438. The Church's social teaching

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 438

Ave Maria series

Why does the Catholic Church have her own social teaching?

Because all men, as children of God, possess a unique dignity, the Church with her social teaching is committed to defending and promoting this human dignity for all men in the social sphere.  She is not trying to preempt the legitimate freedom of politics or of the economy. When human dignity is violated in politics or economic practices, however, the Church must intervene.  [2419-2420, 2422-2423]

Unionized banana laborers can make $10 a day in wages plus $10 a day in benefits; non-unionized banana workersearn $3 a day with no benefits. --Photo by permission of Stephanie May. ….. 438

“The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the men of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well” (Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes). In her social teaching, the Church makes this statement specific.  And she asks: How can we take responsibility for the well-being and the just treatment of all, even of non-Christians?  What is a just organization of human society, of political, economic, and social institutions supposed to look like?  In her commitment to justice, the Church is guided by a love that emulates Christ’s love for mankind.

 [2419-2420, 2422-2423]

2419 "Christian revelation . . . promotes deeper understanding of the laws of social living." (Gaudium et Spes 23 § 1.)¹⁹⁹ The Church receives from the Gospel the full revelation of the truth about man. When she fulfills her mission of proclaiming the Gospel, she bears witness to man, in the name of Christ, to his dignity and his vocation to the communion of persons. She teaches man the demands of justice and peace in conformity with divine wisdom.–Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2420 The Church makes a moral judgment about economic and social matters, "when the fundamental rights of the person or the salvation of souls requires it." (Gaudium et Spes 76 § 5.)²⁰⁰ In the moral order she bears a mission distinct from that of political authorities: the Church is concerned with the temporal aspects of the common good because they are ordered to the sovereign Good, our ultimate end. She strives to inspire right attitudes with respect to earthly goods and in socio-economic relationships. –CCC

2422 The Church's social teaching comprises a body of doctrine, which is articulated as the Church interprets events in the course of history, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, in the light of the whole of what has been revealed by Jesus Christ. (Compare Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 1; 41.)²⁰² This teaching can be more easily accepted by men of good will, the more the faithful let themselves be guided by it. --CCC

2423 The Church's social teaching proposes principles for reflection; it provides criteria for judgment; it gives guidelines for action: --CCC

Any system in which social relationships are determined entirely by economic factors is contrary to the nature of the human person and his acts. (Compare Centesimus Annus 24.)²⁰³–CCC

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