The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church, Semester Edition

Elective C – Living as a Disciple of Jesus Christ in Society

This course introduces students to the social teachings of the Catholic Church, a rich body of thought covering love and family, law and justice, war and peace, wealth and poverty, rights and duties, and freedom and obligation. This course shows how through the ages the Magisterium of the Church responds to social developments by interpreting Divine Revelation and teaching the demands of the Gospel with authority. The student will learn how Christ’s divine love for others, especially the poor and most vulnerable, is present today in the Church’s social doctrine and mission.

Topics include:

• the unity of the whole human race,
• social teachings in Scripture, distributive, legal, commutative, and social justice,
• the necessity of the moral law,
• a sampling of recent pastoral letters,
• the dignity of human life,
• and the social dimension of the Commandments.

The Didache Semester Series is a series of high school textbooks, teacher’s manuals, and student workbooks published by Midwest Theological Forum. Each title spans one academic semester. These titles have been developed according to the 2007 curriculum framework from the USCCB Subcommittee on the Catechism to assist in the publication of religious education textbooks for Catholic high schools.

This book, The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church, corresponds to Elective C: Living as a Disciple of Jesus Christ in Society in the curriculum framework.

This textbook is published with ecclesiastical approval from the Archdiocese of Chicago, and it has been granted conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church by the USCCB Subcommittee on the Catechism.