What is Catholic Social Teaching?
Catholic social teaching is a huge part of our faith. It is based on the belief that God has a plan for creation, a plan to build His kingdom of peace, love and justice. Our part in this story is a kind-of vocation for the common good; a call to treat everyone as your brothers and sisters.
Catholic social teaching (CST) originated in Scripture and was developed by Church leaders over the years. It provides us with a moral compass ?
CST aims to guide us towards justice and righteousness – helping us to live out our faith in the world.
There are seven key principles that within Catholic Social Teaching. Each term we shift our focus onto a different principle. This term the principle is: Dignity and Solidarity.
What is ‘Dignity?’
Dignity reminds us to love each other love each other. God is present in every human person, regardless of religion, culture, nationality, orientation or economic standing. Each one of us is unique and beautiful. We are called to treat every person and every creature with loving respect.
What is ‘Solidarity?’
Solidarity reminds us that we are all people with value and should care for each other. We are one human family regardless of what we look like, think, or where we come from. We are all brothers and sisters and must love our neighbour on a global level. Solidarity arises when we remember that we belong to each other.
Regardless of any factors or reasons we can think of, every person has dignity and we should show solidarity to all.
Why is it ‘Dignity and Solidarity’ important today?
Everyone belongs to one human family, regardless of their national, religious, ethnic, economic or political differences. Everyone has a duty to promote the rights of all people across the world. We are called by the principle of dignity and solidarity to take the parable of The Good Samaritan to heart (Luke 10:29-37), and to express this understanding in how we live and interact with others.
All over the world many people are working hard to make the world a better place.
We too have a part to play.
It’s up to all of us, wherever we are in the world, to do something about this by letting people know about our human rights, so that we can build the future together! With God given dignity and solidarity, comes rights and responsibilities.
Rights are things that help make life great.
But since we all have rights, we also have responsibilities.
And if we are all equal and part of God’s family, that means we are responsible for each other. That includes people near us and far away.
