This survey course will introduce the basic principles of Catholic Social Teaching, which have been called the Church’s “best kept secret.” This course will help students to identify and explain the seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching; trace the history of Catholic social thought, especially the key Church documents and papal encyclicals from Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum in 1891 to Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ in 2015; understand the theological foundations for Catholic Social Teaching in Scripture and Tradition; and develop an ability to apply these teachings to specific situations and issues, including immigration, war and peace, economics, and the dignity of the human person from conception to natural death.