsibilities to each other cross all difference, called to work globally for justice.
- Authentic development must be full human development
- Must respect and promote personal, social, economic, and political rights, including the rights of nations/people.
- Must avoid the extremes of underdevelopment/ “superdevelopment”
- Gaining material goods/technical resources is not fulfilling with no respect for others (moral, cultural, spiritual…)

Question 10

What is the stewardship of God’s creation?

Answer 10

Goods of the earth are gifts from God, and they are intended by God for the benefit of everyone
- “Social Mortgage” that guides our use of the world’s goods, we have a responsibility to care for these goods as stewards and trustees (not just consumers/users)
- Treatment of the environment shows our stewardship and respect for our creator

Question 11

What is the promotion of peace and and disarmament?

Answer 11

Catholic teaching: peace as a positive, action-oriented concept (not just the absence of war)
- Mutual respect/collaboration between people/nations
- Close relationship between peace and justice
- Peace= fruit of justice, dependent upon right order among human beings/institutions.

Question 12

How to live justly?

Answer 12

Pope Paul VI: justice is “love’s minimum requirement.”

Question 13

What is justice?

Answer 13

Striving to ensure the well-being of others as well as ourselves.

Question 14

What is injustice?

Answer 14

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 15

Why seek justice?

Answer 15

All of God’s creation is good, so it has worth. Right’s are needed for our well-being and for all of God’s creation (imply our obligation to respect the rights of others and creation)

Question 16

What are the four dimensions of justice?

Answer 16

Individual, social, distributive, and ecological

Question 17

Individual justice definition?

Answer 17

Concerned obligations between individuals, fairness and respect in one to one relationships

Question 18

Social justice definition?

Answer 18

Concerned with obligations that individuals within subgroups have towards their own community, the larger society and the world as whole

Question 19

Distributive justice definition?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Ecological justice definition?

Answer 20

Concerned with obligations that human beings have to all the rest of creation.

Question 21

What is the role of government in morality and its people?

Answer 21

The state has a positive moral function. It is an instrument to promote human dignity, protect human rights, and build the common good.

Question 22

What is the right and responsibility that citizens have towards our governments?

Answer 22

All people have a right and a responsibility to participate in political institutions so that the government can achieve its proper goal

Question 23

What is the principle for subsidiaries? (government)

Answer 23

The function of government should be performed at the lowest level possible, as long as they can be performed adequately
- When need can’t be met at a lower level, it is necessary that higher levels of government take control