“The Church has spoken loudly and clearly about contemporary social issues,” writes Toronto Byzantine Slovak Bishop John Pazak in his introduction to a new guide to social teaching for high schools from the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario. “In the following pages the basic principles of Catholic social teaching with some reflection questions are offered to acquaint or reacquaint you with this precious part of the Church’s proclamation of the Gospel.”
Schools weren’t asking the bishops for a new guide to social teaching, but they will welcome the eight-page “Fundamental Principles of Catholic Social Teaching,” said Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association spokesperson Sharon McMillan.
“They often issue documents to refresh and engage and explore and help school boards and students and staff to get a deeper understanding of our faith,” she said.
This new guide will help teachers within the existing curriculum.
“There’s nothing new here. This is in keeping with what our schools already teach in terms of social justice,” said McMillan. “But it’s always helpful when we can get this sort of information presented in a concise way.”
The guide to Catholic social teaching could be woven into student course work in everything from math to gym to religion, said education lecturer and consultant Ann McGowan.
“Catholic social teaching is integrated into all of our courses,” McGowan said. “You could use it in any one of your classes, for sure. Obviously it would fit well in religion class, but I think you could use it in any other discipline or subject area.”
McGowan trains teachers for the Catholic school system lecturing on religion as a teachable subject at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Niagara University and York University.
“What I like about this resource is that the questions at the end of it are new and unique,” she said.
Among the questions the bishops pose are:
o How are you living in solidarity with your family, parish, school, place of work, labour union, business people, community, levels of government?
o How can you support efforts to overcome the abuse of human rights, such as abortion, workers paid less than a living wage and denied their other rights as workers, people unable to get affordable housing?
o Can you develop or grow in your human dignity and character, build on the dignity given to you by God?
Part of the value of the new guide will be that it is succinct and cast in direct, accessible language, said McGowan.
“The schools obviously are already teaching Catholic social teaching. Obviously that’s a huge part of our curriculum and always has been,” McGowan said. “Any time we bring forward new documents, teachers generally like that… Any new resources are always welcome.”
“Fundamental Principles of Catholic Social Teaching” can be downloaded from www.acbo.on.ca.