Australian Catholic Social Teaching (CST)

Catholicism: A Very Short Introduction written by Gerald O’Collins is a short read that gives an insight to the Catholic church without getting confusing to the reader. It touches on the basics of Catholicism such as the history, practices, and core beliefs. Through each chapter Gerald O’Collins a research professor in the field of Theology at St. Mary’s University College and Twickenham, as well as formally Dean in Gregorian University for the faculty of Theology, shares his knowledge on the Catholic religion one question at a time.

Subsidiarity and participation, work with local communities to aid and assist people to better develop their knowledge in decision-making so they can better respond to their own needs. The common good, preference is given to developing programs which look to promote the common good in their community. And solidarity, through which Caritas act on by reaching out to those who are most marginalized. Another church organization that helps to restore the balance and reflects the Catholic social teachings is St Vincent de Paul society. They reach out to the most vulnerable in communities and assist people in need no matter the culture, religion or political beliefs. Reflecting on these actions, Vinnies shows all the Catholic social teachings by serving the poor with love, respect, justice, hope and joy, and trying to shape a more just compassionate society. Through this, they serve Christ and walk in the path of

It is our moral responsibility to tend life on earth, not destroy it. Weak or strong--every creature is beautiful and essential for the health of the world, and it is our moral obligation to see that the other creatures share this world with us. Live and let live should be our motto. Every life is

‘Respect for the human person proceeds by way of respect for the principle that everyone should look upon his neighbour as 'another self,' above all bearing in mind his life and the means necessary for living it with dignity.’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1931).

Why is it important to be responsible to others on a personal, local, global, and digital level?

I believe that we need to think of the Earth as a gift and a home. We must take care of our Earth but our personal health must come before Earth’s. Lastly, our decision making should be guided by the Bible and my common sense. Our Earth is truly a gift and it is a good gift from God. Genesis 1:31 states, “God saw all that we made, and it was very good”. We need to change the way that we look at the Earth. Normally if we get a really nice gift we treasure it and do our best to protect it. This is the same mindset that we need to have about our land. Secondly, we do need to recognize that we have dominion over the Earth. God created us to take care of the Earth. In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth and then he created man to be stewards of it. It is important not to get to crazy and do things to harm the Earth but we must also remain healthy. Humans come before the land and they always should. Lastly, when living on Earth we must make good decisions. These decisions should be based on what our teachings tell us and our common sense. It is just common sense that cutting down a tree or throwing a wrapper out the yard will harm the Earth. This semester I have learned so much, and thought deeply about many topics. I know that the Earth is a gift and we are so blessed to have this beautiful creation to live in. The many field trips that we went on made me realize many things about our Earth that I didn’t realize. Specifically the wastewater treatment we went on made me realize how much waste we produce and it makes me feel like we are hurting our Earth. Too often people don’t think about the things that they are doing to our Earth. Psalm 8:6 states, “You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet”. The Bible states many times in context that we are to care for the Earth we have been

Caritas Australia shares the same mission as the Catholic Church. Their aim is to attend to the poor and publicize charity and justice throughout the world. They work through the principles and practice of the community's development, encouraging people to help themselves out of poverty, hunger and injustice. Caritas Australia works to bring freedom and aid to those whose lives have been destroyed by natural disasters or conflict.

The National Council of Churches in Australia is a national organisation that works in partnership with state ecumenical councils around Australia.

The concept of individual rights refers to the freedom each individual possesses to pursue life without interference from other individuals or the government. A community is a collection of said individuals, with common interests and values, who take up community responsibilities to ensure that the collection holds objective standards that are beneficiary to all. Even though these concepts are intrinsically linked, in that one cannot survive without the other, there is often a desire to separate them and define where one ends and the other begins. Human social life can often be seen as a unity of two seemingly contradictory behavioral ideas: status competition and reciprocity. Status competition is the practice of striving to establish

Alice Paul, the author of the Equal Rights Amendment of 1921, firmly stated that “there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality.” 1 Equality, a basic human truth, is the foundation of many governments, institutions, and schools of thought. While it may not be a common – or even a popular – opinion, feminist theory and the Roman Catholic Church both believe in the inherent trait of equality amongst all human beings, whether they be male or female. In order to prove this claim, one must examine both philosophies, acknowledge their differences, and finally, recognize the common themes of unity, equality, and inclusion that make feminism and Catholicism what they truly are.

His humanisation of the role of the Pope has resulted in improved communication between the lay people and himself, enabling him to initiate changes in Christianity such as the creation of peaceful multi-faith dialogue in order to gain mutual understandings and grounds on various issues. Furthermore, Pope John XXIII’s engagement in world affairs, most notably the Cuban missile crisis, the fostering of world peace through strengthening the United Nations and advocacy of women’s rights has positively shaped the lives of adherents through the use of a pacifist approach towards conflict with respect to the dignity and rights of people. Moreover, the instigation of the Second Vatican Council that has enabled the laity to engage in their faith in mass through the translation of the scriptures (the vernacular), vastly renewing the adherent’s understanding of their tradition. Pope John XXIII recognised the importance of marriage and the formation of family for its capacity to shape the lives of adherents as a whole society: “The family, founded upon marriage freely contracted, one and indissoluble, must be regarded as the natural, primary cell of human society. The interests of the family, therefore, must be taken very specially into consideration in social and economic affairs, as well as in the spheres of faith and morals.” Pope John XXIII was also strong advocate for human rights including those of the unborn. He believed that “human life is sacred from its very inception” (Mater et Magistra) and wrote about human rights in his final encyclical ‘Pacem in Terris’ issued in 1963: "Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of

Throughout history morality has been a topic of intense debate. Innumerable thinkers have devoted immense amounts of time and energy to the formulation of various ethical theories intended to assist humans in their daily lives. These theories set out guidelines which help to determine the rightness or wrongness of any given action and can therefore illuminate which choice would be morally beneficial. And while many of these theories differ substantially, most have at least one common underlying principle, namely that humans deserve to be treated with a certain level of respect. This idea comes from the belief that all humans have interests which are significant enough to be considered, hence no one should impede another

Each individual person is worthy of respect and given dignity is the rights approach. These are not legal rights, but our right to life, freedom, speech, well-being, etc. The rights approach applies to every individual. Under this approach we should take into consideration our actions or behavior and how they affect a individual's rights. Courage, compassion, integrity, fairness, honesty are a few ideal characteristics that we as individual's should strive to use each and every day

The doctrine of human rights were created to protect every single human regardless of race, gender, sex, nationality, sexual orientation and other differences. It is based on human dignity and the belief that no one has the right to take this away from another human being. The doctrine states that every ‘man’ has inalienable rights of equality, but is this true? Are human rights universal? Whether human rights are universal has been debated for decades. There have been individuals and even countries that oppose the idea that human rights are for everybody. This argument shall be investigated in this essay, by: exploring definitions and history on human rights, debating on whether it is universal while providing examples and background

This responsibility includes those of the personal and social nature. On a personal level, we have to take care of ourselves and stay healthy and happy individuals. Socially I strongly believe in the saying, do unto others, as you would like them to do unto you. Abiding by this rule helps society to operate as smoothly as possible without too much conflict. Besides, it is not worth any minute of our shirt lifetime to be unhappy or rude. We as humans are able to make conscious, individual choice and take responsibility for our actions, beliefs, feelings and attitudes. And I believe that we need to exercise these abilities.