Clases Doctrina Social de la Iglesia

1. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
Law, Love, Sin, and Virtues
CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church

2. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
THE COMMANDMENTS AND THE BEATITUDES
• In the physical world, movement
follows the laws of physics
• In the moral world, people tend to
move according to certain laws
• Each individual is responsible for
their actions
– Often, an individual’s decision to act is
influenced by advice, encouragement,
promise of reward, past memories, etc.
– Good or bad, the action will, in turn,
influence other actions made by other
individuals

3. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
PERSONAL SIN AND SOCIAL SIN
• Moral responsibility is personal, but it is
often shared
– When we act with others in various ways,
we have a responsibility for others’ sins
when we cooperate in them:
• When participating directly and
voluntarily in the action
• When ordering, advising, or approving
the actions of others
• By not disclosing or not hindering them
when we should; and by protecting evil-
doers (CCC 1868)

4. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
PERSONAL SIN AND SOCIAL SIN (continued)
• Social sins – committed against another person/persons
– Murder, theft, and adultery
• Sinful structures – organizations, processes, laws, societies that
make it easy to commit sin
– Racial laws and abortion laws are examples of “sinful structures”
• People are obligated to resist/disobey unjust laws
– “An unjust law is not a law at all.” St. Augustine

5. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
PERSONAL SIN AND SOCIAL SIN (continued)
• Every law implies that some course of action is right and
another is wrong
– Therefore, every law is implicitly “moral” in the sense it makes a moral
judgment complimentary
• Laws teach citizens what behaviors are accepted by the
community, and which are not
– Which actions are “good” and which actions are “evil,” by the state’s
standards
– Eventually, the state will either raise society, or drag it down, to the
level of its legal standards
– Over time, the law will influence attitudes and practices—and society
itself

6. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
PERSONAL SIN AND SOCIAL SIN (continued)
• Example of how a law has changed
societal norms:
– Through most of U.S. history, there was a
general societal consensus against
abortion
– Widely considered an immoral action, the
law reflected this consensus as most
states had laws restricting abortion
– In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court’s
decision in Roe vs. Wade, effectively
nullified all national, state, and local laws
restricting abortion

7. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
PERSONAL SIN AND SOCIAL SIN (continued)
– Yet, over half of the states have fetal homicide laws which protect an
unborn child from injury or death resulting from a violent attack
• If a pregnant woman is attacked or killed, the law defines two
victims
• These laws, however, contain clauses that specifically exclude
abortion procedures
– Many states also apply the fetal homicide law to the earliest stages of
pregnancy
– Norma McCorvey, plaintiff in the lawsuit, Roe v. Wade (better known as
“Jane Roe”), has changed her stance on abortion, openly voicing her
remorse for her part in the 1973 Supreme Court decision

8. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
PERSONAL SIN AND SOCIAL SIN (continued)
• At Mass, in the Confiteor, we confess our
sins “in what I have done, and what I
have failed to do”
– Sins of commission (the evil we do)
– Sins of omission (the good that we fail to do)
• A single person’s courageous choice by
speaking out against unjust laws can
inspire many others to do what is right
• We should judge all social structures by
the measures of natural law and divine
justice

9. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
• The true standard for social conduct is found in God’s will,
codified in various ways in Scripture
• The Decalogue, means “ten words” – the most basic, binding,
universal expression of the divine will
– These simple laws describe the requirements for true worship and
morality
– Expresses the natural law engraved by God on the human heart
• The human person has an innate sense of certain moral truths
of right and wrong

10. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (continued)
• Although all of the Commandments
have a social dimension, they are
divided into two groups:
– The laws related to divine worship
(First, Second, Third)
– The laws for human behavior, or the
moral law, and focus on human
relationships (Fourth through Tenth)

11. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (continued)
1. I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me
2. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain
3. Remember to Keep holy the LORD’S Day
4. Honor your father and your mother
5. You shall not kill
6. You shall not commit adultery
7. You shall not steal
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods

12. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
THE FIRST THREE COMMANDMENTS
• The First, Second, and Third Commandments are related to
divine worship and presume participation by a people—a
community of faith
– Worship is communal, so the First and Third Commandments entail a
certain social obligation
– The Second Commandment also assumes a social context
• Oaths are public acts, sworn in a court of law, sealing agreements between
two parties
• These oaths invoke God’s name and believers must use it respectfully and
honor the commitments made when God is called as their witness

13. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
THE FAMILY:
WHERE SOCIAL ORDER BEGINS
• The Fourth Commandment is
important in Catholic social thought
– Marks necessary foundation of order in
society, since the family is society’s
fundamental unit
– This Commandment also requires
obedience beyond the family to
legitimate authorities
– The Church is opposed to tyranny,
anarchy, government corruption, and any
circumstance that undermines legitimate
authority

14. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
THE FAMILY:
WHERE SOCIAL ORDER BEGINS (continued)
• The Common Good is the reason why we have human
authority and laws
– Human laws participate in the divine law when they apply natural
precepts to specific circumstances
– When civil law is immoral, it must be rejected
• The family, society’s most basic unit, is where social order
begins
– Healthy societies are composed of healthy families
– The home is where solidarity begins

15. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
CHOOSE LIFE
• The Fifth Commandment forbids the taking of human life
• Christian morality—from the start—is characterized by a preferential
option for life
• In the ancient world, Christians were set apart from others, by their
profound respect for life
• Pagan religion offered little moral reflection
– Abortion, infanticide, suicide, were widespread
– Executions were arranged as public entertainment and warfare was
uninhibited
• When society tolerates the taking of human life—by abortion,
euthanasia, and permitting the killing of its vulnerable members—
no rights will be secure, because no life is safe

16. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
ABORTION
• The intensely grave direct
offense against human life today:
the killing of the unborn child
• Human life begins at the
moment of conception and must
be protected from that moment
• Implicit in both the Old and New
Testaments and has been the
consistent teaching of the
Church since the first century

17. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
EUTHANASIA, SUICIDE,
AND ASSISTED SUICIDE
• The Fifth Commandment also extends to the respect for own
bodies
• Euthanasia – an action that causes the death of a sick or dying
person, also called “mercy killing”
– Sometimes justified because it aims to end suffering
– Arises from a devaluing of human life—belief that certain lives are not
worth living because they involve difficult or painful conditions

18. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
EUTHANASIA, SUICIDE,
AND ASSISTED SUICIDE (continued)
• Suicide – the willful taking of one’s own life
– The Church recognizes that circumstances such as severe depression
and psychological problems could diminish the subjective gravity of this
tragic action
– The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives
• Assisted suicide – the grave offense of assisting another person
to commit suicide
– Sometimes practiced under the backings of healthcare professionals,
who provide the means

19. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
SELF-DEFENSE AND
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
• Although God is master of all life, the
Church allows the right of self-
defense
– In order to preserve one’s own life or the
life of another
• Capital Punishment – the execution
by state of individuals who have
committed heinous crimes
– The Church recognizes state authority
“to inflict proportionate punishment to
the offense” and to protect society from
dangerous criminals

20. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
SELF-DEFENSE AND
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT (continued)
• The state has the authority even to inflict the ultimate
penalty—the death penalty—if there is no other way to defend
innocent lives from harm
– In recent years, Popes and bishops have advocated for mercy in such
cases
– The Church prefers and urges that the state not impose the death
penalty if the criminal can be securely incarcerated and kept from
harming others
– The favor of preserving the life of even capital offenders is in part out of
hope for their eventual reform and conversion

21. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
JUST WAR
• Nations also have the right to self-defense
• Christians are obligated to work for peace and
try to avoid war, but the Church recognizes
that governments can not be denied the right
to defend themselves by military means
• In the 13th Century, St. Thomas Aquinas
developed principles for the just-war theory
– These have been refined over the centuries to be
very restrictive
– In Catholic doctrine, there are 4 criteria that must
all be met before it is legitimate to go to war (on
the following slide)

22. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
JUST WAR (continued)
• Four criteria outlined in Catholic doctrine
1. The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of
nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
2. All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be
impractical or ineffective;
3. There must be serious prospects of success;
4. The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the
evil to be eliminated
• The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in
evaluating this condition

23. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
HOLY PURITY
• The Sixth and Ninth
Commandments are closely
related
– The Sixth Commandment
promotes chaste love and forbids
the misuse of sexuality
– The Ninth Commandment forbids
attitudes and dispositions that
might lead to sexual sin

24. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
HOLY PURITY (continued)
• God made man and woman so that they would seek a measure
of fulfillment in their love for one another
– God willed that they should become “one flesh”
– Joining together, they also share in God’s power to bring new life into
being
– Pro-creation is the participation in a divine activity: creation of a new
human being, with a spiritual soul
• With this great power, comes great responsibility

25. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
HOLY PURITY (continued)
• St. Paul spoke of the one-flesh union of husband and wife as a
great sign of the union of Christ and the Church
– In Latin, the phrase is Magnum Sacramentum, or “great sacrament”
– Christians have always honored marriage as a sacramental sign
• The marital act has a prominent place in God’s design for our
sacramental life
– To use it in any other way is to violate his will and prevent the
sacramental “sign” from signifying its true meaning
– The problem is not with sex itself, but with its misuse and abuse

26. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
HOLY PURITY (continued)
• In modern society, many dating practices
that are considered normal, involve offenses
against the Sixth and Ninth Commandments
• To live a good and moral life:
– We must sometimes be counter-cultural, instead
of blindly following cultural norms and trends
• Preserving purity in a relationship is striving
for a higher standard in how we treat others
and also how we expect to be treated

27. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
WHAT GOODS ARE GOOD FOR (continued)
• The Seventh and Tenth Commandments serve together,
governing our custody of material things
• When God created the earth, he entrusted its resources to the
human race
• Original Sin destroyed the harmonious relationship God
intended between humanity and the rest of creation
• The disordered approach to the material world, in its extreme
form, is known as materialism
• The Catholic faith affirms the right to private property, but also
teaches that individuals should observe healthy detachment
from material goods

28. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
WHAT GOODS ARE GOOD FOR (continued)
• Environmental resources should be used wisely, not wasted
– Precious resources will be needed for generations to come
• Respect for private property means we should not take
something belonging to another
• Stewardship means we approach consumer decisions
responsibly and critically
– Prudent in spending
– Awareness that sometimes low-priced items are made possible by slave
labor

29. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
WHAT GOODS ARE GOOD FOR (continued)
• We should strive to live more
simply and avoid impulse
purchases
– Internet has made it easy to shop
with “one-click” ordering
• Seeing goods for what they are:
– Material goods alone cannot make us
happy
– We should use them to help enrich
the lives of others

30. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
TRUST AND TRUTH
• The Eighth Commandment promotes telling the truth
– In personal communication, in society, and media
– Forbids practices that violate truth and charity in speech
• Truth builds trust, and trust makes solidarity possible
• Without trust, marriage, friendship, and lasting business
partnerships cannot be sustained
• Truth-telling must be meticulously observed by those that work in
the communications media
– Their claims are distributed to many people and can serve to strengthen or
sever the bonds of society
– Reporters can build up or destroy reputations, businesses, and political
careers

31. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
TRUST AND TRUTH (continued)
• We worship a God who “is love” (1 Jn 4:16) and Jesus Christ
identified himself as pure truth (Jn 14:6)
• As Christians then, we should judge ourselves by this divine standard
– Practice honesty and charity in all our communications
• Today, with the spread of social media, anyone can be a publisher
• A person’s views posted on a blog, podcast, or other online forum,
reaches many people
– These posted comments have the enormous potential to build up or tear
down

32. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
TRUST AND TRUTH (continued)
• Individuals should avoid forms of
speech that can diminish trust and
dilute the truth
– Obvious forms are lies, gossip, and telling
intentional falsehoods
– More subtle forms are exaggeration,
evasion, sarcasm, and tendency to make a
joke of every subject
– A sense of humor is an asset when used
well
• Can help to diffuse difficult situations
but should not be used to avoid all
serious conversation

33. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
ABUNDANT LIFE: THE BEATITUDES
• The Beatitudes, in the New Testament, are the heart of Christ’s
Sermon on the Mount
• The word “Beatitudes” comes from the Latin word that begins
every line: Beati … or Blessed
• In Scripture we see a connection between the Ten
Commandments and The Beatitudes
– The Beatitudes are complementary to the Law, and they fulfill and
complete it
– Where the Ten Commandments prohibit a certain vice, the Beatitudes
affirm its opposing virtue

34. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
THE CORPOREAL AND
SPIRITUAL WORKS OF MERCY
The Corporeal Works of Mercy The Spiritual Works of Mercy
Feed the hungry Admonish the sinner
Give drink to the thirsty Instruct the ignorant
Clothe the naked Counsel the doubtful
Visit the imprisoned Comfort the sorrowful
Shelter the homeless Bear wrongs patiently
Visit the Sick Forgive offenses
Bury the dead Pray for the living and the dead

35. CHAPTER 6 – The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
CONCLUSION
• Christ summed up all Ten
Commandments and Beatitudes
into two Great Commandments:
1. You shall love The Lord your God
with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind.
2. You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.
• The “Law of Love” is the
essence of Catholic social
doctrine, because it is the
essence of the Gospel