Self and Community in Catholic Social Thought
The aim of this paper is to establish a concise discourse regarding the nine principles of Catholic Social Thought and thereafter to explain the relation between “self” and “community” in relation to Catholic Social Thought. With the help of applying a personal commentary style, the interrelation between individual and community and understanding of their relation with the principles of Catholic Social Thought will be written.
The nine fundamental doctrines of Catholic Social Thought are considered as – Human Dignity, Community and the common Good, Role of Government, Rights and Responsibilities, Promotion of Peace Participation, Dignity of Work and Rights of Workers and Stewardship of Creation, Solidarity, and Option for the poor and vulnerable, (Massaro, 2015). Here I should elaborate each of the principles as it will help to understand their relation with the concepts and interrelation between self and community. The principle of Human dignity asserts that human beings are made in the God like image as well as likeness and as per that human life is meant to be sacred. It is believed that the foundation of the social teaching is the human belief in the inherent dignity as well as sanctity of life. The principle of community and common good states that in the global culture that is driven by individualism, human beings are sacred and social. According to the principle, human dignity and the potentiality of individual growth in the society are determined by the way human beings organize their society (Thompson, 2015).
Further, the indication of the principle of rights and responsibilities is that a healthy community with adequate protection for human dignity can be accomplished only if human rights will be protected and responsibilities will be fulfilled. Hence, everyone in the society has the responsibility towards their families and the larger society following their fundamental rights to life and all other things required for maintaining human decency (Hill & Capella, 2014). The principle of the option for the poor and vulnerable declares that the human society pursues the categorization of the rich and poor. However, the tradition following this principle says that we are obliged to put the requirements of the vulnerable and poor section of the society first. The principle of participation on the other hand states that it is one of the fundamental rights of the people to participate in some of the crucial aspects of the social life, like economic, political and cultural life. The human dignity and justice demand that every human individual should have minimum rights of participation. The next principle – Dignity of Work and rights of workers, claims that economy is obliged to serve people first and in order to protect the dignity of work, it is essential first to protect as well as respect the basic rights of the workers. It means workers have the right to get fair and equal wage, the facility of getting economic initiatives and join unions.
