Our Catholic faith is more than a belief but a way of life calling us to follow Jesus, worhipping God with all our hearts and minds and loving our neighbour as ourselves. It is impossible for us to show our love for God unless we do it through our devotion to His people. Jesus told us that whatever we do to the least of His brothers, we do to Him. That means for good or for bad.
With this in mind, the Catholic Church has a wealth of teaching on social justice which calls us to a preferential option for the poor ... putting the poorest first. We are called to be a people of peace, known by our love for one another. A priest (and monk) recently recounted how he had been at a party at the home of a very wealthy friend, when a woman asked him, "Why are you a monk? Isn't it enough to be a good person?" The priest responded, "No! We are expected to be good people. The alternative to that would be to be a bad person. Being good is expected of everyone. But Christians - we are called to be saints!"
Archbishop Oscar Romero Resources
Major Universal Documents On Social Justice And Peace
An Introduction to the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
Catholic Social Teaching
Beatitudes must Change our Lives
The Principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church
The Iraq War - A Catholic perspective