Catholic Social Teaching

Catholic Social teaching (CST) has its roots int he Hebrew prophets who announced God’s special love for the poor and called God’s people to a covenant of love and justice. It is a teaching founded on the life and words of Jesus Christ, who came “to bring glad tidings to the poor…liberty to captives…recovery of sight to the blind” Luke 4:18-19 CST is built on a commitment to the poor.

The Church’s social teaching is a rich treasure of wisdom about building a just society and living lives of holiness amidst the challenges of modern society. Modern Catholic social teaching has been articulated through a tradition of papal, conciliar, and episcopal documents. The depth and richness of this tradition can be understood best through a direct reading of these documents. In these brief reflections, we will highlight several of the key themes that are at the heart of our Catholic social tradition.

CST “emerges from the truth of what God has revealed to us about himself. We believe in the triune God whose very nature is communal and social. God the Father sends his only Son Jesus Christ and shares the Holy Spirit as his gift of love. God reveals himself to us as one who is Trinity. Therefore, we who are made in God’s image share this communal, social nature. We are called to reach out and to build relationships of love and justice.

CST is based on and inseparable from our understanding of human life and human dignity. Every human being is created in the image of God and redeemed bu Jesus Christ, and therefore is invaluable and worthy of respect as a member of the human family. Far too many Catholics are not familiar with the basic content of Catholic Social Teaching. More fundamentally, many Catholics do not adequately understand that Catholic Social Teaching is an essential part of Catholic faith. This poses a serious challenge for all Catholics, since it weakens our capacity to be a Church that is true to the demands of the Gospel. (US Conference of Catholic Bishops)