Catholic Social Thought Topic 2022

Running head: CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT
Catholic Social Thought
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT1
Importance of Catholic Social Thought and it’s Principles
Catholic Social Thoughts is one of the most important concepts in the world today.
The aim of the Catholic Social Thoughts consists of the doctrines on the matters of human
dignity and the common good in the society. The main principles of the Catholic Social
Thoughts are focused on the issues of oppression, subsidiary, social organization and social
justice. It is also known to be unique in the way in which it criticizes modern social and
political ideologies, like that of communism, liberalism, Nazism, feminism, atheism,
capitalism and socialism.
The concept of Catholic Social Thoughts implements a number of principles, which
allows the people to understand the meaning and significance of CST (Eick et.al, 2014). The
first of this is the Human dignity, which states that all human beings are equal in the eyes of
God. He/she possesses self-capabilities and self-knowledge and can freely communicate with
the other persons. He must also accept God with the same love as God. The Human Dignity
is the cornerstone of the catholic social thoughts. The principle of Catholic Social Teaching
means that the principal can take a strong position on various issues in relation to the
beginning and the ending of an individual’s life. It has been proclaimed by the Catholic
Church that the human lives are a valuable gift of God, and the dignity of the humans can be
the basis for the foundation of a society. The concept of the human dignity can be related to
the community and the self in the sense that treating all humans with respect forms in the
category of the community, while the individuals getting respected is self.
The second important principal of Catholic Social Thought is Preference for the Poor. In
this principal, it is seen that the focus is on the fulfilment of the interests and the demands of
the poor and the vulnerable in the society. Thus, it states that efforts must be made by the
Government so that the poor and the vulnerable people of the society gets their problems
fulfilled and their demands met. The Government should take efforts to make sure that the

CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT2
poor people of the society are living their lives as comfortably as possible. This is not only
related to the field of wealth (O’Sullivan, 2017). Instead, the poor people should also be able
to fare better in the fields of education, employment etc. The people in this category include
the homeless people as well as the people living in asylums and those suffering from the
mental problems. Preference for the Poor urges the Government to look after all these people
for their betterment. It is actually a trend in the Judeo-Christian Bible, where it has been
stated by God that the human beings should always make it an effort to give more preference
to the poor people of the society. Thus, the Bible also states the fact that the prayers of the
people must also show the kindness and the solidarity for the poor people of the society.
Thus, it can be said that the Preference for the Poor would the option of the poor is the first
and the foremost obligation of the Christians so that the poor and the needy people of the
society are able to get their needs and demands satisfied.
Fourth principle of Catholic Social Teaching is Common Good. According to the
principle of common good, it is important to sacrifice the interest of one’s own self in order
to solve the problems of the community, which would be beneficial for the members of the
society (O Brien et.all, 2017). This is the principle, which lays emphasis on the importance of
equality in the society. It says that the governments and other institutions in the country must
make efforts so that the interests and the needs of all the people of the society will be
fulfilled, not just few of them. These needs and interests would cover all the aspects of the
lives of the members who are living in that community (Brady,2017). This is the most
important principle of Catholic Social Thoughts. The reason is that it focuses on the
flourishment of the people in the society (Brady,2017). The concept of the common good is
related to the community and the self because it is by serving the community that the human
beings serves themselves. Hence, it can be said that the concept of the self and community is
related with the principal of the common good in the society.