The Church's Mission and Social Doctrine

As per Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin: "Vice Presidential Candidate Ryan is aware of Catholic Social Teaching and is very careful to fashion and form his conclusions in accord with the principles mentioned above. Of that I have no doubt" (Subsidiarity, Solidarity, and the Lay Mission, 4/16/12)."  As per Paul Ryan himself, "The Catholic Church offers a rich overview of its thought, summarized in the Compendium of Social Doctrine, to guide Catholics in bringing truth to society’s problems" (Applying Our Enduring Truths to Our Defining Challenge, National Catholic Register, 4/25/12).  As per Chapter Two of the Compendium, The Church's Mission and Social Doctrine:

“In the midst of mankind and in the world she [the Church] is the sacrament of God's love and, therefore, of the most splendid hope, which inspires and sustains every authentic undertaking for and commitment to human liberation and advancement…. With her social teaching the Church seeks to proclaim the Gospel and make it present in the complex network of social relations....

“The Church has the right to be a teacher for mankind, a teacher of the truth of faith....Men and women must respond to the gift of salvation not with a partial, abstract or merely verbal acceptance, but with the whole of their lives — in every relationship that defines life....This right of the Church is at the same time a duty, because she cannot forsake this responsibility without denying herself and her fidelity to Christ....

"The object of the Church's social doctrine is essentially the same that constitutes the reason for its existence: the human person called to salvation, and as such entrusted by Christ to the Church's care and responsibility....at play in society are the dignity and rights of the person, and peace in the relationships between persons and between communities of persons….the Church's social doctrine has the task of proclamation, but also of denunciation....

"The first recipient of the Church's social doctrine is the Church community in its entire membership, because everyone has social responsibilities that must be fulfilled....This social doctrine implies as well responsibilities regarding the building, organization and functioning of society, that is to say, political, economic and administrative obligations — obligations of a secular nature — which belong to the lay faithful, not to priests or religious. These responsibilities belong to the laity in a distinctive manner, by reason of the secular condition of their state of life, and of the secular nature of their vocation"