Root Assumptions of CST

Catholic Social Teaching is widely known in summary form by a list of themes; a themes handout is circulated in parishes. (See the US Bishops' six themes of CST.) The themes approach to CST gives the impression that the themes have equal weight and have no moral hierarchy; the themes handouts that I have seen do not identify the reasoning by which the themes emerge. I prefer to identify the root assumptions of CST: if people understand its starting points, then the conclusions found within the Church's social documents are clear. The following are my three root assumptions of CST.

1. the transcendental value of the person: the person is a good which may not be subordinated to other goods; social structures must be ordered to, or at least not hinder movement toward, the true telos of the person.
2. natural law: a universal moral standard to which all governments and leaders are accountable.
3. love (agape) as the telos of all human relationships: a truth entrusted to the Church -- i.e., revelation -- to share with the world as a sign-post of where the person is ordered. (Agape is a Greek term that signifies the particularly Christian flavor of love; telos is a Greek word signifying in Catholic theology the God-designed goal or purpose.)

One might add a fourth, the claims of human community, but this is derivative from the first three. [More on CST] [5.4.08]