Slide 1

This is a slide for the first movement

What responsibilities come with God’s gifts?

God entrusts the gift of creation to humanity.

With this gift comes the responsibility of stewardship—caring for the goods and possessions God has entrusted to humanity.

God gave people ‘dominion’ over creation so that everyone could have a decent and dignified life.

What responsibilities come with God’s gifts?

Working toward God’s original plan of justice for his creation includes:•Respect for people•Humane treatment of animals•Responsible use of natural resources (air, water and earth)

The Church’s Social Doctrine teaches the importance of ‘the universal destination of goods’.•Everyone benefits from God’s creation•Everyone has access to goods•No one holds goods irresponsibly while others go without

What responsibilities come with God’s gifts?

Divine Providence is God’s loving care and concern for all of creation.

Conditions contrary to divine providence:•Homelessness•Hunger•Lack of clean water•Lack of access to health care

Social Sins are committed when individuals and policies fail to generously share goods and resources.

Social sins produce injustice and oppression.

The Seventh Commandment: much more than not stealing

The Israelites were wandering nomads in the desert somewhere between Egypt and Canaan.

They lived in fear of thieves and enemies raiding their encampments and seizing their goods.

The Israelites were in a state of great vulnerability when they received the Ten Commandments.

The Seventh Commandment spoke of the importance of trust and respect for the property of others.

The Seventh Commandment: much more than not stealing

Humanity has the God-given right to posses property and goods which are acquired justly.

As we acquire and posses goods we are called to •Keep our neighbors in mind•Follow the mandate of the Great Commandment•Maintain a balance between our needs and the needs of others, especially the poor•be just and prudent stewards of creation

‘Giving alms to the poor is a witness to fraternal charity: it is also

a work of justice pleasing to God’ (CCC, no. 2462)

The Seventh Commandment: much more than not stealing

Acquiring and possessing God’s gifts extends out to larger political and economic dealings.

Moral law requires that leaders of businesses and corporations, as they pursue a profit, use these means for the common good of all.

Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that ‘investment always has moral, as well as economic significance’ (Charity in Truth, no. 40).

Greater privilege and power brings greater responsibility.

The Seventh Commandment: much more than not stealing

Acts contrary to the Seventh Commandment include:

•Business fraud•Paying unjust wages•Doing poor work for which you are being paid•Not keeping contractual promises•Destruction of another’s property•Not paying obligations such as social security and taxes

Theft is an act of injustice and requiresreparation and restitution

The Social Teaching of the Catholic Church

The four Cardinal Virtues empower us to live the Seventh Commandment:•Justice•Temperance•Fortitude •Prudence

Justice is achieved ‘with the help of charity’ (CCC, no. 2459). It demands showing special concern for those who are most in need.

In the Book of Prophet Isaiah, we read: ‘Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow’ (Isaiah 1:17).

The Social Teaching of the Catholic Church

Types of Justice

ORIGINAL JUSTICE: God’s plan and will for all creation.

COMMUTATIVE JUSTICE: Ensures that we deal fairly and honestly with one another in our daily interactions.

DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE: The just and fair distribution of a society’s resources, which aims to ensure that everyone has enough to meet their basic needs.

LEGAL JUSTICE: ‘. . . concerns what the citizen owes to the community’ (CCC, Glossary).

The Social Teaching of the Catholic Church

Types of Justice

SOCIAL JUSTICE: Refers to the ordering of society that promotes ‘respect for the fundamental rights that flow from the intrinsic dignity of the person’ (CCC, no. 1944).

RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE: Focuses on the punishment of offenders and is aimed at balancing the scales held by Lady Justice.

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE: Aims at the rehabilitation of the offender and reparation to victims. Offenders work to repair the harm caused by their acts and that the victim’s suffering be acknowledged and addressed.

Attitudes and actions count in living the Christian moral life

Covetousness is ‘a disordered inclination or desire for pleasure or possessions’ (CCC, Glossary).

Jesus acknowledged that people can get caught up in desiring and seeking worldly pleasures and possessions.

Covetousness is one of the seven Capital Sins by which we seek happiness everywhere but in God.

The wisdom of the Tenth Commandment sets us free from addictive attitudes toward possessions, which never fully satisfy us.

Attitudes and actions count in living the Christian moral life

ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR CONTRARY TO THE TENTH COMMANDMENT:

Greed (avarice) is an inordinate attachment to the goods of creation which leads to sins of injustice and other evils.

‘Envy is sadness at the sight of another’s goods and the immoderate desire to have them for oneself’ (CCC, no. 2553).

Jealousy develops when a person is possessive of what one has or thinks one should have, as well as resentful toward others for what they have’ (USCCA, 516).

Gluttony is ‘eating and drinking more than what is necessary’ (USCCA, 513).

Attitudes and actions count in living the Christian moral life

Jesus told his disciples, ‘Do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying . . . Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well’ (Luke 12:29, 31).

The Tenth Commandment encourages living the Gospel precept of detachment with a poverty of heart and simplicity.

Through baptism we receive the grace to resist a worldly attitude toward earthly goods.