F a it h B a s e d D e v e l o p m e n t Th e So c ia l D evelo pm ent Perspec tiv e in C ath o lic Social Teach ing WITH AN ILLUSTRATIVE CASE STUDY OF THE RANCHI ARCHDIOCESE, INDIA E d w a r d A . V io lett SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY L o n d o n S c h o o l o f E c o n o m ic s a n d Po litic a l S c ienc e U n iv e r s it y o f L o n d o n 2003 UMI Number: U615836 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615836 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ^ OF POtrTlCAL AND ABSTRACT F a it h Based D e v e l o p m e n t : T h e So c ia l D e v el o pm e n t P e r s p e c t iv e in C a t h o l ic So c ia l T e a c h in g w ith an illustrative case study OF THE RANCHI ARCHDIOCESE, INDIA By Edward A. Violett This thesis is a study o f how one faith based institution, the Roman Catholic Church, has evolved over the last century, a set of principles to bring about and guide its efforts in the promotion o f human welfare. The study is driven by and derives its theoretical framework from the approach to social welfare known as social development. The social development approach is characterized as a process o f intentional social change to bring about sustainable human well-being. This change is envisaged as harmonizing human development in all its facets: social, political, personal cultural, spiritual and economic. Using historical analysis, the thesis develops and delineates from social development a set of components with which to examine the principles in the Church’s Social Teaching allied to the promotion o f human welfare. The study demonstrates striking common conceptual foundations, mutuality of purpose and influence between ‘secular’ social development and that o f the Church’s approach to social development and illustrates a convergence and congruence in methodology between the two approaches. Foremost among the similarities is that the Church, in accord with ‘secular’ social development, holds as normative an integrated developmental process that joins all dimensions of human experience— social, economic, spiritual, political and cultural— to enhance and promote human well-being. The similarities notwithstanding, the analysis also points to fundamental divergences between the two approaches that largely emanate from the Church’s institutional structure and its faith orientation to social development, which are in some senses irreconcilable with ‘secular’ social development. These conclusions are reached through careful historical and textual analysis as well as through the development o f an illustrative case o f the Catholic Archdiocese of Ranchi. This local level study, which also used interview methods, provided an opportunity to examine how the Church’s social development principles emerged, were influenced and have been applied in Church action for human well-being in one local development context o f India. ACKNOWLEDEMENTS As I stand at the completion o f this research endeavor I am struck b y an experiential paradox. On the one hand, the experience o f this undertaking has been an intense sense of aloneness. Yet on the other hand, as much as the aloneness has been a reality, the endeavor has been an incredible and fertile enterprise in collaboration, which has naturally accumulated many debts of gratitude. In appreciation for the encouragement, assistance and support that I have received during this enterprise, I take this opportunity to acknowledge my ‘collaborators’ in this endeavor. First and foremost, my thanks goes to Dr. Jo Beall who patiently and painstakingly guided and encouraged me every step of the way in this research ‘ad-venture’. Her deep sense of and care for the human condition coupled with her dynamic intellectual curiosity and professionalism was stimulating and contagious. Iam deeply indebted to my Indian confreres. Their welcome and willingness to share their lives and experiences was an incomparable education that is the bedrock o f this research enterprise. In particular, I would like to thank the novitiate staff and class of 1999-2000 and the Singhpur and Gyan Deep communities for their assistance in gathering data for the case. I am appreciative o f the kind support from the Catholic Church in Ranchi. My thanks to the Archbishop, Telesphore P. Toppo, for his encouragement and access to the archives of the Archdiocese; to Beni Ekka, SJ, Benjamin Lakra, SJ, and L. Francken, SJ o f the Xavier Institute o f Social Service for their expert insights and access to the Institute’s library facilities; to Fr. Jaiman Xalxo, Mr. Fabian Alexander and staff at Catholic Charities; to Fr. Sebastien Tirkey of the Chotanagpur Cooperative Credit Society, the ‘Bank’; to Christian De Brouwer, SJ and Emmanuel Barla, SJ o f St. Xavier’s College for access to the College library and archives and for their experiential insights on the research topic; to Peter Tete, SJ, a keen scholar of the Mission’s history, now deceased, for his help in securing historical documents and for his timely focus and direction; and finally but most importantly to Mark De Brouwer, SJ who, for nearly forty years, has been the fulcrum of development in Ranchi and who readily shared his experience with me. Thanks also to Mr. M. Kandasami and Fr. Yvon Ambroise for their continued willingness to dialogue with me on this enterprise and on other issues o f import to those who seek to assist and empower the poor. My acknowledgements would not be complete without a deep expression of gratitude to my religious community, the Marianists, whose support has made this endeavor possible. My thanks to the provincial authorities o f the St. Louis Province; to the Curia Generalizia in Rome for their kind hospitality during my research there; and to my brothers/colleagues/friends Tony, Richard and Rudy for their unstinting support for this project. CONTENTS Page Abstract i Acknowledgements ii Contents iii List o f Tables and Figures V Abbreviations and Acronyms vi Glossary vii Figures ix Chapter One: Introduction 1 Research Methodology 19 Chapter Two: Social Development 32 Social Change 32 Social Welfare 37 Social Development: Initial Conceptualization 40 Social Development at the United Nations 42 Social Development at the World Bank 57 Social Development in Social Work 62 Important Influences on Social Development 74 Constitutive Components of Social Development 79 Chapter Three: Catholic Social Teaching 81 Origins and Conveyance 81 Aims and Boundaries 84 Overview of the Core Documents 86 Rerum Novarum 86 Quadragesimo Anno 88 Mater et Magistra 91 Pacem in Terris 93 Gaudium et Spes 94 Populorum Progressio 99 Octogesima Adveniens 103 Justitia in Mundo 106 Laborem Exercens 109 Sollicitudo Rei Sociales 113 Centesimus Annus 115 Chapter Four: The Social Development Perspective in Catholic Social Teaching 118 Social Appraisal 119 Social Change 131 Social Roles 143 Methods of Social Development 155 Evaluation and Assessment o f Social Change and Development 166 Summary 171 iii Chapter Five: Antecedents of the Chotanagpur Catholic Mission: A History of the ChotanagpurAdivasis 173 The History o f Chotanagpur 174 The Dispossession of the Adivasis 180 Christianity Comes to Chotanagpur 192 Summary 197 Of Religious Reasons and Temporal Causes 199 Chapter Six: The Catholic Mission on the Chotanagpur Plateau, 1869-1900 207 Initialization, Implantation and Expansion o f the Mission 208 Annotations from the Social Development Perspective of the Social Teaching 230 Chapter Seven: Catholic Action of Social Well-Being in Chotanagpur 233 Social Works in Chotanagpur 236 Creating and Agricultural Economy: The Bank’s Extension 253 Job, Labor and Livelihoods 256 Lay Leadership and Political Participation 263 Church Action for Women’s Welfare 271 Chapter Eight: The Mission’s Alternative to Industrialization on the Plateau 276 The Chotanagpur Surveys 284 Economization o f Production: Core Causes 290 New Directions and Old Paradigms 296 Chapter Nine: Conclusion 309 Believing in Human Welfare 310 By the Sweat o f the Brow: Working for Human Well- Being 311 Patriarchy and the Marginalization of Participation 313 Social Exclusion as a Function of Solidarity 317 Church and State: The Discipline o f Faith and the Returns on Social Development 322 In the Shadow o f the Good Samaritan: When Virtue Wanes 328 O f Amway for the Poor and Good Intentions: A Last Word 330 Bibliography 334 iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Tables Page 4.1 Elements of Congruencies: Catholic Social Teaching and the Copenhagen Declaration 167 7.1 Catholic Bank Statistics 243 7.2 Bank Membership and Deposit Statistics 255 8.1 Development Disparities in Undivided Bihar 292 8.2 Ranchi Archdiocese Institutional Statistics 296 8.3 ACDS Program Field Visits 301 Figures 1. Map of the Republic of India ix 2. Map o f the State o f Jharkhand, India x 3.