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Catholic Social Teaching

The Good News of Catholic Social Teaching

Catholic Social Teaching (CST) has often been called the church’s best kept secret. Catholic Social Teaching is based in the Old and New Testaments and especially the Christian Gospel’s commandment – to love God and to love our neighbour as yourself. The command to love one’s neighbour has no boundaries and knows no limits. Not geographical boundaries - our neighbours may be in Australia or in Tibet. They are not generational boundaries either - our neighbours include future generations

CST is based on a belief in the fundamental dignity of the human person. In the twenty first century one of the evils that deny the dignity of the human person is that of Trafficking in Humans. This belief in the dignity of the human person has been the basis of much Catholic Social Teaching especially since the 19th century.

Trafficking in Humans is one of the evils of our world. Catholic Social Teaching will help us to understand how:

•	Human trafficking is an assault on human dignity and an affront to God’s dream of “abundance of life for all” as expressed in John 10:10
•	The social doctrine of the Catholic Church places the human person at the heart and source of social order
•	The Gospel mandates of right relationship, reconciliation, justice and peace demand our active and immediate response to this practice

Discover our call to act against this evil of slavery today!

The Bible

Human trafficking is not something of the modern era only. Slavery is the oldest form of abuse in human history especially the sexual slavery of women and children. When we look at the Christian Bible it is clear that freedom from slavery is a theme that runs like a thread throughout both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. Perhaps the most well known example is the Exodus event in the Old Testament…this is a defining moment in the life of the people of Israel, when they are freed from the forced labour and dominance of the Pharaoh and their Egyptian oppressors.

Leviticus 25:39-42
Lamentations 5:1; 5:10-21
Luke 4:16-21
Luke 6:20-38
Luke 13:10-13
Luke 18:18-25
Matthew 25:31-46

Papal Teaching

Pope John Paul II
[May 15, 2002]

The trade in human persons constitutes a shocking offence against human dignity and a grave violation of fundamental human rights.
Already the Second Vatican Council had pointed to ‘slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, and the disgraceful working conditions where people are treated as instruments of gain rather than free and responsible persons’, as ‘infamies’ which ‘poison human society, debase their perpetrators’ and ‘constitute ‘a supreme dishonour to the Creator’ (Gaudium et Spes #27). Such situations are an affront to fundamental values shared by all cultures and peoples, values rooted in the very nature of the human Person... Who can deny that the victims of this crime are often the poorest and most defenceless members of the human family, the ‘least’ of our brothers and sisters?

Recent Vatican Statements

Holy See Address to Human Trafficking Forum (2008) PDF (Holy See address to human trafficking forum 2008)
Statement by the Holy See’s permanent observer to the UN at the 51st Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (2007) PDF (51st Session)
Vienna forum on the fight Against Trafficking in Human Beings 2007 PDF (Vienna Forum)

Active Faithful

Anne Munley, IHM:
[In Service of Life: The Response to Human Trafficking 2006]

Human Trafficking is an assault on human dignity and an affront to God’s dream of ‘abundance of life for all’ expressed so beautifully in John 10:10 – I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full

It is an issue that touches every part of the globe and demands a worldwide response, especially from persons committed to the Gospel mandates of right relationship, reconciliation, justice and peace.

It is a sign of the times that must not be ignored by men and women religious motivated by passion for Christ and passion for humanity. PDF Trafficking article by Anne Munley.

Others

Behold a Woman – Sister Camilla Burns, SNDden PDF (Behold a woman)
Understanding and Counteracting Trafficking in Persons – the Acts of the Seminar for Women Religious (PDF UNDERSTANDING AND ….)
Declaration from International Congress 2008 – Women Religious in network Against Trafficking in Persons. PDF

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html

Nos 21, 158, 451, 296

PRAYER KIT

Pray with and for all those who are touched by the horrors of human trafficking. Enter their world in your imagination and hold their tears and their pain in your heart.

Feel free to use these prayers/reflection or any part of them in order to create what is suitable for your prayer group.

ACRATH prayer card

Download.. (.pdf 277KB)

Submit your own prayers here.

A great prayer resource for Lent:
Cries of Anguish, Stories of Hope: study resources on violence against women

International Womens Day
- March 8th 2010
- Prayer for sharing
The JPIC Anti Trafficking Working group has created a prayer (translated into many languages) which reminds us of the need to pray for those men and women who continue to suffer on this day.

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