St Mary's Catholic Primary School

Catholic Social Teaching

Catholic Social Teaching is based on the belief that God has a plan for creation, a plan to build his kingdom of peace, love and justice. It holds that God has a special plan for every single one of us, whoever we are. Our part in this plan isn’t just limited to things ‘spiritual’, or times when we do “religious things.” It involves every aspect of our lives, from the things we pray about, to how we live as a responsible global citizen. Our part in this story is a kind-of vocation for the common good, a call to treat everyone as our brothers and sisters. It is something that we all share.

The Catholic Church has seven principles of social teaching that we share with our children through all that we do, through the curriculum, special events and activity and through our ordinary actions in school.

Catholic Social Teaching in action at St Mary's

Fundraising

We ensure we are putting into action the Catholic Social Teaching of ‘Option for the poor’, ‘Community and Participation’ and ‘Dignity’, through our many fundraising efforts. For example:

Dukinfield foodbank
Class charities that support the intentions of members of our school family.
CARITAS
Mission Together
CAFOD
The British Legion

Laudato Si'

At St Mary's, we are putting into action the Catholic Social Teaching of ‘Creation’.

Laudato Si’ discusses the damage being inflicted on the Earth by humans and calls on ‘every person living on this planet’ to make urgent changes to our lifestyles and how we consume energy in order to protect the planet which was lovingly and carefully created by God. It is one of His Greatest Gifts to us.

It deals with many environmental issues including pollution, climate change, water, loss of biodiversity and decline in the quality of human life. In his letter, Pope Francis implores us to work together to create a better world for future generations and asks us to make the necessary changes in our lives in order to take care of, respect and value our ‘common home’.

Our Eco-Team help to organise World Earth Day each year, where we reflect on issues affecting our planet. We raise money to help support our common home, for example, through sponsoring marine life.

At the start of the academic year, we reflected on the Season of Creation, learnt about what Pope Francis said in this encyclical letter and how we, as Catholics, can act. We reflected on the importance of caring for our common home - the World.

Commitment to the Common Good

The Common Good (as described by Pope John XXIII) is the, “Sum total of social conditions, which allow people, either as groups or as individuals to reach their full fulfilment”.

The Common Good, can only be truly achieved when we work together to improve the wellbeing of people in our society and the wider world. As Catholics, our faith calls on us to love God and to love our neighbours in every situation, especially our sisters and brothers living in poverty.

At St Mary's, we teach our pupils to follow in the footsteps of Christ, giving them the opportunity to show justice, love and the peace of God in our unjust and sometimes broken world. We offer our pupils ownership of this through giving them roles of leadership and responsibility: Eco-Warriors, Sports Leaders, Faith councillors, school councillors, Mini Vinnies and Mindfulness ambassadors.

Work in the local community

We try to spread God's love in our local community. Hoping, that through our words and deeds, our community will know of God's love. We do this in many ways, for example:

Litter picking
Visiting local care homes
Posting cards to local residents at Easter and Christmas
Inviting people in our area to events at school

CST Assemblies

To help us put our call into action of making the world the best possible place it can be, and as God intended it to be when He gave it to mankind as a gift, we often revisit the themes of Catholic Social Teaching. In some of our assemblies we spend time reflecting on Sunday's Gospel or issues that are arising in the world and discuss, contemplate and pray for guidance on identifying how CST can enable us to understand the outward show or action of our Catholic faith that will impact on many aspects of our life and, in turn, lead us to making an impact on the world so it can be as God intended it to be.