Wages, Work, and the Catholic Social Teaching

The Catholic Social Teaching is a rich and relevant source for studying contemporary problems in society. In this paper, I investigate the question about equal pay in light of the social teaching. During the last decade, there has been an increasing interest in equal pay and related concepts like universal basic income. By equal pay we mean that everyone in society receives the same remuneration regardless of the type of work, level of effort, or unemployed or not. From an economic point of view, there are large negative incentive effects with such an arrangement. The reason is that the principle of ‘equal pay for all’ breaks the relationship between the workers’ effort and the payment associated with the effort. Furthermore, neo-classical economics would argue that there is no incentive to work if there is no financial payoff compared to not working. Also from a Catholic social teaching viewpoint, there is no support for an ‘equal pay for all’ arrangement. However, the social teaching sheds important light on the meaning of work and the right to a living wage.

Life to the Full: Sustaining the Catholic Curriculum

Catholic schools. has articulated There are concerns that the curriculum of Catholic schools has been increasingly dominated by pressures to conform to a programme of education legitimised by an intrusive secular state and designated as a ‘national curriculum’. Accordingly, the curriculum of Catholic maintained schools is regulated within a standardised framework that is directed by government. Contentiously, it has been asserted that, as a result, the curriculum in Catholic schools in England has effectively been ‘de-Catholicised’. This claim has been contested. For example, it is maintained that the matter is more nuanced than this and the situation cannot be interpreted in such an unequivocal way. However, it might well be asked: what should a Catholic curriculum look like? In the face of this question, leaders in Catholic schools are encouraged to consider renewing and restoring a distinctive curriculum by permeating it systematically with the principles of Catholic social teaching. Ultimately, the writer argues, the curriculum of Catholic schools should provide students with an understanding of the teachings of Jesus Christ.