1. introduction to catholic social teaching
AnnaFloerke Scheid, Ph.D.
Duquesne University
Part 1
Unit 2
Click here for instructions.

2. Instructions
Navigation through the course will occur by clicking on the following action buttons located in the lower right corner of each screen:
The HOME button will be placed in the center of each slide and will bring you to the Table of Contents for further navigation.
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The EXIT button will be placed at the end of each Unit and will return you to the course menu.

3. Instructions
This course is meant to be self-paced, though there will be opportunities to interact with your local and global JPIC groups.
Course content and activities should be completed in the order that they are presented to maximize student success.
The Table of Contents will be your starting point for each Unit

4. Activity Icons
Each type of course activity has a unique icon located in the upper right corner of the screen.
In this course you will:
Online journal
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Read online
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Reflect
Global discussion
Watch video
Quiz/test

5. PART 1: Unit 2: Foundations and Methods of CST

6. Unit 2 Table of Contents
This unit is divided into several components. Start with the About This Unit OR click on the link below to navigate to the component where you left off. Revisit as needed.
Instructions
About This Unit
Aims of the Unit
What You Will Learn
2.1 Reading: Thomas Massaro
2.2 Notes and Critical Concepts
Unit Summary

7. Unit 2: Foundation and methods of CST

8. What is this unit about?
This unit explores the foundations and methods for CST, paying particular attention to the roles that scripture, tradition, reason, and experience play in thinking through CST.

9. Aims of the Unit
By the time you are finished with this unit, you should:
Have a good understanding of the four sources of Christian ethics
Be able to identify how these sources are sometimes used in developing Catholic social thought

10. What You Will Learn
Some background on the history of theological ethics and how it has shaped the way ethics is done today
The questions to ask when using Scripture as a source of ethical reflection
The meaning of “natural law” and its role in Catholic ethical reflection
What constitutes tradition in Catholic social thought
The role of experience in shaping ethical reflection and action

11. 2.1 Reading: thomas massaro

12. Reading
Click here to complete the reading. Read Thomas Massaro, “The Sources and Methods of Catholic Social Teaching,” in Living Justice: Catholic Social Teaching in Action, (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2008).

13. 2.2 UNIT TWO notes AND Critical concepts

14. Negative Emotions and CST
When studying CST, several negative emotions can arise.
Seeing the sheer enormity of social problems can lead to:
Feelings of paralysis
Feelings of being overwhelmed
A tendency (on the part of religious people) to say, “God will take care of it; I don’t have to.”
Apathy

15. Questions to Ask Yourself
No one person can solve all social ills or remedy all social sins. Ask yourself the following questions, and consider jotting down your responses in your course journal:
Which key problems should I make a special effort to stay informed about?
Am I placing too much, or not enough, hope in the progression of history to deal with these problems?

16. Things to Keep in Mind When Confronting Negative Emotions
Remember Thomas Merton: “I believe the desire to please you does in fact please you, Lord.”
We will not be able to do it all. Solving social problems does ultimately lie in the care of a God we believe to be all-loving, and all-good.
So the task is to struggle with the issues, to genuinely try to live out the social justice message of the gospel and the Church.
Adopt a posture of confession. Yes, we are all complicit in sin and always will be. Know our need for God’s grace.

17. Background for Thinking About Theological Ethics Today
Early moral theology was developed through “moral manuals” or “penitentials.” These were small books that priests carried with them into the confessional. They listed various sins and the appropriate penances that went along with these sins.
The manuals helped priests hear confessions and hand out penances, therefore serving as a tool for “saving souls,” i.e., putting people on the track to heaven and not hell.

18. Background
More recently, this early theology behind the manuals has been critiqued. An easy way of understanding this theology is as a kind of medical metaphor:
A sinful person is sick
She goes to a doctor (i.e., the priest) for healing
The doctor gives her a prescription for medication (i.e., penance)
She takes her medication (i.e., performs the penance) and gets well

19. Background
There are a couple of problems with this way of thinking about theological ethics:
Morality gets reduced to a list of rules, things we are not supposed to do. We can stay in God’s good graces if we just follow the rules and take our medicine.
There is no positive agenda for developing virtues or good character that might help us to avoid sin in the first place (i.e. in the medical metaphor, there is no “preventative care.”)
It is difficult to see where a relationship with Jesus fits into this way of thinking about theological ethics.

20. Sources of Christian Ethics
Since the Second Vatican Council, Christian theological ethics explicitly acknowledges four sources of Christian ethics:
Scripture: The Bible
Reason
Tradition
Experience

21. Scripture: The Bible
Massaro is very concerned that Christian ethics avoid fundamentalism and proof-texting in using the Bible for ethical reflection. This will involve a number of questions (drawn from Richard Gula).

22. Scripture: The Bible When using the Bible for ethical reflection, ask:
What did the text mean in its original setting?
Does the text actually deal with a contemporary problem?
What is the meaning of the text in today’s context? How is the Bible speaking to us in our particular context and culture?
What kind of moral reflection does this passage lend itself to? Is it a list of rules, like the Ten Commandments, or a narrative or parable that is encouraging us to be certain kinds of people?
How do we combine the Bible with other potential sources of moral wisdom, like Church teaching, reason, conscience, culture, or formative personal experiences?

23. Scripture: The Bible
Massaro wants to pay close attention to the overall narrative of scripture – the story of salvation history.
CST will include both direct and indirect references and appeals to Scripture.

24. Reason Massaro focuses on natural law:
God has structured the universe with certain purposes in mind; we can discern God’s will/purposes through careful observation of and reflection upon nature.
Example: Leo XIII uses natural law in Rerum Novarum to argue that human beings have a right to private property because it is through property that we preserve our lives, and all things in creation seek to preserve their own lives.
The obvious question becomes “What is natural?” This becomes a tricky question across cultures and epochs. What seemed unnatural at one point in history may seem more natural today; what seems unnatural to one culture may seem perfectly reasonable to another.

25. Reason
It’s important to note that according to Thomas Aquinas (the original natural law theorist who emphasized virtue much more strongly than natural law), natural law absent of virtues can become a legalistic yoke, and perverted interpretations of natural law can lead to some problematic ethical outcomes.
In CST, the method of natural law is used largely to encourage things that support and promote human life, dignity, and flourishing.

26. Reason
Also included under reason are other academic disciplines that contribute to ethical reflection, such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, biology, etc.

27. Tradition
Massaro gives us a good sense of this broad source of ethics – all that has come before!
Through CST, we see that tradition is not a seamless garment (Example: The Christian Just War Tradition comes centuries after Christians had believed they could not participate in the military at all!).

28. Experience
Note Massaro’s depiction of the pastoral/hermeneutical circle: See, Judge, Act. This is really a combination of experience with reason, scripture, and tradition. The pastoral circle involves all sources of Christian ethics.
A process of social analysis always begins with experience: we must actually place ourselves in the local situation in order fully to understand it.

29. Experience
See: Social analysis means asking hard questions about the causes of social problems.
Judge: Theological reflection and pastoral planning invite us to respond to situations in the light of the gospel so that we may best meet the challenges we face.
Act: Then return back into the local situation for action.

30. Unit Summary
In Unit 2, you learned some of the history of the development of theological ethics, and you were introduced to the four sources of Christian ethics. You’ve seen some of the ways these sources are used in Catholic social thought. You learned how to use the Bible for thinking about ethical problems. You were introduced to natural law and some of its potential pitfalls, and you received a broad understanding of tradition as a source of Christian ethics. Finally, you learned that experience is a key source of Christian ethics.

31. Unit Summary
All of these sources come together in the hermeneutical circle: See, Judge, Act. This helps us to reflect upon our experiences using Scripture, reason, and tradition so that we can work toward the resolution of serious social problems.

32. You have completed Unit 2
Please return to the Table of Contents using the HOME button to review any material or EXIT to the course menu.