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Why an Introduction to
Catholic Social Doctrine?
"We Believe in Catholic Social Doctrine " is a program designed to help our parish respond to the following, and other, teachings of our faith.
1. In their 1994 statement, Communities of Salt and Light pg #4, the US Bishops said
"We believe the Church’s social mission is an essential measure of every parish community ...,
We need to build local communities of faith where our social teaching is central, not fringe; where social ministry is integral, not optional; where it is the work of every believer, not just the mission of a few committed people and committees"
2. In their 1998 Pastoral Letter, Everyday Christianity, the US Bishops said:
"Every believer is called to serve ‘the least of these,’ to ‘hunger and thirst for justice,’ to be a peacemaker. . . .
Catholicism does not call us to abandon the world, but to help shape it. This does not mean leaving worldly tasks and responsibilities, but transforming them." 3. In their 1986 Pastoral letter, Economic Justice for All, the US Bishops Said:
"Every citizen also has the responsibility to work to secure justice and human rights through an organized social response . . .
The guaranteeing of basic justice for all is not an optional expression of largesse but an inescapable duty for the whole of society."
We Believe!
In Catholic Social Doctrine
4. In their 1971 statement, Justice in the World, the Vatican Synod of Bishops said:
 "Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel"
5. In his Encyclical, The Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful, Pope John Paul II said:
". . . a faith that does not affect a person`s culture is a faith ‘not fully embraced, not entirely thought out, not faithfully lived.’"
6. In his encyclical, The New Millennium #50, Pope John Paul II Said:
How can it be that even today there are still people dying of hunger? Condemned to illiteracy?
Lacking the most basic health care? Without a roof over their heads? . . . Christians must learn to make their act of faith in Christ by discerning His voice in the cry for help that rises from this world of poverty.
7. # 549 of the Compendium of Catholic Social Doctrine says this:
"The Church’s social doctrine must become an integral part of the ongoing formation of the lay faithful."
8. #531 of the Compendium Catholic Social Doctrine says this:
"The Church’s Social Doctrine must be the basis of an intense and constant work of formation, especially of the lay faithful."
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