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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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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