Exploring Catholic Social Teaching

LESSON PLAN
D. Invite groups to share responses, and go over the questions with the class. Suggested answers
are below:
1. To promise loyalty
2. To the U.S. flag, and the republic of the United States of America.
3. A society where representatives of the people make and carry out laws.
4. Perhaps because the country had been recently divided when Southern states seceded, and
during the Civil War.
5. To distinguish the U.S. from atheistic communist countries.
6. Because all people are equal under the law.
7. No. God’s law is always higher than man-made law. Man-made laws that contradict the
moral law are unjust and we do not owe those laws obedience.
Activity
A. As a class, quickly brainstorm a list of people who have authority over others. Keep a list on the
board. For example:
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Parents have authority over their children
Teachers have authority over their students
A principal has authority over teachers a
A business owner has authority over employees
Public officials have authority over citizens
B. Project or write on the board the famous line from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold
these truths to be self-evident: that all men [the masculine here includes both males and females]
are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Call on
a student to summarize this statement. All people are equal and have God-given rights.
C. Now ask the question: If all people are equal, how is it that some people have the ability to tell
others what to do?
D. Explain to your students that all people have equal rights because we are all created in the
image and likeness of God. This truth does not mean that no authority is possible. A chief
example is that parents have a natural authority over their children. The Fourth Commandment
requires us to honor our parents throughout our lives, not only when we are young.
E. Continue to explain that all societies, not just families, need authorities in charge. In the United
States, our system of government is a republic, where the people elect representatives to make
and carry out laws. This is the practice in the U.S., while other countries have other forms of
government. But transcending all time and place, from where does the authority to rule over
others ultimately come from? The answer is that all authority comes from God.
EXPLORING CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING, lesson 10
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