Key Principles of Catholic Social Teaching

Human Dignity

Belief in the inherent dignity of the human person is the foundation of Catholic social teaching. Human life is sacred, and the dignity of the human person is the starting point for a normal vision for society.

The principle of human dignity is grounded in the idea that the person is made in the image of God. The person is the clearest reflection of God among us. We are required to honour the human person, to give priority to the person.

Community and the Common Good

 In a culture driven by excessive individualism, our tradition proclaims that the person is not only sacred but also social. Human dignity can only be realized and protected in the context of relationships with the wider society.

How we organise our society – in economics and politics, in law and policy –directly affects human dignity and the capacity of individuals to grow in community. The obligation to “love our neighbour” has an individual dimension, but it also requires a broader social commitment. Everyone has a responsibility to contribute to the good of the whole society, to the common good.

Rights and Responsibilities

Human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met. Every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency- starting with food, shelter and clothing, employment, health care and education. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities – to one another, to our families, and to the larger society.

Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

A basic moral test of society is how it treats its most vulnerable members. The poor have the most urgent moral claim on the conscience of the nation.

The option for the poor is a perspective that examines personal decisions, policies of private and public institutions, and economic relationships in terms of their effects on the poor – those who lack the minimum necessities of nutrition, housing, education, and health care. Those who re marginalised and whose rights are denied have privileged claims if society is to provide justice for all.

The obligation to evaluate social and economic activity from the viewpoint of the poor and the powerless arises from the radical command to love one’s neighbour as one’s self.

The option for the poor is an essential part of society’s effort to achieve the common good. A healthy community can be achieved only if its members give special attention to those with special needs, to those who are poor and on the margins of society.

Participation

All people have a right to participate in the economic, political, and cultural life of society. It is a fundamental demand of justice and a requirement for human dignity that all people be assured a minimum level of participation in the community.

It is wrong in a person or a group to be excluded unfairly or to be unable to participate in society. In the words of the U.S. bishops, “The ultimate injustice is for a person of group to be treated actively or abandoned passively as if they were non-members of the human race. To treat people this way is effectively to say they simply o not count as human beings.”

Dignity of Work/ Rights of Workers

The economy must serve people, not the other way around. All workers have a right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, and to safe working conditions. They also have a fundamental right to organise and join unions.

People have a right to economic initiative and private property, but these rights have limits. No one is allowed to amass excessive wealth when others lack the basic necessities of life.

Stewardship of Creation

Catholic tradition insists that we show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. The goods of the earth are gifts from God, intended for the benefit of all.

We humans are not the ultimate owners of these goods, but rather, the temporary stewards. We are entrusted with the responsibility of caring for these gifts and preserving them for future generations.

Global Solidarity

Catholic social teaching proclaims that we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they live. We are one human family, whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic and ideological differences. Solidarity means that “loving our neighbour” has global dimensions in an interdependent world.

John Paul II has called solidarity a virtue. It is the virtue, he says, by which we demonstrate “a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good ... because we are all really responsible for all.”

Constructive Role for Government

Because we are social beings, the state is natural to the person. Therefore, the state has a positive moral function. It is an instrument to promote human dignity, protect human rights, and build the common good.

One of the key functions of government is to assist citizens in fulfilling their responsibility to others in society. Since, in a large and complex society these responsibilities cannot adequately be carried out on a one-to-one basis, citizens need the help of government in fulfilling these responsibilities and promoting the common good.

Promotion of Peace

Pope John Paul II, “Peace is not just the absence of war. It involves mutual respect and confidence between peoples and nations. It involves collaboration and binding agreements.”

 

Social Injustice Issues

-          The name of the issue

Food security

-          A summary of the background of the issue

Food security is to have physical and economic access to enough safe and nutritious food. It is the guarantee that the people meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle.

For the more than 800 million people who do not get enough regular, healthy food, ill health and a shorter life expectancy are real risks. Children, and especially very young children, who suffer from food insecurity will be less developed than children of the same age who have had sufficient food. They will most likely be shorter and weigh less, and be less able physically and intellectually, because of poor nutrition.

-          Details about the issue/why the situation occurs

Food security is an issue as many factors contribute to the problem. Ideally all people should have access to healthy food; sadly this is not the case. Namely, the poorest suffer the greatest. Reasons for the huge disparity between food distribution and access that are manmade and outside of natural disasters and climate change (arguable) are:

Poverty and health- lack of income and resources restrict farmer’s abilities to improve their farming and lead them to struggle to feed themselves or sell any excess for income. This lack of money/resources also means lack of nutrient rich food and ill health furthering the problem of food production.

Water- a very valuable commodity that all food production requires in abundance. Drought has a huge impact on food production. Better planning and irrigation can address the situation somewhat but this is only possible in developed countries as poor countries do not have the resources or infrastructure to build dams and irrigation systems. Irrigated land has the ability to produce far more than traditional farming. For example, In Australia less than half a percent of farm land is irrigated but it produces 28 percent of total gross agricultural production.

Land Degradation – farmland and the quality of the soil deteriorates overtime through over farming. The quality of the soil becomes very poor so food production is not possible. Poorer farmers have no resources to fertilise or improve the quality of neither their land nor the ability to access other land.

Land Deals / dictatorship/warlords dealing between countries or regions - Poor countries are producing food to sell/export to wealthy countries or areas at the expense of their own people. Often rural areas are discriminated against in order to feed urban areas. Governments can set the price of produce at very low rates to feed the cities but the farmer does not get ahead. Warlords can use food for their own end, depriving those who do not support their cause and using food access as a currency.

-          What can be done about the issue (who is currently doing something)

Improving food production

Increasing the amount of food available is essential to feed the growing population. The Green Revolution of the 1970s and 1980s led to huge increases in production, largely due to the farming of high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat, the growth of land under production and irrigation, greater use of fertilisers and pesticides and greater availability of credit. Further increases in food production depend on better combination of traditional knowledge with research; improving farming practices through training and the use of technology to increase production from current land without further loss of productive land; land reform to provide secure access to land for more people; and the provision of low-cost finance to help farmers invest in higher quality seeds and fertilisers and small irrigation pumps.

While genetically modified seeds are being hailed as a means of improving crop production, there are also worries about the possession of seeds, adequate compensation for traditional knowledge and possible side effects.

Economic growth and trade liberalisation

Increasing food production leads to bigger availability of food and financial growth in the domestic and/or overseas markets. Producing income can provide access to more and varied foods and provide cash for use in other areas of the financial system, such as small enterprise and manufacturing, which in turn helps reduce poverty. Trade liberalisation is opening up markets slowly, but there are costly barriers to overcome. Work is underway through the Doha Round of multilateral trading negotiations in the World Trade Organisation to make trade rules fair, encourage trade liberalisation and assist developing countries to participate in the global trade environment.

Distribution

While there are adequate resources in the world to provide food security for all, policy and behavioural changes are necessary to guarantee a fair share for all people, especially the poor. Building on a series of global conferences, in particular the 1992 International Conference on Nutrition and the 1996 and 2002 World Food Summits, countries have developed national nutrition plans and policies in nine major strategic action areas that:

• include mainstream nutrition goals in development policies and programmes
• improve household food and nutrition security
• protect consumers through improved food quality and safety
• prevent and manage infectious diseases
• promote breastfeeding
• care for the socioeconomically deprived and nutritionally vulnerable
• prevent and control specific micronutrient deficiencies
• promote appropriate diets and healthy lifestyles
• assess, analyse and monitor nutrition situations.

The progress towards achieving these goals, however, has been much slower than intended.

Recognising the role of women

Gender equality is a prerequisite for the eradication of poverty and hunger. Many programs recognise the need for changes in access to food, land, credit, education, health and nutrition training and decision making in order to make effective use of women's roles in agricultural production and food preparation.

Food aid

The need for food during emergencies such as drought, disaster, population displacement and conflict is addressed by the distribution of basic food supplies and fuel. Early warning systems can predict problem areas, allowing action to be taken to keep people in their homes and help them back to food self-sufficiency as quickly as possible. Food sourced locally rather than internationally minimises the costs and disruption to local markets. In severe situations feeding may be necessary but often food aid is linked with work, health or education to avoid dependency and address the long-term causes of food insecurity.

Lady Justice

 What is the significance of the;

Blindfold

Lady Justice is often portrayed wearing a blindfold. This is done in order to specify that justice is (or should be) measured out without prejudice, fear or favor; regardless of the identity, power, or weakness of the individuals brought before the bar. Due to the fact that blindfolds were commonly worn by the blind, some assume Lady Justice herself is blind. This belief is likely what led to the phrase, "Justice is blind".

Scales

Justice is most often seen with a set of weighing scales typically suspended from her left hand, upon which she measures the strengths of a case's support and opposition. It means to weigh all the evidence before making a decision.

Sword

The sword signifies the power that is held by those making the decision.

List Social Injustice Issues;

Poverty - is a long term vicious cycle of the matter of life and death, people find themselves unable to break away from.  In most cases many are deprivedfrom food, education, shelter and employment.

Discrimnation of the basis of sex- Womens rights in developing countries are poor and are treated unequally, men usually have the better of them referring to over less property. Also towards the means of the work force men over rule womens rights.

Racial discrimination - is another kind of social injustice, people who are black are considered inferior to the whites. There is no basis for this theory, yet racial discrimination is a reality which many African Americans live with everyday.
Sexuality - Nowhere is social injustice more obvious than in the case of homosexuals. People openly declare homosexuality to be unnatural and against religion! Denying homosexuals the right to get married and live a life of dignity is nothing but social injustice.

Domestic violence/ violence against women and children -  Women in undeveloping are treated unfairly relating to their status, they are not equal to men and resulting in domestic violence.

Fair wages/ Living wages - With women struggling for education, men usually have the benefit of living wages that relate to working structures and patterns.
Access to Health Care - There are no main access to health care, then are underprivelleged to recieving health care.

Social Justice

What is Social Justice?

A fair and proper administration of laws confronting to the natural law, that all persons irrespective of race, religion, ethnic origin, gender and possession are treated equally and without prejudice.