The Catholic Church uses Social Teachings as a form of guidance to respond to evil institutions such as the CIA and bring about justice. When asked how the Catholic Christian theodicy helps make sense of institutional evil, Nicole Young (2017) said “Institutional evil is a very difficult concept to comprehend. It is a turning away from righteousness and love, and it’s a turning away from our own innate humanity. I suppose the Catholic Christian theodicies help me to understand that I need to work towards helping my fellow man every day of my life so that my contribution of free will to the world is one of good and not evil.” This perspective is one that strongly reflects the Catholic belief that charity and relationships lead to justice and …show more content…
Essentially, human beings are the foundation of every social institution, the creators and the destroyers, and likewise, as the Augustinian theodicy describes, we are the cause and the end of all evils. By responding to the Catholic social teachings, we can bring about social justice. Insults to human dignity, such as those seen in Guantanamo Bay, poison society and destroy our right and just relationship with God, each other and all of God’s creations. Without this relationship, we have no solidarity and no connection with our human family (Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 2017). The Catholic Church proclaims we must “love thy neighbour”, despite racial or ideological differences. Pope Francis (2015) said, “In the present condition of global society, where injustices abound and growing numbers of people are deprived of basic human rights and considered expendable, the principle of the common good immediately becomes, logically and inevitably a summons to solidarity. (Pope Francis, 2015).Steve Jorgensen said this aspect particularly aligned with his essential understanding of social justice, stating, “we have a responsibility to treat all people respectfully and deal with them appropriately after careful consideration based on the compassionate teachings of Jesus Christ…Society should be working for the benefit of all not just the few” (Jorgenson, 2017). In the concern of the people in the world experiencing oppression due to the many forms of evil; solitude, the common good and human dignity is much more important than the institutions who refuse to abandon their power. Young believes the Catholic focus on human dignity of all
As the head of the Catholic Church, it is expected of a Pope to make grand declarations about social justice and issues that concern the Church . His apostolic decrees call for christians everywhere to uphold workers rights and to provide a living wage to everyone. However, Pope Francis is the first pope who has spoken specifically on how to bring about true equality . He has made specific statements about politics and the economy that no pope has done before. His position against capitalism is starkly opposed to what we have learned in our Economics course. He has a great concern about inequality, greed and wantonness of ethics. Pope Francis’s views on the current culture are clearly evident in his Evangelii Gaudium.
In Montgomery Gentry’s hit song “Where I Come From”, he sings about his small town southern pride. In this country tune, the line “That little white church is gonna have a crowd,” is accompanied by lyrics about a town that could easily be located in East Tennessee. One thing that can be assumed from Gentry’s song is that the, “Little white church” he sings about is probably not a Catholic cathedral. In southern towns, like the one Gentry sings about, Protestant churches drastically outrank Catholic churches. In Kingsport Tennessee, Catholic churches are outnumbered forty two to one by Baptist churches alone. This statistic makes it easy to see why, as a whole, Protestants are uneducated and overly critical about the Catholic faith, the very religion that Protestantism is derived.
experiences and its beliefs developed over time about sin, salvation, grace, faith and so forth.2
Free speech comes in many forms, some offensive and some non-offensive. One of the more offensive sites on the Internet is the homepage for the World Church of the Creator.
Sexual abuse is a growing concern in society today. So many people are hurt by the actions of other people when they abuse them, especially in a sexual manner. The Catholic Church is also now being targeted for sexual offenders. Priests have been charged with sexually abusing young boys that are involved with the church. The church has been looking the other way on this issue for many years. The children as well as their family are being hurt and its time something was done to prevent the further exploitation of young boys in the Catholic Church.
In the article, “Is Your God Dead?” George Yancy makes a compelling argument on the idea of social activism. The argument proposed in the article is influenced by the negative remarks people have made against each other based on gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation. The reason why people like to remark each other negatively is because we do not like to be consider similar. The idea that contributes to this belief is that one person likes to be view better and higher than another person. However, we have been told by religious figures that everyone is made underneath the same image of Jesus Christ. Yancy is trying to achieve realization in his article. In doing so, Yancy mentions various examples of unholy actions performed by people.
But with that said, some positive social changes have come about from the introduction of Catholicism to Latin America. In its true form, the church has been a source of basic human rights for the people. The church would often oppose the government’s unjust treatment of the people, who otherwise had no other representation. The church also formed a society to encourage cooperation with each other to develop a better civilization. The church would also provide a foundation for education, health care, skills for building and farming. The Catholic Church has played such a major role in the shaping of Latin American culture, that it cannot be separated from it.
The Roman Catholic Church had complete influence over the lives of everyone in medieval society including their beliefs and values. The Church’s fame in power and wealth had provided them with the ability to make their own laws and follow their own social hierarchy. With strong political strength in hand, the Church could even determine holidays and festivals. It gained significant force in the arts, education, religion, politics as well as their capability to alter the feudal structure through their wealth and power.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This appeals to logos as he urges us that instead of hatred, we respond with hope, peace and, justice. Following that, Pope Francis tells Americans to fight poverty. He says that a solution would be to not have greedy hearts but to distribute wealth and creating jobs. Lastly, the Pope uses logos to addresses the damage of selling lethal weapons to people who hurt others with those weapons.
This “relationship” previously stated is the basis for the second key theme of Catholic Social Teaching. “The Catholic social encyclicals teach that to be human is to experience not only rights but also obligations to others” (Massaro, p.84). A strong advocate for solidarity, Pope John Paul II stated “To be human is to be a social being, one whose very life is and should be bound up with those in close proximity and even distant strangers (Massaro, p.84). Solidarity exists when individuals are contributing towards a common good, which is simply a goal in life that is held above the private benefits of those individuals. Catholic Social Teaching states that when the individuals of today make sacrifices for the common good of a ...
In Catholic social teaching, human life is considered to be sacred from the exact moment of conception to the occurrence of natural death. It is not dependent upon tangible means but instead originates from the God who created us. In other words, as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church – the fifth commandment (n.d.), “human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being." Thus, the life and dignity granted to every person by our Creator must be valued and protected throughout every stage of life. In essence, it is a person’s dignity that is seen as the very foundation of a moral image within our society. The primary and greatest basic principle of human rights is the right to live, leading those following the Catholic tradition to keenly work toward respect and justice in regards to humans
As the practical influence was the more important of the two, the Catholic Church developed an extremely large practical role in the social services before it evolved. Today this order is being reversed. The church’s role as a service provider was deteriorating mainly because falling vocations left the church without suitable persons to sustain their roles. The reputation of the Catholic Church has also been stained by the found information of the shocking abuses committed by members of the Catholic Clergy on vulnerable people, particularly children, whom had been placed in their care. Despite the effects of these scandals, the new means of influencing social policy debate has a substantial effectiveness and may well offer a means by which the church can play an important role in the development of social policy in the future (Socialjustice.com. 2014).
There are legitimate concerns for the environment, for the fair and proper assistance developed nations must extend to developing nations, and for equitable educational opportunities for women. The Holy See Mission at the UN consistently promotes these authentic goals minus the snags of population control measures. It is the Catholic task to promote the human good without eliminating the humans.
Modern Catholic social teachings trace its beginnings to the writings of Pope Leo XIII. His insight on Christian philosophy, politics and the social order and applies to teachings in current injustices in the economic order. Leo XIII’s teachings were also critical participation in the developments of modern social and economic life. He rooted his social ethics in the supreme value of the human person and added that all political and social structures need to respect and respond to this primary and moral claim of human dignity. While the Church and the political community are autonomous and independent of each other in their own fields, the Church is “at once the sign and the safeguard of the transcendental dimension of the human person”.
Religion is commonly defined as a group of beliefs concerning the supernatural, sacred, or divine, and the moral codes, practices, values, institutions and rituals associated with such beliefs (Wikipedia, 2006). Most of the major religions have evolved over the centuries into what they are today. In many cultures and times, religion has been the basic foundation of life, permeating all aspects of human existence (Fisher, 2002). Religion is passed on from generation to generation. My religious beliefs were passed on from my relatives on my mother's side. My family has believed in the Catholic faith for many generations. Since I grew up in the Catholic faith I went to Catholic schools my entire childhood. My personal experiences and the Catholic faith made me into the person I am today. Without a religious upbringing I feel that there would have been something missing in my life.