Catholic Social Teaching and Social Justice

The Church’s social teaching is a very rich treasure of wisdom about building a just society and living lives
of holiness amidst the challenges of modern society. Modern Catholic social teaching has been articulated through a tradition of papal, conciliar, and episcopal documents. Jesus calls us to love one another over and over in the Gospels, and in answering this call we build up the Kingdom of God here on Earth. Our treasure of Catholic social teaching is a response to that call.

Rooted in the Hebrew prophets of the Old Testament who announced God’s special love for the poor and called God’s people to a covenant of love and justice, it is a teaching founded on the life and words of Jesus Christ, who came “to bring glad tidings to the poor . . . liberty to captives . . . recovery of sight to the blind”(Lk 4:18-19), and who identified himself with “the least of these,” the hungry and the stranger (cf. Mt 25:45).

The depth and richness of this tradition can be understood best through a direct reading of these documents. In these brief reflections, we highlight several of the key themes that are at the heart of our Catholic social tradition. (From the Catholic Relief Services Website)

Catholic social teaching is built on a commitment to the poor that we find in the Gospel. To learn more, visit USCCB Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching.

Explanation of the 7 Themes of Catholic Social Teaching (Catholic Relief Services)
CST 101 handout that defines the 7 themes of Catholic Social Teaching.

The 7 themes of CST handout for children

More resources:

Catholic Social Teaching (Loyola Press) Articles to learn more about social justice and Catholic Social Teaching
Social Justice – Catholic Social Teaching (Loyola Press) Joe Paprocki, D Min. in this article reminds us that if we want to live as followers of Jesus we need to live as people for others.
What Exactly is Catholic Social Teaching? Comprehensive, integrated look at the Church’s social doctrine (OSV) This article by Emily Stimpson explores the Church’s womb to tomb approach to life, along with why the Church seems on both sides of our political lines – hint: it has nothing to do with politics. It’s all about Jesus!
A comprehensive list of the The Major Documents in which we find our Catholic Social Teachings (Catholic Charities of St. Paul/Minneapolis).

Click on each Topic to go to that page for more learning resources.