Justice, Kindness, and the Lay Apostolate

The Catholic Social Teaching Spring Course at St. Therese Institute

 It is easy to compartmentalize our lives. We have our Sunday morning faith where we pray, sing, and receive the Sacraments. Then, we have our Monday reality of workplace dynamics, bills to pay, global news to scroll through, and the checkout line at the grocery store. 

But for Catholics, there are no “secular” spaces where God does not belong. The Church offers us a roadmap to bridge that familiar Sunday-to-Monday gap: Catholic Social Doctrine. 

Our upcoming Spring Course, “He Has told you, O mortal, what is good”: Catholic Social Doctrine & the Lay Apostolate, runs March 23-27, 2026. The title of the course is drawn directly from the prophet Micah: “He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8, RSV). 

What Exactly is “Catholic Social Doctrine?” 

The consistent ethos of our Spring Courses Series is to bring theory (theology, philosophy, psychology, etc.) into praxis – applying ideas as practical skills that move the New Evangelization forward and help us progress in the Christian life. 

For the Catholic Social Doctrine course, we bring back STIFM alumnus and former staff member, Chris O’Hara. Chris is a Halifax native, who currently serves in the Pastoral Life department of the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth. He has a degree in Music and a Master’s in Theology, and loves to blend them into a symphonic embrace of beauty and wisdom. 

Chris’s Catholic Social Doctrine course description reminds us that “the greatest commandment is love of God, but love of God entails a concern for justice for our neighbour”. It goes on to state “this course is a survey of key themes from Catholic Social Doctrine with practical applications to key areas in this current age.” 

When asked to elaborate, Chris explained: 

“Catholic Social Doctrine is kind of a loose canon of teachings from the last 150 years. In particular, it relates to Catholic engagement with social issues. This body of teaching reflects how the Gospel and the teachings of the Church shape the way Catholics behave in civil society. It asks questions like: What is our responsibility to our neighbour? How does the Gospel inform the way we build the Kingdom of God within the realities of the world around us?” 

Along the way, Chris will explore how these principles guide the “lay apostolate”, which is a fancy way of saying “the unique mission given to the Catholic laity”, to be “leaven” that raises the world to Christ by the ways we integrate our faith in the details of our otherwise normal worldly lives. 

The “Communion of Persons” and the Checkout Line 

During our chat about the upcoming course, Chris shared a personal “lightbulb” moment from his own studies that illustrates how Catholic Social Doctrine impacts daily life. 

“The Christian life is about a communion of persons,” Chris explained. “Catholic social teaching pushed me to think about my everyday consumer choices – like going to the grocery store – through that lens. How do choices I make with my money express what I believe about the Church and the Gospel? Are the decisions I make reinforcing a communion of persons, or are they contributing to division and isolation?” 

Taking it further, are we brave enough to act on God’s call to sacrifice for the Common Good, in Malachi 3:10, and to trust in His promises in return, as it says: 

“Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house; and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.”

In modern terms, a tithe is 10% of our income! Do we believe God will take care of our personal needs – as He promises – if we give that much, up front, to His “storehouse” – which today would mean our parish and other forms of charitable Catholic work? It takes courage to ask these questions. 

This willingness to reflect heroically on our normal lives is behind St. Thérèse’s “Little Way,” too. Thérèse taught that we don’t need to perform “great deeds” to reach holiness. We become saints by noticing the profound choice that is always there; a choice to either open or close our hearts to God’s power and love, which stand ready to transform us and the world around us. This choice happens in the “small” decisions that confront us day to day. 

Applying Catholic Social Doctrine is the “Little Way” in action: 

• Solidarity in Small Things: Recognizing that the use of our money is a moral act (not just an economic one) and that our choices affect our brothers and sisters across the globe.
• The Dignity of Work: Treating work not as a burden, but as a way to exercise our human potential. As the Church teaches, “Work is for man, not man for work” (CCC 2428). 
• Care for Creation: Respecting the environment as a gift for the “common good of past, present, and future humanity” (CCC 2415). 

A Topic that Matters Today

In what is often called a post-Christian society, we are called to “do justice” and “love kindness” in spaces where the Gospel is more easily forgotten. Catholic Social Doctrine provides the roadmap for this mission. It isn’t just a collection of abstract ideas; it is the Church’s compass for how a person who has encountered God transforms the culture around them by living in brave testimony to the truest reality, in every walk of life and in all the seemingly small and more or less “secular” details. It can be most scary – and it can hold great prophetic promise – when it challenges us to break from comfortable patterns that we trust and would like to protect. St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians are an exhortation to all of us: “If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise” (I Cor. 3:18-19).

As Chris says, “Catholic social teaching is about what happens when a person encounters God and how cultures are transformed when they are shaped by people who have encountered God. The principles of Catholic social teaching guide and inform our engagement with all areas of life – public policy, education, care for the poor, questions of governance, how we use our money, and how we treat people in our workplaces and families. 

“The course will challenge people, affirm some things they may already sense intuitively, and give them the language of the Church to understand those instincts more clearly” while “asking how the Gospel can shape every part of our lives.”