Being Catholic in the World:
Catholic Social Teaching (and Conscience)
How do Catholics look at the world and our place in it? What is our responsibility? How are we to act? Catholic Social Teaching is an organized, evolving answer to those questions.
The US Catholic Bishops tell us that “Catholic social teaching is a central and essential element of our faith. Its roots are in the Hebrew prophets 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).”
Catholic Social Teaching is integral to the identity of Catholic sisters in LCWR. “Inherent in the renewal of LCWR religious congregations was the updating and articulation of the church’s Catholic Social Teaching. The three legs of the stool of social justice are education, advocacy, and direct service. Steeped in this direction and the ‘See, Judge, Act’ methodology proposed in Pope John XXIII’s 1961 encyclical, Mater et Magistra, women religious easily fall into one or more of these ways of conversing about matters that matter,” writes Sister Janet Mock in However Long the Night. Check out that “See, Judge, Act” methodology for a very clear, practical, simple illustration of Catholic Social Teaching in action, from the Vincentian religious congregations.
Is Catholic Social Teaching only about human beings? “Papers online link the environment and poverty; global warming and food scarcity; migration of peoples and other species; economic systems and the biosphere; human activities and the survival of the Earth's resources; pollution of the environment; and the threat to the survival of human and non-human species and ecosystems. When Laudato Si': On Care for our Common Home was released by Pope Francis, it was a very welcome document. It helped me and my sisters to see that our mission statement to stand in solidarity with the poor and the marginalized will not be complete until we commit ourselves to work for the care of the environment and the whole community of life.” – Sister Winifred Ojo
NETWORK, the Catholic Social Justice Lobby, has clear, concise, practical resources. You’ve heard of Nuns on the Bus? That’s NETWORK at work. Sign up for regular emails. Use the Social Justice Reflection Guide. Read the full versions of Network’s Catholic Social Justice Principles:
Fordham University resources are also excellent.
JustFaith is an intensive, powerful, superb “small-group process for faithful Christians looking to deepen their commitment to care for vulnerable people and our planet.” My observation is, it makes participants glow. Their minds and hearts expand. “Through prayer, study, dialogue, and immersions, participants form community as they explore critical realities and their implications to their lives and their faith. JustFaith is designed for use in diverse Christian communities” and is often parish-based.
Many faith-based volunteer programs incorporate personal formation in spirituality and in social justice, as well as mentors and communities that continually deepen and support each person’s growth through challenging experiences. At Catholic Volunteer Network you can find thousands of opportunities in many programs. Be sure to ask questions about formation and continuing support during volunteer experiences.
“True contemplation ends in action, and often the action is even more radical because it is being done with true freedom and comes with a purity of heart. In this sense, we act without any hidden agendas.” (Sister Nancy Schreck)
Wonderful brief video featuring Sister Catherine Arata (6:38) – conveys Catholic social teaching through personal stories and UN declarations.
Doing FaithJustice: An Introduction to Catholic Social Thought by Fr. Fred Kammer
Living Justice: Catholic Social Teaching in Action by Fr. Thomas Massaro
Education for Justice from the Center of Concern. These are magnificent resources, but there’s a membership fee. Are you a member of an organization that would pay for membership in an organization with a fantastic track record in educating and working for peace and justice?
The US Catholic Bishops tell us that “Catholic social teaching is a central and essential element of our faith. Its roots are in the Hebrew prophets 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).”
Catholic Social Teaching is integral to the identity of Catholic sisters in LCWR. “Inherent in the renewal of LCWR religious congregations was the updating and articulation of the church’s Catholic Social Teaching. The three legs of the stool of social justice are education, advocacy, and direct service. Steeped in this direction and the ‘See, Judge, Act’ methodology proposed in Pope John XXIII’s 1961 encyclical, Mater et Magistra, women religious easily fall into one or more of these ways of conversing about matters that matter,” writes Sister Janet Mock in However Long the Night. Check out that “See, Judge, Act” methodology for a very clear, practical, simple illustration of Catholic Social Teaching in action, from the Vincentian religious congregations.
Is Catholic Social Teaching only about human beings? “Papers online link the environment and poverty; global warming and food scarcity; migration of peoples and other species; economic systems and the biosphere; human activities and the survival of the Earth's resources; pollution of the environment; and the threat to the survival of human and non-human species and ecosystems. When Laudato Si': On Care for our Common Home was released by Pope Francis, it was a very welcome document. It helped me and my sisters to see that our mission statement to stand in solidarity with the poor and the marginalized will not be complete until we commit ourselves to work for the care of the environment and the whole community of life.” – Sister Winifred Ojo
NETWORK, the Catholic Social Justice Lobby, has clear, concise, practical resources. You’ve heard of Nuns on the Bus? That’s NETWORK at work. Sign up for regular emails. Use the Social Justice Reflection Guide. Read the full versions of Network’s Catholic Social Justice Principles:
- Uphold the dignity of each person as an equally valuable member of the human family.
- Embrace our right and responsibility to participate with others in our shared public life
- Be in solidarity with those who are living in poverty in the struggle against structures of injustice.
- Bridge divisions, rising above individual interest for the good of the whole community.
- Unite with workers to build an economy that puts people, not profit, at the center.
- Nurture the earth, recognizing that we are interdependent with the rest of God’s creation.
Fordham University resources are also excellent.
JustFaith is an intensive, powerful, superb “small-group process for faithful Christians looking to deepen their commitment to care for vulnerable people and our planet.” My observation is, it makes participants glow. Their minds and hearts expand. “Through prayer, study, dialogue, and immersions, participants form community as they explore critical realities and their implications to their lives and their faith. JustFaith is designed for use in diverse Christian communities” and is often parish-based.
Many faith-based volunteer programs incorporate personal formation in spirituality and in social justice, as well as mentors and communities that continually deepen and support each person’s growth through challenging experiences. At Catholic Volunteer Network you can find thousands of opportunities in many programs. Be sure to ask questions about formation and continuing support during volunteer experiences.
“True contemplation ends in action, and often the action is even more radical because it is being done with true freedom and comes with a purity of heart. In this sense, we act without any hidden agendas.” (Sister Nancy Schreck)
Wonderful brief video featuring Sister Catherine Arata (6:38) – conveys Catholic social teaching through personal stories and UN declarations.
Doing FaithJustice: An Introduction to Catholic Social Thought by Fr. Fred Kammer
Living Justice: Catholic Social Teaching in Action by Fr. Thomas Massaro
Education for Justice from the Center of Concern. These are magnificent resources, but there’s a membership fee. Are you a member of an organization that would pay for membership in an organization with a fantastic track record in educating and working for peace and justice?
Conscience
Conscience shapes how we understand truth and choose responsible action in society.
For a thought-provoking example of conscience applied to a very public, very messy situation, read Sister Marlene Weisenbeck's chapter, "Truth-telling: On Personal and Institutional Integrity," in However Long the Night: Making Meaning in a Time of Crisis. She conveys the "transformative tension given by God" and offers a set of very useful questions, which together become a methodology for ethical decision-making.
In America Magazine, Michael G. Lawler and Todd Salzman give excellent plain-language theology about conscience in “Following Faithfully: the Catholic way to choose the good.” Looking back at Rev. Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) and Thomas Aquinas, they recognize the primacy of personal conscience in Catholic tradition. They describe two approaches to conscience: as obedience to church teachings, or as humanity’s “innermost yearning toward ‘wholeness,’ which manifests itself in openness to neighbor and community in a common searching for goodness and truth.” And they very thoughtfully examine the fact that in Latin, conscience literally means “to know together” – so our communities of reference, including the church/the people of God, are of utmost importance in conscientious choices.
Also in America magazine, Father James E. Keegan urges that “we in the United States need to develop a much more rigorous notion of conscience” in “The Arrested Development of the American Conscience in Moral Decision-Making.” After World War II, in deep humility that recognized widespread passivity and guilt in the face of the Holocaust, many Europeans and European theologians faced took their own personal and collective capacity for serious sin. Americans, in contrast, have not dug into that difficult fact. Our approach to conscience often emphasizes the right to “opt out” of a particular precept. Yet “the discovery of one’s own sinfulness is an essential step in self-understanding and moral maturity.” Only with “a redemptive humility, a humility burdened not with self-deprecation but rather with an unabashed self-understanding of what it really means for one to act in conscience,” can we “do good and avoid evil in accordance with God’s will.” Further, conscience is inherently relational; it’s how we “discover our place in God’s world and our relationships therein.” And that requires “learning to take advantage of the insights of our community of believers, including its magisterium.” A humble conscience keeps us alert to the situations around us; it “engages – and sometimes interrupts – our agenda for our lives, which can so easily proceed automatically.” “We are bound by the truth as it really is.” “Our consciences should always be operative—and not only when we want to opt out.”
In “Conscience, ‘Sensus Fidei’, and LCWR,” Sister Christine Schenk helps us understand both individual conscience and communal faith. She explores the Vatican's important June 2014 document on "the sense of the faithful" (sensus fidei). She writes, "The Vatican statement provided more encouragement for laity to engage in dialogue with each other and with church leaders than has been the case for a long time. Too often, Catholics raised in our 'pay, pray and obey' Catholic culture are unaware that it is not only our right, but sometimes our duty to speak about matters concerning the good of the church (Code of Canon Law 212.3)." Her excellent article gives a brief tour of the new document and older statements. She includes Sister Elizabeth Johnson's guidelines for theological dissent. She notes the irony in the fact that the head of the same Vatican congregation that issued this Sensus Fidei document "harshly criticized" LCWR and S. Elizabeth for acting in ways consistent with it: "Insofar as both LCWR and Johnson have 'differed with institutional authorities' in a way that is clearly 'for the church, for the present and future growth of the whole community in truth and love,' we are greatly in their debt. They are showing the rest of us how to 'promote the truth in love' with teaching offices in the church."
For a thought-provoking example of conscience applied to a very public, very messy situation, read Sister Marlene Weisenbeck's chapter, "Truth-telling: On Personal and Institutional Integrity," in However Long the Night: Making Meaning in a Time of Crisis. She conveys the "transformative tension given by God" and offers a set of very useful questions, which together become a methodology for ethical decision-making.
In America Magazine, Michael G. Lawler and Todd Salzman give excellent plain-language theology about conscience in “Following Faithfully: the Catholic way to choose the good.” Looking back at Rev. Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) and Thomas Aquinas, they recognize the primacy of personal conscience in Catholic tradition. They describe two approaches to conscience: as obedience to church teachings, or as humanity’s “innermost yearning toward ‘wholeness,’ which manifests itself in openness to neighbor and community in a common searching for goodness and truth.” And they very thoughtfully examine the fact that in Latin, conscience literally means “to know together” – so our communities of reference, including the church/the people of God, are of utmost importance in conscientious choices.
Also in America magazine, Father James E. Keegan urges that “we in the United States need to develop a much more rigorous notion of conscience” in “The Arrested Development of the American Conscience in Moral Decision-Making.” After World War II, in deep humility that recognized widespread passivity and guilt in the face of the Holocaust, many Europeans and European theologians faced took their own personal and collective capacity for serious sin. Americans, in contrast, have not dug into that difficult fact. Our approach to conscience often emphasizes the right to “opt out” of a particular precept. Yet “the discovery of one’s own sinfulness is an essential step in self-understanding and moral maturity.” Only with “a redemptive humility, a humility burdened not with self-deprecation but rather with an unabashed self-understanding of what it really means for one to act in conscience,” can we “do good and avoid evil in accordance with God’s will.” Further, conscience is inherently relational; it’s how we “discover our place in God’s world and our relationships therein.” And that requires “learning to take advantage of the insights of our community of believers, including its magisterium.” A humble conscience keeps us alert to the situations around us; it “engages – and sometimes interrupts – our agenda for our lives, which can so easily proceed automatically.” “We are bound by the truth as it really is.” “Our consciences should always be operative—and not only when we want to opt out.”
In “Conscience, ‘Sensus Fidei’, and LCWR,” Sister Christine Schenk helps us understand both individual conscience and communal faith. She explores the Vatican's important June 2014 document on "the sense of the faithful" (sensus fidei). She writes, "The Vatican statement provided more encouragement for laity to engage in dialogue with each other and with church leaders than has been the case for a long time. Too often, Catholics raised in our 'pay, pray and obey' Catholic culture are unaware that it is not only our right, but sometimes our duty to speak about matters concerning the good of the church (Code of Canon Law 212.3)." Her excellent article gives a brief tour of the new document and older statements. She includes Sister Elizabeth Johnson's guidelines for theological dissent. She notes the irony in the fact that the head of the same Vatican congregation that issued this Sensus Fidei document "harshly criticized" LCWR and S. Elizabeth for acting in ways consistent with it: "Insofar as both LCWR and Johnson have 'differed with institutional authorities' in a way that is clearly 'for the church, for the present and future growth of the whole community in truth and love,' we are greatly in their debt. They are showing the rest of us how to 'promote the truth in love' with teaching offices in the church."
In Real Life...
What does this look like in plain language when applied to current situations? Pope Francis' 9/24/2015 speech to the US Congress is a good example of policy and practice.
Our Ways to Act pages offer ideas for us personally in areas like immigration, racial justice, eco-justice, relationships, leadership, and human trafficking.
Our Ways to Act pages offer ideas for us personally in areas like immigration, racial justice, eco-justice, relationships, leadership, and human trafficking.