#Catholic Social Teaching

[intrinsicallydisordered]

A Eucharist which does not pass over into the concrete practice of love is intrinsically fragmented.

— Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est (no. 14)

[ffcrazy15]

Amazing. Amazing how quickly it went from "We just want people to come here legally! Just follow the rules! We're fine with legal immigrants!" to "Just because a Democrat-run government lets them come here legally, that doesn't make them not illegals."

But that's what legality is! It's the government! Making laws! The government makes the laws! That's what makes things legal!

Those people are in Springfield on the basis of being granted Temporary Protected Status—a designation created by Congress in 1990. But does that matter to you? No. You'll redefine the word "illegal" to mean any brown person you don't like, won't you?

Because it was never about if they were here "legally," was it. These people are here legally. And you still hate them. Because you were told to, and that was all the permission you needed. It was always about you getting an opportunity to feel self-righteous and proud and like a big warrior fighting for a cause. To hell with the innocent people you might crush under your boot, right? They're here "illegally." And if they're not, who cares? They may as well be.

You brood of vipers. You pit of snakes.

[cealtrachs]

“ The duty of the moment is what you should be doing at any given time, in whatever place God has put you. You may not have Christ in a homeless person at your door, but you may have a little child. If you have a child, your duty of the moment may be to change a dirty diaper. So you do it. But you don't just change that diaper, you change it to the best of your ability, with great love for both God and that child. ... There are all kinds of good Catholic things you can do, but whatever they are, you have to realize that there is always the duty of the moment to be done. And it must be done, because the duty of the moment is the duty of God. ”

Catherine Doherty

[tonreihe]

Rowan Williams, “Creating an Ideal: Solidarity and Catholic Social Thought,” the first of the 2024 Bampton Lectures

[a-really-big-cat]

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

a. Importance of the family for the person

212. The family has central importance in reference to the person. It is in this cradle of life and love that people are born and grow; when a child is conceived, society receives the gift of a new person who is called “from the innermost depths of self to communion with others and to the giving of self to others”[465]. It is in the family, therefore, that the mutual giving of self on the part of man and woman united in marriage creates an environment of life in which children “develop their potentialities, become aware of their dignity and prepare to face their unique and individual destiny”[466].

In the climate of natural affection which unites the members of a family unit, persons are recognized and learn responsibility in the wholeness of their personhood. “The first and fundamental structure for ‘human ecology' is the family, in which man receives his first formative ideas about truth and goodness, and learns what it means to love and to be loved, and thus what it actually means to be a person”[467]. The obligations of its members, in fact, are not limited by the terms of a contract but derive from the very essence of the family, founded on the irrevocable marriage covenant and given structure in the relationships that arise within it following the generation or adoption of children.

b. Importance of the family for society

213. The family, the natural community in which human social nature is experienced, makes a unique and irreplaceable contribution to the good of society. The family unit, in fact, is born from the communion of persons. “‘Communion' has to do with the personal relationship between the ‘I' and the ‘thou'. ‘Community' on the other hand transcends this framework and moves towards a ‘society', a ‘we'. The family, as a community of persons, is thus the first human ‘society'“[468].

A society built on a family scale is the best guarantee against drifting off course into individualism or collectivism, because within the family the person is always at the centre of attention as an end and never as a means. It is patently clear that the good of persons and the proper functioning of society are closely connected “with the healthy state of conjugal and family life”[469]. Without families that are strong in their communion and stable in their commitment peoples grow weak. In the family, moral values are taught starting from the very first years of life, the spiritual heritage of the religious community and the cultural legacy of the nation are transmitted. In the family one learns social responsibility and solidarity[470].

214. The priority of the family over society and over the State must be affirmed. The family in fact, at least in its procreative function, is the condition itself for their existence. With regard to other functions that benefit each of its members, it proceeds in importance and value the functions that society and the State are called to perform[471]. The family possesses inviolable rights and finds its legitimization in human nature and not in being recognized by the State. The family, then, does not exist for society or the State, but society and the State exist for the family.

Every social model that intends to serve the good of man must not overlook the centrality and social responsibility of the family. In their relationship to the family, society and the State are seriously obligated to observe the principle of subsidiarity. In virtue of this principle, public authorities may not take away from the family tasks which it can accomplish well by itself or in free association with other families; on the other hand, these same authorities have the duty to sustain the family, ensuring that it has all the assistance that it needs to fulfil properly its responsibilities[472].

[politicalmamaduck]

do you supported wga strike ?

Dear Anonymous,

Yes! I believe that all people have the right to: fair wages and benefits, decent and safe working conditions, join a union or other associations, and dignity at work.

I am grateful for all those workers who came before us and fought for all of those things.

I fully support unions and strikes and think that we should have more of both in the US.

[spiritualdirections]

"What you cannot do is speak prophetically by arguing for the lesser of two evils."

--Ed Condon, The Pillar

[dilutedh2so4]

Seven Days of Catholic Social Teaching

DAY 4: Option For The Poor

The option for the poor reminds us of God’s preferential love for the poorest and most vulnerable people. God’s love is universal; he does not side with oppressors, but loves the humble. As St Mary says in the Gospel of Luke, "[The Lord] has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty."

This principle is believed to have originated from the Liberation Theology movement in Latin America. For the first time, people living in poverty in the slums were holding the Bible in their own hands and imagining a world free from injustice. This radical thinking shaped CAFOD’s early work in the 1960s. More recently, some Catholic theologians have spoken about an ‘option for the earth’. Pope Francis writes, “the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor” Laudato Si’ #2.

-> Taken from the CAFOD website

A Prayer

[locustheologicus]

This short 3 minute video helps to illustrate a basic introduction into the social principles of the Catholic faith which we call Catholic social teaching. 

I offered other resources on this amazing topic in a previous blog on the principles of CST. The Church exists to proclaim and live the Good News, to proclaim and live. To hear the stories and perform rituals disconnected from our lifestyle and values is to be part of a museum. The social principles move us to consider the values and lifestyle change that our faith calls us to.   

I will once again offer my own prezi resource below which offers some more direct quotes from the tradition on our seven Catholic social principles.

As the video above and the resources suggest, our Catholic social principles flow directly from the tradition of our faith. From Sacred Scripture and from the tradition of our Church. The following prezi just offers a highlight of the way that our famous saints, mystics, and theologians conceived of these values and understood them as essential for living out the faith that they received from Christ and the Church. Yes, the social doctrine originated with the famous contribution of social encyclicals from Pope Leo XIII in 1891 to Pope Francis today. But as a core tenant and understanding of the faith we go back to the origins of Christ and the apostolic church to see how these values were very much a part of their worldview and lifestyle.

Our Catholic social tradition is a rich aspect of our our faith tradition. Without it we are left with a personal sprituality and empty communal rituals. As I mentioned in another previous blog post, our own sacramental life can only be fully understood within the context of our social values. Reading and reflecting on our own sacred texts will reveal this to all Christians who are interested in understanding the way of Christ and are perhaps curious about what Christian discipleship is all about. If you are looking for a succinct place in all the sacred texts to see where Jesus shares these social values I suggest you consider the parable of the Last Judgment in the 25th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. 

[rivage-seulm]

American Politics Realigning? Walz and Vance Might Be More Similar Than You Think

Something important and promising might well be happening in American politics. At the popular level, working class folks are expressing their deep discontent with a system run by octogenarians who serve their donors rather than the American taxpayer. The latter has come to realize that Democrats and Republicans have formed a kind of Uni-party beholden to the rich and powerful rather than to…

[copela4692]

Fratelli Tutti - Dialogue and Friendship in Society

In order to mark the 30th anniversary of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation, Pope Francis requested that CAPP members and friends read, study, and promote his encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti: On Fraternity and Social Friendship. In response to this request, CAPP-Canada organized a series of monthly Fratelli Tutti Study Sessions, running from September 2023 to April 16, led by Dr.…

[ffcrazy15]

I think one of my favorite things about the Catholic marriage rite is that in the concluding blessing over the couple we find the following words:

"May you be witnesses in the world to God's charity, so that the afflicted and needy who have known your kindness may one day receive you thankfully into the eternal dwelling of God."

There's a lot of talk in the marriage rite about receiving children gratefully as gifts from God and raising them faithfully, as well there should be. But this line here, this line gets to me. Because it indicates something really essential about the founding of a Catholic home together: that it isn't just for you or even just your particular family, but that a Christian home becomes a sort of sign and shelter for the whole world. That you have a duty, as a married couple, to go out into the world and share the love God has given you by providing out of your excess for the whole human family.

[many-sparrows]

I love you social justice oriented Christians. I love you Gary (my pastor) who presided over gay weddings before they were legally binding and before the church had come to a decision on it. I love you Conrad (old pastor I work with) for getting arrested for protesting the Iraq war and performing a lesbian wedding the minute it became legal for a couple who'd been together for decades. I love you Dr Donald Hertz for your sermons on Acts 20:27 and your life spent living out that verse and for causing trouble when you were still a student assigned to a segregated church in Birmingham and for spontaneously joining a grape boycott picket line outside of a Safeway in Berkeley because that verse says we cannot shrink away from our duty to each other. I love you Martin Luther's common chest. I love you Charles de Foucauld. I love you Oscar Romero. I love you Dorothy Day. I love you for giving me a legacy to carry on.

[butchlifeguard]

i feel like theres often a lot of good points made about purity culture (real purity culture do not come at me with shipping bullshit rn), work ethic, and attitudes towards sex, but theyre made by people who dont understand what religions believe or are. 'this is so puritan fundamentalist protestant catholic mormon 😥' just shoot me.

[autism-disco]

hhgggggrrrraaaaaaaaaaa

(revision. exams. not happy)