“Let us truly live the beauty and responsibility
of being a prophetic people.”  ​

   ― Blessed Archbishop Oscar Romero

Catholic Relief Services on the Option for the Poor.
Catholic Relief Services on Care for God's Creation
Catholic Relief Services on Rights & Responsibilities

Documents on
​Catholic Social Teaching

Catholic social teaching is best understood by reading the documents directly. There are many--here are a few of our favorites: 
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Role of the Laity in ​
​​the Mission of the Church

Lay men and women are called to help God bring salvation to every corner of creation. God desires that wherever we are, we become channels of God's Holy Spirit: in our Church, our families, our friendships, our business relationships. At every moment and in every place, we are sacraments of God's heart and hands.

Through our hard work of loving the world, others taste the goodness of God and become more open to God's invitation to a relationship. This is the ultimate privilege of being a human being: cooperating as a channel that reveals the goodness of God so that consciousness of God grows, relationships with God blossom, and the world is slowly transfigured by God’s holy power into the Kingdom.  

By loving the world, we participate in the life of God.

Catholic Social Teaching

Catholic Social Teaching has a key role in the sanctification of the world. These teachings inspire us to build a just and peaceful world in the face of modern challenges that try to prevent us from cooperating with God. Catholic Social Teaching is at the very heart of our faith, and it is these teachings that we take forth with us as lay men and women in our mission to love the world. 

Following are seven of the primary themes of Catholic Social Teaching (taken from United States Conference of Catholic Bishops): 

  1. Life and Dignity of the Human Person: Every person is sacred and deserves to be treated with dignity. People are more important than things, and the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person.

  2. Call to Family, Community and Participation: The ways in which we organize our society impacts human dignity and the capacity of individuals to grow in community. All people have a right and a duty to participate in society, which must be aimed at bringing about the common good and well-being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable. The role of government and other institutions is to protect human life and dignity, and promote the common good.

  3. Rights & Responsibilities: A world of dignity and well being can only be created if human rights are protected and individual and collective responsibilities are met. Every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency. However, in addition to these rights, we have duties--to one another, to our families, and to the larger society. Both personal responsibility and social responsibilities must be honored to create the common good.

  4. Option for the Poor: Our world is characterized by the growing prosperity of a few while the many suffer extreme poverty. Our tradition teaches that the basic moral test is how the most vulnerable members are faring. In a society scarred divisions between rich and poor, Catholic social teaching instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first.

  5. The Dignity & Rights of Workers: Too often the bottom line takes precedence over the rights of workers, we believe that the economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God's creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected,the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organize and join unions, to private property, and to economic initiative. Respecting these rights promotes an economy that protects human life, defends human rights, and advances the well-being of all.
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  6. Solidarity: Catholic social teaching proclaims that we are one human family under God. As such, we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers, wherever they live, whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. We are called to practice the virtue of solidarity, understanding that "loving our neighbor" has global dimensions in an interdependent world. 

  7. Care for God's Creation: Catholic tradition insists that we show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. Care for the earth and all of its creatures is a requirement of our faith. We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God's creation. This environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that cannot be ignored.

Catholic Social Teaching has evolved through a rich tradition of documents written by popes, councils and bishops. To learn more about Catholic Social Teaching, it is important to read the documents themselves. See the list on the left side of this page as a starting point.  
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