Catholic Social Teachings
Life and Dignity of the Human Person:
The Catholic Church says that human life is sacred and our dignity must be respected and is the foundation of a moral society. The Catholic Church preaches and proclaims that human lives, rights and dignity should always be placed above items and possessions.
Call to Family, Community, and Participation
This is the belief that people are not only meant to be sacred but we are meant to be social as well. Our central social institutions should be marriage and family and they shouldn’t be undermined but instead supported. We as people have the duty to participate in society so that we may seek the common good and well-being of those who are less fortunate and vulnerable.
The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
The economy is meant to serve us instead of us serving it. Work is a form of a continuing God’s creation instead of just a way to make a living. To protect the divinity of work we must respect the dignity and rights of workers, this includes the rights to a decent wage, productive work and unions.
Solidarity
We believe that we a society are all one big family no matter or racial, national or ideological differences. In a shrinking world we still believe in loving and respecting our neighbours. Solidarity at it’s core is the pursuit for peace and justice. We are meant to love our brothers and sisters so much that we can promote peace and over come the violence and war around us.
Care for God’s Creation
Through the stewardship of creation we show respect and love for God. The Catholic faith requires that we protect and care for the Earth. We are called to protect and care for God’s creation which includes the people who live on it.
Preferential Option for the Poor
Our society has an increasing division between the rich and poor and as christians we are meant to put the poor‘s needs above our own.
Rights and Responsibilities
We are taught that human dignity and rights are meant to be protected so that we may have a happy and healthy community. Everyone deserves a right to life and basic things to sustain life and provide a decent way of living. In order to sustain these rights that there are corresponding duties and responsibilities that we must take up.
Social Justice Issues
Education
Around 59 million children every day are not able to attend school due to poverty, war or poor health. Over 2 million families are living on less than $2 a day which means they don’t have enough money to send their children to school to get an education. This lack of education will then lead to children growing up and being more likely to be malnourished, sick or left without proper sanitation. Primary school education is a right however many countries still refuse to make cheaper fees or even better no fees at all.
The Catholic Church is called to respond and act on this social issue as education is a right that everyone should have and the church believes that our human dignity and rights should be upheld and protected so that everyone can have a right to a decent standard of living.
Lack of education is called by the barrier of poverty. As stated before many families live on less than $2 a day meaning that they simply don’t have enough money to get their children an education meaning that their children can’t grow up to get well paying job which then leads to a cycle of poverty.
An article by careerkarwan.com shows the harsh reality of the effects of a lack of education. Lack of education can effect individuals on more than just an economic level. Having a lack of education can make one feel ashamed and isolated from the rest of society who is educated. People with a lack of education have poor salaries which leads to them to have a poor quality of life as they have a worser health condition and worse sanitation than those with education and decent paying jobs. We also see that those with a lack of education end up turning to crime in order to provide for themselves meaning that a lack of education leads to an increase in crime rates.
Climate Justice
Our climate is drastically changing and it turns effects the world’s poorest as there is an increase in natural disasters such as droughts, cyclones, floods etc which effects their food and water supplies. These disasters are frequently happening in developing countries meaning many communities left vulnerable.
The Catholic Church considers Climate Justice a social issue as we are meant to care and protect God’s creation and the people who are part of his creation. As Climate Justice effects both the people and nature of God’s Creation, the Church believes that we should act on this justice issue and we do this by supporting the communities who have been left devastated by these natural disasters and by promoting pro-climate changes.
Even though developing countries are the ones being effected by climate change, it isn’t their fault. It is ours. Our constant carbon emissions and polluting of the skies and oceans have sparked climate change. We haven’t acted on our ways leading climate change continue to happen and continue to devastate poorer countries. Unless we act on our ways and the fact that we have caused climate change developing countries will continue to be completely devastated by our mistakes.
According to the world health organisation, “Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress.” This is an alarming statistic and shows us that we have to act on this fast as this number is incredibly high and shows the the mass of people that will be effected by climate change. Even the people who aren’t killed by the deadly effects of climate change, they will still be effected as they will be forced to relocate to another country that is less effected by climate change. The mass of people that climate change effects is too large to ignore as this doesn’t effect just developing countries it effects the whole population of the Earth as climate change effects the air that we breath in, the food that we eat and the water that we drink.
Climate change effects individuals as it turns them into refugees. Climate change makes it hard for people of poorer nations live in their our country as they lose their livelihood by destroying farmers crops and kill their livestock. It raises sea levels meaning people living near the coast have to move as if they don’t the area that they live in will be completely destroyed by the ocean. Finally, natural disasters such as cyclones and floods cause so much damage that the people affected are displaced and have to find somewhere safe to refuge.
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