Session 1/ Handout 1

Why do we have a Catholic social teaching?

Why must the Church speak out publicly on matters of justice in the economic, political, and
social spheres of society?

It is part of our duty to promote the common good as citizens.
The members of the Church, as members of society, have the same right and duty to promote the
common good as do other citizens. Christians ought to fulfill their temporal obligations with
fidelity and competence. They should act as a leaven in the world, in their family, professional,
social, cultural and political life. (Justice in the World #38)

We are an incarnational Church.
The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those
who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the
followers of Christ. (Gaudium et Spes #1)

We are responding to questions asked by humanity.
The Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting
them in the light of the Gospel. Thus, in language intelligible to each generation, she can respond
to the perennial questions which men ask about this present life and the life to come, and about
the relationship of the one to the other. (Gaudium et Spes #4)

It is an imitation of Christ and a fulfillment of Christs command.
. . . though the Church's first care must be for souls, how she can sanctify them and make them
share in the gifts of heaven, she concerns herself too with the exigencies of man's daily life, with
his livelihood and education, and his general, temporal welfare and prosperity. In all this she is
but giving effect to those principles which Christ Himself established in the Church He founded.
When He said "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," "I am the light of the world," it was
doubtless man's eternal salvation that was uppermost in His mind, but He showed His concern
for the material welfare of His people when, seeing the hungry crowd of His followers, He was
moved to exclaim: "I have compassion on the multitude." (Mater et Magistra #3-4)

It is constitutive of the preaching of the gospel
Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us
as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel, or, in other words, of the Church's
mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive
situation. (Justice in the World #6)

Our love of God is bound up with our love of neighbor; love of neighbor cannot be
separated from justice
Our relationship to our neighbor is bound up with our relationship to God; our response to the
love of God, saving us through Christ, is shown to be effective in his love and service of people.
Christian love of neighbor and justice cannot be separated. For love implies an absolute demand
for justice, namely a recognition of the dignity and rights of one's neighbor. Justice attains its
inner fullness only in love. Because every person is truly a visible image of the invisible God and
a sibling of Christ, the Christian finds in every person God himself and God's absolute demand
for justice and love. (Justice in the World #34)