The Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching

this taken from http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/catholicteachingprinciples.shtml#1

• Catholic Teaching on the Life and Dignity of the Human Person: Every human person is created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, each person’s life and dignity must be respected, whether that person is an innocent unborn child in a mother’s womb, whether that person worked in the World Trade Center or a market in Baghdad, or even whether that person is a convicted criminal on death row. We believe that every human life is sacred from conception to natural death, that people are more important than things, and that the measure of every institution is whether it protects and respects the life and dignity of the human person. —USCCB Administrative Committee, Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility, p. 13
  
  
• Catholic Teaching on the Call to Family, Community, and Participation: The human person is not only sacred, but social. The God-given institutions of marriage— a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman—and family are central and serve as the foundations for social life. Marriage and family should be supported and strengthened, not undermined. Every person has a right to participate in social, economic, and political life and a corresponding duty to work for the advancement of the common good and the well-being of all, especially the poor and weak. —USCCB Administrative Committee, Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility, p. 13
  
  
• Catholic Teaching on Solidarity: We are one human family. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be. Pope John Paul II insists, “We are all really responsible for all.” Loving our neighbor has global dimensions in a shrinking world. At the core of the virtue of solidarity is the pursuit of justice and peace. Pope Paul VI taught that “if you want peace, work for justice.” The Gospel calls us to be “peacemakers.” Our love for all our sisters and brothers demands that we be “sentinels of peace” in a world wounded by violence and conflict. —USCCB Administrative Committee, Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility, p. 15
  
  
• Catholic Teaching on the Dignity of Work: The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s act of creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers, owners, and others must be respected—the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organize and choose to join a union, to economic initiative, and to ownership and private property. These rights must be exercised in ways that advance the common good. —USCCB Administrative Committee, Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility, p. 15
  
  
• Catholic Teaching on Rights and Responsibilities: Every person has a fundamental right to life— the right that makes all other rights possible. Each person also has a right to the conditions for living a decent life—faith and family life, food and shelter, education and employment, health care and housing. We also have a duty to secure and respect these rights not only for ourselves, but for others, and to fulfill our responsibilities to our families, to each other, and to the larger society. —USCCB Administrative Committee, Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility, p. 14
  
  
• Catholic Teaching on the Option for the Poor and Vulnerable: Scripture teaches that God has a special concern for the poor and vulnerable. The Church calls on all of us to embrace this preferential option for the poor and vulnerable, to embody it in our lives, and to work to have it shape public policies and priorities. A fundamental measure of our society is how we care for and stand with the poor and vulnerable. —USCCB Administrative Committee, Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility, p. 15
  
  
• Catholic Teaching on Caring for God’s Creation: The world that God created has been entrusted to us. Our use of it must be directed by God’s plan for creation, not simply for our own benefit. Our stewardship of the Earth is a form of participation in God’s act of creating and sustaining the world. In our use of creation, we must be guided by a concern for generations to come. We show our respect for the Creator by our care for creation. —USCCB Administrative Committee, Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility, p. 15