One of the “best kept secrets” of the Catholic Church is its brilliant collection of social teachings. This collection includes teachings on all issues of social justice–poverty, labor abuses, care for the creation, issues of human life, and much more.
Far from being something new, Catholic social teaching has been compiled over the centuries, from the Prophets of the Old Testaments, through Jesus and the Apostles, and finally to the great Popes and Saints of recent history. Despite the vastness and antiquity of the collection, however, the huge majority of Catholics have heard little at all regarding these teachings.
With that reality in mind, me and a couple of friends decided to offer a four-session teaching series at our parish on this important facet of Catholic Tradition. The whole series of talks–which took place in March–was framed by the Seven Major Themes of Catholic Social Teaching (as defined by the American Bishops in 1998):
- Session #1 – “Introduction” and “The Life and Dignity of the Human Person”
- Session #2 – “Call to Family, Community, and Participation” and “Rights and Responsibilities”
- Session #3 – “Option for the Poor and Vulnerable” and “The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers”
- Session #4 – “Solidarity” and “Care for God’s Creation”
I co-taught these sessions with Monsignor Ed Thompson and popular Catholic author and Saint-expert Bert Ghezzi. For each session, Fr. Ed spoke on the Biblical basis for that night’s themes, Bert detailed the lives of some lesser-known Saints that personified those themes, and I explored the themes further in light of Tradition and history, finally offering ways that we–‘average’ Christians in the ‘average’ pews–can live them out today.
Besides being framed by the Seven Major Themes of Catholic Social Teaching, the talks also weaved in the elements of “story”. We discussed the reality that we are all in this great Story, each with a crucial role to play. What is that role? Catholic Social Teaching says that our role, our mission, is to participate in the “putting together again of the world”. Jesus ignited a rescue mission for the world, and we are joining along, sailing towards the Story’s grand conclusion: the uniting of all of the world back to God.
At the end of the sessions, we put together a website which contains not only the audio recordings of each of the four talks on Catholic Social Teaching, but also each of the PowerPoint presentations, links to other Catholic Social Teaching information around the internet, and–maybe of the most worth–a collection of book recommendations to explore these themes more fully.
Catholic Social Teaching Website
There are few solid websites dealing with Catholic Social Teaching and social justice, specifically from a Catholic perspective. By putting up this website, we’re seeking to contribute to Pope John Paul II’s “new evangelization” and Pope Benedict XVI’s call to harness the capabilities of the internet in order to evangelize the “digital continent”. We hope the site will introduce these “best kept secrets” of Catholic spirituality to many people beyond even our own parish.
Feel free to pass the link around to any friends or family who you think would like these materials.
And may we each begin to live our Role!