Catholic Social Teaching

Catholic Social Teaching (CST) is rooted in Scripture, formed by the wisdom of Church leaders, and influenced by grassroots movements. It is our moral compass, guiding us on how to live out our faith in the world.

Our faith calls us to love God and to love our neighbours in every situation, especially our sisters and brothers living in poverty. Following in the footsteps of Christ, we hope to make present in our unjust and broken world, the justice, love and peace of God.

Modern Catholic Social Teaching is said to have originated in 1891 with the encyclical letter, Rerum Novarum. Since then, a wealth of teaching continues to give new life to the Scriptures and shape the Church’s response to our modern world. Pope Francis’ continues to add to Catholic Social Teaching with his own encyclicals including Laudato Si’ (2015) and Fratelli Tutti (2020) From these Catholic social teaching documents and encyclicals we derive core principles.  

At St John’s, by living out the Gospel values, we are building a school community that is in harmony with the principles of Catholic Social Teaching.  The CAFOD video below explains what Catholic Social Teaching is and how we can use it to guide our everyday lives.    

Our school’s commitment to the principles of Catholic Social Teaching is incorporated into the weekly prayer resource, and in which we ask students to reflect on their own lives, and how the themes within Catholic Social Teaching can help their moral and spiritual development. Furthermore, the themes of Catholic Social Teaching, such as Caring for Creation, Dignity of the human person, and Solidarity are taught across the whole school curriculum in subject lessons.  

See below is the poster from student diaries which provides the themes and information about Catholic Social Teaching.