Principles of Catholic Social Thought

This article discusses the principles of Catholic Social Thought including participation, human equality, respect towards God's creation, respect to human life, and economic equality. It explains how these principles can be applied in understanding the community and oneself. The article also provides references for further reading.

Running head: PRINCIPLES
Catholic teachings
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PRINCIPLES 2
Principles of Catholic Social Thought
Introduction
Brady, (2017) says that, when an individual has rules that controls the way he or
she operates, it always makes him or more focused than the person who lacks principles.
The principles from the catholic teachings assist an individual to remain firm in what he
or she believes is right. For instance, when there is destruction of God’s creatures, it will
be rare to find a principled Christian fueling the destruction motives but rather trying to
make the destroyers know that the behavior is not right. The catholic church Bishops
came with rules to guide and motivate the catholic Christians to associate with other
people. The rules serve the Christians for a purpose and all need to be adhered to. The
principles are as follows:
1. The principle of participation.
The principle of participation illustrates that everyone in the society have a duty
to play for the community to achieve the development record it desires. In many
societies around the world, the rich are the once who are seen to be having
something to provide to the society according to Clark, (2014). However, the
mindset is not the right one. Using the principle of participation, it illustrates that
God has given everybody a unique capability from the other person. Therefore,
each person needs the other in order to realize the goals of that community. In
some instance, the people in authority seem to select people basing on where they
come from, color of their skin or just tribe for them to participate in the society.
The catholic social teaching says that everyone should be allowed to express their
capability and mindset to the society. In understanding one self, this principle, this

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principle teaches an individual that he or she have a duty to play for the
community in order to realize what the society needs to get going. On the other
hand, the guideline assist in understanding the community in that, it tells the
leaders in the society to always involve all member in activities in that society,
whether its political, social or economic activity in reference to Verstraeten,
(2017). The full participation of the members will assist faster development.
2. The principle of equality as human beings
The principle of human equality addresses the concept of justice to every human
being. The above principle means that equality of human beings is one of the
ways to show dignity to other people. In human environment, people have
different talents and these talents may be used treat them differently according to
Power, (2017). The concept contradicts the principle of participation that shows,
the different talents that human beings have are from God. Therefore, it is very
unfair to treat others special because of the talents or material belongings they
have. Using this principle to understand the community, it is evident that the
principle teaches that if there is a rule in the society, it should apply to all
members equally. When that happens is when God’s plan is embarrassed. On the
other hand, in understanding one self, the principle of equality shows that if one
may be the authority in a given community, he or she should be neutral and treat
everyone equally.
3. Respect towards God’s creation
The principle on respect towards Gods creation means that every material on earth
have been created by God according to Verstraeten, (2017). Therefore, other

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creatures need to give respect to other God created materials. While God was
performing the creation activity, human being was given superior power more
than other creatures. The superiority implies that, human beings should take care
of everything on earth as they are in control of every material. However, in some
circumstance, human being exploits other creatures only to achieve their goal.
The principle of respect to Gods creation implies that, every creature assists
another one in achieving the purpose God had in its life. In understanding the
community, this principle implies that human being should always bother when
other creatures are destroying anything on earth. Moreover, it is one self-duty to
tell others that taking care of God’s creation is important in reference to Power,
(2017). When one is destroying a creature, they are destroying image of God.
4. Respect to the life of human being
Hughes, (2017) argues that, the principle of respect to human life means that God
have guaranteed each one in the world the right to life from the time of
conception until the person meets natural death. However, there are cases that
may lead to death of an individual in an unacceptable manner. For instance, one
may have committed suicide, aborted or hanged such instance of death are
condemned by this principle. In the judicial system there are communities or
countries that allows punishment through hanging. From this teaching, it assists
the community to understand that life comes from God and it is only God who
can take it away. On the part of understanding one self, the principle teaches that

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no one should take out the life of another. For instance, there are women who
commit abortions. The action is condemned by this principle because its God that
have brought the baby and no one have room to take its life. God have plans for
life of every individual and when one kills another person, he has interfered with
God’s plan of creation according to Salamanca, (2015).
5. Economic equality
The principle of economic equality from the Catholic teaching means that the
leaders in the society should aim at supporting each other economically. In many
circumstances, one finds that the leaders are exploiting the members of the
community economically. In recent years, it is evident that the members of the
society are the once who are serving the leaders. For instance, some members
may less fortunate in the society, but the leaders have subjected them to provide
material support to other leaders without even considering their status in life.
apart from that, the economic injustice is evident where the society has few rich
families while most of the members in that community are poor according to
Thompson, (2015). What have caused economic injustice here is that, the very
few families have been grabbing from the poor while even considering what the
families would have back. On the other hand, few people have been empowered
in the society as the larger group eking out the living from toiling. However, this
rule teaches the leaders to empower everyone in the society. When the society
have developed un uniformly, resistance may be inevitable from the other
members of the society. The upcoming Christian should learn to uphold this

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principle which would assist him or her when making decision as a leader in the
society.

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References
Brady, B. V. (2017). Essential Catholic Social Thought 2nd edition. Orbis Books.
Clark, M. J. (2014). The vision of Catholic social thought: The virtue of solidarity and
the praxis of human rights. Fortress Press.
Golemboski, D. (2015). Federalism and the Catholic principle of subsidiarity. Publius:
The Journal of Federalism, 45(4), 526-551.
Hughes, H. S. (2017). The Obstructed Path: French Social Thought in the Years of
Desperation 1930-1960. Routledge.
Power, M. (2017). ‘A serious moral question to be properly understood’: Catholic human
rights discourse in Northern Ireland in the 1980s. In Theories of International
Relations and Northern Ireland. Manchester University Press.
Salamanca, A. M. (2015). Managing People Humanly: Some Catholic Social Teaching
Considerations for Human Resource Management. In 9th International
Conference on Catholic Social Thought and Management Education. Manila:
Ateneo de Manila University.
Thompson, J. M. (2015). Introducing catholic social thought. Orbis Books.
Verstraeten, J. (2017). Catholic Social Thought and Amartya Sen on Justice.
In Economics as a Moral Science (pp. 215-223). Springer, Cham.