Catholic-Social-Teaching (ID 1049)

• The Dignity of the Human Person
  The Dignity of the Human Person

  Each person is made ‘in the image and likeness of God.’ Thus it follows that ‘every person’s life and dignity must be respected and supported from conception until the end of their natural life on earth.’This teaching is about ensuring that there is nothing which prevents an individual from growing and flourishing in all aspects of their being.

• Family and Community
  Family and Community

  In the life of Jesus we see the importance of the family in enabling his human nature to grow and to flourish. For the Church the family is core to its being. ‘The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called ‘the domestic church’, a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity.’ The home ‘is the first school of Christian life and ‘a school for human enrichment.’

• Solidarity and the Common Good
  Solidarity and the Common Good

  God has created us to live in communion with one another. It is through life with others that we can flourish. However, living in communion with one another is about serving God and serving others and our own development and growth to full potential cannot be at the expense of the development and growth of another. The Common Good is about our interdependence upon one another as equal members of the human race, and how society and its organisations and structures should be for the benefit of all.

• Rights and Responsibilities
  Rights and Responsibilities

  Human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can only be achieved if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met. Therefore, every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities to one another, to our families and to the larger society.

• Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
  Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

  The Option for the Poor and Vulnerable is about the emphasis which the Church places upon helping the poor and those who are vulnerable.

• Stewardship of God's Creation
  Stewardship of God's Creation

  The Church’s teachings show that we have a duty to ensure that the gift of Creation is shared with all and used wisely and respectfully to ensure its protection both now and for the future

• The Dignity of Work
  The Dignity of Work

  For the Church work is seen as a continuance of the gift of Creation whereby we are ‘co-creators of God’s world and work is part of our contribution.’ Work is also seen as something which brings dignity to the human person as it is the means ‘of providing for his life and that of his family, and of serving the human community.