Church and Scripture

Many of the examples of the Church's teachings in pages 10-30 of our book are congruous with what I have learned growing up Catholic. Obviously throughout my Catholic childhood, I heard the classic stories of the Bible: Cain and Abel, the Fall, original sin, and the Paschal Mystery. However, my experience with the Church's teachings on social justice has been limited. Unfortunately in my experience the Church does not seem to "apply" its teachings enough to a modern context. Social justice is considered "the best kept secret" of the Church for good reason. The Church doesn't want to have to balance on the precarious slope of advocating for social change and becoming entangled in politics, which can end up turning into telling its members what to think on political matters. However, social justice is a necessary part of Christian tradition. Even though social justice has not been emphasized as important in my experience, I think it can be a especially bridging experience for a faith community.Working together for a good cause can bring people very closely together, as we can see in our own school community through service clubs and trips that facilitate friendships one might not have had before. You may not agree with your neighbors about everything, but one thing that many people can agree on is the care which we should give to the marginalized and that they deserve justice, charity, and basic human rights just as much as we do.