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The Seven Basic Themes of Catholic Social Teaching
by Sr. Joan Hart, SSND
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Our guest columnist, Sr. Joan Hart, SSND, created the diagram shown here as a way to help people remember more easily the seven basic themes of Catholic Social Teaching. The accompanying article explains the link between each theme and each part of the house.
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The foundation of the house is our fundamental belief in the dignity of the
human person. This is so important that we need to dwell on it. It's not just
an idea that emerged in the 19th or 20th century. We can trace it all the way
back to the Book of Genesis. We are made in the image and likeness of God.
Vatican II said that the role of the Church in the modem world is to be the
sign and safeguard of the dignity of the human person. So this is the
linchpin--the reason why we have a social teaching. Everything flows from this.
Now I have a friend who has a priceless collection of antique china. You
can't just put these pieces in a china closet. She had a custom cabinet
designed to hold and display them. Then she had the house alarmed as a
protection. The point is, when you have something precious, you have to
design structures to protect it. The walls and roof of our house are human
rights, which protect human dignity. Human rights are civil and political
as well as economic, social, and cultural. They spell out what we're entitled
to just by being human. In many countries, the Church is the lone voice
speaking out for human rights. We do so because they affect human dignity.
In the family room of our house we are reminded that we are called to
community and to active participation in society. We are not isolated
individuals but we are linked to others in our family, workplace,
neighborhood, and community. This is how we work out our salvation,
not alone, but with and through others. We are not observers on the sidelines;
we contribute to society according to our talents.
In society, we come in contact with the poor and recognize that we are
called to have a preference for them. So, in our dining room, there are places
reserved for the poor. They have a standing invitation to be there, together
with us. Because they are voiceless and powerless, we are ready to stand up
for them, to have a special love for them. Again, this is not something new.
The prophets in the Old Testament told us that how we treat those on the
margins--the widows, the orphans, and the aliens could judge the quality
of our faith. Without concern for them, our faith is shallow, hollow.
There are rooms in our house where different forms of work go on. There's the
kitchen where meals are prepared, the study where tax returns are worked on,
the internet where the teens have learned to surf, etc. Our social teaching
tells us that those workers have a dignity and certain rights precisely as
workers, that work has a dignity. This teaching came as a response to the
industrial revolution in the late 19th century when workers were exploited,
mistreated, and discounted. The Church was there to say clearly that workers
have the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, the right to
a just wage, and the right to a safe work environment.
But our house is not a self-contained universe; it has windows on the world.
We are called to be in solidarity with the rest of the world. Pope John Paul II
describes solidarity as a "firm and persevering determination to commit oneself
to the common good; that is to say the good of all and of each individual
because we are all really responsible for all." Now that statement could
overwhelm us--being told that we are responsible for all, but it's understood
that we can only do what one human being can do. The important thing is the
orientation, the attitude, and the lens through which we look at the rest of
the world. We can't pull down the shades of our windows on the world because,
in fact, the whole world is our home.
Finally, the lawn in front of the house reminds us of our duty to care for
God's creation. This goes far beyond recycling, but it can begin there. We
have over-consumed and damaged much of our environment. We need to repair
and care for the earth as stewards of creation.
Sr. Joan Hart, SSND, has been involved in justice and peace education for
the past 27 years and served on the NCCB/USCC Task Force on Catholic Social
Teaching and Catholic Education from 1996-98. Reproduction of this article
is permitted for personal and non-commercial use. Please acknowledge author
by name when reproducing.
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