7/17/2019 Catholic Social Teaching

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 Catholic social teaching is a central and essential element of our faith. Its roots are in the Hebrew prophets whoannounced God's special love for the poor and called God's people to a covenant of love and justice. It is a teachingfounded on the life and words of Jesus Christ, who came "to bring glad tidings to the poor . . . libert to captives . . .recover of sight to the blind"!# $%&(&)*, and who identified himself with "the least of these," the hungr and thestranger !cf. +t -%$-*. Catholic social teaching is built on a commitment to the poor. his commitment arises fromour e/periences of Christ in the eucharist.

 0s the Catechism of the Catholic Church e/plains, "o receive in truth the 1od and 1lood of Christ given up for us,

we must recogni2e Christ in the poorest, his brethren" !no. &3)4*.

Catholic social teaching emerges from the truth of what God has revealed to us about himself. 5e believe in the

triune God whose ver nature is communal and social. God the 6ather sends his onl 7on Jesus Christ and shares

the Hol 7pirit as his gift of love. God reveals himself to us as one who is not alone, but rather as one who is

relational, one who is rinit. herefore, we who are made in God's image share this communal, social nature. 5e

are called to reach out and to build relationships of love and justice.

Catholic social teaching is based on and inseparable from our understanding of human life and human dignit. 8ver

human being is created in the image of God and redeemed b Jesus Christ, and therefore is invaluable and worth of 

respect as a member of the human famil. 8ver person, from the moment of conception to natural death, has

inherent dignit and a right to life consistent with that dignit. Human dignit comes from God, not from an human

9ualit or accomplishment.

:ur commitment to the Catholic social mission must be rooted in and strengthened b our spiritual lives. In our

relationship with God we e/perience the conversion of heart that is necessar to trul love one another as God has

loved us.

8verwhere we go;8verwhere we go;

<eople alwas as# us<eople alwas as# us

5ho we are5ho we are

5here we come from5here we come from

7o we tell them7o we tell them

5e=re from G>:?< 3

5e=re from G>:?< 3 0nd if the cannot hear us 0nd if the cannot hear us

5e shout a little louder 5e shout a little louder