The 7 Catholic Social Teachings

The Church’s social teaching is a tool that each and every person can use to gain God’s wisdom regarding the principles needed to build a holy and just society. These principles not only teach us how to combat the challenges of modern society but also inform us on how to live our daily lives according to the church. These teachings have been expressed through a tradition of papal, conciliar, and Episcopal documents. In the following reflections, we aim to highlight the true essence that lay within our Catholic social tradition.

Life and Dignity of the Human Person

The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. Everyone is precious; people are more important than the material things of this world. When brothel owners, soldiers, and business owners take advantage of other people by forcing them to abuse their bodies, kill people, and do hard labor, human life is no more treated as “sacred” but rather as a mere resource. Those suffering by the practice of human trafficking are having their right to life taken away and are forced to live lives that are dedicated to making money that they will not even be paid.

Call to Family, Community, and Participation

The family is the central social institution that must be supported and strengthened, not undermined. People also have a rightful duty to participate in society. Child soldiers, young prostitutes, and forced laborers do not have this “call” to their families or to their societies. Instead of their lives of unending toil, they should have the right to do what they please to do. Children of Uganda should not be taught how to shoot guns, fight, and torture, but should rather be educated in the school system.

Rights and Responsibilities

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. We, being part of a privileged, fruitful society, have the responsibility to guarantee all other human beings the same rights we have. Those being trafficked under the radar (whether by smuggling or through corrupted government officials) have the right to life which we have.

Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

A basic moral test is how our most vulnerable members are faring. We need to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first. Again, as members of a privileged society, our main focus should be on helping those who are less fortunate than we are. Those who are most vulnerable to being trafficked are the poor. Thus, in order to stop human trafficking, poverty around the world needs to be taken care of.

The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers

Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation. Dignity of work is to be protected. However if people are forced to do work that involves violation of their bodies, killing and torturing, or even doing large amounts hard labor, their dignity of work is taken away. Those who traffic humans do not even pay those that they take advantage of. This is no way to make a living; rather it is paving the way to their death.

Solidarity

Learning to practice the virtue of solitude means learning to “love our neighbor” has global dimensions in an interdependent world. We are one family. We all have the duty of “being our brothers’ keepers” and maintaining unity throughout this “family.” Those who do not suffer from human suffering are responsible for those who do. We must practice solidarity by stopping the exploitation of young girls, by preventing families to be overwhelmed by poverty, by educating children to help others instead of killing them.

Care for God's Creation

We are called to protect people and the planet and to live our faith in relationship with all of God’s creation. We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship towards creation. We are all God’s creation, even those being trafficked. Instead of focusing our efforts to satisfy our own desires, we should be focusing on how to protect God’s creation. Through the prevention of child slavery, forced and cheap labor, and prostitution of young, under-aged girls, we are keeping God’s creation the way it was meant to be.