Welcome to Catholic Social Teaching

Please hold your mouse over each image to see a brief overview of the corresponding Catholic Social Teaching.

Catholic Social Teaching

Ten Principles of Catholic Social Teaching

1. The Principle of Respect for Human Dignity
2. The Principle of Respect for Human Life
3. The Principle of Association
4. The Principle of Participation
5. The Principle of Preferential Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
6. The Principle of Solidarity
7. The Principle of Stewardship
8. The Principle of Subsidiarity
9. The Principle of Human Equality
10. The Principle of Common Good

Some Examples

In 1891, during the upheaval in working conditions, resulting from the Industrial Revolution, Leo XIII wrote Rerum Novarum (on the challenges of work)

In 1939, as the world plunged into the Second World War, Pius XII wrote Summi Pontificatus (on the unity of human society)

In 1967, as former colonies became independent, and the future looked rosy, Paul VI wrote Populorum Progressio (On the progress of peoples)

In 1987, as communism and capitalism clashed, John Paul II wrote Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (on the twentieth anniversary of Populorium Progressio)

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Human Beings

Respect for Human Dignity
Every person is created in the image of God and redeemed by Jesus Christ. Consequently, every person is worthy of respect simply by virtue of being a human being. People do not lose the right to being treated with respect because of disability, poverty, age, lack of success or race, let alone gain the right to be treated with greater respect because of what they own or accomplish. “People can never forfeit their right to be treated with respect because God, not us, assigns it.”

Framework from William Byron “The Building Blocks of Catholic Social Teaching” America 31 October, 1998

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Respect for Human Life
An implication of the first principle is that every person, from the moment of conception to natural death has an inherent dignity and a right to life consistent with the dignity that is ours as human beings. The Catholic tradition sees the sacredness of human life as part of any moral vision for a just and good society.

Kenneth Himes (2001) Responses to 101 Questions on Social Catholic Teaching Manwah: Paulist Press p30

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The Principle of Human Equality
Given that every human being is entitled to respect and dignity merely because she/he has been created in the image and likeness of God, it follows that there is a radical equality among all human beings. After all, as George Cladis points out: “competition is alien within God.” This principle lies close to the surface in every Australian. We talk of it in terms of giving people a fair go.

George Cladis (1999) Leading the Team-Based Church San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

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Human Beings Together

The Principle of Association
The human person is not only sacred, but also social. We are born in the image and likeness of God, whose essence is community, the diverse community of Father, Son and Spirit. There are three persons in God, but only one God. At the heart of God we find diversity that is a cause of liveliness rather than of division. To put it bluntly: we are our true selves when we relate well to others, not when we are isolated individuals.

See Kenneth Himes (2001) Responses to 101 Questions on Catholic Social Teaching Manwah: Paulist Press p30

The Principle of Participation
People have a right, indeed a duty to participate in shaping a more just and human society, seeking together the common good and well-being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable. “All people need to take an active role in the development of socio-economic, political and cultural life. They should be shapers of history (subjects), not just passive recipients of other people’s decisions (objects).

St Columban’s Mission Society Catholic Social Teaching Available online at http://www.columban.org.au (Accessed on 15.7.04)

The Principle of Preferential Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
In a society marred by deepening divisions between rich and poor, our tradition recalls the story of the last judgement (Mt 25.31-46) and instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first. The United States’ Bishops put it well: “The needs of the poor take priority over the desires of the rich; the rights of workers over the maximisation of profits; the preservation of the environment over uncontrolled industrial expansion.”

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (19) Economic Justice for All 94 Available online at http://www.osjspm.org/catholic_social_teaching.aspx (Accessed 6.8.04)

The Principle of Solidarity
We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. Learning to practice the virtue of solidarity means learning that ‘loving our neighbour’ has global dimensions in an interdependent world. As Pope John Paul II has said: “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 of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all.”

Pope John Paul II (1987) On Social Concern 38 Available online at http://www.osjspm.org/catholic_social_teaching.aspx

The Principle of Subsidiarity
The word subsidiarity comes from the Latin word subsidium which means help, aid or support. The principle of subsidiarity means being wide-eyed, clearly determining the right amount of help or support that is needed to accomplish a task or to meet an obligation: “not too much” (taking over and doing it for the other: thereby creating learned helplessness or overdependence) and “not too little” (standing back and watching people thrash about, thereby increasing frustration and perhaps hopelessness). “Instead of ‘the less government the better’, the principle might be better summarised as ‘no bigger than necessary, no smaller than appropriate’.”

Kenneth Himes (2001) Responses to 101 Questions on Catholic Social Teaching Manwah: Paulist Press p55

The Principle of Common Good
A community is genuinely healthy when all people, not only one or several segments, flourish. The Russian novelist Doestoevski put it this way: “The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons”. “Every social group must take account of the needs and legitimate aspirations of other groups, and even of the general welfare of the entire human family.” This concept of the common good seems to be ‘missing in action’ in contemporary Australian public life, “not the utilitarian formula of the greatest good for the greatest number, but the moral formula of the greatest good for all”, simply on the basis that they are human beings and therefore inherently worthy of respect.”

Gaudium et Spes: Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World 26

Tell me more about:

• Living together
• Working together
• Governing ourselves
• Acting justly together
• Bringing peace

Human Beings and Creation

The Principle of Stewardship
We show respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. We have a responsibility to care for the world’s goods as stewards and trustees, not primarily, let alone merely, as consumers. The Queensland Catholic Bishops issued a Pastoral Letter on the Great Barrier Reef in June 2004. They write: “We are all in the process of learning how to better safeguard creation, respect the rhythms of nature and live more sustainably. In the interests of planetary health we are all called to participate in respectful dialogue, to leave a lighter ecological footprint and firmer spiritual one, so that generations yet unborn will inherit a world, in the words of Pope John Paul II, ‘closer to the design of the Creator’.”

Catholic Bishops of Queensland (2004) Let the Many Coastlands Be Glad: A Pastoral Letter on the Great Barrier Reef. P16

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