United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

528 • Conclusion and Appendices

SOCIAL JUSTICE: Society ensures social justice by providing the conditions that allow associations and individuals to obtain their due (CCC, no. 1943). Social justice deals with the essential needs of people if they are to live together in community with respect for each other’s dignity. These needs include food, clothing, and shelter and an income that supports the family. SOCIAL SIN: Sins that produce unjust social laws and oppressive institutions. They are social situa tions and institutions contrary to divine goodness. Sometimes called “structures of sin” they are the expression and effect of personal sins. They lead the victims to do evil. In a certain sense, they consti tute a social sin (CCC, no. 1869). SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH: While the Church from New Testament times has always been concerned about the social needs of the orphan, widow, alien, and other helpless people, she began to develop an explicit social doctrine to respond to the social problems that have arisen because of the industrial and technological revolutions. These teachings are found in papal encyclicals begin ning with Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical On Capital and Labor ( Rerum Novarum ) to those of the

spiritual meaning points to realities beyond the words themselves and is subdivided into three categories. These categories are: • Allegorical —This recog nizes the significance of the Scriptures in Christ, that is, the way in which images in Scripture serve as a type or foreshadowing of Christ and his actions. Anagogical —This views realities and events in Scripture in terms of their eternal significance. Moral —What is read in Scripture inspires or motivates one to live justly (cf. CCC, nos. 115-117). right conscience; it is a failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidar ity. It has been defined as “an utter ance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law” (CCC, no. 1849). SLOTH: One of the Capital Sins; it involves a lack of effort in meeting duties and responsibilities to God, to others, and to oneself. • SIN: Sin is an offense against God as well as against reason, truth, and •