iStock Do you recall this mantra for social action? Sixty years ago, St. John XXIII, known as the “Good Pope John,” issued “Mater et Magistra” (“Mother and Teacher: On Christianity and Social Progress”), which addressed many of the social challenges facing the modern world. His encyclical not only outlined these challenges but also offered principles rooted in the Gospel and Catholic social teaching for solving these problems, many of which still bedevil us today. One passage has particular resonance. It suggests how we can confront social problems: There are three stages which should normally be followed in the reduction of social principles into practice. First, one reviews the concrete situation; secondly, one forms a judgment on it in the light of these same principles; thirdly, one decides what in the circumstances can and should be done to implement these principles. These are the three stages that are usually expressed in the three terms: see, judge, act (No. 236).