Catholic Social Intervention

3.2 Catholic Basis for Social Intervention

John Ryan answers the question on whether the responsibility of the Catholic Church is different in this age than in former ages by asserting that the Church’s responsibility does not differ now from what it has always been. The Catholic Church admits, indeed insists that the unchanging principles require new applications to fit new conditions. The Church’s ministry is rooted in the love, support and promotion of human dignity. “A just society can become a reality only when it is based on the respect of the transcendent dignity of the human person. The person represents the ultimate end of society, by which it is ordered to represent: ‘Hence, the social order and its development must invariably work

This is because it entails a right to the means for the proper development of life, which include adequate health care. The PLWHA in our societies deserve quality life. They equally have dignity as every other person. We cannot use their situation to judge and ostracise them under any circumstance. The church has the duty to protect and defend them as Jesus Christ defended the adulterous woman. The U.S.Catholic Bishops Conference postulates that the dignity and preservation of human life flows from creating humans in the icon of God in Genesis 1:26 (Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth). We can infer that humans therefore are the most important creatures of God as they are given dominion over every other created thing. It will be unjust for humans to subjugate their own kind as some try to do for PLWHA. From redemption by Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:10; 1Timothy 2:4-6), and from our common fortune we share a lifetime with God beyond all corruption (1 Corinthians 15:42-57). The Catholic Church again has the responsibility to care for those in need in a manner that honours the human dignity. The words of Christ have provided inspiration for the Church’s social teaching: “I

These principles are developed based on their insights of the Church’s mission to accentuate several current issues. However, William Byron has categorised and postulated these principles into ten (10) foundational principles which guide the social operations of the Catholic Church. These principles focus the Church’s attention on her authentic and meaningful relationship with humanity as a whole. Renato Cardinal Martino asserts that the Church is an expert in humanity, and anticipating with trust and with active involvement she continues to look towards the “new heavens” and the “new earth” (2 Pet 3:13), which she indicates to every person, in order to help people to live their lives in the dimension of authentic meaning. ‘Gloria Dei vivens homo’: the human person who fully lives his or her dignity gives glory to God, who has given this dignity to men and women. This section will peruse the below-mentioned principles according to Byron which are the building blocks of the social teaching of the church and guide to it social