Ged Edwards, Network Development Officer
Caritas Social Action Network has produced a new, easy-to-use resource for parishes, communities, schools, groups, and individuals on Catholic Social Teaching (CST), CSAN CST Cards.
Catholic Social Teaching is widely known as the Church’s “Best Kept Secret.” The CSAN CST Cards enable people of all backgrounds to learn, reflect and take action together based upon its main values, and to respond to growing inequality through action.
The cards are based on eight values from Catholic Social Teaching (the common good, dignity, solidarity, option for the poor, participation, rights and responsibilities, subsidiarity, stewardship and care of creation). They are explained through quotes from Scripture, Catholic Social Teaching and from movies. We provide examples of the Church reading the Signs of the Times in history and responding through CST to urgent social issues. Finally, there are cards showing the values in action both in everyday scenarios and in the work of agencies in the Caritas network in our work in England and Wales.
The CSAN CST cards enable us to identify and discuss from our experience these fundamental values, the founding principles of good human organisation, and to discover just how important they are to ourselves and to others. Taking opportunities to discuss the values which drive us can be of lasting value in forming individuals and groups. The Guidance helps us to see how these fundamental values are lived out in our parish, school, local area and our own lives, and what could be done, with others too, in the future.
Raymond Friel, Chief Executive of CSAN, said,
‘This new resource from Caritas Social Action Network, produced in association with our colleagues at CAFOD, will provide parishes, schools and catechetical groups an accessible introduction to Catholic Social Teaching grounded in the reality of modern Britain. It’s ideal, in fact, for anybody who’s looking to engage with the principles of CST, with examples and scenarios to bring it to life.’
The cards are closely modelled on the resource produced by CAFOD for schools which contains material from an international perspective. The two resources therefore complement each other and, together, reflect the work of Caritas, both at home and overseas, as the Church reaches out to its sisters and brothers both locally and across the world.
The CSAN CST Cards sit alongside CSAN’s recent publication Caritas in Practice, also available from the CSAN website as an induction resource for teams of volunteers and staff. Both resources are available on the publications page of the CSAN website.
