Human life is sacred and the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. This belief is the foundation of all the principles of our social teaching.

Every person is precious, people are more important than things, and the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person.

“The law locks up the one who steals the goose from off the common, but lets the greater felon loose who steals the common from the goose.” [1]

“The good of the community is inseparable from the good of each of its members and the right ordering of the relationships between them.”[2]

The Common Good includes things like the air, land, water tables, oceans, biomes, etc. and includes structures in our societies like social programming, infrastructure, education and healthcare systems, banks, government, etc. that are all a part of the commons we hold and share in. The policies we develop affect us all.

[1] (Engel, J. Ronald. “A Covenant Model of Global Ethics.” Worldviews 8, no. 1 (2004): 29-46, 38.).

[2] Ibid. 40.

The economy must serve people, and not the other way around.

Everyone has the right to dignified, safe work, and fair wages.

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Work is more than a way to make a living: it is a way to participate in and actualize God’s creation.[1]

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It is good for people to realize that purchasing is always a moral act. The consumer has a specific social responsibility to make ethical choices.

[1]  (Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 66).

The needs of the poor take priority over the desires of the rich; the rights of workers over the maximization of profits; the preservation of the environment over uncontrolled industrial expansion.[1]

[1] (Saint John Paul II, Address on Christian Unity in a Technological Age, Toronto, 1984.).

We are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences.

Loving our neighbour has global dimensions to it. At the core of the virtue of solidarity is the pursuit of justice and peace. Pope Paul VI proclaimed at the second Vatican Council, if you want peace, work for justice!

Genisis 2:4-7 In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb had yet sprung up-for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground;

Till in Hebrew is the verb, "ābad” means ‘to serve and protect’, implies a  relationship. The one who works the land (people) are working for another (God), because it is a gift to us from God. The people serve God by serving the ground.

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We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God’s creation. The cry f the Earth is the cry of the Poor!

To be respectful and efficient we need to deal at the lowest level first, deal either with an individual or at the lowest level of government, and only if necessary, then higher levels must intervene. 

How we organize our society – economics, politics, in law and policy - directly affects human dignity and the ability of individuals to grow in community.

Every person ought to be the protagonist in their story. When decisions are being made, or policy written, the people who will be most affected by the changes need to have their voice and experience heard and headed.

Human dignity can be protected, and healthy communities can be achieved if and only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met.

Therefore, every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency.

Peace is the understanding that to be in right relationship with God we must be in right relationships with our neighbours, creation, and self. It is a direct product of charity and love and it is the result of justice.