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3. Catholic Social Teaching & Encyclicals

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3. Catholic Social Teaching & Encyclicals 1/20/18 Catholic Social Teaching in the Encyclicals 1 1/20/18 A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest….. Never more true than of the Papal Encyclicals 2 1/20/18 Rerum Novarum –New Things (1891) Pope Leo XIII The poor are equal in citizenship to the rich. Their work is the source of the nation's wealth. The favor of GoD seems to incline more towarD the poor . Workers have a natural right to form unions, a right is beyond the authority of government The union should seek to insure that every worker has sufficient work and that workers in need are helped Wages must satisfy the right to secure things to sustain life, a wage sufficiently large to enable him to provide comfortably for himself, his wife and his children Health safeguards are to be provided for all workers in the workplace. Private ownership must be preserved inviolate and it must be regarded as sacred. It is wrong for ownership to be limited to a small number of people, and private property must be spread among the largest number of population Equitable protection of all citizens means that government should give special consideration to the weak and poor Quadragesimo Anno – On the 40th Year (1931) Pope Pius XI The approach to ownership of property must avoid two extremes: - individualism, denying or minimizing the social and public character of the right to own property; - and collectivism, rejecting or minimizing the private and individual character of the right to own property The distribution of goods in society should be more even, and everyone should have his own share of goods. The social economy will not be in order until each and every person is provided with all the goods available through natural resources, technology, and social organization Free competition is justified and useful, but the right ordering of economic life cannot be left to a free competition of forces . Free competition must be effectively controlled by the government. Catholics are not to compromise with socialism 3 1/20/18 Mit Brennender Sorge– With Burning Sorrow (1937) Pope Pius XI “The experiences of these last years have fixed responsibilities and laid bare intrigues, which from the outset only aimed at a war of extermination.” Whoever exalts race, or the people, or the State, …or any other fundamental value of the human community … distorts and perverts an order of the world planned and created by God; Whoever wishes to see banished from church and school the Biblical history and the wise doctrines of the Old Testament, blasphemes the name of God, blasphemes the Almighty's plan of salvation, and makes limited and narrow …God's designs over the history of the world: he denies his faith in the true Christ (Religious Freedom) Voices are swelling into a chorus urging people to leave the Church, and among the leaders there is more than one whose official position is intended to create the impression that this infidelity to Christ the King constitutes a signal and meritorious act of loyalty to the modern State Present-day life severs from the divine foundation of Revelation, not only morality, but also the theoretical and practical rights. We are especially referring to what is called the natural law, written by the Creator's hand on the tablet of the heart Mit Brennender Sorge– With Burning Sorrow (1937) Pope Pius XI "Nothing can be useful, if it is not at the same time morally good" (Cicero, De Off. ii. 30). Emancipated from this oral rule, the principle would in international law carry a perpetual state of war between nations. The believer has an absolute right to profess his Faith and live according to its dictates. Laws which impede this profession and practice of Faith are against natural law. We expect the Catholic youth, in the more favorable organizations of the State, to uphold its right to a Christian sanctification of the Sunday, not to exercise the body at the expense of the immortal soul, not to be overcome by evil, but to aim at the triumph of good over evil An education, hostile to Christ, is to profane the temple of the child's soul consecrated by baptism, and extinguish the eternal light of the faith in Christ for the sake of counterfeit light alien to the Cross. ..it will be every one's duty to sever his responsibility from the opposite camp, and free his conscience from guilty cooperation with such corruption. 4 1/20/18 Mater et Magistra – Mother & Teacher Pope John XXIII (1961) • 70 years from Rerum Novarum, 30 years from Quadragesimo Anno • Changes since 1941: scientific and technological (atomic energy, synthetic products, automation, mass communication and transportation, space exploration); social (social security systems, worker awareness, educational improvements, increased affluence and mobility, growing imbalances among sectors of society and regions of the world); and political (citizen participation, decolonization, widespread democratization) • A proper balance should be kept between the freedom of individual citizens and the regulating activity of the government • Rights and protection of agricultural workers, who must receive all essential public services • Condemns “conspicuous consumption,” wasting and destruction of surplus goods while masses of people experience want and hunger • Addresses the view that procreation needs to controlled or economic imbalances will occur; warns against using means contrary to human dignity, and encourages respect for the laws of life Mater et Magistra – Mother & Teacher Pope John XXIII (1961) • Managers, owners, and stockholders should receive earnings in light of the demands of the common good. Pope John lists these demands as follows: • on the national level, • -- the provision of employment for as many as possible, • -- the prevention of privileged groups among workers, • -- the maintenance of a balance between wages and prices, • -- universal accessibility to goods and services for a better life, • -- the elimination or reduction of inequalities among agriculture, industry, and services, -- the balancing of increases in output with advances in services, • -- the adjustment of the means of production to technological progress, • -- and concern for future generations • on the international level, • -- the removal of bad faith from the competitive striving of peoples to increase output, -- the fostering of harmony and cooperation in economic affairs, • -- and effective aid for the economically underdeveloped nations 5 1/20/18 Mater et Magistra – Mother & Teacher Pope John XXIII (1961) • Catholic social teaching is valid for all time. • It is based on the principle that individuals are the foundation, cause, and end of all social institutions . • CST cannot be separated from the church's traditional teaching regarding human life. • He encourages increased attention to the social teaching of the church among clergy and laity, and • application of this teaching in economic and social affairs • He warns against the obstacles to such application: self-interest, a materialistic philosophy of life, and the difficulty of discerning the demands of justice in given situations • Apply the social teaching of the church using the method of: observe, judge, act • Don’t get bogged down in useless controversies Pacem in Terris – Peace on Earth Pope John XXIII (1963) • Peace will only be an empty-sounding word unless it is based on the order founded on truth, built according to justice, integrated by charity, and put into practice in freedom • An astonishing order in the world which humans can understand (natural law). • The source of this order is the personal and transcendent God. • Every fundamental human right derives its moral force from the natural law • Social order is based on the principle of human dignity: every human being is a person, endowed with • intelligence and free will, and having rights and duties which are universal, inviolable and inalienable. • International Authority & mutual assistance • Condemns war , racism & the arms race, stockpiling weapons, esp atomic weapons 6 1/20/18 Pacem in Terris – Peace on Earth Pope John XXIII (1963) • Basic human rights • 1. the right to life, bodily integrity, food, clothing, shelter, rest, medical care, necessary social services • 2. the right to respect for one's person, good reputation, freedom to search for truth, freedom of speech, freedom of information • 3. the right to share in the benefits of culture, education • 4. freedom of worship • 5. freedom to choose one's state of life and to form a family • 6. freedom of initiative in the economic field, the right to work and adequate working conditions • 7. proper wages • 8. private property, even of productive goods • 9. freedom of assembly and association • 10. freedom of movement and residence, the right to emigrate and immigrate • 11. the right to active participation in public affairs • 12. the right to juridical protection of rights • 13. the right to act freely and responsibly • Each right carries with it a corresponding duty. • Individuals & groups must make their specific contributions to the common welfare • and this means not only their own countries but also the entire human family Pacem in Terris • Communities of people also have rights. • 1. Each country has the right to existence, to self-development and the means to attain it, • 2. to primary responsibility for its own development, • 3. to a good name and the respect which is its due. • It has the corresponding duty to respect these rights in other countries • and it has the duty to accept immigrants and to help integrate them as new members 7 1/20/18 Dignitatis Humanae Human Dignity 1965 A document of the 2nd Vatican Council (1962 – 1965), promulgated by Pope Paul VI The fundamental right to religious freedom for everyone…even non- Catholics, as individuals and as a community. The government is to protect the rights and equality of all citizens as part of its essential role in promoting the public good, and a wrong is done when a government imposes profession or repudiation of any religion.
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