1. Catholic Social Teaching
Section 1: Foundational principles of
social justice

2. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
Important changes in society require a communal response, showing that human beings were created to be social creatures, with God and with one another.
Throughout history however, we have seen that people do not always work together, trying to even harm one another.
Genocide, or the systematic and planned extermination of an entire ethnic, religious, political, or cultural group of people, has been increasing in the last century.

3. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
When people reject the idea that all people are made in the image and likeness of God, it is then that social injustices occur.
There are many truths revealed by God in the Creation stories about the importance of justice.
The first truth is that all people are made in the image and likeness of God, calling all people to respect the divine nature of every single human being.

4. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
The second truth in the Creation stories is human beings are religious beings, searching for the happiness that only comes from God.
Adam and Eve, before the fall in the Garden, experienced:
Original Holiness, or the state of being in full communion with God
Original Justice, or the harmonious relationship Adam and Eve had with themselves, each other, and all creation.

5. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
The third truth is that human beings were created to live in loving communion with each other in just societies.
God made Eve from Adam’s rib, showing the intimate connection that all human beings should have with one another.
The common good, or the good that is beneficial for all members of a given community through meeting one’s basic needs and fulfillment, must be achieved.
The primary community of society is the family, which all other communities are built around.

6. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
When Adam and Eve sinned, they showed what happens when people reject the truths found in the Creation accounts.
First, Adam and Eve felt they did not share in God’s divine image since they decided to eat the fruit so they can become like God when they already were like Him.
Second, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and did not trust Him.

7. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
Third, Adam and Eve did not live to achieve the common good since Adam did not stop Eve from eating the fruit, and Eve the invited Adam to do as she did.
The effect of Adam and Eve’s sin is that they lost their state of original holiness and justice and for all people that followed them, which is called Original Sin.
We see this Original Sin in the Bible spreading to Cain and Abel, when Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy.

8. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
The Original Sin multiplied as people multiplied, until the entire world was in lawlessness and unjust.
God cleansed the world with a great flood, saving only Noah and his family since they were pious and just people.
The loss or original holiness and justice lead to corrupt societies that lost sight of social justice, or the defense of human dignity by ensuring that essential human needs and rights are met for all people.
However, the good news is that God’s salvation is near to those who love Him, like Noah.

9. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
Truths in Creation Stories
How Adam and Eve Rejected Those Truths
All people are made in the divine image of God.
Human beings are religious beings.
Human beings are made to be in relationship with one another.
Adam and Eve felt they had to eat of the fruit to be like God.
Adam and Eve disobeyed God and did not trust Him as pious people should.
Adam did not stop Eve from eating the fruit and Eve allowed Adam to follow in her sinful steps.

10. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan

11. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
God revealed Himself more clearly through Divine Revelation, or God’s self communication by which He makes know to us His divine plan.
God reveals Himself in:
Scripture
Tradition, or the passing on of the Gospel message from Christ’s time to today
Salvation History, or the events in human history in which God reveals His saving plan, from Adam and Eve to Christ

12. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
Covenants, or solemn agreement between God and human beings, give us insight into God’s justice.
The whole reason of salvation history is to restore humans to original holiness and justice and save humanity from sin and death.
God made a covenant with Noah promising to never destroy creation again, showing that justice means loving and respecting all life.

13. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
In the covenant with Noah, God also says He will hold all men accountable for bloodshed, calling us to respect and care for all life.
God made a covenant with Abraham , promising him three things:
Numerous descendants that would form a great nation
A homeland for those people
All communities of Earth will find blessing in Abraham

14. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
The third promise to Abraham has two meanings that teach us about God’s justice:
Abraham’s descendants, in their faith to God, will be examples of how to live in just societies
Jesus is a descendant of Abraham and His Church has shown the world how to built communities of justice and peace
The covenant with Abraham shows us that faithfulness to God will lead to just societies and a peaceful world.

15. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
God made a covenant with the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, on Mount Sinai, after freeing them from slavery in Egypt.
The fact that God freed the Israelites, who were slaves and unjustly treated, and shows that God is on the side of the oppressed.
The Mount Sinai covenant was stamped by God giving Moses the Ten Commandments, or just laws the Israelites were to live by.
“Old Law”

16. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
Christ brought about the New Law, or the revelation of Divine Law through the life and teachings of Christ that fulfills the Old Law.
The Old Law was the first step in God’s plan to teach how to live just and holy lives; however, it is insufficient to bring about salvation alone.
St. Paul called the Old Law “disciplinarian.”

17. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan

18. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
As Christians, our faith has both a social dimension and personal dimension.
God fulfills salvation history with the covenant made in the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus preached a “New Law,” which taught people how to live as citizens of God’s Kingdom, fulfilling the Old Law.

19. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan

20. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
In the New Covenant of Christ, God fulfills the Old Covenant promises by now forgiving sins and promising eternal life to all people.
Our faith in Christ carries the social dimension preached in the Gospel: to love others, both friend and foe, as well as to live just lives.
To fulfill this social dimension of faith, we must:
Respect all life
Share our material goods and help one another
Build just societies that protect rights of all people

21. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan

22. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
To live justly, the New Testament reminds us not all of us will get into Heaven if we do not pair faith with works.
If faith does not have works, i.e. protecting the rights of all people and acting justly towards others, then faith is dead.
To properly express our faith, we need to take social actions to express what we profess.

23. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
Our salvation has both an individual and communal dimension:
Individually, each person’s salvation is based on their actions, i.e. if they work with God’s graces, His Church, etc.
Communally, when we first individually accept Christ, we join the Church community. We rely on one another for support and model for the world of what it is to live in a just community.

24. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
INDIVIDUAL CHOICE TO BELIEVE IN GOD AND WORK WITH HIM
JOINING A COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS (CHURCH)

25. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
Social justice can sometimes be difficult to achieve in societies that promote the “I” instead of the “we.”
We sometimes have to sacrifice to assure that the rights of all people are protected.

26. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
The Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith that God exists as a communion of three distinct and different persons, yet one God.
The Holy Trinity shows us what it means to have a perfect, loving relationship with others.

27. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
The Church was founded by Christ to be the means and the goal of Christ’s saving mission.
The Church is the means for God’s plan of salvation because the Church shows love and compassion to others, just as Christ did, creating a just society.
The Church is the goal for God’s plan of salvation because when Christians practice sacrificial love, forgiveness, prayer, etc., they build up God’s Kingdom on Earth until Christ comes again.

28. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
The Church is the Sacrament of Salvation, a sign and cause of God’s free and undeserved gift of His presence.
There have been times when the Church and its members have failed to do what is right; we are a Church of sinners.
The Holy Spirit guides us amongst the bad times, growing God’s Kingdom that will be fully realized at the end of time and only partially seen now in the Church.

29. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
The Church has two dimensions:
Human, which can do good things and sinful things in the world
Divine, which is God trying to make humanity less sinful and the world a better place through the Church’s actions
The word Church literally means “convocation,” which is a group of people called together for a specific purpose.

30. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
The Church is sometimes called the Mystical Body of Christ, since the Church is not just us here on Earth, but also those who have died before us in faith.
The Church is also called the Family of God because God is our Father and Jesus, His Son, is our Brother, showing that we must treat each other as brother and sister.

31. Part 1: Social justice and god’s plan
The Church is:
the teacher for the rest of society on how to make the common good a reality
the social conscience for a world that has gone astray.