MALAWI: ECM Staff urged to uphold and share the Catholic Social Teaching
Staff Members at the Catholic Secretariat have been urged to embrace the social teaching of the church and make them known in the societies they work, for people to know how the Catholic Church engages and deals with society and also its understanding of economic, political and cultural realities.
The call was made by Fr. Cosmas Kadzombe, a Lecturer at Catholic University of Malawi when he facilitated an enlightenment session of staff members at the Catholic secretariat on the social teaching of the church. He said the Catholic Social Teaching has been described as the church’s best kept secret as many Catholics are not familiar with it because it is not much shared with the people, hence the need to make these values known to society.
“Catholic Social Teaching is an embodiment of principles, values and truth which the sacred Church draws from sacred scriptures, tradition and reason and applies to societal challenges of our modern world. Through this teaching, the Church reads the signs of the times, interprets them in light of the Gospel, see what is happening in the society, make her judgment on what she has seen and then act.” Said Fr. Kadzombe.
He also said that the Catholic Social Teaching is guided by a number of principles which are founded from a primary principle of the human person and human dignity which emphasizes that all human beings were created in the image and likeness of God and goes against all violation of human dignity and human rights.
“The Church fulfils her mission to the world through a human person and therefore, the church cannot leave a human person alone. Other principles of the Catholic social teaching include common good which the church emphasizes as compared to the private good, the principle of subsidiarity which allows everyone to do what they can manage and be assisted when they fail, the principle of solidarity which promotes the common good, the principle of justice that overcomes the private law which favours the powerful in society and the principle of preferential option for the poor which promotes a bias towards the poor who are at the heart and mission of the church,” he said
The primary source of the Catholic social teaching is the bible which orients the church on how to engage with society. Writings on social matters in the history of the church which include letters by Popes known as encyclicals, documents of the Synod of Bishops and of Vatican Council are also other sources of Catholic Social Teaching.
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By: Stella Zulu, ECM
