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CATECHESIS ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
PATRICK JAY B. PARCE
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INTRODUCTION
Transforming social realities with the power of the Gospel, to which witness is borne by men and
women faithful to Jesus Christ, has always been a challenge and it remains so today at the
beginning of the Third Millennium of the Christian era. The proclamation of Jesus Christ, the “Good
News” of salvation, love, justice and peace, is not readily received in today’s world and in today’s
situation, devastated as it is by wars, poverty, injustices, sickness.
What we call Catholic Social Teaching came about in the 19 th century. With industrialization, a brutal
form of capitalization arose: a sort of economy that destroyed human beings. Unscrupulous
industrialists reduced the impoverished rural population to the point where they toiled in mines or
in rusty factories for starvation wages. With great commitment, Christians offered aid to those in
need, but they noticed that that was not enough. So they developed ideas for counteracting the
injustices – socially and politically.
The fundamental proclamation of Catholic Social doctrine was and is the 1891 encyclical letter by Pope
Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, “On Capital and Labor”. Because the needs of the time demanded it, CST
was increasingly enriched and refined over the years. Many people debated about community,
justice, peace and the common good. But it is important to note, that this doctrine does not come
from any particular pope or from any particular scholar; it comes from the heart of the Gospel. It
comes from Jesus himself – Jesus is the Social Teaching of God.
The Church is an expert in humanity, and anticipating with trust and with active involvement she
continues to look towards the “new heavens” and the “new earth” (2 Pt. 3:13), which she indicates
to every person, in order to help people to live their lives in the dimension of authentic meaning for
the human person who fully lives his or her dignity gives glory to God, who has given this dignity to
men and women.
Become active yourselves. When many do that together, then there will be improvements in this world
and people will sense that the Spirit of God is working through you. And, maybe, then, you will be
like torches that make the path to God brighter for these people.
OBJECTIVES
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CATECHESIS ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
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1. The learners will be able to learn why there is a need for the Church to touch and get involved
in political or state matters or affairs;
2. The learners will know that the Church does not only concern herself with spiritual or religious
matters, but also in the civil, social and political aspects;
3. The learners should be able to understand that the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the “Good
News” of salvation, love, justice and peace, is not readily received in today’s world and in
today’s situation, devastated as it is by wars, poverty, injustices, sickness;
4. Learners will know that the Church is an expert in humanity, and anticipating with trust and with active
involvement she continues to look towards the “new heavens” and the “new earth” (2 Pt. 3:13), which
she indicates to every person.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students are expected to learn the different Social Doctrines of the Church, its Principles and why
there is a need to apply them especially in today’s current situation. They are also expected to
see themselves as “social creatures” – that they are a part of society and has the obligation to
contribute to the signs of the times (aggiornamento).
TOPIC OUTLINE
● Introduction to Catechesis on Social Responsibility:
o The Social Teachings of the Church
● Moral Teachings on Social Matters
● The Church’s Social Doctrine
● Love
● God’s Commandments
CONTENT/DISCUSSION
INTRODUCTION TO CATECHESIS ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
What is the Social Teachings of the Church?
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It is the Church’s response to the problems and issues, challenges and dilemmas that we encounter
in the political, economic, cultural, social and ecological spheres of our human community and
society.
What are the Social Teachings of the Church? (Please read and understand the Teachings)
- Rerum Novarum - Gaudium et Spes
The Condition of Labor The Church in the Modern World
Pope Leo XIII Vatican II
May 15, 1891 Dec. 1965
- Quadragesimo Anno - Populorum Progressio
Reconstruction of the Social Order The Development of Peoples
Pope Pius XI Paul VI
May 1931 March 25, 1967
- Mater et Magistra - Justicia in Mundo
Christianity and Social Progress Justice in the World
Pope John XXIII Synod of Bishops
May 15 1961 Nov. 30, 1971
- Pacem in Terris - Evangelii Nuntiandi
Peace on Earth Evangelization in the Modern World
Pope John XXIII Pope Paul VI
April 11 1963
The Catholic Social Teachings promote a vision of a JUST society that is GROUNDED in the Bible and
in the wisdom gathered from experience by the Catholic Christian Community as it has
responded to social justice issues throughout history.
Moral Teachings on Social Matters (2419-2420)
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From the Gospel, the Church receives wisdom about man's social living. She proclaims man's
dignity and the demands of peace and justice.
When human rights or the salvation of souls requires, the Church makes moral judgments on
economic and social matters. She has a mission distinct from political authorities. The Church is
concerned with temporal goods because they are ordered to man's salvation. She tries to
inspire right attitudes to goods and economic relationships.
Catholic Social Teaching (2421-2422)
The Church's social doctrine developed in the nineteenth century when the Gospel confronted the
new structures of production, new concepts of the state, and new forms of labor and
ownership. The Church's Tradition has a permanent value which is always living and active.
In this social teaching (which comprises a body of doctrine), the Church interprets events in light of
Christ's teachings. As Catholics follow this teaching, others will also accept it.
Three Doctrines (2423-2424)
This doctrine proposes the following:
1. Any system determined entirely by economic factors is contrary to the human person.
2. Any theory which makes profit the exclusive and ultimate end of economic activity is morally
unacceptable. It produces perverse effects and leads to conflicts.
3. Any system which subordinates the basic rights of persons and groups to the collective
organization is contrary to human dignity. Reducing persons to merely means of profit is
enslavement.
Definition of LOVE
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In Cardinal Levada’s glossary, charity (or love) is defined as, “The theological virtue by which we
love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.”
Paul tells us that love is the greatest of the theological virtues: “So faith, hope, love abide, these
three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13).
Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Encyclopedia entry on “Love” defines it as:
Any strong affection, closeness, or devotion to things or persons. The Greeks distinguished four
types of love: storge, philia, eros, and agape.
- Storge, familial love, is a word for the bond that exists between one who loves and persons,
animals, and the things that surround him. It is compatible with quite a bit of taken-for-
grantedness or even of hatred at times.
- Philia pertains to friends, freely chosen because of mutual compatibility and common values.
- Eros is passion, not only of a sexual nature, but also of an aesthetic or spiritual nature, for what
is conceived of as supremely beautiful and desirable.
- Agapic love is manifested when one person has much to give to another needier. It is generous
self-donation without concern for reward.
- Such distinctions become especially important in discernments about marriage, because the
strength of eros love may blind one to the absence of ther types of love needed to experience a
good Christian bond that, with God’s grace, can endure “till death do us part.”
Did God act according to a plan when he created the world and us?
Yes, God created the whole world according to his idea and plan. Just as a human being can devise
a game, and with the rules for playing it creates the entire logic of the game, so God created the
world and mankind. God’s plan is that human beings should love and respond to God’s love and
thus think, speak and act in love themselves (cf. Eph. 3:9). CSDC 20, CCC 2062
Who is God in the first place?
God, we can say, is the origin of all that exists. He is the final reason for and the ultimate cause of
all things, who also keeps them in existence. With reference to contemporary science, we can
say: He is before the Big Bang and is the origin of all the laws of nature. Without God,
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everything that exists would collapse. God alone is the goal of everything that exists (CSDC 34,
279 ff., CCC 33)
Why did God create man and the world?
God created the world out of his overflowing love. He would like us to love him as he loves us. He
wants to gather us into the greater family of his Church. (CSDC 49, 68, 142)
If God created the world out of love, then why is it full of injustice, oppression, and suffering?
God created the world as something good in itself. But man fell away from God, deciding against
God’s love and bringing evil into the world. The Bible tells about this in the story of the first sin
and fall of Adam and Eve. Human beings – the story about the Tower of Babel explains –
wanted to be like God.
Since then, there has been a flaw in the fabric of the world, a destructive principle. Since then
nothing is quite as God planned it to be. Our present decisions also contribute to the fact that
there is injustice, oppression, and suffering in this world. Many wrong decisions can sometimes
coalesce into structures of evil and sin.
The individual must therefore live within a system that on the whole is evil and unjust, and it is not
at all easy to distance oneself from it, e.g. when a soldier is obliged to participate in an unjust
war. (CSDC 27, CCC 365 ff., 415)
Why did God give man the option of doing evil in the first place?
God created man to love. One cannot be forced to love, however; love is always voluntary. If a
human being is really to be able to love, he must therefore be free. If there is genuine freedom,
however, there is always the possibility also of deciding in a way that is fundamentally wrong.
We human beings can even destroy freedom itself. (CCC 311 ff.)
How did God reveal himself to mankind before Jesus?
The existence of God was never beyond the knowledge of human reason. Over the history of
Israel’s faith, God revealed something of his interior life and spoke to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. He commanded Moses to free his people from slavery in Egypt. Again and again, he
called prophets to speak and act publicly in his name. (CCC 54, ff.)
What significance do the Ten Commandments have for our life together?
In the Ten Commandments, God supplies us with the everlasting principles of the good life. We can
rely on them as a guide. And this brings about a world as God designed it to be. In them we
learn what our duties are, e.g. not to steal from anyone – and at the same time, our rights
become clear: no one may steal from us, either.
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The content of the 10 Commandments is similar to that of the natural law, in other words, what is
written in the heart of every human being as a notion of good action. In them, universal ways of
acting are described that are binding for all human beings and cultures. Hence the 10
Commandments are also the basic rules of life together in society. (CCC 434)
What is the new Commandment of Love in the New Testament?
The Gold Rule is recognized in many cultures as a norm of the good life. The commandment of love
in the OT is even more forceful: you shall love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19: 18). Jesus
intensifies the commandment of mutual love and makes it more specific by attaching it to
himself and the sacrifice of his life: this is my commandment, that you love another as I have
loved you (Jn 15: 21).
This love is oriented toward community and the individual in equal measure: everyone matters, as
a unique, unrepeatable person loved by God – and through love everyone relies on others.
Divine love is the beginning of a “civilization of love” (Paul VI and JP II), to which all human beings
can contribute. (CSD 54, CCC 2055).
OTHER INSTRUCTIONS
1. If you have questions, clarifications and/or other suggestions, please feel free and don’t
hesitate to get in touch with your teacher. You may reach me thru my email address:
parcepatrickjay@sachri.edu.ph
2. Please do some research and read and understand the Social Teachings. This will be the core of
our study for the coming months.
Prepared by:
Br. PATRICK JAY B. PARCE
Religious Education Instructor
