Catholic Social Teachings (CST)

Objective;
- Discuss CST, its nature and development

Ways of God’s Revelation:

1. Natural signs
2. Biblical signs
3. In the Church
4. In other Religion
5. Signs of the times

Reading the Signs of the Times is the Social

Mission of the Church.
Signs of the times
- Accurate understanding of contemporary
events and present economic, political and
cultural realities in order to interpret
them in the eyes of Christian faith

Ways of reading the signs of the times:

1. Listening to the prophets
2. Respond to the needs of our people
3. Work effectively for the common good

Our Christian vocation is how to respond

appropriately.
Sign of the times
- is a phrase strongly associated with the
Catholic Church in the era of the Second
Vatican Council of the 1960s.
- It was taken to mean that the Church
should listen to, and learn from, the world
around it. In other words, it should learn
to read the “sign(s) of the times”.
- It came to signify a new understanding
that the Church needed to attend more
closely to the world if it was to remain
faithful to its calling.
- The phrase has continued to be used in
papal encyclicals by every pope since then.
Social teachings of the Church
1. Moral principles and priorities to respond
to ongoing problems
2. Criteria for evaluating issues
3. Recommendations for creative pursuit for
the common good

Ways to respond/show social commitment:

1. Stregthen your spiritual life through
prayer and the sacraments
2. Get involved in organization and clubs
that promote CST
3. Keep updated
Sociability – capacity to make friends and
adjust indifferent social relations evident in
Filipino traits of “pakikisama and
pakikipagkapwa”.

Imagine – song of John Lennon that talks

about building a just and human society.

Justice is the first demand of love. It is the

important condition of an authentic love of
neighbor.
Peace is the fruit of justice.
Living a just and peaceful life is the principal
task of all Christians. Thus, we become
evangelizers of peace, justice and love.

Ways recommended by the Church to

become evangelizers of peace, justice and
love:
1. Promote solidarity
2. Go for Education
3. Be with the community
4. Have an advocacy
Human Dignity – fundamental principle of
CST

Liberalism – emphasis on political rights

Socialism – strict equality in terms of
economic rights

The role of the Church in society

- reliable source of guidance and inspiration
in living a moral life
- Basic moral center of society
- Institution that has earned respect and
credibility for trying its best to work for
change (critical reflection, prayer rallies and
social action)
The Church is the “People of God” – endowed with
different kinds of spiritual gifts and different forms of
service but the same Spirit.
(1 Cor. 12:4-6)

Church and State Separation and Relation

- Are independent institutions with distinct origin,
way of proceeding and objectives
- State cannot declare a state religion and members
are free to choose and practice their religion
- Separation does not mean that the Church has
nothing to say about politics since the gospel
proclaims covers all aspects of human life

*this moral obligation is intrinsic to the Christian faith

and to the mission of the Church
 Clergy Laity
leaders of the Church are Members of the church
mainly responsible for are called to listen
evangelizing the faithful *concretely incorporate
the gospel values in work
and relationships
Share the same mission of spreading the Gospel in all
areas of human life
Have competence in moral Have competence in
principles governing active and direct partisan
politics politics
Both must involved in the area of politics when moral
and gospel values are at stake - take the values of
justice, peace and love to the heart and let them
radiate in all human relationships.
Church
- Take a stand on sensitive political issues
EDSA – a peaceful revolution/People Power
Revolution

Problem with Filipinos

-Christian faith is more of social fact than a personal
conviction
-difficulty to integrate faith and daily life

Resolutions:
1. Education in the faith (moral education)
2. Provide a distinctive meaning to Christian life
3. Foster Christian motivation for the people’s
choices, decisions and actions
Encyclicals – papal letters focused directly on social
matters intended to be circulated among the
members
CST
- Church’s body of teachings on social realities like
poverty, education, gambling, population growth,
elections, ecology and others.
- Documents addressed to the universal Church
- Church’s best kept secret (teaches hard truth)
- Presents the Catholic Christian response to key
modern social problems
- Church reads the signs of the times, evaluates
them in the light of the teachings of Christ
- Demands moral behavior
Challenge: put the social teaching into practice
Importance of CST
1. Connects the scripture to our present time
2. Links our individual moral choices to our social life
3. Caters to both our bodily and spiritual needs
4. Stresses the urgent call to express our faith through
deeds of love and justice

Characteristics of CST
1. Permanent – based on the gospel and fundamental
values
2. Developing – growing collection of Church’s social
principles that must be creatively applied and
renewed in the ever changing concrete situations

 Church’s “best – kept secret” - teaches hard truths

Methods and sources of CST
1. Sacred Scripture – deposit of the word of
God
2. Natural law/Reason – natural powers
that give us insights into the basic
meaning and purpose of life
3. Church Tradition – valuable contributions
of moral philosophers, theologians and
experts over the ages.
4. Human Experience – process through
which the Church reads and interprets
the signs of the times
Sources of CST:
- Most of these are published as encyclicals by
different popes
- Interviews with the pope
- Studies of Vatican congregations (Other
documents are from Vatican II or Synod of
Bishops)
- Statements from different national episcopal
conferences
- Homilies of Bishops and priests
Encyclicals – papal letters focused directly on social
matters intended to be circulated among the
members

CST
- Church’s body of teachings on social realities like
poverty, education, gambling, population growth,
elections, ecology and others.
- Documents addressed to the universal Church
- Church’s best kept secret (teaches hard truth)
- Demands moral behavior
Challenge: put the social teaching into practice
3/5-step process (pattern) to read the signs of the
times
1. SEE - Observation of the situation (Social
awareness)
Q: What is happening?
2. JUDGE -Accurate assessment and judgement
(social responsibility)
Q: What is the situation telling us Christians?
3. ACT - Action (social commitment)
Q: What are we supposed to do?
4. Celebrate – celebrate in prayer and liturgy
Q: Let us share our life and faith together
5. Evaluate – objective assessment of the whole
process (right atmosphere is prayer)
Human Dignity – fundamental principle of
CST

Liberalism – emphasis on political rights

Socialism – strict equality in terms of
economic rights

The role of the Church in society

- reliable source of guidance and inspiration
in living a moral life
- Basic moral center of society
- Institution that has earned respect and
credibility for trying its best to work for
change (critical reflection, prayer rallies and
social action)
The Church is the “People of God” – endowed with
different kinds of spiritual gifts and different forms
of service but the same Spirit.
(1 Cor. 12:4-6)

Church and State Separation and Relation

- Independent institutions with distinct origin,
way of proceeding and objectives
- It means that there is no state
religion/members are free to choose and
practice their religion
- Separation does not mean that the Church has
nothing to say about politics since the gospel
proclaims covers all aspects of human life.
Church
- Take a stand on sensitive political issues
EDSA – a peaceful revolution/People Power
Revolution

Problem with Filipinos

-Christian faith is more of social fact than a personal
conviction
-difficulty to integrate faith and daily life

Resolutions:
1. Education in the faith (moral education)
2. Provide a distinctive meaning to Christian life
3. Foster Christian motivation for the people’s
choices, decisions and actions
PARALITURGY

 Prayer of Blessed John Henry Newman

- priest, poet and theologian, and later a

Catholic cardinal, who was an important
and controversial figure in the religious
history of England in the 19th century.

 Pananagutan