Basis of Human dignity
development is to overcome miseries of
Genesis 1:26 - Let us make man in our
image and likeness
Man should be taken absolutelyMan should
be taken absolutely
This includes even the UNBORN
Implies the majestic and deliberate will of
God to create man
Being the last to be created suggests that he
is the crown of creation
Man by his innermost nature is a social
being,
a relational being
Unless he relates himself to others, he can
neither live nor develop his potentials
Woman, as being taken from the ribs of man
simply means:
1. A woman is close to mans heart
2. Woman completes Complete humanity
means man and
woman together
The Dignity of the Human Person
Human dignity is the result of human
existence.
Human dignity is not earned by
achievements or bestowed by any authorities
other than GOD.
Each person has a divine vocation- to further
the development of human society as a
whole.
The catholic social teaching stressed that
economic development can impede authentic
human development.
Why authentic human development should
not be understood as economic
development?
The sacred character of human dignity
involves the development of ones skills and
gifts for service to the common good.
to have possessions can be the worst
enemy to grow in the depth and quality of
personal being.
(Pope John Paul II )
GREED is the most deliberate form of moral
underdevelopment. (Pope Paul VI )
The great challenge to authentic human
poverty amidst inadmissible super
development of consumerism.
(Pope John Paul II )
The human development involves a
commitment of solidarity with all people,
especially with those in poverty and
situations of oppression.
Human dignity is grounded in Gods creative
love and invites love.
Love of neighbor and love of God are
indispensable to authentic human
development
Love of neighbor towards social justice is
essential to love God; and love of God and
neighbor are essential to the work for justice.
To promote justice is to transform structures
which obstruct love.
The sacred dignity of each person and the
call to love ones neighbor is an essential
element of loving God which can be
manifested through respectful dialogue.
Demonizing rhetoric destroys the conditions
of dialogue and violates human dignity
Human dignity transcends any social order
as the basis for rights, and it is the
conceptual basis for human rights.
Human life is sacred because the human
person is the most central and clearest
reflection of God among us
Human dignity is inalienable that means it is
an essential part of every human being and is
an intrinsic quality that can never be
separated from other essential
aspects of the person
Belief in the dignity of the human person is
the foundation of morality. The principle of
human dignity is the foundation of all the
Catholic social teaching principles.
1. Every human being has a right to
lead a dignified life.
2. A dignified life means an concrete protection of human dignity,
opportunity to fulfill ones potential, and to do
which is based on having a human good and avoid evil.
level of health care, education, 5. The person is free. Only one who is free
income and security can be morally
3. Dignity means having the freedom responsible.
to make decisions on ones life and
to be met with respect for this Political vision of the person
right,.
1. The person is an independent individual
Dignity should be the basic guiding principle who has
for all actions. rights and responsibilities that are
bounded by
Our own dignity is interdependent with the legal limits.
dignity of others.
2. Equality is a foundation of the political
Human Dignity connected with my life vision.
for It provides:
3. The role of the political state is active but
1.Principles for reflection; limited.
2. Criteria for judgment; The state must protect rights, promote the
3.Guidelines for action; general welfare of its citizens and insure
4. Tools for conscience formation public
order, but should not interfere in matters
Biblical vision of the person of faith.

1. grounded on revelation. (Gn 1:26-27)

2. is made in the image and likeness of God.
3. Human dignity is understood as flowing
from ones
relationship with God
4. Human dignity is grounded in human
freedom.
The human person is free to accept or
reject the
ongoing self- communication of God.
5. Human dignity is realized and protected in
community with others.

Theological vision of the person

1. The principle of human dignity rests on a

foundation of
faith which affirms that God is the
source and creator of all life.
2. In faith and through faith, the person is
fulfilled.
1.The person is capable of knowing and
loving God.
2.The human person is to be morally
responsible for the
Dignity of Person
!
The whole of mans life is a quest and a
search for God
Our relationship with God can be ignored or
forgotten but it can never be eliminated
The relationship between God and the
human person is reflected in the relational
and social dimension of human nature
The existence of sin deprived the human
person from the state of original holiness and
justice
Mans rupture with God leads tragically to
the divisions of human relationships
The twofold wound of the mystery of sin
Personal Sin
Social Sin
Situations which promote
and facilitate human greed
The complicity of persons who do not take
responsibility for evil being done.
Structures which systematically oppress
human dignity, violate human rights and
impose gross inequality
The doctrine of the universality of sin must
not be separated from the
consciousness of the universality of
salvation.
Prayer for the Dignity of Human Life
Lord and giver of all life, help us to value
each person, created in love by you. In your
mercy, guide and assist our efforts to
promote the dignity and value of all human
life, born and unborn. Dear Lord we ask you
to cover us with Your protection against all
harm and evil and to bind every spirit that
may come against us. Into Your hands Dear
Lord we commend our body, mind, soul and
spirit. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
 Dignity of Work
Human work is the Essential Key for
Moral and Social Development
Work is the means by which persons express
and develop both being and dignity.
Persons are the subjects of work and are not
means of production or a human form of
capital.
Purposes of Work
To support their family life
To increase the common good of the human
community
To serve the workers humanity
The Old Testament presents God as the
omnipotent Creator (cf. Gen 2:2; Job 38-41;
Ps 104; Ps 147) who fashions man in his
image and invites him to work the soil (cf.
Gen 2:5-6), and cultivate and care for the
garden of Eden in which he has placed him
(cf. Gen 2:15).
The goods of the earth were not created by
man, but have been received by him as a
precious gift that the Creator has placed
under his responsibility. Cultivating the earth
means not abandoning it to itself; exercising
dominion over it means taking care of it, as a
wise king cares for his people and a
shepherd his sheep.
Work is part of the original state of man and
precedes his fall; it is therefore not a
punishment or curse.
It becomes toil and pain because of the sin of
Adam and Eve, who break their relationship
of trust and harmony with God (cf. Gen
3:6-8). The prohibition to eat of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17)
reminds man that he has received everything
as a gift and that he continues to be a
creature and not the Creator
The soil becomes miserly, unrewarding,
sordidly hostile
(cf. Gen 4:12); only by the sweat of one's
brow will it be possible to reap its fruit (cf.
Gen 3:17,19).
Work has a place of honor because it is a
source of riches, or at least of the conditions
for a decent life, and is, in principle, an
effective instrument against poverty (cf. Pr
10:4). But one must not succumb to the
temptation of making an idol of work, for the
ultimate and definitive meaning of life is not
to be found in work. Work is essential, but it
is God and not work who is the origin of
life and the final goal of man
The apex of biblical teaching on work is the
commandment of the Sabbath rest.
Rest gives men and Jesus teaches that we
should appreciate workwomen the possibility
to remember and experience anew God's
work, from Creation to Redemption, to
recognize themselves as his work (cf. Eph
2:10), and to give thanks for their lives and
for their subsistence to him who is their
author.
Jesus teaches man not to be enslaved by
work. Before all else, he must be concerned
about his soul; gaining the whole world is not
the purpose of his lifedemption, to recognize
themselves as his work (cf. Eph 2:10), and to
give thanks for their lives and for their
subsistence to him who is their author.
Work represents a fundamental dimension of
human existence as participation not only in
the act of creation but also in that of
redemption.
The treasures of the earth, in fact, are
consumed, while those in heaven are
imperishable. It is on these latter treasures
that men and women must set their hearts
(cf. Mt 6:19-21).
Work, then, should not be a source of anxiety
(cf. Mt 6:25,31,34).
When people are worried and upset about
many things, they run the risk of neglecting
the Kingdom of God and His righteousness
(cf. Mt 6:33), which they truly need.
Everything else, work included, will find its
proper place, meaning and value only if it is
oriented to this one thing that is necessary
and that will never be taken away (cf. Lk
10:40-42).
Duty to work
No Christian should feel that he has right not
to work and to live at the expense of others
(2 Thes 3:6-12)
Every worker is the hand of Christ that
continues to create and to do good
(St. Ambrose)
the Apostle Paul teaches to make it a point
of honor to work with their own hands, so as
to be dependent on nobody
(1 Thes 4:12), and to practice a solidarity
which is also material by sharing the fruits of
their labor with those in need (Eph 4:28).
Idleness is harmful to mans being whereas
activity is good for his body and soul.
Christians are called to work in order to
accept their poorer neighbors to whom the
Lord has commanded them
to give food, drink, clothing, welcome, care
and companionship.
(Mt. 25: 35-36
Church teachings on dignity of work
Twofold significance of human work
Objective sense sum of activities,
resources instruments and technologies used
by person to produce things and to exercise
dominion over the earth.
Subjective sense it gives work a particular
dignity which
should not be considered a simple
commodity or an impersonal
element of the apparatus for productivity
The human person is the measure of the
dignity of work: In fact there is no doubt that
human work has an ethical value of its own,
which clearly and directly remains linked to
the fact that the one who carries it out is a
person
The subjective dimension of work must take
precedence over the objective dimension,
because it is the dimension of the person
himself who engages in work, determining its
quality and consummate value.
B. Human work has an intrinsic social
dimension
The fruits of work offer occasions for
exchange,
relationship and encounter.
For man's productive effort can yield its fruits
if theres truly social and organic body exists,
a social and juridical order watches over the
exercise of work, the various occupations,
being interdependent, cooperate with and
mutually complete one another, and, what is
still more important, the mind, material
things, and work combine and form as it were
a single whole.
If the social and individual nature of work is
neglected, it will be impossible to evaluate
work justly and pay it according to justice
C. Work is a moral obligation
Man must work because the Creator has
commanded it and in order to respond to the
need to maintain and develop his own
humanity.
D. Work confirms the profound identity of
men and
women created in the image and likeness of
God.
As man, through his work, becomes more
and more the master of the earth, and as he
confirms his dominion over the visible world,
he nevertheless remains in every case and at
every phase of this process within the
Creator's original ordering The more a man
works, the more human he becomes, the
more he becomes like the divine.
E. Rest from work is a right
Believers must refrain from engaging in work
or activities that hinder the
worship owed to God, the joy proper to the
Lords Day, the performance
of the works of mercy, and the appropriate
relaxation of mind and body.
Men and women, created in his image, are to
enjoy sufficient rest and free time that will
allow them to tend to their family, cultural,
social and religious life.
Sunday is a day that should be made holy by
charitable activity, devoting time to family and
relatives, as well as to the sick, the infirm and
the elderly.
Sunday is an appropriate time for the
reflection, silence, study and meditation that
foster the growth of the interior Christian life.
Believers should distinguish themselves on
this day too by their moderation, avoiding the
excesses and certainly the violence that
mass entertainment sometimes is bringing.
Public authorities have the duty to ensure
that, for reasons of economic productivity,
citizens are not denied time for rest and
divine worship. Employers have an
analogous obligation regarding their
employees.
Christians, in respect of religious freedom
and of the common good of all, should seek
to have Sundays and the Church's Holy Days
recognized as legal holidays.
They have to give everyone a public
example of prayer, respect and joy, and
defend their traditions as a precious
contribution to the spiritual life of society.
Every Christian should avoid making
unnecessary demands on others that would
hinder them from observing the Lord's Day
C. Work, because of its subjective
character, is superior
to every other factor connected with
productivity
In the process of production, labor is always
a primary efficient
cause, while capital, the whole collection
means of production
remains instrument or instrumental cause.
work and capital exist a relationship of
complementarities
the process of production shows that the two
must mutually permeate one another and that
there is an urgent need to create economic
systems in which the opposition between
capital and labor is overcome Capital cannot
stand without labor, nor labor without capital
New forms of exploitation of new sources of
work
over-working
work-as-career that often takes on more
importance than other human and necessary
aspects
excessive demands of work that makes
family life unstable and sometimes
impossible
a modular structure of work that entails the
risk of serious repercussions on the unitary
perception of one's own existence and the
stability of family relationships
The relationship between labor and capital
also finds expression when workers
participate in ownership, management and
profit
On the basis of his work each person is fully
entitled to consider himself a part-owner of
the great workbench where he is working
with everyone else.
Scientific and technological progress and the
globalization of markets, as source of
development and progress, expose workers
to the risk of being exploited by the
mechanisms of the economy and by the
unrestrained quest for productivity.
 The relationship between labor and private
property
The right to private property is subordinated
to the principle of the universal destination of
goods
Work -> Property -> Service of Work
Private and public property or any form
economic system, must be oriented to an
economy of service to mankind. This is the
principle of the universal destination of
goods.
Resources have a universal destination
which must be placed in a context of legal
norms and social rules to guarantee that they
will be used according to the criteria of
justice, equity and respect of human rights.
G. The right of workers are based on the
nature of the
human person and on his transcendent
dignity
the right to a just wage
the right to rest
the right to a working environment and to
manufacturing processes which are not
harmful to
the workers' physical health or to their moral
integrity
the right that one's personality in the
workplace
should be safeguarded without suffering
any
affront to one's conscience or personal
dignity
the right to appropriate subsidies that are
necessary for the subsistence of unemployed
workers and their families
the right to a pension and to insurance for
old age, sickness, and in case of work-
related accidents
the right to social security connected with
maternity
the right to assemble and form associations
Remuneration is the most important means
for achieving justice in work relationships.
The just wage is the legitimate fruit of work.
Remuneration for labor is to be such that
man may be furnished the means to cultivate
worthily his own material, social, cultural, and
spiritual life and that of his dependents, in
view of the function and productiveness of
each one, the conditions of the factory or
workshop, and the common good
The simple agreement between employee
and employer with regard to the amount of
pay to be received is not sufficient for the
agreed-upon salary to qualify as a just
wage, because a just wage must not be
below the level of subsistence of the worker:
natural justice precedes and is above the
freedom of the contract. A salary is the
instrument that permits the laborer to gain
access to the goods of the earth.
The Church's social doctrine recognizes the
legitimacy of striking under the following
conditions:
when it cannot be avoided
when it is necessary to obtain a
proportionate benefit
when every other method for the resolution
of disputes has been ineffectual
Striking is the collective and concerted
refusal of workers to continue rendering their
services, for the purpose of obtaining by
means of such pressure exerted on their
employers
Striking as a kind of ultimatum must always
be a peaceful method for making demands
and fighting for one's rights.
 Striking becomes morally unacceptable decisions of political parties nor be too
when accompanied by violence, or when closely linked to them.
objectives are included that are not directly
linked to working conditions or are contrary to
the common good

Solidarity amongst Workers

The importance of unions

Unions "grew up from the struggle of the

workers - workers in general but especially
the industrial workers - to protect their just
rights vis--vis the entrepreneurs and the
owners of the means of production".

The Church's social doctrine teaches that

relations within the world of work must be
marked by cooperation: hatred and attempts
to eliminate the other are completely
unacceptable. This is also the case because
in every social system both "labour" and
"capital" represent indispensable
components of the process of production

Unions are promoters of the struggle for

social justice, for the rights of workers in
their particular professions: "This
struggle should be seen as a normal
endeavour 'for' the just good ... not a
struggle 'against' others

Unions and other forms of labor associations

are to work in cooperation with other social
entities and are to take an interest in the
management of public matters.

Union organizations have the duty to

exercise influence in the political arena,
making it duly sensitive to labor problems
and helping it to work so that workers' rights
are respected.

Unions do not, however, have the character

of "political parties" struggling for power, and
they should not be forced to submit to the