Catholic Social Teaching

First Sunday of Lent, Year C, 21 February

“Yet there are those who, while professing grand and rather noble sentiments, nevertheless in reality live always as if they cared nothing for the needs of society…..Others think little of the certain norms of social life, for example those designed for the protection of health…”
Gaudium et Spes, p.30

Second Sunday of Lent, Year C, 28 February
“We especially urge Catholics living in developed nations to offer their skills and earnest assistance to public and private organisations, both civil and religious, working to solve the problems of developing nations.”
Populorum Progressio, p.81

Third Sunday of Lent, Year C, 7 March
“Moreover, the good news of the kingdom which is coming and which has begun is meant for all people of all times.”
Evangelii Nuntiandi, p.13

Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C (SCIAF Sunday), 14 March
“Everyone knows that the fathers of the Church laid down the duty of the rich towards the poor in no uncertain terms.  As St. Ambrose put it: ‘You are not making a gift of what is yours to the poor,…but you are giving him back what is his.’…No one may appropriate surplus goods solely for his own private use when others lack the bare necessities of life.”
Populorum Progressio, p.23

Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year C, 21 March
“From all sides there rises a yearning for more justice and a desire for a better guaranteed peace in mutual respect among individuals and peoples.”
Octagesimo Adveniens, p.2.2

Passion Sunday, Year C, 28 March
“The Church…has a proper and specific responsibility which is identified with her mission of giving witness before the world of the need for love and justice contained in the gospel message, a witness to be carried out in church institutions themselves and in the lives of Christians.”
Justice in the World, p.36

Easter Sunday Year C, 4 April
 “’When we have spread on earth the fruits of our nature and our enterprise – human dignity, fraternal communion and freedom – according to the command of the Lord and his Spirit, we will find them once again, cleansed this time from the stain of sin, illumined and transfigured, when Christ presents to his Father an eternal and universal kingdom.’”
Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, p.48.1

Second  Sunday of Easter, Year C, 11 April
“A sign of love will be the concern to give the truth and to bring people into unity.  Another sign of love will be a devotion to the proclamation of Jesus Christ, without reservation or turning back.”
Evangelii Nuntiandi, p.79.1

Third Sunday of Easter, Year C, 18 April
“All of us who take part in the Eucharist are called to discover, through this sacrament, the profound meaning of our actions in the world in favour of development and peace;  and to receive from it the strength to commit ourselves ever more generously, following the example of Christ, who in this sacrament lays down his life for his friends (cf. Jn. 15:13)”.
Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 48.5

Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year C, 25 April
“Yet another sign of love will be the effort to transmit to Christians, . . . . certainties that are solid because they are anchored in the word of God.  The faithful need these certainties for their Christian life; they have a right to them, as children of God who abandon themselves entirely into his arms and to the exigencies of love.”
Evangelii Nuntiandi, p 79.4

Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year C, 2 May
“. . . . . nation must meet nation, as brothers and sisters, as children of God.  In this mutual understanding and friendship, in this sacred communion, we must also begin to work together to build the common future of the human race.  We also urge men [and women] to explore concrete and practicable ways of organising and co-ordinating their efforts, so that available resources might be shared with others;  in this way genuine bonds between nations might be forged.”
Populorum Progressio, p. 43

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C, 9 May
“. . . . The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church.  It is he who explains to the faithful the deep meaning of the teaching of Jesus and of his mystery.  It is the Holy Spirit who, today just as at the beginning of the Church, acts in every evangeliser who allows himself to be possessed and led by him.  The Holy Spirit places on his lips the words which he could not find by himself, and at the same time the Holy Spirit predisposes the soul of the hearer to be open and receptive to the good news and to the kingdom being proclaimed.”
Evangelii Nuntiandi, 75.2

Ascension of the Lord, Year C, 13 May
“This kingdom and this salvation, . . . are available to every human being as grace and mercy, and yet at the same time each individual must gain them by force . . . through toil and suffering, through a life lived according to the gospel,  . . . through the spirit of the beatitudes.”
Evangelii Nuntiandi, p. 10

Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year C, 16 May
True mercy is, so to speak, the most profound source of justice. If justice is in itself suitable for "arbitration" between people concerning the reciprocal distribution of objective goods in an equitable manner, love and only love (including that kindly love that we call "mercy") is capable of restoring man to Himself.
Mercy that is truly Christian is also, in a certain sense, the most perfect incarnation of "equality" between people, and therefore also the most perfect incarnation of justice as well, insofar as justice aims at the same result in its own sphere.
Pope John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia, n14

Solemnity of Pentecost, Year C, 23 May
“ . . it is only after the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost that the apostles depart to all the ends of the earth in order to begin the great work of the Church’s evangelisation.  . . .  The Spirit who causes Peter, Paul and the twelve to speak, and who inspires the words that they are to utter, also comes down ‘on those who heard the word’.”
Evangelii Nuntiandi, p.75.1.

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Year C, 30 May
The Catholic social mission is also carried forward by believers who join unions, neighbourhood organisations, business groups, civic associations, the pro-life movement, groups working for justice, or environmental, civil rights or peace groups. It is advanced by Christians who stand up for the values of the Gospel. This mission is the task of countless Christians living their faith without much fanfare or recognition, who are quietly building a better society by their choices and actions day by day. They protect human life, defend those who are poor, seek the common good, work for peace, and promote human dignity.
US Bishops, Everyday Christianity, 1998, Intro