by Paul McHugh

Catholic Social Teaching draws on what is ancient and new in the Church’s memory.  It recalls the prophets’ cries for the widow, the orphan and the stranger; saints’ reminders of the demands of justice; and the concern of modern popes for the plight of the poor.

The prophet Isaiah taught that we should learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, and defend the orphan and the widow. St Ambrose reminded us that we are not making a gift of what is ours to the poor but are giving them back what is theirs. Pope Leo XVIII’s 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum, focused on the urban poor of his time.  ‘Some opportune remedy must be found quickly’, he wrote, ‘for the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working classes’ (RN3).

Dr Paul McHugh is a Lecturer in Catholic Religious Education at the University of Glasgow.  He gave this talk to a meeting of the Glasgow Newman circle in October. 

Photo by Cash Macanaya on Unsplash