Catholic Social Teaching (CST) is based on a tradition of episcopal and papal writings on political, economic and social issues facing our time. CST provides us with a structure on how to encompass and apply these reflections to our daily lives. More importantly, it guides us on how we should respond to our faith as individuals, and actively respond to God’s call to work towards a common good. At St Catherine’s Catholic Social Teaching underpins everything we do as a school, and the principles are interwoven within our curriculum and wider school life.
The principles that guide Catholic Social Teaching are:
- Care of Creation
- Human Dignity
- Dignity of Workers
- Option for the Poor
- Solidarity and Peace
- Community and Participation
Rooted In Love
We use the resource Rooted in Love, which is a Religious Education resource for primary schools, funded by the ALF grant. It addresses the objectives relating to Catholic Social Teaching from the new Religious Education Directory, including prayer and liturgy ideas around each theme, as well as suggestions for bringing this work to life in the Catholic life and mission of the school.
Caritas Ambassadors
We take part in the Caritas Ambassadors programme, which aims to equip pupils with a strong understanding of Catholic Social Teaching and how we can put it into action in our daily lives.
Our very enthusiastic Caritas Ambassadors are leaders of social action in our school, and they take responsibility for sharing what they have learnt with those around them. They share the work of Caritas Westminster with others, but especially share their increased understanding of the issues faced by our local community, and how they and their fellow pupils can address these to create a fairer society.
Our Caritas Ambassadors are working hard with Miss Fielden to plan the projects they would like to carry out as Pilgrims of Hope this year as part of our Jubilee Celebrations.
