7 Themes of Catholic Social Teaching – McGeady, DC

“We come together … to attempt to internalize them”From the days of the early Church, each Christian’s responsibility to care for the helpless, especially the orphan and widow, have been foremost in living as followers of Jesus. Over and over when He was on earth He taught His key lessons on living the just and responsible social life. Jesus many times gave us instructions on our relationships with one another and spelled out for us His basic concepts. We need only to go to the Scriptures to identify those key concepts, lessons on living justly and lovingly with our neighbor. Unfortunately, they are not as neatly packaged for us as the Ten Commandments or the Seven Sacraments.

The seven main themes about which we will speak today come directly from the instructions of Jesus Himself, and as we speak about these themes that will become very evident. Since Jesus is not visibly present in our day, the Church has given us extensive commentary and direction on the interpretation of Jesus’ teachings. These teachings are contained in major Encyclicals issued by Popes and in Pastoral Letters issued by Bishops’ Conferences.

Unfortunately, in many instances, Catholics have not been exposed to proper study of these documents, and lately our American Bishops have seen the need to correct that fact by intensifying opportunities for all the faithful to be updated in these documents and their contents. Thus, days like today. One of the reasons the Bishops wanted us all to understand the teachings better was the many shifts in our culture which threaten some of the Church’s teachings. It is impossible for us in one day to cover every teaching relating to Justice, but we will try to touch on the major ones.

For the full text see http://www.covenanthouse.org/sis_sp_20001118-seven_themes.html