CST

 Catholic Social Teaching – Meaning

• CST represents the efforts that the Catholic Church makes to resolve economic and social problems posed to humanity form from the advent of the phenomenon of industrialization into human history.
• The CST has principles of permanent value, but the practical application of these principles to socio-economic problems varies according to circumstances of time and place.
• “Jesus did not leave to the church a mission in the political, economic and social order.” (Vat. II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church’ in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes. #42). But the church is part and parcel of the world see it above.
• The Church is a sign and a safeguard of the dignity of the human person.
• The social mission is “constitutive” not extra-curricular or optional.
• What right or duty does the church has to intervene in the political, economic and social affairs of society?
• The Church carries out its religious mission by engaging in concrete struggles of society.To work for social justice and human dignity, therefore, is a religious act.
• Far too many Catholics are unfamiliar with the basic content of Catholic social teaching. More fundamentally, many Catholics do not adequately understand that the social mission of the Church is an essential part of Catholic faith.
• This poses a serious challenge for all Catholics, since it weakens our capacity to be a Church that is true to the demands of the Gospel.
• We the followers and disciples of Jesus need to do more to share the social mission and message of our Church.
• The central message is simple: our faith is profoundly social. We cannot be called truly “Catholic” unless we hear and heed the Church’s call to serve those in need and work for justice and peace. Jesus’ message is clear “you are the salt of the earth, and the light of the world.”
• What do we mean by the Church?
• Just as the social teaching of the Church is integral to our faith as Catholics, the social justice dimensions of teaching are integral to Catholic faith. They are not fringe, optional, or tangential. They are an essential part of responsibility as disciples. This is not a vocation for a few, but a challenge for every believer.