THE CHURCH IN CONTEMPORARY ISSUES

You may be wondering what the Church is doing in 'sign of the times'? "Signs of the
Times" refer to events where the Church can address their views and opinion through their own
teachings. These teachings are called the Magisterium. Purposes of the Magisterium includes
authorization to the pope's address as a basis for faith, moral, and worship. One of these
teachings simply addresses their stand using catholic doctrine towards the problems arising the
world. It is called Catholic Social Teachings. You may be thinking what is this doing in life or
you've never heard of such. It's tagline is "Best Kept Secret". It means that is not known. It is not
formally said by the Church but rather our rationality can be pertain to it. These catholic social
teachings are written in encyclicals mostly in social encyclicals. It is a circulating letter from the
pope addressing the universal church to some matters of faith over the "signs of the times".
There are themes that accumulate the content of these social encyclicals.
First theme is the Life and Dignity of a Human Person. God made every single one of us.
This makes us incredibly special. It doesn’t matter who we are, who our friends are, what we
own, or what we look like. Second theme is the Call to Family, Community and Participation.
Jesus understood that people greatly need other people. We all need our families, friends and
neighbors. He tells us that these important people can help us. Third theme is Human Rights
and Responsibilities. All of God’s people should have food, work, clothes, a home, school and
medical care. These are rights; things every single person on earth must have to live. Fourth
theme is the Dignity and the Rights for Workers. All persons work. There are many kinds of
work. In each job, workers deserve to have safe conditions, reasonable hours, and fair wages.
They deserve this because they are made by God. Fifth theme is Option for the Poor and the
Vulnerable. Every person needs food, water, work, housing, school, and medical care. Those
who do not have these are poor. Our Church teaches that these brothers and sisters must be
treated with extra respect and extra care and given what they need. Sixth theme is Solidarity. All
of us are interrelated together. The world we live in has so many problems upholding the needs
of its citizens. We need to work unitedly to overcome the resulting tragedy. Seventh theme is
Care for God's Creation. All of us are called to be stewards of his creation. That means we are
to take care and give dominion over his creation making this world a better place to live in.
You would think that the Church had really been in duty all these years of concerns and
issues. This is how the Church addresses and helps his people. We should be using these
themes in order to dedicate and inspire ourselves for the common good of our earthly life.