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Journal of Catholic Social Thought Volume 3 Number 2 Summer, 2006 Table of Contents

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Journal of Catholic Social Thought Volume 3 Number 2 Summer, 2006 Table of Contents Journal of Catholic Social Thought Volume 3 Number 2 Summer, 2006 Table of Contents 225 Introduction Barbara E. Wall, Villanova University Historical and Theological Perspectives 231 Theological and Ecclesiological Foundations of Gaudium et Spes Claudio Cardinal Hummes, Archbishop of Sao Paulo 243 An Historical Perspective and Gaudium et Spes Andrea Riccardi, Community of St. Egidio 257 Catholic Social Thought as Discernment Johan Verstraeten, Katolieke Universiteiti, Leuven, Belgium 273 Gaudium et Spes and Catholic Higher Education Justin Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia Developing World Applications 283 Gaudium et Spes and the Struggle for Human Rights in Peru Mateo Garr, S.J., Comisión Episcopal de Acción Social 301 A Church in the Modern World in Africa: The Zambian Experience Peter J. Henriot, S.J., Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, Lusaka, Zambia Social and Economic Applications 321 Gaudium et Spes and Catholic Ethics in Post-Industrial Economics: Indirect Employers and Globalization Albino Barrera, Providence College 335 Economic and Philosophical Reflection on Private Wealth Robert H. DeFina and Barbara E. Wall, Villanova University 355 Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach to Development and Gaudium et Spes: on Political Participation and Structural Solidarity Séverine Deneulin, Von Hügel Institute, St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge, UK 373 Gaudium et Spes Suggests a Change in Moral Imagination to Ensure the Just Treatment of Women Marilyn Martone, St. John’s University (NY) ISSN 1548-0712 Copyright © 2006. Villanova University. All Rights Reserved. Permission to copy, reprint, republish, or otherwise distribute content of the Journal of Catholic Social Thought should be directed to the Managing Editor, 202 Vasey Hall, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085. Introduction Barbara E. Wall Profound and rapid changes make it particularly urgent that no one, ignoring the trend of events or drugged by laziness, content himself with a merely individualistic morality. It grows increasingly true that the obligations of justice and love are fulfilled only if each person, contributing to the common good, according to his own abilities and the needs of others, also promotes and assists the public and private in situations dedicated to bettering the conditions of human life.1 In 1965, Vatican Council II’s document, The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes), again called for a dialogue between the Church and the modern world, especially on so- cial and economic concerns of peoples throughout the world in order that the common good of all peoples might be achieved through just and peaceful means. In 1965, the world exhibited a state of disorder: the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis made the possibility of nuclear war a real threat. In addition, the peoples of the world became more aware of the impact of hunger, poverty and illiteracy on the citi- zenry of the world. In the United States, we witnessed the challenges to two hundred years of legalized discrimination by means of new civil rights legislation, which was enacted to secure basic human rights for all peoples including minorities. The tradition of Catholic social teaching during the decade of the sixties attempted to emphasize the inherent dignity of the human per- son, imago dei, and that in a redeemed world all people have an inher- Barbara E. Wall is Associate Professor of Philosophy, Assistant to the President for Mission Effectiveness and an executive editor of the Journal of Catholic Social Thought at Villanova University. 1 David J. O’Brien and Thomas A. Shannon. “The Church in the Modern World,” p. 183, GS 30 in Catholic Social Thought: The Documentary Heritage. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2000. JOURNAL OF CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT – 3:2, 2006, 225-229. 226 JOURNAL OF CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT – 3:2 ent dignity given by God and that human life is ordained to fulfillment in the community. It is in the community that people achieve the real- ization of their basic human rights. There is also a cautionary tale here in how to support the quest for human rights, achievement of the com- mon good, and avoid the excesses of individualism which often preclude a commitment to the common good. In 2005, a consortium of kindred organizations that promote the value of Catholic social thought in public discourse arranged a confer- ence to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Gaudium et spes.2 The con- ference carried the title “The Call to Justice: The Legacy of Gaudium et Spes 40 Years Later,” and included an array of papers that continue the long tradition of engaging Catholic social teaching and the changing historical situations throughout the world with regard to the continued commitment to achieve the common good. In collaboration with these institutions, the Journal of Catholic Social Thought agreed to publish a selection of the conference papers along with an address by Justin Cardinal Rigali. In this edition of the Journal, we proudly offer that selection. Cardinal Claudio Hummes’“Theological and Ecclesiological Founda- tions of Gaudium et Spes” is a pastoral reflection on the disorder he sees in the world from when the document was first published through the present day. “Today, in a world that more and more is globalized and interconnected thanks to the advance of communications technolo- gies, the church’s mission, if it is to be an instrument of unity for the human race, becomes more relevant...aservant Church must have solidarity with the poor as her priority...aChurch that, taking up the mission of Jesus, is in the world, not to judge humanity but to love it and save it.” The theme of pastoral response to the contemporary world is the focus of Andrea Riccardi’s “An Historical Perspective and Gaudium et Spes.” The complex interpretations and dialogues that ensued with the pub- lication of Gaudium et spes are all part of the rich, historical attempt to engage the contemporary world through the lens of Catholic social 2 The organizations include: the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought of the Center for Catholic Studies, the Center for the Study of the Social Doctrine of the Church, the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy, the Center for Catholic Social Thought, Leuven, Belgium, Peter J. Tobin School of Business and the Vincentian Center for Church and Society, St. John’s University, New York, Faculty of Social Sciences of the Pontifical University, St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome, and the Faculty of Social Science, Pontifical Gregorian Uni- versity, Rome. INTRODUCTION 227 teaching. According to Riccardi, the Church has an historical role for all time, and the methodology of Gaudium et spes directs our attention to an ever relevant message: “It is no longer possible to speak of the Church without raising the problems, the situations and the contexts of the modern world. It is the life-breath of a great Church that knows she is not a small community closed in on herself, but that is also aware of her duty to live with others who are religiously and cul- turally different.” The spiritual practice of discernment is all the more critical when one is called to a process described in Gaudium et spes as the duty of “scru- tinizing the signs of the times and interpreting them in the light of the gospel.” (GS, 4) Johan Verstraeten provides a much needed analysis of the nature of the methodological connections between theological inter- pretation and social analysis. Verstraeten encourages us to imagine the role of the Church as proclaimer of a new vision for the future of the human community—a vision rooted in a dialectic between the existing world and the future predicated on a vision that reflects “the future of reaching out to meet the present as an annunciation of something more or as a disjunction from what is.” An address by Justin Cardinal Rigali on “Gaudium et Spes and Catho- lic Higher Education” challenges Catholic universities to take the mes- sage of Gaudium et spes and become the place where the new human- ism announced in Gaudium et spes can and ought to be celebrated as a central component of its identity. “People are conscious, the Council says, that they themselves can be the artisans and authors of the culture of their community. This presumes a sense of respon- sibility and solidarity. This is the context in which the Council says that we are witnesses of the birth of a new humanism, one in which the human being is defined especially by his or her responsibility toward his or her brothers and sisters and toward history. In the humanization of the world, how important it is that each person realizes his or her responsibility to others. Is not a Catholic university a powerful forum for this solidarity to be realized and this humanization to take place?” The theme of human rights surely is an important concern of Catholic social teaching, especially of Pacem in terris and Gaudium et spes both issued between 1963-1965. The “signs of the times” with regard to hu- man rights were most evident in these documents. Mateo Garr’s “Gaudium et Spes and the Struggle for Human Rights in Peru,” makes the case that human rights discourse has “not only become the back- 228 JOURNAL OF CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT – 3:2 bone of social pastoral ministry in Latin America but has become, in- deed, one of the basic principles of Church social teaching which need to be applied to any social analysis.” Garr’s article provides yet another example of the methodological connection between theological interpre- tation and social example. Peter Henriot’s “A Church in the Modern World of Africa: the Zam- bian Experience,” provides a model of incarnation in the inculturation of the Church in the modern world of Africa and Zambia in particular.
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