1. Respect for property and Justice
7th + 10th Commandments
Respect for property and Justice

2. What are they? You shall not steal (Exodus 20:15)
You shall not covet your neighbors goods (Exodus 20:17)

3. Violations of the 7th Commandment
Slavery / Human trafficking
Shoplifting / Taking private property
Not returning goods
Failing to honor contracts
Paying unjust wages
Fraud/tax evasion/forging checks
Identity theft

4. Understanding Justice
7th Commandment
10th Commandment
Respect the property
of our neighbors
Refrain from coveting
the goods of others
Covet
To desire,
A yearning to possess

5. Seventh Commandment
You shall not steal.
This commandment outlaws theft, that is, taking someone else’s property against his or her will.
Seventh Commandment calls for respect for the property rights of others.

6. Seventh Commandment
You shall not steal.
Seventh commandment outlaws anything that leads to the enslavement of people.

7. Seventh Commandment
You shall not steal.
This commandment also requires us to respect the beautiful creation God gave us for the use of all humans – past, present, and future.
“Laudato Si” by Pope Francis calling for us to exercise stewardship – we do not own the gifts God has given us but are trustees of those gifts. To look with care and concern.

8. Understanding Justice
Commutative Justice
Distributive Justice
Individual Individual
government authorities Individual
Regulates relationships and exchange
Seeks fair distribution of the goods of creation that God intends for us all to use and share
Legal Justice
Social Justice
Individuals social whole
Gospel of Jesus Christ structures of society
Applies the gospel message of Jesus to the structures, systems, and laws of society in order to protect the dignity of persons and guarantee the rights of individuals
Governs what individuals owe society as a whole

9. Catholic Social Teaching (CST)
The Life and Dignity of the Human Person
The Call to Family, Community, and Participation
Rights and Responsibilities
The Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
Solidarity
Care for God’s Creation
Social Doctrine of the Church – The body of teaching by the Church on economic and social matters that includes moral judgements and demands for action in favor of those being harmed.

11. Social Justice Doctrine of the Church
Key Themes:
Profit cannot be the only norm and sole goal of economic activity.
The economy exists to serve the people; people do not exist to serve the economy.
Richer nations must work hard for international solidarity.
We must imitate Jesus by having special love for the poor.

12. Social Justice + Doctrine
Social Justice – The defense of human dignity by ensuring that essential human needs are met and that essential human rights are protected for all people.
Social doctrine – The body of teaching by the Church on economic and social matters that includes moral judgements and demands for action in favor of those being harmed or oppressed.

13. Social Justice + Doctrine
On the Condition of Workers (Latin: Rerum Novarum)
1891 Social encyclical from Pope Leo XIII voicing concern for industrial workers; the first of a series of documents comprising Catholic social teaching.

14. Dignity of Work and Rights of Workers
The economy must serve the people, not the other way around
Work is more than a way of making a living; it is a form of participation in God’s creation
ASK: What are some ways that the dignity of work is protected?

15. What if we’ve violated the 7th Commandment?
Reparation
Individual Individual
Individuals social whole
government authorities Individual
Making amends for something one did wrong that caused harm to another person or led to loss; for example, returning stolen property

16. Tenth Commandment
You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
This commandment deals with the inner desires, the “lust of the eyes” which is at the root of theft, robbery, fraud, etc.

17. Tenth Commandment The Tenth Commandment outlaws:
You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
The Tenth Commandment outlaws:
Greed - desire to accumulate unlimited goods
Avarice - the passionate desire for riches and the power that comes with them
Envy - sadness over another person’s possessions and the desire to get them for oneself.

18. Two feet of charity and justice
Justice - The virtue concerned with rights and duties within relationships; the commitment, as well as the actions and attitudes that flow from those commitments, to ensure that all persons – particularly the poor and oppressed – receive what is due to them.
Charity – the virtue that places concern for God, manifest especially in concern for others, above all else. “We love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves.” (CCC #1822)

20. Two feet of charity and justice

21. Common Good
A long standing concept advocating that society should be organized so that, as much as possible, both individuals and the entire community are equally thriving
When conditions exist in society that allow all people – either in groups or individually – to reach their human and spiritual fulfillment more fully and easily we are seeking common good.

22. Social Justice + Doctrine
ISSUES
Urbanization / Spiral of Poverty
NEED
for Social Justice
TEACHING
Social Doctrine of the Church
SUCH AS
“On the Condition of Workers”

23. Social Justice + Doctrine
Spiral of poverty – a system that makes breaking out of poverty extremely difficult and almost impossible
Urbanization – the growth of cities; a phenomenon that can lead to the spiral of poverty.

24. Preferential Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
From the Old Testament to Present Day
People of faith have an obligation to look after the needs of the poor.
The moral test of society is how it treats its most vulnerable members.
ASK: How is our society doing?

25. Reflect on 7th &10th Commandments Social Justice
We violate these commandments when we commit theft or covet.
Theft comes in many forms:
Lack of justice is a form of theft.
Denying people their basic needs it is a form of theft.
Devaluing the sanctity of human life, it is a form of theft.
Wasting the resources of the Earth
What are some others?
The human person is sacred AND social.

26. Eighth Commandment
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Make it a positive statement: “Keep any promises you make, and be faithful to the truth.”
This commandment promotes integrity. Integrity- honest, genuine, consistent in behavior patterns.
What is the opposite of integrity?

27. Violations Against the Eighth Commandment
Calumny
Gossip
Detraction
Rash Judgement
Communicating
(next slide)

28. Violations Against the Eighth Commandment
(previous slide)
Principles of Communication
verbal. / nonverbal
Always communicating
It’s a two-way process
We can’t avoid influencing others

29. Violations Against the Eighth Commandment
Calumny – telling lies defaming someone's character (aka “slander”)
Detraction - revealing, without sufficient reason, information that is true but harmful to someone's reputation.
Rash judgement – presuming the worst (What is the opposite?)
Gossip – participating in the spread of injurious information about someone.

30. Respect for Truth
The seriousness of a lie can be determined “by the nature of the truth it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims.” (CCC #2484)
We need “to judge whether or not it is appropriate to reveal the truth to someone who asks for it.” (CCC #2488)
“Everyone should observe an appropriate reserve concerning persons’ private lives.” (CCC #2492)

31. Other Violations Against the Eighth Commandment
Perjury – lying under oath. Our justice system is based on truth.
Spin – giving a self-serving slant on a news story; manipulation of the truth intended to deceive.
Information from the media should be 1) true 2) complete 3)honestly and properly conveyed (CCC #2494)

32. Respect for Truth
Individuals must listen to the truth, speak the truth, and live the truth.
Citizens have the right to information based on the truth, freedom, and the virtues of justice and solidarity.

33. An Honest Society
The media have a serious duty to communicate information honestly.
Government officials have a serious obligation to defend and safeguard the just and free flow of information, to enact laws that protect citizens’ rights to a good name and privacy, and that public morality is not assaulted by pornography, propaganda, and other serious misuses of the media.
In Scripture, Satan is referred to as “the father of lies” and “deceiver” (John 8:44, Revelation 12:9)

34. Truth and Art
A society can do much to promote truth by encouraging people to express themselves in fine art.
The Church has a rich history of commissioning artwork, partly because art and truth have been linked together (CCC #2500)
Art can reveal and shed light upon truth that is otherwise hidden.

35. Vocabulary Commutative justice Distributive justice Legal justice
Social justice
Duplicity
Dissimulation
Hypocrisy
Perjury
Detraction
Calumny
Complaisance