Social Justice Unit 4 Study Guide

Social Sin

The effect of sin over time, which can affect society and its institutions to create structures of sin.

Structures of Sin

Social situations and institutions that are contrary to the divine goodness that shape a society’s values and changes its structural ways of living. Structures of sin are the expression and effect of personal sins. They perpetuate sin by leading their victims to do evil in their turn.

Conversion

A radical reorientation of one’s whole life away from sin and evil and toward God.

Liberation Theology

A discredited branch of theology influenced by the Marxist idea that oppression is rooted in certain social structures that must be radically changed - usually through revolution - in order to uproot the power structures that exploit the poor. It originated in Latin America in the 1950s.

Culture of Death

A culture that is so excessively concerned with efficiency that it considers life that is vulnerable, inconvenient, or dependent as disposable.

Subsidiarity

The organizing principle that matters are best handled by the smallest, lowest, or least centralized authority. A community of a higher order should not interfere with the inner life of a community of a lower order, depriving it of its functions, but should support it in case of need and help integrate it into the larger society, with a view to the common good.

Demagoguery

The practice of exploiting the fears and prejudices of the ordinary people in a society in order to gain political power in a democracy.

Hope

The theological virtue by which we desire the Kingdom of God and eternal life and place our trust in all of God’s promises to us.

Original Sin

The state of human nature deprived of the original holiness and justice Adam and Eve enjoyed before the fall.

Decalogue

Title for the Ten Commandments, from the Greek for “Ten Words” (deca = ten; logos = word)

Idolatry

The worship of false gods

Pride

The undue self-esteem or self-love that seeks attention and honor and sets oneself in competition with God. It is the capital sin that is traditionally considered the source of all other sins.

Conscience

The gift God gave human beings to be able to use reason in order to judge right from wrong. Our conscience is God’s voice in our hearts. We have a responsibility to inform our conscience with prayer and God’s word about what is truly good.

Freedom of Conscience

The principle that nobody may be forced to act against his convictions, nor prevented from acting in accordance with his conscience in religious matters, within due limits.

Abortion

The deliberate termination of pregnancy by killing the unborn child. Willed as an ends or a means, abortion is gravely contrary to the moral law.

Euthanasia

The intentional killing of a person in order to spare them a painful death. The word comes from the Greek eu, for good, and thanatos, death.

In Vitro Fertilization

A procedure whereby a human being is convicted by combining eggs taken from a woman’s ovaries with a man’s semen (usually collected by masturbation) in a test tube (in vitro is Latin for “in glass”), and, after a few days of development, the growing embryos are then implanted in a woman’s uterus or frozen. Extra unwanted fertilized eggs are then destroyed.

Capital Punishment

The execution of a criminal, after being duly found guilty and sentenced to death in a manner authorized by the State. Aka the death penalty.

Just War Doctrine

The conditions that must all exist at the same time for a war to be just. These conditions are:the damage by the aggressors must be lasting, grave, and certain; all other means of avoiding war must have been tried; there must be a real chance of winning; and the war itself must not result in worse conditions that’s the conditions that cause the war.

Scandal

An attitude or behavior that leads another to do evil.

Adultery

Marital infidelity in thought or deed, or sexual relations between two partners, at least one of whom is married to another party.

Unitive

Marking one. Producing union. One of the two purposes of marriage.

Divorce

The claim that the indissoluble marriage bond validly entered into between a man and a woman is broken. A civil dissolution of the marriage contract, however, does not free persons from their commitment to each other before God, so remarriage after divorce is not possible.

Chastity

The true integration of sexuality within a person’s bodily and spiritual being. It includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery. Each of us is called to chastity.

Intellectual Property

A category of property that derives from the work of the intellect.