Exploring Catholic Social Teaching
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
High School Chapter: Different Types of Justice<br />
Pope Pius XI articulated<br />
the concept of social<br />
justice as the fourth form<br />
of justice observed by<br />
the Church.<br />
185<br />
16 Why is the term “social justice”<br />
in a way redundant? Because<br />
all justice necessarily involves<br />
more than one person — justice<br />
means giving God and neighbor<br />
their due.<br />
Vocabulary<br />
<strong>Social</strong> Justice (n.): The<br />
responsibility of each<br />
member of society to<br />
respect the dignity of<br />
every human being, and<br />
the rights which fl ow from<br />
that dignity and guarantee<br />
it. Society must provide<br />
the conditions that allow<br />
people to obtain what is<br />
their due according to<br />
their nature and vocation.<br />
Pope Pius XI by Alberto Felici (1930).<br />
distinguishes commutative justice from legal justice which concerns<br />
what the citizen owes in fairness to the community, and from distributive<br />
justice which regulates what the community owes its citizens in<br />
proportion to their contributions and needs” ( CCC 2411). Historically,<br />
the Church has taught these three as the primary forms of justice. More<br />
recently, however, due to signifi cant changes to the socioeconomic order<br />
and events such as the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, and<br />
the growing poverty of the southern hemisphere, Pope Pius XI introduced<br />
a fourth form of justice — social justice.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> Justice<br />
You will often hear people sum up the Church’s social teaching by referring<br />
to it as “social justice.” This is not an accurate way to speak of <strong>Catholic</strong><br />
<strong>Social</strong> <strong>Teaching</strong>, however. <strong>Social</strong> justice is a term that needs clarifi cation<br />
because it is often misunderstood. Note that all justice involves multiple<br />
persons — it is all based on relationships: our relationship with God and<br />
our relationships with one another. Therefore, the term social justice is, in<br />
a way, redundant. All justice is by defi nition social, because it necessarily<br />
involves more than one person.<br />
© Sophia Institute for Teachers<br />
© Sophia Institute for Teachers<br />
High School Chapter: Different Types of Justice<br />
155