Catholic Social Teaching: Principles and Key Concepts

Posted on Feb 25, 2025 in Religion

Seven Principles of Catholic Social Teaching

Life and Dignity of the Human Person: Catholic teaching on life and the dignity of the human person.
Call to Family, Community, and Participation: Catholic teaching on the call to family, community, and participation.
Solidarity: Catholic teaching on solidarity.
Dignity of Work: Catholic teaching on the dignity of work.
Rights and Responsibilities: Catholic teaching on rights and responsibilities.
Option for the Poor and Vulnerable: Catholic teaching on the option for the poor and vulnerable.
Care for God’s Creation: Catholic teaching on caring for God’s creation.

Most Important Catholic Social Teaching:
- (Most fundamental) Right to life.
What do the principles of Catholic Social Teaching work to build up?
- The human person.
Know the Tripod of Truth:
- Tradition
- Scripture
- Magisterium
Two extremes to avoid when reading scripture.
Date of the first letter written by St. Paul:
- 51 A.D.
Why is the Church competent to speak on matters of social issues?
- Jesus gave the Church the authority to speak on social matters.
Name the tasks of the Magisterium:
- Guardian, Interpreter, Servant
What does the Magisterium consist of?
- The bishops in union with the Church.
Name the year and name of the Church council that put together the scriptures:
- Council of Hippo: 390 A.D.
What is Natural Law?
- God’s plan written into the way He made things. The light of understanding, infused in us by God, whereby we understand what must be done and what must be avoided.
Dr. Edward Sri:
- Chastity, sobriety, self-control.

Moral absolutism is concerned with right and wrong conduct. The absolute determines whether the action or conduct is right or wrong.
Therefore, from the standpoint of moral absolutism, some things are always right, and some things are always wrong, no matter how one tries to rationalize them.
Moral absolutism emerges from a theistic worldview.
Moral relativism is defined as the belief that conflicting moral beliefs are true.
This carries the idea that what you regard as right conduct may be right conduct for you, but not for me.
To put it another way, “relativism–what is true for the individual replaces the search for absolute truth.”
Moral relativism is an attempt to undermine the claim that there is an objective moral law or moral absolute that is the same for all human beings.

Joyful
- Annunciation
- Visitation
- Birth of Jesus
- Presentation at the Temple
- Finding in the Temple
Luminous
- Baptism
- Wedding at Cana (Water to Wine)
- Proclamation of the Kingdom
- Transfiguration
- Institution of the Eucharist
Sorrowful
- Agony in the Garden
- Scourging at the Pillar
- Crown of Thorns
- Carrying of the Cross
- Crucifixion/Death
Glorious
- Resurrection
- Ascension
- Descent of the Holy Spirit
- Assumption of Mary
- Coronation of Mary

Single most important issue of our age:
- Moral relativism
Pacem in Terris – Rights & Responsibilities:
- Document from Pope John XXIII that described the rights of humans.
- Rights/Responsibilities:
  - Right to life – Duty to take care of and preserve one’s own life.
  - Moral and cultural rights – To respect one another.
  - Right to worship God – To honor God according to the sincere dictates of his own conscience.
  - Right to choose freely one’s state of life – To set up equal rights and duties for man and woman in a family, or follow a vocation.
  - Economic rights – To work.
  - Right of meeting and association – To utilize the social nature of humanity.
  - Right to emigrate and immigrate – To allow the tolerance of others into your country, and also to move when necessary.
  - Political rights – To take an active part in public affairs and contribute one’s part to the common good.