Exploring Catholic Social Teaching

Chapter at a Glance
Different Types of Justice
High School Chapter
Teacher Introduction
Justice is the moral virtue that disposes us
to give what is due to God and our neighbor.
This virtue is expressed in four basic ways.
Distributive justice pertains to what a society
as a whole owes to its members: rewards and
punishments for good and bad deeds, as well
as the resources necessary for life. Legal justice
obliges those subject to a higher authority
to serve the common good through obedience,
as well as through participation in the political
process. Commutative justice pertains to
agreements between equal parties and requires
us to honor our commitments, as long as
they are reasonable and morally good. Finally,
social justice pertains to the responsibility of
society and its members to respect human
dignity. It requires all levels of society to work
together to ensure the temporal well-being of
all. This fourth type of justice especially calls us
to remember that charity and justice go hand in
hand; a society without love can never be just.
Though they may not always realize it,
many of your students’ impulses to complain
about or change society are rooted in
the sense of justice that arises from their
human dignity. Everyone has something
they feel strongly about and want to act
on, and this chapter is your chance to engage
your students’ concerns through the
virtue that is at the root of their desire. It
will help you clearly lay out the types of
justice, and it will enable you to teach the
truth about how a Catholic ought to live
justly so that as your students go out into
society, they will be a light to the world.
© Sophia Institute for Teachers 143