Catholic Social Teaching

Catholic Social Teaching is a doctrine created by the Catholic Church dealing with issues such as poverty and other social injustices. Over the years, there were many people, such as Dorothy Day, who influenced Catholic Social Teaching. Catholic Social Teaching is the Church’s helps guide the members of the Church in various to way to assist those in need, not only with respect to poverty and illness, but in all aspects of life. Dorothy Day embraced the idea of a double ministry and addressed the many injustices our society faces even today. She lived with the poor, sharing food, clothing, and shelter with them. This gave her the ability to relate to the impoverished as she had a literal sense of what it meant to be poor. Day petitioned for
Many Churches provide food, clothing, and a home to those who are impoverished or homeless. Some people like Saint Vincent de Paul or Saint Louise de Marillac devoted their whole lives to helping those in need and even helped educate the poor as a way to attempt to stop the cycle of poverty. Sadly, in the nineteenth century the Industrial Revolution caused a whole new class of poverty, as thousands of people had to leave their farming jobs to begin working in the factories. Adults and children, were forced to work in tough conditions with little pay. Due to the fact that the children had to work, they were not able to become educated. Thus they were had forced to do repetitive tasks for the rest of their lives, as they were not educated enough to hold another job. There were no unions or insurance plans and the Government did not pay any attention to the behind-the-scenes injustices. The Church became a voice for social reform. Pope Leo XIII wrote an encyclical on the condition of labor wherein he petitioned for the care of the weak and poor. The Pope lobbied against the social injustices that were prominent at the time. He also wrote that governments should pay special attention to the poor as the wealthy classes are able to care for
Communism had already made its way to Russia and was becoming a threat to Germany and Italy as they were ruled by dictators. Even in the United States 25 percent of citizens who should be in the workforce had no jobs. Poverty was now on a global scale. Pope Pius XI wrote an encyclical on income inequality and the the need of shared power between all classes. Even after the Great Depression and World War II, there was still a large amount of poverty as many citizens lacked a proper education and consequently did not have a high paying job. There was also a large gap between countries that were developed, like the United States, and those who were still developing. Pope John XXIII wrote an encyclical discussing the issues between those countries who were developed and those who were not. Many countries who were well-off did not pay attention or spend money on those in need, even though help should be