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Catholic Social Teaching touches upon many different aspects of life, from the family to international development, how we think of those who are homeless to how we care for the environment, and from how we shop and consume to the rights of workers and the dignity of work. All the different areas that Catholic Social Teaching touches upon have developed from practical reflection on the realities of modern life in the light of the principles and themes of Catholic Social Teaching.

Themes of Catholic Social Teaching

So freedom for the Christian is to choose Jesus Christ and to follow His ways. That is what freedom is. It is freedom for, it is not freedom from. It is freedom for God, freedom for good, freedom for choosing the right. And yes, we as Christians are free; we are free to choose the way of God. The "Catechism of the Catholic Church," in defining freedom, gives somewhat of a mouthful of a definition, but it is an important definition. "Freedom is the power rooted in reason and will to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform some deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility. Human freedom… attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude." (CCC 1731) So the way we truly become free is to choose the good. The way that we most fully become human is to always choose our God and the ways of God. When we fail to choose the good, we become slaves of evil or sin.

The Catholic tradition on conscience is very extensive, while being quite unified. One may wonder, if the teaching is so unified, why there would be so much to say. The reason is because the tradition is unified on a tension. The first pole of the tension is that under no circumstances should one violate one's conscience – one must always follow even an erring conscience. The other pole of the tension is that, at the same time, a rightly formed conscience is expected to concur with Catholic teaching. These two moral requirements, that one should follow one's conscience and that one should follow Church teachings, are potentially in conflict. The requirements may not align, and if so, then a point of tension has appeared between an individual's conscience and the Church's teachings.

Historical Background

Catholicism, Conscience, and…

If we begin with the books of the New Testament the Church looms very large in their pages. Moreover, it is clear that there is only one Church: Christ promises to build his Church on the rock of St. Peter (Matt. 16:18), and St. Paul calls Christ head of the Church (Eph. 1:22 and 5:23, Col. 1:18) and compares the love of a husband for his wife to that of Christ for his Church (Eph. 5:29-32). There is no question of there being any other but this one Church, which is also identified as the Body of Jesus Christ.1 Yet St. Paul also speaks often of "churches," for example, at the conclusion of his epistle to the Romans, Paul writes, "All the churches of Christ greet [the church at Rome]" (Rom.16:17),2 and often he begins his epistles by greeting "the church of God at Corinth" (I Cor. 1:2) or "the churches of Galatia" (Gal. 1:2).3 But what is the relationship between the one Church, which is the body of Christ, and these local churches? Is the one Church a kind of federation of local churches? And is it possible for a local church to exist apart from the one Church?4

The word "Church" . . . means a convocation or an assembly. It designates the assemblies of the people, usually for a religious purpose. Ekklesia is used frequently in the Greek Old Testament for the assembly of the Chosen People before God. . . . By calling itself "Church," the first community of Christian believers recognized itself as heir to that assembly. In the Church, God is "calling together" his people from all the ends of the earth. (CCC 751)

In view of God's plan to restore mankind after the fall of Adam (Gen. 3:15), God at certain times has called together and constituted certain men as his people, such as the inhabitants of the Ark and the entire people who would be the descendants of Abraham, the people of Israel.5 But with the Incarnation, a new era was inaugurated. Now membership in the New Israel, the Church, was opened to all of mankind. Israel remains the People of God, but now Israel includes not only those bound together by ties of blood, but also the New Israel, the spiritual kingdom of the Church, the Body of Jesus Christ. St. Paul makes it clear in his epistle to the Romans, especially chapter 11, that the Gentiles were grafted onto the pre-existing "olive tree" (verse 17) of Israel, which is now constituted on an entirely different basis and whose sign of entry is no longer physical descent or circumcision, but baptism, the rebirth by water and the Holy Spirit. This is the Church of Jesus Christ, with which our Lord promised to be always (Matt. 28:19-20).

The word “vocation”has its roots in the Latin word vocare, which means “to call”. A vocation is a calling. The Second Vatican Council clearly stated that we all have a call to holiness. But within that universal call to holiness, there are two main “states of life”—marriage and celibacy for the kingdom. (The main call to celibacy can be further divided into priesthood and consecrated or religious life.)  We rightfully say that both states of life are vocations since both calls ultimately find their origin and their end in God

Yes, every priest and nun, even the Pope, is called to marriage, insofar as they are human beings. Theologically, this can best be understood in what Blessed John Paul II called the “spousal meaning of the body.” This means that the ensouled body, the person, is meant for the gift of self, particularly in marriage. Marriage is something to which every human person is called; it is the “default” vocation for all humans. So marriage, at its most basic level, is a natural vocation, a call written into our very DNA, into the very structure of our being. The married person is called to give himself totally to one person in love, while the celibate is called to give himself to all.

This understanding, that marriage is a vocation written into our human nature, helps us to comprehend how it differs from celibacy as a vocation. Unlike the call to marriage, which is internal, the call to celibacy is external; it comes from outside of our nature. The vocation to celibacy has a purely supernatural basis since it invites us to renounce the natural vocation to marriage for the sake of the kingdom. In addition, Scripture is clear that celibacy must be received and lived as a supernatural grace (cf. Mt 19:11-12). Without this gift, one cannot properly live the vocation of celibacy for the kingdom.

The Beatitudes are the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-10). Jesus teaches us that if we live according to the Beatitudes, we will live a happy Christian life. The Beatitudes do not provide specific directions on how we should live our lives, as the Ten Commandments do. Rather, they inspire us to adopt a certain mindset or vision for our lives, namely, the vision of Jesus Christ. The Beatitudes challenge us to be people of virtue. Virtue is a firm attitude, mindset, or disposition to do good. For the virtuous person, doing good is a habit. Through the Beatitudes, Jesus calls us to change our vision and learn that in order to be happy (blessed), we must be peace-loving, merciful, clean of heart, and meek.

Living the Beatitudes is a lifelong task because the Beatitudes turn upside down the values of the world. The world sets up the rich to be first; Jesus puts the poor on top of the world. The world tells us to seek happiness at all costs; Jesus saw happiness in mourning. The world values power over others; Jesus praised the meek. The world encourages self-fulfillment; Jesus told us to work for justice. The world says that the merciless succeed; Jesus proclaimed blessed the merciful. The world announces, Go for the gold!; Jesus taught us to keep our hearts pure. The world honors the winners of wars; Jesus celebrated peacemakers. The world sees the persecuted as losers; Jesus declared them the winners.

So what are some ways that we can develop the Beatitudes in our own lives? First, we can rest assured that the Holy Spirit is already at work within us, drawing us toward God and inspiring our desire to be a Beatitudes-type of person. Second, like anything we hope to develop in ourselves, we must be open, learn, and study. Pay attention to the people you know who model a particular beatitude. Think of ways you can model their behavior in your own life. Finally, talk with God in prayer. Ask him to help you out and to teach you how to develop the Beatitudes in your mind, heart, and actions.

The following quotes help us to see how the church has always upheld the primacy of conscience even if at times this teaching was a well kept secret. "He who acts against his conscience loses his soul." (Fourth Lateran council, 1215) "It is better to perish in excommunication than to violate one's conscience." (St. Thomas Aquinas) "I shall drink . . To Conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards." (Cardinal John Henry Newman) "If Newman places conscience above authority, he is not proclaiming anything new with respect to the constant teaching of the Church." (Pope John Paul II) "In the final analysis, conscience is inviolable and no person is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his/her conscience, as the moral tradition of the Church attests." (Human Life in Our Day, U.S. Bishops Pastoral) "A human being must always follow the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were to deliberately act against it he would condemn himself." Catechism of the Catholic Church #1790) "We follow church leaders only to the extent that they themselves follow Christ. . . Some situations oblige one to obey God and one's own conscience rather than the leaders of the church. Indeed, one may even be obliged to accept excommunication rather than act against one's own conscience." (Cardinal Walter Kasper, Head of Ecumenical Matters at the Vatican.)

I’ve always admired Bob. When he sees people treated unfairly at work, he speaks up. Recognizing an unjust policy, he works to reform it. Yet Bob’s behavior is rare. Most people live with what Thoreau called “quiet desperation” (1999).They either complain in the hallways and do nothing or ignore the issue as long as it doesn’t affect them personally.What makes the difference? Moral courage—the ability to confront abuse and injustice, risking our own well-being to affirm our deepest values and the rights of others.

Moral courage involves compassion, concern for the lives of others. In their study of people who rescued Jews during the Holocaust, Fagin-Jones and Midlarsky (2007) found that the rescuers were more than three standard deviations above bystanders in empathic concern, social responsibility, and altruistic moral reasoning. But research has also shown that concern for others can be undermined by an atmosphere of chronic stress. People can become too busy, too rushed, too overwhelmed, to care (Darley & Batson, 1973). Have you ever found yourself too busy with demands and deadlines to respond to the needs of someone you know?

Yet research has shown that people with moral courage have greater self-efficacy, which contributes to greater emotional and physical health (Bandura, 1997, 1999). And acts of moral courage can produce a ripple effect, transforming the people and conditions around us. Haidt (2000) has found that the elevation we experience when witnessing acts of moral courage makes us want to help others and become better people ourselves.

One could point to at least three influences of Australian culture on the ecumenical movement. Firstly, Australians are very often fairly pragmatic and easy-going. They do not appreciate public conflict or lack of harmony over matters they consider fairly private or "no-one else’s business". Very often they include among these matters a person’s spirituality or religious beliefs. This means that they have an automatic sympathy for the ecumenical movement because it serves to facilitate the points of intersection between members of different churches on civic occasions or on occasions of communal social response. Governments at all levels have rejoiced in the churches becoming ecumenically engaged because it has made it possible to have ecumenical services on civic occasions. Communities have been glad that at times of communal celebration or grief the churches have been able to serve them together. For many, theological, doctrinal, liturgical, and spiritual differences pale into insignificance in comparison with the massive gain for society of churches working together and being able to collaborate. There is almost a pressure on churches to be ecumenical in Australian society for the sake of social harmony.

At the core of Stark's investigation is his argument that specific ideas innate to Judaism (especially that found in Diaspora Jewish communities) and Christianity played a pivotal role in enabling the West to make and sustain political, legal and economic breakthroughs that eluded other civilizations.  First and foremost, Jews and Christians viewed God as a rational Creator.  In that sense, God was not at all like the Greco-Roman deities — capricious, self-indulgent beings for the most part.  Moreover, the Christians, from the very beginning, not only understood the need to reason out the implications of Christ's teachings; they also viewed reason as the great gift which God gave man to know the truth about the Creator but also the world He created in order that humans might help unfold God's design. The second religious ingredient of the West's success, Stark maintains, was Christianity's unwillingness to attribute life's ups-and-downs to fate.  Unlike the pagan (and many contemporary) religions, the Jewish and Christian "conception of God is incompatible with fate" (p. 120).  It is true, Stark writes, that particular pagans such as Cicero had a somewhat similar view of free will.  The difference is that belief in free will was more than simply a philosophical tenet for Jews and Christians.  It was also a matter of specific religious conviction, which meant, furthermore, that people could — and would — be held accountable for their free choices before the same rational God who had given them free will.

It is in the medieval period, Stark maintains, that perhaps the most significant flowering of this commitment to reason and free will took place — and not just in the universities that were first built by the Christians.  The key, as Stark puts it so precisely, was the Christian commitment to "the pursuit of knowledge.  Not to illumination.  Not to enlightenment.  Not to wisdom.  But to knowledge.  And the basis for this commitment to knowledge was the Christian commitment to theology" (p. 159).  From this flowed, among other things, the enterprise of natural philosophy.  That in turn underlay the development of the scientific method that first acquired real momentum in medieval Europe, as well as, Stark emphasizes, the emergence of key economic insights and institutions that promoted and relied upon freedom.

With regard to the latter, Stark illustrates that the central foundations for modern capitalism — "the rise of banking, elaborate manufacturing networks, rapid innovations in technology and finance, and a busy network of trading cities" (p. 181) — were very much products of medieval Christianity, especially in Northern Italy, Flanders, and, by the early-thirteenth century, England.  In this light, Stark argues, we begin to see that industrial capitalism didn't appear out of nowhere in the late-eighteenth century.  In Stark's words, the Industrial Revolution "was not a revolution at all but part of an evolution of invention and innovation that had begun … perhaps as early as the eleventh century" (p. 184).

PRINCETON, NJ -- At a time when Americans' ratings of the country and of the nation's economy are near record lows, the percentage of U.S. workers feeling "completely satisfied" with their jobs -- now 48% -- is at the high end of the range seen in the past eight years.

Aspects of their jobs that large majorities of workers feel could be better include on-the-job stress (only 27% are completely satisfied), pay (28%), company-sponsored retirement plans (34%), chances for promotion (35%), and health insurance benefits (40%).

Worker satisfaction is refreshingly positive to see amid otherwise gloomy public attitudes about the country. To some extent, this may reflect a heightened appreciation on the part of some workers for having a job at a time when they realize good jobs are hard to come by, and when being out of work is no picnic. (It also reflects the basic reality that dissatisfied workers -- like unhappy spouses -- don't stay put for long, so the percentage of workers who are dissatisfied should never be overly high.)

In a market where demand exceeds supply, employees are examining their workplace options. Christchurch based human resource consultants Brannigans have observed an overwhelming trend of professionals undertaking Executive Coaching, reassessing their key drivers and examining their career options. This is resulting in them not only switching workplaces but often a complete career change. Sally Wynn-Williams partner at Brannigans HR consultancy says that employees are grasping opportunities to take their skillset into a completely different industry that they may not have considered before. "The earthquakes have given people a chance to reflect on their career.

Recently one of Brannigans Executive Coaches met with a civil engineer who was really unhappy with his work/life situation. Through self discovery they found that his main drivers were influence and meaning, and his values were to help others develop. As a child he'd always envisaged himself as a teacher but his father (who himself was a teacher talked him out of it) through discussion with his employer and because huge shortage of engineers at the time they decided they would create him a new opportunity to become training and development manager.

Recruiters are also seeing a shift in the businesses operating in the region. Attracted by the areas growth, many Auckland and Wellington firms are setting up offices in Christchurch, particularly in the professional services and construction sectors. Staff are increasingly being relocated to Christchurch, which is an appealing option for those people who want to be part of the city's exciting transformation. "Moving to Christchurch is all about a lifestyle change and the unique opportunity to be on the ground here while our city is being rebuilt." said McNab. "People are now willing to make the move to Canterbury whereas 18 months ago it was literally impossible. They're seeing Christchurch as a positive lifestyle choice - and an easy and exciting place to live," said Wynn- Williams.

Fifty years after the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, which helped to strengthen the Church’s mission in the world, it is heartening to realize that Christians, as the People of God in fellowship with him and sojourning among mankind, are committed within history to sharing humanity’s joys and hopes, grief and anguish, [1] as they proclaim the salvation of Christ and promote peace for all. In effect, our times, marked by globalization with its positive and negative aspects, as well as the continuation of violent conflicts and threats of war, demand a new, shared commitment in pursuit of the common good and the development of all men, and of the whole man. It is alarming to see hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor, by the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism. In addition to the varied forms of terrorism and international crime, peace is also endangered by those forms of fundamentalism and fanaticism which distort the true nature of religion, which is called to foster fellowship and reconciliation among people. All the same, the many different efforts at peacemaking which abound in our world testify to mankind’s innate vocation to peace. In every person the desire for peace is an essential aspiration which coincides in a certain way with the desire for a full, happy and successful human life. In other words, the desire for peace corresponds to a fundamental moral principle, namely, the duty and right to an integral social and communitarian development, which is part of God’s plan for mankind. Man is made for the peace which is God’s gift. All of this led me to draw inspiration for this Message from the words of Jesus Christ: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Mt 5:9).

To become authentic peacemakers, it is fundamental to keep in mind our transcendent dimension and to enter into constant dialogue with God, the Father of mercy, whereby we implore the redemption achieved for us by his only-begotten Son. In this way mankind can overcome that progressive dimming and rejection of peace which is sin in all its forms: selfishness and violence, greed and the will to power and dominion, intolerance, hatred and unjust structures. The attainment of peace depends above all on recognizing that we are, in God, one human family. This family is structured, as the Encyclical Pacem in Terris taught, by interpersonal relations and institutions supported and animated by a communitarian “we”, which entails an internal and external moral order in which, in accordance with truth and justice, reciprocal rights and mutual duties are sincerely recognized. Peace is an order enlivened and integrated by love, in such a way that we feel the needs of others as our own, share our goods with others and work throughout the world for greater communion in spiritual values. It is an order achieved in freedom, that is, in a way consistent with the dignity of persons who, by their very nature as rational beings, take responsibility for their own actions.[3]

No one should ignore or underestimate the decisive role of the family, which is the basic cell of society from the demographic, ethical, pedagogical, economic and political standpoints. The family has a natural vocation to promote life: it accompanies individuals as they mature and it encourages mutual growth and enrichment through caring and sharing. The Christian family in particular serves as a seedbed for personal maturation according to the standards of divine love. The family is one of the indispensable social subjects for the achievement of a culture of peace. The rights of parents and their primary role in the education of their children in the area of morality and religion must be safeguarded. It is in the family that peacemakers, tomorrow’s promoters of a culture of life and love, are born and nurtured.[6]

In Paul’s analogy, everyone is considered a slave (or “servant,” Gk. doulos) either to sin or to righteousness, but sin leads to death (hell), while righteousness leads to sanctification and eternal life (heaven). In essence, the two propositions are quite opposite, sin being more analogous with slavery and righteousness with freedom. In  his second Epistle, Peter concurs with Paul, as he warns of false prophets and teachers: “[U]ttering loud boasts of folly, they entice with licentious passions of the flesh . . . 

St. Paul proclaims the gift of the New Law of the Spirit in opposition to the law of the flesh or of covetousness which draws man toward evil and makes him powerless to choose what is good. This lack of harmony and this inner weakness do not abolish man’s freedom and responsibility, but they do have a negative effect on their exercise for the sake of what is good. This is what causes the apostle to  say: “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Rom 7:19). Thus he rightly speaks of the “bondage of sin” and the “slavery of the law,” for to sinful man the law, which he cannot make part of himself, seems oppressive. However, St. Paul recognizes that the Law still has value for man and for the Christian, because it “is holy and what it commands is sacred, just and good” (Rom 7:12) . . . The Spirit who dwells in our hearts is the source of true freedom. (54)

So, according to Paul and Peter, true freedom does not mean a person does whatever he feels like or is tempted to do. That’s not really freedom at all; instead, often it is slavery to sin. The Catechism  explains: The exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say or do everything. It is false to maintain that man, the subject of this freedom, is an individual who is fully self-sufficient and whose finality is the satisfaction of his own interests in the enjoyment of earthly goods . . . By deviating from the moral law, man violates his own freedom, becomes imprisoned within himself, disrupts neighborly   fellowship, and rebels against divine truth. (CCC 1740)

At the Sunday Angelus, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the “new law” of love which Jesus offered during the Sermon on the Mount. He called on all people to follow Christ on the path to a more fraternal and supportive society. From the window of his studio, the pontiff prayed the traditional Sunday Angelus prayer with the  pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square. Among them were hundreds of representatives of the  Community of Sant'Egidio. The “new law” of Jesus is recounted in Sunday's Gospel reading from Matthew. In it, said Pope Benedict, Jesus declares the “definitive revelation of the law” which he brought at his coming.

“Love is the fulfillment of the law,” the Pope added, quoting the words of St. Paul from the book of Romans. In this light, the death of four ethnic Roma children in the outskirts of Rome last week “makes us to ask ourselves if a more supportive and fraternal society, more coherent in love, that is more Christian, may not have been able to avoid this tragic fact.” On Feb. 6, the four burned to death when the shack they were living in caught fire. The Community of Sant'Egidio, the Diocese of Rome and Caritas have all shown their support in recent days for more complete measures of social integration to provide for the wellbeing of the Roma and other migrant peoples who often live in very poor conditions. This question of responding to a rule of love, said the Pope, is valid for “so many other painful events, more or less noted, that happen daily in our cities and our countries.” Jesus, he said, “descended from Heaven to bring us Heaven, to the height of God, on the path of love. He himself is this path: we must not do anything but follow him, to put the will of God in practice and enter into his Kingdom, in eternal life.” He asked for the faithful to place their lives - as the Virgin Mary did - under the complete guidance of God’s law of love.