And What CST is Not!

In 1884, Swiss bishop Gaspard Mermillod brought together a curious mix of European Catholics—noblemen, economists, and a handful of priests—in the peaceful university town of Fribourg, Switzerland. For seven years, this gathering, which became known as the Fribourg Union, grappled with a question the Church had long left to politicians and economists: what does the Gospel truly ask of us in a world transformed by factories, wage labor, and industrial Today, the Fribourg Union is all but forgotten. Yet its fingerprints are unmistakable in Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII’s groundbreaking 1891 encyclical on labor and capital. While many see this document as the birth of modern Catholic Social Teaching, the truth is richer and more encouraging: these ideas did not descend fully formed from Rome. They were molded, bit by bit, by everyday Catholics who looked the world in the eye and refused to turn away from its troubles. That’s a fitting place to start, because this pattern echoes throughout the tradition.

What Catholic Social Teaching Actually Is

Catholic Social Teaching is far more than a list of talking points. It is a way of threading faith through the fabric of everyday life—at work, in the voting booth, and around the dinner table. At its core, it urges us to care for those who struggle and to seek a common good that reaches beyond our own interests.

Much of this probably rings a bell. It is what many of us learned as children: love your neighbor, stand up for what is right, and help create something better than what you inherited.

Catholic Social Teaching gives that instinct a name, a story, and a structure. Faith, it turns out, is not just something you believe; it is something you put into action.

‘See, Judge, Act’ is a hands-on framework for making Catholic Social Teaching real, helping us close the distance between theory and practice. The Church offers this simple, three-step process: See, Judge, Act.

See. Notice what is truly happening—in your family, your neighborhood, your country, and the world. Listen most closely to those whose voices are often drowned out or overlooked.

Judge. This is not about judging people. It means holding what you have seen up to the light of the Gospel. What would Christ say about this? What do the Church’s teachings on human dignity, justice, and the common good call us to do?

Act. Do not let it stop at thoughts or words. Take a step, even a small one. Offer a hand to a neighbor. Speak out for fairer policies. Support those who work tirelessly to lift up people with low incomes.

Where This Came From

This method is not a modern idea conjured from nowhere. It has deep roots. St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, taught that good moral decisions require prudence: real wisdom, honest reflection, and careful attention to reality as it truly is, not as we wish it to be.

But it was a Belgian priest, Joseph Cardijn, who transformed that idea into a movement. Cardijn grew up watching his father labor to the point of exhaustion. As a young priest, he noticed how many working-class Catholics felt left behind by the Church. In response, he founded the Young Christian Workers (JOC), bringing together ordinary laypeople—factory workers, apprentices, teenagers—to see their own lives through the lens of the Gospel and act on what they discovered. Later, Pope Paul VI made him a cardinal in 1965. Cardijn served as an advisor at the Second Vatican Council, where his influence can be seen in the Council’s teaching on the vocation of the laity.

Cardijn’s whole approach rested on one conviction: real change does not come from outsiders arriving with prepackaged solutions. It grows from people who take time to understand others’ lives and walk alongside them. He put it memorably:

“A young worker is worth more than all the gold in the world.”

This is more than sentiment. It is a bold claim about dignity that can reshape everything: our economics, our politics, and even the way we greet the person bagging our groceries.

Vatican II shared this conviction, declaring that laypeople are not spectators in the Church’s mission but active participants. In practical terms, the responsibility belongs to us.

What It Is Not

It is important to be clear about what Catholic Social Teaching is not.

It is not Christian nationalism.

Christian nationalism ties the Gospel too closely to political power or national identity, and in doing so, it risks reducing Christ’s message to something that serves only one group, one flag, one agenda.

Catholic Social Teaching moves in the opposite direction. Every person, no matter where they were born or what passport they carry, has dignity because they are made in the image of God. Our concern cannot stop at “our own people.” It must extend to the whole human family.

Human vs. Fully Human

Here is where an important distinction appears: the difference between simply existing as human and truly living as one.

To be human is to exist. To live as fully human, in the Christian sense, is to recognize that we owe something to one another. It means seeing the stranger not as a threat or a rival but as a neighbor, a brother, a sister. Thomas Merton, writing from his monastery in Kentucky, captured that recognition in a single line:

“Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.”

That awareness is the turning point. It changes how we see poverty, immigration, health care, work, and the daily choices that shape our relationships. It pulls us out of comfort and into compassion, out of isolation and into solidarity.

Where This Leaves Us

Ultimately, Catholic Social Teaching invites us to help build a world that truly reflects God’s love—a world where no one is forgotten, and everyone has a seat at the table. A quiet Swiss town in 1884, with a few people brave enough to face a wounded world. It continues today, as ordinary people choose to see with clarity, judge with wisdom, and act with courage.