CST Quiz Dr. Smith

Five Moral Themes of the Bible

1. Respect life—Do not cause harm

2. Respect for property — Do not steal

3. Honesty in Business — Do not profit from misfortune

4. Just Distribution of Wealth — People must survive

5. Preferential option for the poor and vulnerable

Basically, We must have the same concern for other people’s well-being that we do for our own

Original position

Human inherently want to survive and flourish… it’s in our nature

Critical Position

Human beings are uniquely able to critically reflect upon their own suffering + contemplate the suffering of others

EX: Climate disasters or the refugee crisis or humanitarian violations or food insecurity.

What is CST?

It examines

1. Human Society with a spiritual lens

2. Calls for transformation and change

3. Is rooted in universal compassion and respect

Empathy

The Golden Rule

The CST Response

1. The call to be Counter-cultural

2. Strengthen the whole community by helping the weak

3. Consider the common good

“On Capital and Labor”

• Pope Leo XIII wrote this encyclical: On Capital and Labor

Themes of On Capital and Labor

• The Dignity of work

• Just wages

• Worker Associations

• The defense of the poor

People actually listened to this

2. The Life and Dignity of the Human person

The first and most fundamental principle

• All human beings have dignity

  • Nothing can take away this dignity

    • Not even their own destructive actions

Dignity = Respect

Current Issues of 1: Life and dignity of the human person

• Abortion

• Euthanasia

• Capital Punishment

• War

• Discrimination

2.Call to family, community, and participation

• Participation in all aspects of human society

• protection of the family

• participation of the international level

• all decisions can impact our global community

Current issues for 2. Call to family, community, and participation

• Breakdown of the family

• Loneliness

• Isolation from Elderly

• Policies or social trends the de-emphasize family

3.Rights and Responsibilities

• Survival rights — rights we need to live

• Thrival rights — rights to achieve full human potential

• education, employment, safety

• What we need to support a famiily

Current issues for 3. Rights and Responsibilities

Essential Human rights for all

• Healthcare

• education

• food, shelter, clothing

4.Option for the poor + vulnerable

• Preferential because their needs are greater

• their problems are “the community’s problems”

Current issues for 4. Option for the poor + vulnerable

• Understanding

  • poverty

  • Generational poverty

  • poverty at a global level

5.The dignity of work and the rights of workers:

Newest issues include the work/life balance

• Work exists for people

  • Not the other way around

• Work has dignity and value

• Workers’ rights are crucial

• USA — DDD

  • Dirty, Dangerous, and Demanding (Dairy farms)

Current issues for 5. The dignity of work and the rights of workers:

• Fair working conditions for all

• Just and living wages

• Economy needs to serve the people

• Work/Life balance

History of the Catholic Worker Movement

• 1891 — Pope Leo publishes Rerum Novarum

• 1933 — President Roosevelt’s New Deal

  • 40hr week

  • Minimum wage

  • Unemployment Health insurance

• 1933 — Dorothy Day launches The Catholic Worker

• 1936 — First house of hospitality established

• 1947 — United auto workers union is established

• 1948 — U.N Declaration of Human Rights is adopted

• 1963 — President Kennedy signs the equal pay act

• 1983 — Fair Food Program is founded.

  • The tomato industry

6.Solidarity

• A sense of cooperation and support between individuals, groups, and nations

• A commitment to the common good

• Why? we are all apart of the same human family

The Seven themes of CST

1. The life and dignity fo the human person

2. Call to family, community + participants

3. Rights + Responsiblities

4. Option for the poor + vulnerable

5. The dignity of work and rights of workers

6. Solidarity

7. Care for God’s Creation

Current issues for 6. Solidarity

• Fair Trade

• Corporate rights vs. Human rights

• Globalization

• Immigration

• All the “isms”

  • Racism, etc.

• War

7.Care for God’s creation:

• “On care for our common home”

  • Pope Francis encyclical on the environment

• Based on God’s call in Genesis for humans to “cultivate and care for creation”