Themes of Catholic
Social Teaching
Social Teaching
What is Catholic Social Teaching?
Catholic Social Teaching is knowledge that can be used to create a community and world that cares for everyone, includes everyone and makes decisions geared toward the common good of people. Catholic Social Teaching is written by Catholic Leaders, for the world. There are 7 themes of Catholic Social Teaching: Life and Dignity of the Human Person, Call to Family, Community, and Participation, Rights and Responsibilities, Option for the Poor and Vulnerable, The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers, Solidarity and Care for God's Creation.
“Oceans not only contain the bulk of our planet’s water supply, but also most of the immense variety of our living creatures, many of them still unknown to us and threatened for various reasons. What is more, marine life in rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans, which feeds a great part of the world’s population, is affected by uncontrolled fishing.” (Pope Francis in Laudato Si')
How is Catholic Social Teaching related to my topic?
The Catholic Social Teaching of Rights and Responsibilities speaks to the issues of overfishing and ocean pollution because as human beings, we all have responsibilities. One of these responsibilities is having dignity and respect for everyone and everything. This includes marine life. In order to have a strong community of individuals we need to recognize the dignity and worth of our marine life and uphold our responsibilities to them. We are responsible for marine life not only because it is our responsibility to nurture God’s creation but also because we rely on them. We rely on marine life as a source of food and income, so with the best interest of humans and marine life in mind, we must protect marine species.
How else does Christianity and scripture relate to my topic?
Christian scripture and tradition as well as the seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching support confronting this injustice. The values, morals and requirements tied to these aspects promote the idea of making our world better, cleaning our oceans and not only making the ocean a place for marine life to thrive, but also maintaining this for all of eternity. The theme of Care for God’s creation calls for action and change by encouraging everyone to live up to the responsibilities of being a Christian and embrace where we live through respecting the earth. As humans, we are called to make decisions that take into consideration everyone and everything. Christianity calls other Christians to action, but also calls Christians to share this with others in order to create one united community all working towards change.
“Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26 NABRE)