Catholic social teaching is the body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters

of social justice, involving issues of poverty and wealth, economics, social organization and the role
of the state. Its foundations are widely considered to have been laid by Pope Leo XIII's
1891 encyclical letter Rerum novarum, which advocated economic distributism and condemned
both capitalism and socialism, although its roots can be traced to the writings of Catholic thinkers
such as St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine of Hippo, and is also derived from concepts present
in the Bible and the cultures of the ancient Near East.[1][page needed]
According to Pope Benedict XVI, its purpose "is simply to help purify reason and to contribute, here
and now, to the acknowledgment and attainment of what is just. ... [The Church] has to play her part
through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice ...
cannot prevail and prosper",[2] According to Pope John Paul II, its foundation "rests on the threefold
cornerstones of human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity". [3] These concerns echo elements
of Jewish law and the prophetic books of the Old Testament, and recall the teachings of Jesus
Christ recorded in the New Testament, such as his declaration that "whatever you have done for one
of these least brothers of Mine, you have done for Me." [4]
Catholic social teaching is distinctive in its consistent critiques of modern social and political
ideologies both of the left and of the right: liberalism, communism, feminism,[5][6] atheism,[7] socialism,
[8]
fascism, capitalism,[8] and Nazism have all been condemned, at least in their pure forms, by several
popes since the late nineteenth century.
Catholic social doctrine has always tried to find an equilibrium between concern for the whole
society, especially for the weakest and poorest, and respect for human liberty, including the right to
private property.[9]

Principles[edit]

Every commentator has their own list of key principles and documents, and there is no official
canon of principles or documents.[26]

Human dignity[edit]
The principle of Catholic social teaching is the correct view of the human person. "Being in the image
of God, the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but
someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and
entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his
Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give."

Solidarity and the common good[edit]

Solidarity is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good, not merely
"vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of others" (Joseph Donders, John Paul II:
The Encyclicals in Everyday Language). Solidarity, which flows from faith, is fundamental to the
Christian view of social and political organization. Each person is connected to and dependent on all
humanity, collectively and individually.
Charity[edit]
In Caritas in Veritate, the Catholic Church declared that "Charity is at the heart of the Church". Every
responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which,
according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law (Matthew 22:36-40). It gives
real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbour; it is the principle not only of
micro-relationships but with friends, family members or within small groups. [27]

The Church has chosen the concept of "charity in truth" to avoid a degeneration into sentimentality in
which love becomes empty. In a culture without truth, there is a fatal risk of losing love. It falls prey to
contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word love is abused and distorted, to the point
where it comes to mean the opposite. Truth frees charity from the constraints of an emotionalism
that deprives it of relational and social content, and of a fideism that deprives it of human and
universal breathing-space. In the truth, charity reflects the personal yet public dimension of faith in
God and the Bible.[28]

Subsidiarity[edit]
The origins of subsidiarity as a concept of Catholic social thought lie with Wilhelm Emmanuel von
Ketteler, who served as Bishop of Mainz in the mid- to late 19th Century.[29] It is most well-known,
however, from its subsequent incorporation into Pope Pius XIs encyclical Quadragesimo anno. This
encyclicals formulation of subsidiarity is the touchstone from which further interpretations tend to
depart: "Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own
initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a
grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser
and subordinate organizations can do. For every social activity ought of its very nature to furnish
help to the members of the body social, and never destroy and absorb them." [30] As with many social
encyclicals in the modern period, this one occurs in the historical context of the intensifying struggle
between communist and capitalist ideologies, exactly forty years hence the title after the
Vaticans first public stance on the issue in Rerum novarum. Promulgated in 1931, Quadragesimo
anno is a response to German National Socialism and Soviet communism, on the one hand, and to
Western European and American capitalist individualism on the other. It broke the surface of Catholic
social teaching in this context, and it is helpful to keep this in mind.

Gregory Beabout suggests that subsidiarity draws upon a far older concept as well: the Roman
military term subsidium. He writes that the role of the subsidium (literally, to sit behind) is to lend
help and support in case of need.[31] Employing Beabouts etymology, subsidiarity indicates that the
higher social unit ought to sit behind the lower ones to lend help and support in case of need.
Another etymological interpretation states that subsidiarity literally means to seat (sid) a service
down (sub) as close to the need for that service as is feasible.[32] Either interpretation indicates a
hermeneutic of subsidiarity in which the higher social bodys rights and responsibilities for action are
predicated upon their assistance to and empowerment of the lower.

Francis McHugh states that in addition to the vertical dimension of subsidiarity, there is also a
horizontal dimension which calls for a diversity of semi-autonomous social, economic, and cultural
spheres.[33] Quadragesimo anno presents these spheres as occupying the space between the
poles of individual and State: "...things have come to such a pass through the evil of what we have
termed individualism that, following upon the overthrow and near extinction of that rich social life
which was once highly developed through associations of various kinds, there remain virtually only
individuals and the State. This is to the great harm of the State itself; for, with a structure of social
governance lost, and with the taking over of all the burdens which the wrecked associations once
bore. the State has been overwhelmed and crushed by almost infinite tasks and duties." [34]These
associations or lesser societies are encouraged because they are the vehicle by which society
functions most effectively and corresponds most closely with human dignity.[35] Examples of these
associations today would include the family, unions, nonprofit organizations, religious congregations,
and corporations of all sizes.

Subsidiarity charts a course between the Scylla of individualism and Charybdis of collectivism by
locating the responsibilities and privileges of social life in the smallest unit of organization at which
they will function. Larger social bodies, be they the state or otherwise, are permitted and required to
intervene only when smaller ones cannot carry out the tasks themselves. Even in this case, the
intervention must be temporary and for the purpose of empowering the smaller social body to be
able to carry out such functions on its own.[36]

Distributism and social justice[edit]

Distributism is a school of economic and social thought developed by Catholic thinkers G.K.
Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. It holds that social and economic structures should promote social
justice, and that social just is best served through a wide distribution of ownership. For support,
Distributists cite Rerum Novarum, which stated:

We have seen that this great labor question cannot be solved save by assuming as a principle that
private ownership must be held sacred and inviolable. The law, therefore, should favor ownership,
and its policy should be to induce as many as possible of the people to become owners. [37]

This principle is then used as a basis for progressive tax rates, anti-trust laws and economic
cooperatives including credit unions.[38] Rerum novarum, Quadragesimo anno and Centesimus
annus are all documents which advocate a just distribution of income and wealth.[39] Still more
recently, in Caritas in veritate, Pope Benedict XVI emphasized the point to such an extent that the
term "redistribution" is mentioned no less than eight times throughout the encyclical, each time in a
positive manner.[40]

Key themes[edit]

As with the principles above, there is no official list of key themes.[26] The United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops has identified these seven key themes of Catholic Social Teaching set out here.
Other sources identify more or fewer key themes based on their reading of the key documents of the
social magisterium.[41][42]

Sanctity of human life and dignity of the person[edit]

The foundational principle of all Catholic social teachings is the sanctity of human life. Catholics
believe in an inherent dignity of the human person starting from conception through to natural death.
They believe that human life must be valued infinitely above material possessions. Pope John Paul
II wrote and spoke extensively on the topic of the inviolability of human life and dignity in his
watershed encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, (Latin for "The Gospel of Life").
Catholics oppose acts considered attacks and affronts to human life, including abortion,
[43]
fornication[44] (including contraception),[45] euthanasia,[46] capital punishment, genocide, torture,
the direct and intentional targeting of noncombatants in war, and every deliberate taking of innocent
human life. In the Second Vatican Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern
World, Gaudium et spes (Latin for "Joy and Hope"), it is written that from the moment of its
conception life must be guarded with the greatest care." [47] The Church does not oppose war in all
circumstances. The Church's moral theology has generally emphasised just war theory.

In recent years, some Catholics have discouraged application of the death penalty,[48] though even
the most opposed must concede that "the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude
recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings
effectively against the aggressor."[49] The Roman Catechism says of capital punishment that a

kind of lawful slaying belongs to the civil authorities, to whom is entrusted power of life and death, by
the legal and judicious exercise of which they punish the guilty and protect the innocent. The just use
of this power, far from involving the crime of murder, is an act of paramount obedience to this
Commandment which prohibits murder. The end of the Commandment is the preservation and
security of human life. Now the punishments inflicted by the civil authority, which are the legitimate
avengers of crime, naturally tend to this end, since they give security to life by repressing outrage
and violence. Hence these words of David: In the morning I put to death all the wicked of the land,
that I might cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord.[50]

Related to the same concern of the above quotation from the Roman Catechism, the more
recent Catechism of the Catholic Church also says of capital punishment (repetition of some
previous text for sake of context):

The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude, presupposing full ascertainment of the
identity and responsibility of the offender, recourse to the death penalty, when this is the only
practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor.

"If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor and to protect the safety
of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the
concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human
person.

"Today, in fact, given the means at the State's disposal to effectively repress crime by rendering
inoffensive the one who has committed it, without depriving him definitively of the possibility of
redeeming himself, cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender 'today ... are very
rare, if not practically non-existent.'[John Paul II, Evangelium vitae 56.]." [49][51]

Believing men and women are made in the image and likeness of God,[52] Catholic doctrine teaches
to respect all humans based on an inherent dignity. According to John Paul II, every human person
"is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it
consists in sharing the very life of God."[53] Catholics oppose racism and other forms of discrimination.
In 2007, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote:

Catholic teaching about the dignity of life calls us ... to prevent genocide and attacks against
noncombatants; to oppose racism; and to overcome poverty and suffering. Nations are called to
protect the right to life by seeking effective ways to combat evil and terror without resorting to armed
conflicts except as a last resort, always seeking first to resolve disputes by peaceful means. We
revere the lives of children in the womb, the lives of persons dying in war and from starvation, and
indeed the lives of all human beings as children of God. [54]

A belief in the inherent dignity of the human person also requires that basic human needs are
adequately met, including food, health care, shelter, etc. Many[who?] see this as a basis for the support
of the welfare state and of governmental economic policies that promote equitable distribution of
income and access to essential goods and services.

Call to family, community, and participation and the pursuit of the

Common Good[edit]
According to the Book of Genesis, the Lord God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone".[55] The
Catholic Church teaches that man is now not only a sacred but also a social person and
that families are the first and most basic units of a society. It advocates a complementarian view of
marriage, family life, and religious leadership. Full human development takes place in relationship
with others. The familybased on marriage (between a man and a woman)is the first and
fundamental unit of society and is a sanctuary for the creation and nurturing of children. Together
families form communities, communities a state and together all across the world each human is part
of the human family. How these communities organize themselves politically, economically and
socially is thus of the highest importance. Each institution must be judged by how much it enhances,
or is a detriment to, the life and dignity of human persons.

Catholic Social Teaching opposes collectivist approaches such as Communism but at the same time
it also rejects unrestricted laissez-faire policies and the notion that a free market automatically
produces social justice. The state has a positive moral role to play as no society will achieve a just
and equitable distribution of resources with a totally free market.[56] All people have a right to
participate in the economic, political, and cultural life of society[57] and, under the principle
of subsidiarity, state functions should be carried out at the lowest level that is practical. [58] A particular
contribution of Catholic social teaching is a strong appreciation for the role of intermediary
organizations such as labor unions, community organizations, fraternal groups and parish churches.

Rights and responsibilities; social justice[edit]

Every person has a fundamental right to life and to the necessities of life. The right to
exercise religious freedom publicly and privately by individuals and institutions along with freedom of
conscience need to be constantly defended. In a fundamental way, the right to free expression of
religious beliefs protects all other rights.

The Church supports private property and teaches that "every man has by nature the right to
possess property as his own."[59][60] The right to private property is not absolute, however, and is
limited by the concepts of the "universal destiny of the goods of the earth" and of the social
mortgage.[61] It is theoretically moral and just for its members to destroy property used in an evil way
by others, or for the state to redistribute wealth from those who have unjustly hoarded it.[13]

Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilitiesto one another, to our families, and to
the larger society. Rights should be understood and exercised in a moral framework rooted in the
dignity of the human person and social justice. Those that have more have a greater responsibility to
contribute to the common good than those who have less.

We live our lives by a subconscious philosophy of freedom and work. The encyclical Laborem
exercens (1981) by Pope John Paul II, describes work as the essential key to the whole social
question. The very beginning is an aspect of the human vocation. Work includes every form of action
by which the world is transformed and shaped or even simply maintained by human beings. It is
through work that we achieve fulfilment. So in order to fulfil ourselves we must cooperate and work
together to create something good for all of us, a common good. What we call justice is that state
of social harmony in which the actions of each person best serve the common good.

Freedom according to Natural Law is the empowerment of good. Being free we have responsibilities.
With human relationships we have responsibilities towards each other. This is the basis of human
rights. The Roman Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, in their document "The Common Good"
(1996) stated that, "The study of the evolution of human rights shows that they all flow from the one
fundamental right: the right to life. From this derives the right to a society which makes life more truly
human: religious liberty, decent work, housing, health care, freedom of speech, education, and the
right to raise and provide for a family" (section 37). Having the right to life must mean that everyone
else has a responsibility towards me. To help sustain and develop my life. This gives me the right to
whatever I need to accomplish without compromising the mission of others, and it lays on others the
corresponding responsibility to help me. All justice is the power of God compensated solely in terms
of individual relationships.

The Ten Commandments reflect the basic structure of the Natural Law insofar as it applies to
humanity. The first three are the foundation for everything that follows: The Love of God, the Worship
of God, the sanctity of God and the building of people around God. The other seven
Commandments are to do with the love of humanity and describe the different ways in which we
must serve the common good : Honor your father and mother, you shall not murder, you shall not
commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, you shall
not covet anything that belongs to your neighbour (Exodus 20:317). Our Lord Jesus Christ
Summarised the Commandments with the New Commandment: "Love one another, as I have loved
you" (John 13:34, 15:917). The mystery of Jesus is a mystery of love. Our relationship with God is
not one of fear, of slavery or oppression; it is a relationship of serene trust born of a free choice
motivated by love. Pope John Paul II stated that love is the fundamental and innate vocation of every
human being. By his law God does not intend to coerce our will, but to set it free from everything that
could compromise its authentic dignity and its full realisation. (Pope John Paul II to government
leaders, 5 November 2000.)

Preferential option for the poor and vulnerable[edit]

Main article: Option for the poor

Jesus taught that on the Day of Judgement God will ask what each of us did to help the poor and
needy: "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for
me."[4] This is reflected in the Church's canon law, which states, "The Christian faithful are also
obliged to promote social justice and, mindful of the precept of the Lord, to assist the poor from their
own resources."[62]
Through our words, prayers and deeds we must show solidarity with, and compassion for, the poor.
When instituting public policy we must always keep the "preferential option for the poor" at the
forefront of our minds. The moral test of any society is "how it treats its most vulnerable members.
The poor have the most urgent moral claim on the conscience of the nation. We are called to look at
public policy decisions in terms of how they affect the poor." [63]

Pope Benedict XVI has taught that "love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy
of every kind, is as essential as the ministry of the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel". [64] This
preferential option for the poor and vulnerable includes all who are marginalized in our nation and
beyondunborn children, persons with disabilities, the elderly and terminally ill, and victims of
injustice and oppression.

Dignity of work[edit]
Society must pursue economic justice and the economy must serve people, not the other way
around. Employers must not "look upon their work people as their bondsmen, but ... respect in every
man his dignity as a person ennobled by Christian character." [65] Employers contribute to the common
good through the services or products they provide and by creating jobs that uphold the dignity and
rights of workers.

Workers have a right to work, to earn a living wage, and to form trade unions[66] to protect their
interests. All workers have a right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, and to safe working
conditions.[67] Workers also have responsibilitiesto provide a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, to
treat employers and co-workers with respect, and to carry out their work in ways that contribute to
the common good. Workers must "fully and faithfully" perform the work they have agreed to do.

In 1933, the Catholic Worker Movement was founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. It was
committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, prayer, and hospitality for the marginalized and poorest
in Society. Today over 185 Catholic Worker communities continue to protest injustice, war, racism,
and violence of all forms.

Solidarity and the universal destiny of the goods of the Earth[edit]

Pope John Paul II wrote in the 1987 encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis, "Solidarity is undoubtedly a
Christian virtue. It seeks to go beyond itself to total gratuity, forgiveness, and reconciliation. It leads
to a new vision of the unity of humankind, a reflection of God's triune intimate life. ..." [68] It is a unity
that binds members of a group together.

All the peoples of the world belong to one human family. We must be our brother's keeper,[69] though
we may be separated by distance, language or culture. Jesus teaches that we must each love our
neighbors as ourselves and in the parable of the Good Samaritan we see that our compassion
should extend to all people.[70] Solidarity includes the Scriptural call to welcome the stranger among
usincluding immigrants seeking work, a safe home, education for their children, and a decent life
for their families.

Solidarity at the international level primarily concerns the Global South. For example, the Church has
habitually insisted that loans be forgiven on many occasions, particularly during Jubilee years.
 Charity to individuals or groups must be accompanied by transforming unjust political, economic
[71]

and social structures.

The world and its goods were created for the use and benefit of all of Gods creatures and any
structures that impede the realization of this fundamental goal are not right. This concept ties in with
those of Social Justice and of the limits to private property.

Care for God's creation[edit]

A Biblical vision of justice is much more comprehensive than civil equity; it encompasses right
relationships between all members of God's creation. Stewardship of creation: The world's goods are
available for humanity to use only under a "social mortgage" which carries with it the responsibility
to protect the environment. The "goods of the earth" are gifts from God, and they are intended by
God for the benefit of everyone.[72] Man was given dominion over all creation as sustainer rather than
as exploiter,[73] and is commanded to be a good steward of the gifts God has given him. [74] We cannot
use and abuse the natural resources God has given us with a destructive consumer mentality.

Catholic Social Teaching recognizes that the poor are the most vulnerable to environmental impact
and endure disproportional hardship when natural areas are exploited or damaged. US Bishops
established an environmental justice program to assist parishes and dioceses who wanted to
conduct education, outreach and advocacy about these issues. The US Conference of Catholic
Bishops Environmental Justice Program (EJP)[75] calls Catholics to a deeper respect for God's
creation and engages parishes in activities that deal with environmental problems, particularly as
they affect the poor.[citation needed]

About CST

Catholic Social Teaching is based on the belief that God has a plan for creation,
a plan to build his kingdom of peace, love and justice. It holds that God has a special place in this story for each of
us, whoever we are. Our part in this plan isnt just limited to things spiritual, or things we might do on Sundays, but
that it involves every aspect of our lives, from the things we pray about, to how we live as a responsible
global citizens. Our part in this story is a kind-of vocation for the common good, a call to treat everyone as your
brothers and sisters and is something that we all share. Catholic Social Teaching is the tradition of papal reflection
about how we live this vocation for the common good in our world.

Catholic Social Teaching touches upon many different aspects of life, from the family to international development,
how we think of those who are homeless to how we care for the environment, and from how we shop and consume to
the rights of workers and the dignity of work. All the different areas that Catholic Social Teaching touches upon have
developed from practical reflection on the realities of modern life in the light of the principles and themes of Catholic
Social Teaching.

This website is structured around these themes and offers explanations, resources, reflections and stories for each
one. We hope these will help you to better understand and reflect upon Catholic social teaching as well as challenge
you and support you in better responding to our shared vocation for the common good.

Find out more about the themes below, or alternatively, click here to read a more in depth introduction to Catholic
Social Teaching.

Themes of Catholic Social Teaching

Human Dignity
We must recognise we are all brothers and sisters which requires us to respect, value and uphold a common dignity
for ourselves and each other. As human beings we are created in the image and likeness of God so therefore we
have an inherent worth and distinction.

Community and Participation

As humans we were are not created to live alone, community is clearly linked in the history of humankind. One way
for Catholics to practise solidarity is to participate in pursuing the common good for a community. Every member
of society has a duty to develop this common good and every member has a right to enjoy the benefits brought about
by it.
 Care for Creation
Respect for human life means respecting all of Gods creation. We must re-engage with our environment and take
responsibility for it; live sustainably, live so that there are enough resources for everyone. Our environment influences
almost all of our lives, and Catholic Social Teaching recognises that undervaluing makes us all poorer.

Dignity in Work
This theme looks at the importance of work, the dignity of work and the value of balance in our home and work lives.
Catholic Social Teaching holds that work is not to be drudgery, but creative, positive and an intrinsic good. It is not
however, all for yourself, ways to accumulate power and influence, but is rather to play our part in being co-creators in
Gods loving act of creation.

Peace & Reconciliation

The Church teaches us that peace is central to the gospel and represents a challenge to many contemporary
attitudes and assumptions. Pope Benedict XVI has challenged Christians to be true peacemakers bringing
forgiveness and non-violent solutions to situations of hurt and violence.

Solidarity
Solidarity is an important concept for Christians and is one of the most mystical and deeply human founding concepts
of the social teaching of the Church. It is based on the belief that together we can make a difference and together we
are much stronger. When we value fellow human beings we respect each other as unique individuals and we can
stand up for what is right for one another.
Further Explanation

The Church has always had social teaching and the most fundamental source is the Bible. There was also the
tradition of the Church Fathers in such areas as ownership of property, the just war and the charging of interest. In its
modern form, however, Catholic Social Teaching (CST) first emerged at the end of the nineteenth century as a
response to the injustices of the Industrial Revolution and the threat of Communism. While recognising that social
teaching is a lived tradition and not just a written one, our focus is on the considerable development that has taken
place over the last century.

What is Catholic Social Teaching?

An authoritative Church teaching on social, political and economic issues
It is informed by Gospel values and the lived experience of Christian reflection
It analyses that lived experience of Christian reflection from different historical, political and social contexts
It provides principles for reflection, a criteria for judgment and guidelines for action
Thus, it enables us in our struggle to live our faith in justice and peace

What Catholic Social Teaching is not:

A third way between liberal capitalism and Marxist collectivism. It constitutes a category of its own. (Sollicitudo Rei
Socialis, paragraph 41).
It is not an ideology, but rather the result of a careful reflection on the complex realities of human existence, in
society and in the international order, in the light of faith and the Churchs tradition It therefore belongs to the field
of moral theology and not of ideology. (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, paragraph 41).
It is not a model: the Church has no models to present; models that are real and effective can only arise within the
framework of different historical situations, through the efforts of all those who responsibly confront concrete
problems in their social, political and cultural aspects, as these interact with each other. (Centesimus Annus, pargraph
43).

Principles of Catholic Social Teaching:

Below are a list of some of the main principles of Catholic Social Teaching that are highlighted throughout the
website.
The dignity of the human person:

The focal point of CST is the human person, made in the image of God, and so having fundamental freedom and
dignity, the basis for human rights. Recognising this image in our neighbour, the teaching rejects any policy or system
that reduces people to economic units or passive dependence. (See especially Pacem in Terris & Laborem
Exercens).

The Common Good

People exist as part of society. Every individual has a duty to share in promoting the welfare of the community and a
right to benefit from that welfare. This applies at every level: local, national and international. Public authorities exist
mainly to promote the common good and to ensure that no section of the population is excluded. (See Sollicitudo Rei
Socialis).

Solidarity

As members of the one human family, we have mutual obligations to promote the rights and development of peoples
across communities and nations. Solidarity is the fundamental bond of unity with our fellow human beings and the
resulting interdependence. All are responsible for all; and in particular the rich have responsibilities towards the poor.
National and international structures must reflect this. (See Populorum Progressio, Sollicitudo Rei
Socialis & Centesimus Annus)

Subsidiarity

All power and decision-making in society should be at the most local level compatible with the common good.
Subsidiarity will mainly mean power passing downwards, but it could also mean passing appropriate powers
upwards. The balance between the vertical (subsidiarity) and the horizontal (solidarity) is achieved through reference
to the common good. (See Quadragesimo Anno)

Option for the poor

Implicit in earlier CST, this has now been taken up with new urgency and far-reaching consequences for pastoral
action. Fidelity to Christ means seeing him above all in the faces of suffering and wounded people. (See Sollicitudo
Rei Socialis & Centesimus Annus)
Putting into Practice
Applying abstract principles is always difficult but John XXIII outlined a well-tried procedure:

(a) examine the concrete situation (See);

(b) evaluate it with respect to the principles (Judge);
(c) decide what should be done in the circumstances (Act). (Mater and Magistra, paragraph 23)

This methodology is precisely what is followed in The Pastoral Cycle.

A Developing Teaching

CST is by no means a fixed body of doctrine. Grounded in the principles identified above and Gospel values, it has
focused on major themes that have evolved in response to the challenges of the day. Many of the changes date from
around the time of the Second Vatican Council though some are taking a long time to be properly integrated into the
life of the Church.

(a) Changes in attitude

Political involvement: Responding to the privatisation of religion and the political apathy this engendered, Vatican II
gave fresh emphasis to the Churchs shared responsibility for secular as well as sacred history. Quadragesimo
Anno On the Fortieth Year sees politics as aimed at the transformation of society. In this sense political
involvement is a must. Christians and the Church itself must be prepared to take a prophetic stand in bearing witness
to the peace and justice of the kingdom.

Commitment to the world: The Council presents the world in positive terms created and redeemed by God. We
share in the creators plan, working for its realisation in history. (See Gaudium et Spes & Laborem Exercens). So CST
has developed a more global vision affecting every level in society and both rich and poor nations. It has also taken a
peace-making role more seriously. (See Pacem et Terris, Gaudium et Spes, Populorum Progressio & Centesimus
Annus)

Preaching the Gospel: Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world are a
constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel (Justicia in Mundo Justice in the World, paragraph 6). This
means that when this dimension is lacking in our preaching, we are failing to preach the Gospel.
(b) Changes in methodology
Reading the signs of the times: The Church has the duty of scrutinising the signs of the times and of interpreting
them in the light of the Gospel (Gaudium et Spes, paragraph 4). God speaks in and through human history: ie the
Church learns from the world where Gods Spirit is at work. The world is part of Gods continuing creation for whose
transformation we take responsibility.

Empowering the local Community: It is up to the Christian communities to analyse the situation proper to their own
country, to shed on it the light of the Gospel, and to draw principles of reflection, norms of judgment and directives for
action from CST (Quadragesimo Anno, paragraph 4). This is to combine the Pastoral Cycle with Subsidiarity. In other
words, the Church does not have ready-made answers: it is for the local community to discern what should be done
in dialogue with other Christians and everyone of good will (ibid).

Greater use of scripture: CST has moved away from a deductive, rather narrow adherence to natural law ethics
towards a more objective approach based on human experience, with scripture as the new touchstone. This is
particularly evident in the encyclicals of John Paul II. The resulting change has brought a new radicalism that sees
the obligations of the rich towards the poor as part of the co-responsibility for creation and a share in Gods covenant
with the poor.

Primacy of love: Instead of CST being primarily based on reason, more recent documents have been increasingly
shaped by the primacy of love, understood as including the biblical themes of justice, mercy and option for the poor.
Reason is not discarded but put in its proper place.

Action oriented planning: The starting point of pastoral and social reflection is people with all the joys and hopes,
the griefs and anxieties (Gaudium et Spes, paragraph 1). In their struggle for justice and peace, the outcome of the
process is action. The emphasis is on right doing (orthopraxis) and not just right thinking (orthodoxy). Earlier CST
methodology often led to social idealism, isolating reason from the whole pastoral cycle process.

Future Development

Consultative: It would be possible at the national or regional level to follow the lead of the US Bishops and use a
consultative process in producing documents on key social issues. Presented in this way the documents have been
held in high regard. Reception of teaching by an informed church is increasingly recognised as integral to the
teaching process.

Ecumenical: It should also be possible to explore social teaching ecumenically. The World Council of Churches has
worked over the years most notably in the areas of Poverty, Racism and Integrity of Creation. There would be
everything to gain from close co-operation. The European Ecumenical Assemblies of Basel (1989) Gratz (1997) and
Sibiu (2007) have shown just how effective that co-operation could be.

Gaps: Wide-ranging though it is, CST will always need to develop and apply its methodology to new social contexts.
The most obvious gap is on the role of women: this was the focus of a US Bishops Pastoral circulated in draft but
withdrawn under pressure from the Vatican. They also produced The Challenge of Peace (1983), Economic Justice
for All (1986), Renewing the Earth (1991). These were all circulated first in draft as consultative documents.

Key Documents
With the exception of a Council Pastoral Constitution and a Synod statement, the following are all papal texts, but
there are also documents from regional conferences of bishops, like those of CELAM (Latin America) or FABC(Asia)
particularly that of Medellin (1968) and Puebla (1979) which applied CST to their own context and reflected on
such ideas as conscientisation, basic communities and option for the poor. Many of these themes have been picked
up by the wider Church. There have also been contributions from the Pontifical Council for Justice & Peace: on
Debt (1986), Homelessness (1987), Racism (1988), Refugees (1992) and Land Reform (1997).

1891 Rerum Novarum Of New Things Leo XIII

The Condition of Labour examines working conditions in industrialised countries and insists on workers rights. The
Church, employers & workers should work together to build a just society.

1931 Quadragesimo Anno On the Fortieth Year Pius X

The Reconstruction of the Social Order at the time of major economic depression, QA criticises abuses of capitalism
& communism. Unity between capital & labour. Ownership brings social responsibilities. Subsidiarity.

1961 Mater et Magistra Mother & Teacher John XXIII

Christianity & Social Progress Updates earlier teaching and applies to agriculture and aid to developing countries,
thus internationalising CST. Role of laity in applying social teaching as an integral part of Christian life.

1963 Pacem in Terris Peace on Earth John XXIII

Peace on Earth With the immanent threat of nuclear war, this is a plea for peace based on the social order from a
framework of rights and duties applying to individuals, public authorities and the world community.

1965 Gaudium et Spes The Joys and Hopes Vatican II

The Church in the Modern World Churchs duty is discernment of the signs of the times in the light of the Gospel.
Principles of cultural development and justice, enhancing human dignity and the common good. Work for peace.

1967 Populorum Progressio The Development of Peoples Paul VI

The Development of Peoples Charter for development the new name for peace. Deals with structural poverty, aid
and trade. Limits put on profit motive and the right to private property. Christians to strive for international justice.

1971 Octogesima Adveniens On the Eightieth Year Paul VI

A Call to Action Rome doesnt necessarily have the answer: need for local church to respond to specific situations.
Urbanisation has brought new injustices. We are called to political action.

1971 Justicia in Mundo Justice in the World Synod

Justice is a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel The Church must examine its conscience about
its lifestyle and so witness to the Gospel. Importance of Education for Justice.

1975 Evangelii Nuntiandi Evangelisation in the Modern World- Paul VI

Profound links between evangelisation and development and liberation. Only the kingdom is absolute; everything
else is relative. All levels of society are to be transformed by the power of the good news.
1981 Laborem Exercens On Human Work John Paul II

On Human Work For JPII work is the central social issue. Work increases human dignity. Priority of labour over
capital. Rights of workers (especially women) and unions. Critique of capitalism as well as Marxism.

1987 Sollicitudo Rei Socialis The Social Concern of the Church John Paul II

Social Concern Updates Populorum Progressio with analysis of global development: North/South divide blamed on
confrontation between capitalism and Marxism. Conversion from Structures of sin towards solidarity and option for
the poor.

1991 Centesimus Annus The One Hundredth Year John Paul II

One Hundred Years Review of CST and major events of the last century, constantly affirming human dignity and
human rights, justice and peace. The fall of Marxism does not signify a victory for capitalism.

1996 The Common Good

In 1996 the catholic Bishops of England & Wales produced The Common Good in preparation for a General Election.
Strongly critical of dominant market values it also serves as a readable introduction to CST and its application to
some of the issues facing our society.

2009 Caritas in Veritate Charity in Truth BenedictXVI

Charity in Truth Updates Populorum Progressio with a comprehensive review of development and some reflection on
the economic crisis and business ethics. Provides a theological framework for CST.

Some other documents of John Paul II contain important sections for CST:
Redemptor Hominis (1979): human dignity & human rights; modern technology; war & arms race.
Dives in Misericordia (1980): growing disparity in wealth; justice is shaped by the power of love.
Redemptoris Missio(1990): pro inculturation & economic liberation; but true liberation is in Christ.
Tertio Millennio Adveniente(1994): J&P a necessary condition for celebrating Jubilee of year 2000.
Evangelium Vitae(1995): brings together CST and teaching on sex & the family as Gospel of life.
Novo Millennio Ineunte(2000): challenges of ecology, peace and human rights; all to work for J&P.

2010 Choosing the Common Good

In March 2010 our bishops produced another document, Choosing the Common Good, in order to reach a shared
vision about the sort of society we want to live in. Given our recent past we need to restore trust in our society
between individuals, citizens & the state, and in our institutions (especially in MPs, Bankers and the Church
itself). Hence they sought agreement on the principles & values for a just and civil society. These core principles are
the Common Good, integral human development and the pursuit of virtue. (These are key themes of CST and apply
to all of us).

2013 Evangelii Gaudium The Joy of the Gospel Pope Francis

While not a papal encyclical, Evangelii Gaudium gives particular attention to the social dimension of Evangelisation.

2015 Laudato Si On Care for Our Common Home Pope Francis

Laudato Si is a passionate call to all people of the world to take swift and unified global action, particularly in
relation to the destruction of the environment.
Brian Davies, Social Justice Specialist

Biblical Foundation of CST

Catholic Social Teaching is like an ancient oak tree, whose roots are the Scriptures. Its trunk has grown in girth
throughout the centuries, especially in response to dramatic developments in society.

Catholic Social Teaching is rooted in the soil of human communities. Just as the growth of a tree responds to soil and
climate conditions, Catholic Social Teaching responds to cultural and societal conditions and draws nutrients from the
Word of God.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Churchs 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
(#2422). The rich tradition of Catholic Social Teaching is always living and active (#2421).

The ancient Israelites were inspired by Gods Spirit to build a society that ever more clearly protected human life and
dignity. And like us, they were not always successful.
In their day the prophets raised their voices to defend the poor and call for greater social justice. The prophet Isaiah
proclaimed:

Ah! Those who enact unjust statutes,

who write oppressive decrees,
Depriving the needy of judgment,
robbing my peoples poor of justice,
Making widows their plunder,
and orphans their prey! (10:1-2).

Time and again the prophets of the Old Testament defended the poor and powerless. Ezekiel scolded the leaders of
Israel: You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick nor bind up the injured. but ruled them harshly and
brutally (34:4). In the name of God, Zechariah admonished: Judge with true justice, and show kindness and
compassion toward each other. Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the resident alien or the poor (7: 9-10).

The prophets also railed against the injustices inflicted on laborers. Jeremiah declared:

Woe to him who builds his house on wrongdoing,

his roof-chambers on injustice;
Who works his neighbors without pay,
and gives them no wages (22:13).

Isaiah warned that God would not recognize ritual fasting because on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,/
and drive all your laborers. He argued that the fasting God wished consisted in:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking off every yoke
sharing your bread with the hungry,
bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house (58: 3, 6-7).

The prophets also championed Gods desire for peace. The prophet Micah echoed the vision of Isaiah:

They shall beat their swords into plowshares,

One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again. (4:3; cf. Isaiah 2:4).

Jesus himself stood firmly within the tradition of the prophets. In the Gospel of Luke he describes his mission in the
world-transforming words of the Prophet Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free (4:18; cf. Isaiah 61:1).

Through their powerful witness the prophets nourish and inspire Catholic Social Teaching on the preferential option
for the poor, workers rights, and justice and peace.
-----
Stephen M. Colecchi is the director of the Office of International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops and author of a Leaders Guide to Sharing Catholic Social Teaching and In the Footsteps of
Jesus Parish Resource Manual, both published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Origin

2,000 Years of Catholic Ethics by Rob Esdaille

At its core, Catholic Social Teaching is simply the attempt to spell out the ethical consequences of the confession,
Jesus is Lord, for the way in which we live. It is important to note that it is faith which is the starting-point for this
reflection, not simply concern about particular issues facing society.

Such reflection has been a feature of Christian faith since the first Easter. The first believers in Jerusalem had to learn
how to relate their new faith to the faith of Judaism (Ac 2.42-7) and how it should change their attitudes to property
(Ac 4.32-7), to their pagan neighbours and to their persecutors. They had to come to terms with the ways in which
paganism underpinned so much of public life, from the food in the markets (Ro 14.1ff) to the worship of the emperor
(1 Tim 2.1-4). And they sought to make sense of their experience of the equality of all believers within the stratified
and slave-owning society they knew (Gal 3.25-8; Col 3.11).
Later on, in the High Middle Ages, Catholic theologians were key players in the attempt to restrict the violence
unleashed by warring princes, developing what became The Just War theory, with its various checks and balances.

St. Francis is now remembered for rethinking our relationship to the natural world. During the colonisation of the
Americas Spanish, Dominican and Jesuit theologians upheld the dignity of the indigenous peoples whose lands were
being invaded (Think of the film, The Mission), and laid the foundation for much of the modern concern for human
rights. Whatever the limitations of their approaches, they made a serious attempt to think systematically about the
moral value of human actions.

Rerum Novarum Of New Things (1891)

However, these rich insights and sometimes sophisticated approaches did not become known as Catholic Social
Teaching until a series of papal Encyclical Letters on ethical issues was published, beginning in 1891. In that year,
Pope Leo XIII wrote the Encyclical Letter, Rerum Novarum Of New Things addressing the new issues facing
European society as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the social transformation this brought about.
On the one hand, he expressed moral outrage at the disparity between the enormous fortunes of some few
individuals, and the utter poverty of the masses (paragraph 1), many of whom lived in conditions little better than
slavery. On the other hand, Pope Leo upheld the right to private property and rejected Marxist belief in the inevitability
of class-struggle. He upheld the dignity of human work and, despite his desire to avoid violent revolution, laid down
the basic principle of the priority of Labour over Capital: in other words, people are more important than property and
everyone has a right to the basic necessities of life and a just wage (paragraph 34).

Moreover, he identified the role of the state as the promotion of both public well-being and private prosperity
(paragraph 26). This aim became known in later Catholic teaching as promoting the Common Good. It is the principle
that the rights of one group cannot be set aside for the convenience of the majority. It demands of the state a special
concern for the protection of the rights of the poor (paragraph 29), a theme much developed by Liberation
Theologians in the last 40 years. Moreover, Leo acknowledged the legitimate role of Trade Unions as defenders of
the working class.

A concern for the dignity and value of the human person, and for the poor in particular, has proved to be an enduring
feature of Catholic Social Teaching since the time of Pope Leo. But the real importance, historically, of Rerum
Novarum Of New Things was the new willingness of the Pope to engage with the rapid changes happening in
contemporary society, drawing on the riches of Catholic Tradition to identify the moral issues involved. This is the
core of all later Catholic Social Teaching.

Catholic Social Teaching In The Age of the Dictators

It wasnt until 1931 that another Social Encyclical, Quadragesimo Anno On the Fortieth Year, was published, by
Pius XI. By this time, Mussolini was in power in Italy and the fear of Soviet Bolshevism hung over the West, which
was in the midst of The Great Depression. Much of the letter was a summary of Leo XIIIs argument and much of the
argument seems outdated, but a few points retain their immediacy and relevance. The Pope criticises the failure to
pay men a living wage able to support a family (paragraph 71) and blames this partly on those (as we would now say)
consumers who unreasonably force down prices (paragraph 72). He points out that both wealth and immense power
and despotic economic domination, are concentrated in the hands of a few (paragraph 104), and he hits out both
against the irresponsible behaviour of some banks and the damage done by those who promote illusory desires
through marketing (paragraph 132).

The principal idea for which the Encyclical is remembered today is that of Subsidiarity (paragraph 79-80): decision-
making and social organisation should be kept as close to the grass-roots as possible. But Quadrogessimo Anno
On the Fortieth Year can also be seen as recognising the structural nature of injustice, the forces in society which
pervert peoples intentions and distort social order an idea not fully developed until the Pontificate of John Paul II;
and Pius XI offers the beginnings of a spirituality of justice, centred on the four virtues of justice, courage, prudence
and the love of Christ.

Good Pope John Joy & Hope

The War-Time Pope, Pius XII, preoccupied with maintaining the outward neutrality of the Catholic Church, said
relatively little on questions of economic order and, as the Cold War took hold, seemingly felt unable to criticise
Western Capitalism, lest he give succour to Communism. So it was John XXIII who issued the next important
statements of Catholic Social Teaching (as well as calling the Second Vatican Council). What was new was the more
optimistic tone, and greater willingness to engage with the contemporary world. Mater et Magistra Mother and
Teacher (1961) is the first encyclical to be addressed to a global Church, rather than to purely European concerns.
Thus, there is a lengthy treatment of the duty to provide both development and emergency aid (paragraph 84-157)
and of the then-impending population explosion (paragraphs 99-185).

In accordance with its envisaged global audience, the Encyclical closes with an appeal to international cooperation
founded on a moral order (paragraphs 200-211) and a prolonged exposition of the Christian vision of our humanity as
creatures, bearing the image of God (paragraphs 219). From here onwards the dignity of the human person was to
become a central tenet of Catholic Social Teaching. Moreover, Catholics are called actively to seek responses to the
challenges of the day (paragraphs 236). Ethics has to be lived both by our own individual conversion of heart and by
changing structures, so that all can share in the riches of the world.

John XXIIIs other social encyclical, Pacem In Terris Peace on Earth (1963), on building peace throughout the
world on truth, justice, love and freedom, was written as he lay dying and shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis. This
was the first such letter to be addressed to all men of goodwill: The argument is based on his Catholic
understanding of human nature and on the inalienable fundamental rights and duties planted therein by God
(paragraph 9). Here the Church embraces fully protection of Human Rights (paragraph 143) and freedom of
conscience, before applying these concepts to economic and political life. John XXIIIs treatment of the matter
introduces an important insight: every individual human right creates corresponding duties towards society
(paragraphs 22, 28). Later papal letters on social ethics generally follow John XXIIIs method of surveying
developments in contemporary society to detect what he calls the signs of the times, indications of the action of the
Holy Spirit in our world. The conclusion of his reflection is a denunciation of the arms race and a call for disarmament
(paragraphs 93, 113).

John XXIIIs approach to social ethics the effort to discern the action of the Holy Spirit in our world was picked up
by the Second Vatican Council in its final document, Gaudium et Spes The Joys and Hopes (1965), the Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. This begins with a meditation on our shared humanity, with our
doubts and fears and hopes and longings. Only in the Crucified and Risen Christ, say the Council Fathers, do we find
the key to understand ourselves and to answer the challenges of the present day. This is what Catholic Social
Teaching is about: it does not seek to provide final, closed answers, derived solely from the Revelation once given
through Christ. Rather, it seeks to mediate between that founding event (the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of
Nazareth) and our contemporary experience, moving between the two in search of illumination, wisdom, right living
and justice.

Later in the 1960s, Pope Paul VI offered his own major contribution to Catholic Social Teaching, Populorum
Progressio The Development of Peoples (1967), in which he argued that Development is the new name for
peace and challenged the ideology of progress which fails to meet the legitimate aspirations of the poor. All people
are called to fulfilment and to a sharing in the good things of the earth and all other considerations in economics
must be subordinated to this principle (paragraph 22). Here the Church claims to be not an expert in economics but
an expert in humanity and a voice for the voiceless (paragraph 13), placing three values at the centre of its life
solidarity, social justice and charity.
John Paul II Solidarity, Social Sin and Jubilee

As might be expected, Pope John Paul IIs long pontificate saw a whole series of profound, if sometimes difficult,
Social Encyclicals, founded on his Personalist philosophy (putting the infinite value of the human person centre-
stage), beginning with Laborem Exercens On Human Work (1981), in which he begins to explore the theology of
Solidarity, so significant for his Pontificate and for the events then unfolding in Poland and across Eastern Europe.

Another milestone was Sollicitudo Rei Socialis The Social Concern of the Church (1987) which offered a critique
of both Capitalist and Communist economics and introduced the concept of structures of Sin (section 36) to describe
social systems and market mechanisms which cause evil (e.g. ecological damage, increasing inequality, social
exclusion) even though no one set out directly to cause harm when they were devised. This was also the first Papal
letter to commit the whole Church to the option or love of preference for the poor, in imitation of Christ and living
out of our social responsibilities (paragraph 42); and it began tentatively to formulate a response to the ecological
crisis (paragraph 34).

The commemorative letter to mark the centenary of Leo XIIIs 1891 Encyclical Centesimus Annus The One
Hundredth Year (1991) provokes both a reflection on the collapse of Marxist ideology in Europe in 1989 and
prescient warnings against an idolatry of the market and a culture in which having is more important than being.

Lastly, Pope John Pauls letter in preparation for the Third Millennium, Tertio Millennio Adveniente (1994), took up
the biblical concept of Jubilee to explore the necessity for a deep conversion of both the Church and Society in
preparation for the new century. This included both acts of repentance by the Church community and an insistence
on the Churchs need to proclaim Good News to the Poor.

Benedict XVI Love, Hope and Truth

With the election of Pope Benedict XVI, a new page has been turned in Catholic Social Teaching. His social
encyclical, Caritas In Veritate Charity in Truth (2009) should be read in the light of his two earlier letters, Deus
Caritas Est God is love (2005) and Spe Salvi In hope we were saved (2007): It is Gods love which is the
basis for our ethical response and it is Christian hope in God which motivates our actions for justice.

According to Pope Benedict, reality is essentially encountered as a gift and so our response to the reality of the world
should have the same quality of gratuitousness. What might, at first sight, seem to be very dense and rather
abstract reflections on the nature of Christian charity then take flesh as very concrete requirements for the ordering of
the economy: proper human relationships dont stop at the level of contractual obligations, but are characterised by
love, warmth, understanding: charity transcends justice and completes it in the logic of giving and forgiving
(paragraph 6).

Proper human living and hence proper economics seeks relationships of gratuitousness, mercy and
communion. Only this commitment to charity (expressed in economic life through the not-for-profit, cooperative and
voluntary sectors) is capable of producing real development that promotes the Common Good. Moreover, respect for
Truth and for our own nature as moral beings requires that the free market be brought under ethical direction and
regulation (paragraph 36). Finally, the concept of justice is extended to include inter-generational justice our duty
to those who will inherit stewardship of the earth from us (paragraph 48), and we are called to accept our finitude and
mortality. Only in embracing our dependence on God can we find the wisdom to direct authentic development, doing
love in truth.
Beyond The Social Encyclicals

This very brief sketch of the papal Social Encyclicals of the last 120 years cannot hope to provide an adequate guide
to the riches of Catholic Social Teaching, although the key concepts can be seen as they emerge the priority of
Labour over Capital and the promotion of Human Dignity; seeking the Common Good, on the one hand, and
promoting Subsidiarity, on the other; the discernment of the action of the Spirit in our world and the denunciation of
structural injustice; the different factors prompting Catholic Christians to get involved in building up society a
concern for Justice, a commitment to Solidarity and the sheer demands of Love; and so on. (These themes have
been developed more systematically in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, published by the
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in 2004).

However, alongside the papal documents should be placed the teaching documents and initiatives of the local
churches. Most striking and most influential are the Latin American Bishops Conference (CELAM) gatherings at
Medelln (1968) and, Puebla (1979) which gave currency to the term, option for the poor. But the USA Bishops
(USCCB) documents on The Challenge of Peace (1983) and Economic Justice For All (1986), like the English &
Welsh Bishops Conference The Common Good (1997), are good examples of how the ethical principles developed
by papal theologians have been (and must be) applied in different local situations.

This is as it should be, for Catholic Social Teaching is not principally a fixed block of doctrine or received wisdom from
the past. Rather, it is a way of reflecting about the world today, viewing it as Gods world, entrusted to us, and viewing
all others as our brothers and sisters. Am I my brothers keeper? asked Cain (Gen 4.9). Yes, says Catholic
Social Teaching. That is our task and our gift.

CST Live out In society

In the midst of the creation myth in Genesis, God says it is not right that man should be alone. We dont flourish as
people by being isolated and living by ourselves, but by engaging as full members of our community. We have an
obligation to help and support those around us while at the same time allowing ourselves to be supported. The place
most of us first experience a community in our lives is in the family, and so it is here that the themes of Community
and Participation have their roots, and in the context of the family that these principles have developed.

Beyond the family were called to participate fully in the life of wider society. For most of us this means an obligation
to participate fully in civil society and the political and economic life of the community. This could include involvement
in movements for justice, volunteering with local community groups or active membership of work associations or
trade unions.

Within the theme of Participation, Catholic Social Teaching advocates political involvement, but this has always been
critical of, and set apart from political ideologies like communism and neo-liberalism. Because of the vastly different
circumstances of culture and situation Catholic Social Teaching also tends not to get into a lot of very specific policy
details, but rather focuses on the themes in such a way that allows people to understand them in their own cultural
and political context. What Catholic Social Teaching does say in this area is around the principle of subsidiarity; that
responsibility for social and political decisions should be held that lowest and most appropriate local level so to allow
everyone in communities to be involved in decision-making.

To read more about Community and Participation, click here

Community and Participation Quotes

"The great danger in todays world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a
complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience. Whenever our
interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the
poor. Gods voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades."
Pope Francis, Evangelli gaudium

"Just as each of our bodies has several parts and each part has a separate function, so all of us, in union with Christ,
form one body, and as parts of it we belong to each other."
Paul's Letter to the Romans

"It is impossible to promote the dignity of the person without showing concern for the family, groups, associations,
local territorial realities; in short, for that aggregate of economic, social, cultural, sports-oriented, recreational,
professional and political expressions to which people spontaneously give life and which make it possible for them to
achieve effective social growth"
Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno

The Youth SVP group based at St Marys Church, Horsforth in the Leeds Diocese is one of over 120 Youth SVPs,
currently active in schools and parishes throughout England & Wales. Youth SVP offers opportunities for young
people aged under 18 to form their own groups, meeting regularly to pray and reflect on the Gospel message to help
people in need. They engage in volunteering activities in the local community, bringing Christs love to people less
fortunate than themselves. They run their own meetings and choose their activities according to their skills and
preferences, but they have the support of an adult, known as the Group Adviser.

St Marys Horsforth Youth SVP

The Youth SVP was formed in 2008 by a group of young people in the parish who had just received the sacrament of
Confirmation. Challenged during a post-Confirmation retreat to think of ways in which they could use their spiritual
gifts, they decided that Youth SVP might offer them appropriate opportunities. Three of the parents, who had
accompanied them as catechists during their preparation for Confirmation, made a commitment to continue
supporting the members. One of them, Rose McCarthy, took on the role of Group Adviser. There are currently 9
active members, aged15-17.

Activities
As well as supporting parish events such as the Christmas Fair and the party for older people, and offering junior
hockey and football coaching at an after-school club, the Youth SVP is involved in a local project the Gateway Club,
Pudsey, which provides social, leisure and sports activities for adults with a learning disability The club welcomes 80-
100 people who meet on Thursday evenings from 6.45 9pm at Priesthorpe School in Pudsey, Leeds for fun
activities, sports and games, supported by friendly staff and volunteers.

As the Youth SVP members wrote in an article for the Leeds Catholic Post:
Some of our group attend a club for disabled adults called Gateway. The aim of the group is for the members to have
a fun, socialise and to give their carers a break. They participate in different sports at the club including football, table
tennis and curling. Some members of the club compete in the Special Olympics, proving that despite their disability,
they can achieve just as much as anyone else. We all look forward to going to the club; its the highlight of our week!

Rose continues:
Recently some of them went to support these adults in their initial trials for the Special Olympics. Just before Easter,
Gateways had a fundraiser for the Special Olympics and our Youth SVP group ran two stalls. The surprising thing
about the evening was an unplanned disco happened! A DJ played some music and even though the fundraiser was
in a brightly lit school hall, loads of these adults started dancing. They were amazing and had no inhibitions at all. The
funny thing was they inspired our young people to do the same and they had a great time dancing for hours with the
adults. I find it heart- warming to watch our young people, who initially were unsure how to interact with adults with
learning difficulties, now greeting them as friends and even learning to lose their own inhibitions.
Other events run by the Youth SVP
Rose writes:
We organised a sponsored walk for the parish up one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks for the British Heart Foundation.
Our newest members from the last Confirmation group came up with the idea because we have had a number of
people in the parish with heart problems including baby Gabrysia, who needed a heart transplant to survive.
Amazingly she got one and is now a wonderful happy little toddler who regularly attends mass and claps and cheers
at every song that is sung. She and her family are in inspiration to us all. We had several training sessions when we
did local walks. One was on Gabrysias birthday and she was still in isolation at that point. We called at the house at
the start of our walk, gave her a birthday present and sang Happy Birthday to her. She grinned like a Cheshire Cat
and waved us on our way, it was really lovely. When we were ready we did the sponsored walk, with many other
members of the parish up and down Ingleborough peak. We had originally thought we might do the three peaks but
on reflection thought this might be too far especially after one of the young people asked if she could wear high heels!
It was a terrific day, a real social experience and felt like a great achievement.

Support for refugees and asylum-seekers

Rose is a founder member of Leeds City of Sanctuary and is involved in several projects supporting refugees and
asylum-seekers. She encouraged the Youth SVP group to organise a parish collection of presents and the group
brought them to PAFRAS (Positive Action of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers), a support project based in a Leeds
parish hall. This was a great opportunity for the young members to meet people face to face, who have been forced
by circumstances to leave their homes in other parts of the world. They met people from Afghanistan, Iran, the Congo
and were very moved by the stories they heard. The Youth SVP members have promised to continue visiting the
project.

For the Future

The Youth SVP continues to work selflessly for others in their local community, raising money for vital causes and
gaining friends and having fun at the same time!

Street Pastors helping the community

In Peckham Square, we met Peter.* Peter used to be a probation officer, and through his work had acted as an
informer in the disruption of some drug dealers. He was therefore unpopular in some circles. Also recently divorced,
he told us he had turned to drink. He told one of the team that he had received a phone call from somebody he didnt
know but who knew everything about him they instructed him to meet them in Peckham Square that evening. The
Square was empty except for us and him.

As we were talking a car with blacked out windows pulled up nearby, evidently its occupants were watching Peter.
Clear that there was to be an attempt on Peters life, we stayed with him.

Two other street pastors were engaged in conversation with another gentleman, but they politely cut that
conversation short and we all left Peckham Square with Peter, keeping him in the middle of us. Together we walked
towards his house, talking all the way. Back in Peckham Square, Peter had said that if this was his time to die then he
didnt mind.

When we arrived at his door, Peter said that he had realised that life was worth something. We spoke for a while
longer before praying together. One of the team shared with Peter that God loved him and had a plan for his life, and
that the plan wasnt for him to take a bullet but for him to live his life to the full and be the best that he can be. We
gave him a Street Pastors card, took his phone number and agreed to keep in contact. Peter was incredibly grateful
and kept saying that if he hadnt met the Street Pastors that evening hed be dead.

*Names have been changed.

Street Pastors is an interdenominational church response to the problems of urban society, which since 2003 has
trained over 7,000 volunteer street pastors in the UK and around the world. Teams of volunteer street pastors go out
on the streets of their communities between the hours of 10pm and 4am to offer practical help, a reassuring presence
and a listening ear. Street Pastors is an initiative of Ascension Trust. Established in 1993, the Trust desires to see
Christians working effectively with their local churches, community and society.

Photo: Street Pastors. [Photo credit: Tim Abbott]

Oscar Romero Option for the Poor

Archbishop Romero was the voice of the voiceless poor. A life lived out in El Salvador, a Catholic country named after
Christ the Saviour. A marksmans bullet killed him in the middle of mass on March 24, 1980. No one was ever
prosecuted.

There was disbelief and despair across the land but especially in the poor communities amongst the simple rural folk
and city dwellers he had loved so dearly, defended so courageously and for whom in the end he gave his life.

Archbishop Romero is increasingly recognised as a model Christian, a pastor and a bishop a saint for the 21st
century. In his ministry in San Salvador he enfleshed or made incarnate the option for the poor. He is a tremendous
inspiration to the livesimply movement. He strengthens our faith, fills us with hope and makes us proud to be justice-
seeking Christian pilgrims. Today Romero stands tall as a truly credible witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ for
these sceptical times.
During three dramatic years as archbishop, Romero became visible to the wider world through his legendary
preaching to a nation engulfed in explosive tensions and violence. In a country wracked with human rights abuses,
enveloped in lies and cover-up and edging every day closer to civil war, Archbishop Romero fearlessly spoke the
truth. He listened to the poor tell their stories. He took on the wealthy landowners for their exploitation of seasonal
workers. He took on the military for their torture, killings and terrorisation of the rural population. This brought down
persecution on the Church and six priests and dozens of catechists were killed prior to his own assassination.

Parallels have been drawn between Romeros three years as archbishop and the three years of the public life of
Jesus. The preaching, the teaching, the prayer and solitude. The closeness to the poor, the tender love of the
vulnerable and destitute, the courage and resolution, the insults hurled, the pharisaic plotting against him, the doubts
and the fears, the death threats and the public execution.

In 1977 there was a Gethsemane experience for Romero. As he prayed beside the body of the murdered priest,
Rutilio Grande, he realised that if he were to follow this through to its final consequences it would, as he wrote, put
me on the road to Calvary. And he assented; he made a fundamental option for the poor and it took him to his
martyrdom.

Romero was once asked to explain that strange phrase, option for the poor. He replied: I offer you this by way of
example. A building is on fire and youre watching it burn, standing and wondering if everyone is safe. Then
someone tells you that your mother and your sister are inside that building. Your attitude changes
completely. Youre frantic; your mother and sister are burning and youd do anything to rescue them even at
the cost of getting charred. Thats what it means to be truly committed. If we look at poverty from the outside,
as if were looking at a fire, thats not to opt for the poor, no matter how concerned we may be. We should get
inside as if our own mother and sister were burning. Indeed its Christ who is there, hungry and suffering.

Rutilio Grande was the first priest to be killed. There were national shock waves. For Romero, Rutilios death was the
divine catalyst. He now began to see the situation from the perspective of the victims. This option for the poor would
be the locus from which henceforward he would pray and judge the suffering reality of El Salvador, the place where
he would do his theology and live a spirituality which recognised Christ, the suffering servant, the pierced one, there
amongst the poor campesinos.

Romeros initial disbelief at Rutilios killing became prophetic determination. He suspended all participation in official
government ceremonies until the assassins were brought to justice. He opened a diocesan legal aid office to
document the killings and disappearances and to give pastoral support to the families and communities affected.
Crucially, the following Sunday, he decreed that all churches of the diocese be closed and the masses cancelled. He
summoned priests and people to a single Mass in front of the Cathedral where he preached to a crowd of over
100,000.

Romeros weekly homilies were occasions to interweave catechesis and communication of the social reality. He
carefully unpacked the readings and interpreted them in the context of El Salvador. Then came the good news of the
week the meetings in the communities, the celebrations and patronal feasts, the visitors and letters of solidarity.
Then the bad news. Incident by incident, atrocity by atrocity, he named the victims; he said what had happened,
where and when and indicated those responsible. He sought justice, supported recompense and offered pastoral
care. This methodology was the forerunner of truth commissions that later emerged around the world. His sermons
could last over an hour but were heard with rapt attention the only interruption to the flow being applause.
 Romero constantly referred to the three idolatries of the time idolatry of wealth
and land; idolatry of power and national security and on the left the idolatry of the party organisation. They were false
gods that demanded human victims. But Romero always used the moment for a call to repent, an invitation to a
change of heart. Brothers and sisters, he said, keep this treasure. It is not my poor words that sow hope and
faith. I am no more than the humble echo of God in his people. His messages were no to the killings of the
right; no to the violence of the left; yes to political organisation; yes to dialogue; social justice for the poor; human
rights for all Salvadorans; and yes to the practice of compassion.

They said he was nave and Marxist-manipulated. As war came closer the threats and insults increased. Fake
newspapers appeared with outrageous headlines attempting to link Romero with terrorists. A suitcase of dynamite
placed behind the altar for his Sunday mass failed to go off.

Romero spoke about his death and those around him tried to persuade him to have protection or a bodyguard. His
response was simple: Why should the shepherd have protection when his sheep are still prey to wolves? The
threats became so intense; a fever existed. Romero knew he was going to die. He accepted it with great equanimity.
He prepared himself and went like a lamb to the slaughter.

Following his assassination the war became unstoppable and during twelve years claimed over 70,000 lives.

What should remembering Archbishop Romero mean today? From a Christian point of view remembering means
something active. The fundamental Christian model is Do this in memory of me. For the Church to remember
Archbishop Romero must first mean to continue his work and imitate that option for the poor which he embraced and
his life and ministry epitomised. And like him to struggle with the paradoxes and conflicts that such commitment
throws up for us.

Romero was a deeply spiritual man with a rich prayer life from which he drew his strength. His lifestyle was simple
and austere. His example to us is the beautiful, and dare one say it, the seamless synthesis he made in living and
witnessing to faith and promoting social justice. He was neither a political activist disguised in episcopal robes nor an
opportunistic priest peddling a populist social project.

Romero was the enemy of cover-up and spin. He spoke the truth fearlessly, prophetically. There are too many
Nicodemus Christians today afraid to speak the truth in public about contemporary controversies that affect the
Church and the world. Archbishop Romero was certainly no Nicodemus Christian; he was an evangeliser for all
seasons.
He became a generator of communion and solidarity. He was utterly orthodox and utterly radical. He truly loved God
and he truly loved his neighbour, the poor. He loved God in the poor, to the point of martyrdom. Oscar Romero is an
icon of the option for the poor.

Julian Filochowski, Chair of the Romero Trust. Adapted from earlier writings by the author in the Catholic Herald and
St Martin in the fields

Photo 1: Oscar Romero [Photo credit: Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation]

Photo 2: Archbishop Oscar Romero greets local children. [Photo credit: Octavio Duran/Caf

VIOLATES CST

Oscar Romero Option for the Poor

Archbishop Romero was the voice of the voiceless poor. A life lived out in El Salvador, a Catholic country named after
Christ the Saviour. A marksmans bullet killed him in the middle of mass on March 24, 1980. No one was ever
prosecuted.

There was disbelief and despair across the land but especially in the poor communities amongst the simple rural folk
and city dwellers he had loved so dearly, defended so courageously and for whom in the end he gave his life.

Archbishop Romero is increasingly recognised as a model Christian, a pastor and a bishop a saint for the 21st
century. In his ministry in San Salvador he enfleshed or made incarnate the option for the poor. He is a tremendous
inspiration to the livesimply movement. He strengthens our faith, fills us with hope and makes us proud to be justice-
seeking Christian pilgrims. Today Romero stands tall as a truly credible witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ for
these sceptical times.

During three dramatic years as archbishop, Romero became visible to the wider world through his legendary
preaching to a nation engulfed in explosive tensions and violence. In a country wracked with human rights abuses,
enveloped in lies and cover-up and edging every day closer to civil war, Archbishop Romero fearlessly spoke the
truth. He listened to the poor tell their stories. He took on the wealthy landowners for their exploitation of seasonal
workers. He took on the military for their torture, killings and terrorisation of the rural population. This brought down
persecution on the Church and six priests and dozens of catechists were killed prior to his own assassination.

Parallels have been drawn between Romeros three years as archbishop and the three years of the public life of
Jesus. The preaching, the teaching, the prayer and solitude. The closeness to the poor, the tender love of the
vulnerable and destitute, the courage and resolution, the insults hurled, the pharisaic plotting against him, the doubts
and the fears, the death threats and the public execution.

In 1977 there was a Gethsemane experience for Romero. As he prayed beside the body of the murdered priest,
Rutilio Grande, he realised that if he were to follow this through to its final consequences it would, as he wrote, put
me on the road to Calvary. And he assented; he made a fundamental option for the poor and it took him to his
martyrdom.

Romero was once asked to explain that strange phrase, option for the poor. He replied: I offer you this by way of
example. A building is on fire and youre watching it burn, standing and wondering if everyone is safe. Then
someone tells you that your mother and your sister are inside that building. Your attitude changes
completely. Youre frantic; your mother and sister are burning and youd do anything to rescue them even at
the cost of getting charred. Thats what it means to be truly committed. If we look at poverty from the outside,
as if were looking at a fire, thats not to opt for the poor, no matter how concerned we may be. We should get
inside as if our own mother and sister were burning. Indeed its Christ who is there, hungry and suffering.

Rutilio Grande was the first priest to be killed. There were national shock waves. For Romero, Rutilios death was the
divine catalyst. He now began to see the situation from the perspective of the victims. This option for the poor would
be the locus from which henceforward he would pray and judge the suffering reality of El Salvador, the place where
he would do his theology and live a spirituality which recognised Christ, the suffering servant, the pierced one, there
amongst the poor campesinos.

Romeros initial disbelief at Rutilios killing became prophetic determination. He suspended all participation in official
government ceremonies until the assassins were brought to justice. He opened a diocesan legal aid office to
document the killings and disappearances and to give pastoral support to the families and communities affected.
Crucially, the following Sunday, he decreed that all churches of the diocese be closed and the masses cancelled. He
summoned priests and people to a single Mass in front of the Cathedral where he preached to a crowd of over
100,000.

Romeros weekly homilies were occasions to interweave catechesis and communication of the social reality. He
carefully unpacked the readings and interpreted them in the context of El Salvador. Then came the good news of the
week the meetings in the communities, the celebrations and patronal feasts, the visitors and letters of solidarity.
Then the bad news. Incident by incident, atrocity by atrocity, he named the victims; he said what had happened,
where and when and indicated those responsible. He sought justice, supported recompense and offered pastoral
care. This methodology was the forerunner of truth commissions that later emerged around the world. His sermons
could last over an hour but were heard with rapt attention the only interruption to the flow being applause.
 Romero constantly referred to the three idolatries of the time idolatry of wealth
and land; idolatry of power and national security and on the left the idolatry of the party organisation. They were false
gods that demanded human victims. But Romero always used the moment for a call to repent, an invitation to a
change of heart. Brothers and sisters, he said, keep this treasure. It is not my poor words that sow hope and
faith. I am no more than the humble echo of God in his people. His messages were no to the killings of the
right; no to the violence of the left; yes to political organisation; yes to dialogue; social justice for the poor; human
rights for all Salvadorans; and yes to the practice of compassion.

They said he was nave and Marxist-manipulated. As war came closer the threats and insults increased. Fake
newspapers appeared with outrageous headlines attempting to link Romero with terrorists. A suitcase of dynamite
placed behind the altar for his Sunday mass failed to go off.

Romero spoke about his death and those around him tried to persuade him to have protection or a bodyguard. His
response was simple: Why should the shepherd have protection when his sheep are still prey to wolves? The
threats became so intense; a fever existed. Romero knew he was going to die. He accepted it with great equanimity.
He prepared himself and went like a lamb to the slaughter.

Following his assassination the war became unstoppable and during twelve years claimed over 70,000 lives.

What should remembering Archbishop Romero mean today? From a Christian point of view remembering means
something active. The fundamental Christian model is Do this in memory of me. For the Church to remember
Archbishop Romero must first mean to continue his work and imitate that option for the poor which he embraced and
his life and ministry epitomised. And like him to struggle with the paradoxes and conflicts that such commitment
throws up for us.

Romero was a deeply spiritual man with a rich prayer life from which he drew his strength. His lifestyle was simple
and austere. His example to us is the beautiful, and dare one say it, the seamless synthesis he made in living and
witnessing to faith and promoting social justice. He was neither a political activist disguised in episcopal robes nor an
opportunistic priest peddling a populist social project.

Romero was the enemy of cover-up and spin. He spoke the truth fearlessly, prophetically. There are too many
Nicodemus Christians today afraid to speak the truth in public about contemporary controversies that affect the
Church and the world. Archbishop Romero was certainly no Nicodemus Christian; he was an evangeliser for all
seasons.
He became a generator of communion and solidarity. He was utterly orthodox and utterly radical. He truly loved God
and he truly loved his neighbour, the poor. He loved God in the poor, to the point of martyrdom. Oscar Romero is an
icon of the option for the poor.

Julian Filochowski, Chair of the Romero Trust. Adapted from earlier writings by the author in the Catholic Herald and
St Martin in the fields

Photo 1: Oscar Romero [Photo credit: Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation]

Photo 2: Archbishop Oscar Romero greets local children. [Photo credit: Octavio Duran/Caf

Catholic Social Teaching and the Universal Declaration on

Human Rights
by : Ted Keating, SM, Director for Justice and Peace
Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men's Institutes

On December 10, 1998, the world will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Out of the ashes of the Shoa (the
Holocaust) and of the other barbarisms of World War II rose up this
foundational document that has guided the development of international
human rights standards and the movements for the protection of human
dignity for fifty years. The negotiations preceding the document and its final
acceptance by the almost all of the nations of the world is a story of surprise,
mystery, and the perseverance of hope itself. Eleanor Roosevelt, the US
ambassador to the United Nations at the time it was accepted and the
principal US negotiator, will forever remain linked to document in the historic
memory of this country. Her personal presence and reputation was an
important factor in the outcome.

The Catholic Church in a continuously developing way has made the defense
of human dignity by the protection of human rights a principal focus of its
social role in the contemporary world. Beginning with Pius XII's Christmas
radio message in 1944, developing through the teachings of John XXIII,
Vatican II, Paul VI, and culminating in a fully developed magisterial theology of
the Churchs mission with regard to human rights in the papacy of John Paul II,
Catholics now approach this 50th anniversary with an integral and holistic
sense that it is not possible to be Church in these times without a concerted
plan for dealing with human rights. The painful and tragic experiences of the
Church in Latin and Central America during the 1970s and 1980s have left the
Church in that area of the world with a developed pastoral de derechos
humanos that includes vigilance for violations of human rights occurring in
society, programs of human rights education. and fostering of the
consciousness of human rights as a way of transforming society and
furthering the evangelization of culture. John Paul II, in commenting on the
horrors of World War II Germany on the 50th anniversary of the end of the
war, said that the only way to avoid another disaster like Nazi Germany was to
teach "a new spirit, the spirit of the rights of the human person, the rights of
nations, of international justice and solidarity". Such a hope cannot be realized
by aspirations alone but by educating for human dignity, the most basic hope
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To pursue the Churchs social
mission in this era is inconceivable without involvement in the movements for
human rights.

We, who are Catholics in the United States, face severe challenges in the face
of this anniversary. If one of the best kept secrets in the Church is its social
teaching as a book of some years ago declared one of the most shocking
secrets in the United States is the centrality of the human rights worldview to
the mission of the Church in our times. Our US bishops said in The Harvest of
Justice Is Sown in Peace (1993) that "an indispensable condition for a just
and peaceful world order is the promotion and defense of human rights." In
Communities of Salt and Light: Reflections on Parish Social Mission (1993),
they said "advocacy on human rights, development and peace through
legislative networks ... are also signs of a faith without boundaries and a
parish serious about its social responsibilities." John Paul II, known most
throughout the secular world for his indefatigable defense of human rights,
has not only declared human rights to be the minimum of human dignity in our
time but also that education for human dignity a critical concern of the Church.
He has also publicly encouraged and applauded Christians throughout the
world involved in human rights associations and movements. He said in 1988
that he hopes that these actions will not remain the reserve of a few in the
Church but the "rather one of universal and common concern."

Many readers of this newsletter are precisely the people that John Paul II is
addressing the ones who take seriously the integral pursuit of human rights as
an outgrowth of faith and spirituality in our times. The true challenge of the
50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration is most explicit for those in the
US who have taken up the challenge of the defense of human rights and know
how central it is for the Church. We in the US assume that human rights is an
international issue, usually relevant to underdeveloped nations or to nations
under brutal authoritarian rule. Our US foreign policy constantly frames human
rights concerns as an issue for other nations that we denounce, sanction,
isolate. A persistent attitude of what is called US exceptionalism in a number
of areas of our development as a people leaves us with a sense that we are
above these concerns of the rest of the world. "Look, we invented democracy,
we invented constitutional protection of civil rights, we were born in revolution
against authoritarianism. Our negotiation of international human rights treaties
and our support of human rights around the world is a way to share what we
have in this country with others." So we have not ratified many of the most
basic human rights covenants and it causes no public comment. Amnesty
International and United Nations Human Rights Commission concludes that
the implementation of the death penalty in this country violates the standards
of international human rights and we are shocked and outraged as a people.
At international summits, our government takes the position that neither
housing nor food nor health care is a human right even for children at
international summits because to do otherwise would shift our internal
political, economic, and legal approach to social services in this country, and
there is little public comment.

When we try to strategize with social advocates in other nations around the
world within the Church in general and the religious life in particular, our
rhetoric breaks down. Almost all of the nations of the world in applying
standards of human dignity to their internal social systems now use
universally applicable principles of human rights negotiated in treaties and
covenants. They have programs of education for human dignity that bring
these standards and covenants before the people in order to build a society
and culture rooted in human rights. In this country. we still engage in a host of
different social agendas having to do with welfare reform, the family farm, the
death penalty, the rights of immigrants, racism, affirmative action, civil rights,
workers rights, environmental pollution, native Americans, health care without
any common language or consistent vision of justice applicable to these
separate social issues. We too often competitively divide our energies and
resources among the issues without a way of collaborating together around
common areas of concern. We are left with almost no ways of creating the
essential cross-border international solidarity movements with groups working
on similar issues in other countries because they are working under human
rights standards, and we are working under a host of different languages of
justice and advocacy coming out of century of US social movements. It is time
for the US advocacy community to join the rest of the human race and begin
learning, adopting, and adapting the universal and common language of
human dignity of our time international human rights.

Some surprising results occur when we begin to do this. 1) We begin to find

common connections in the social issues faced by family farmers in the US
and small farmers throughout the world. 2) We find that welfare reform issues
in this country look a lot like structural adjustment issues in other countries. 3)
We are able to begin building cross-border connections between Native
Americans in the US and movements of indigenous peoples around the world
that are already decades old. 4) We find that many of our issues of racism
here in the US find reverberations throughout the colonial mindset of Western
culture. 5) We find whole new strategies for envisioning what is wrong with the
death penalty in the US as we see how it is reflected in more extreme
situations around the world. We begin to discover that our narrow take on US
social issues is broadened by the realization of what globalization is doing
across the face of the world and in the US at the same time. We come to
realize that advocacy will only be effective in the future in cross-border
solidarity movements that connect grassroots movements with similar
movements around the world to confront a global agenda by corporations,
governments, and international institutions that can no longer be dealt country
by country.

We also begin to learn how enmeshed in the US culture of individualism that

we had become as US social advocates. Contemporary human rights
standards codified in a number of covenants are much more communitarian
than our traditionally individualistic and competitive social strategies in the
United States. Other cultures that also value the individual are more attuned
and sensitive to the needs for protection of communities and cultures and
peoples as well. This integration evokes a human rights tradition that not only
protects the individual but that also insists on social responsibility, concern for
the common good, commitment to the community.

So the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights leaves

the most seasoned US social advocates without a whole new agenda: 1) the
reframing of US social justice movements under the paradigm of commonly
accepted international standards of human rights and human rights law; 2)
learning a whole new language and system of analysis that will compel us to
become more global in our thinking and strategizing about the most local of
issues in the US: 3) finding ways to dialogue and communicate with social
movements around the world to discover how globalized agendas are
affecting us all and to begin forming more globalized strategies for dealing
with them.

Happy 50th. While the challenges of this new agenda are great, they also
have the potential for renewing US social justice movements. We cannot
imagine that we will be young forever. Even revolutions get old. To put it
bluntly, we are already a little behind the times in our failure to embrace the
international human rights movement in the US. This will be one of the most
important US social justice agendas of the coming years.

For more information contact :

Human Rights USA

Lyn Beth Neylon, Director
918 16th St., NW
Suite 602
Washington, DC 20006-2902

Tel: 202/293-0088, x251

Fax: 202/293-0089
Email: lneylon@streetlaw.org
Website: http://www.hrusa.org

Reprinted from Catholic Peace Voice, Spring/Summer 1998, XXIII, Number

213, the national newspaper of Pax Christi USA.