Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Church has always had social teaching and the most fundamental source is the Bible. There was also the tradition of the Church Fathers in such areas as ownership of property, the just war and the charging of interest. In its modern form, however, Catholic Social Teaching (CST) first emerged at the end of the nineteenth century as a response to the injustices of the Industrial Revolution and the threat of Communism. While recognising that social teaching is a lived tradition and not just a written one, our focus is on the considerable development that has taken place over the last century.
The focal point of CST is the human person, made in the image of God, and so having fundamental freedom and dignity, the basis for human rights. Recognising this image in our neighbour, the teaching rejects any policy or system that reduces people to economic units or passive dependence. (See especially Pacem in Terris &Laborem Exercens).
Solidarity
As members of the one human family, we have mutual obligations to promote the rights and development of peoples across communities and nations. Solidarity is the fundamental bond of unity with our fellow human beings and the resulting interdependence. All are responsible for all; and in particular the rich have responsibilities towards the poor. National and international structures must reflect this. (See Populorum Progressio, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis & Centesimus Annus)
Subsidiarity
All power and decision-making in society should be at the most local level compatible with the common good. Subsidiarity will mainly mean power passing downwards, but it could also mean passing appropriate powers upwards. The balance between the vertical (subsidiarity) and the horizontal (solidarity) is achieved through reference to the common good. (See Quadragesimo Anno)
A Developing Teaching
CST is by no means a fixed body of doctrine. Grounded in the principles identified above and Gospel values, it has focused on major themes that have evolved in response to the challenges of the day. Many of the changes date from around the time of the Second Vatican Council though some are taking a long time to be properly integrated into the life of the Church. (a) Changes in attitude Political involvement: Responding to the privatisation of religion and the political apathy this engendered, Vatican II gave fresh emphasis to the Churchs shared responsibility for secular as well as sacred history. Quadragesimo Anno - On the Fortieth Year sees politics as aimed at the transformation of society. In this sense political involvement is a must. Christians and the Church itself must be prepared to take a prophetic stand in bearing witness to the peace and justice of the kingdom. Commitment to the world: The Council presents the world in positive terms created and redeemed by God. We share in the creators plan, working for its realisation in history. (See Gaudium et Spes & Laborem Exercens). So CST has developed a more global vision affecting every level in society and both rich and poor nations. It has also taken a peace-making role more seriously. (See Pacem et Terris, Gaudium et Spes, Populorum Progressio &Centesimus Annus) Preaching the Gospel: Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world are a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel (Justicia in Mundo Justice in the World, paragraph 6). This means that when this dimension is lacking in our preaching, we are failing to preach the Gospel. (b) Changes in methodology Reading the signs of the times: The Church has the duty of scrutinising the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel (Gaudium et Spes, paragraph 4). God speaks in and through human history: ie the Church learns from the world where Gods Spirit is at work. The world is part of Gods cont inuing creation for whose transformation we take responsibility. Empowering the local Community: It is up to the Christian communities to analyse the situation proper to their own country, to shed on it the light of the Gospel, and to draw principles of reflection, norms of judgment and directives for action from CST (Quadragesimo Anno, paragraph 4). This is to combine the Pastoral Cycle with Subsidiarity. In other words, the Church does not have ready-made answers: it is for the local community to discern what should be done in dialogue with other Christians and everyone of good will (ibid).
Greater use of scripture: CST has moved away from a deductive, rather narrow adherence to natural law ethics towards a more objective approach based on human experience, with scripture as the new touchstone. This is particularly evident in the encyclicals of John Paul II. The resulting change has brought a new radicalism that sees the obligations of the rich towards the poor as part of the co-responsibility for creation and a share in Gods covenant with the poor. Primacy of love: Instead of CST being primarily based on reason, more recent documents have been increasingly shaped by the primacy of love, understood as including the biblical themes of justice, mercy and option for the poor. Reason is not discarded but put in its proper place. Action oriented planning: The starting point of pastoral and social reflection is people with all the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties (Gaudium et Spes, paragraph 1). In their struggle for justice and peace, the outcome of the process is action. The emphasis is on right doing (orthopraxis) and not just right thinking (orthodoxy). Earlier CST methodology often led to social idealism, isolating reason from the whole pastoral cycle process.
Future Development
Consultative: It would be possible at the national or regional level to follow the lead of the US Bishops and use a consultative process in producing documents on key social issues. Presented in this way the documents have been held in high regard. Reception of teaching by an informed church is increasingly recognised as integral to the teaching process. Ecumenical: It should also be possible to explore social teaching ecumenically. The World Council of Churcheshas worked over the years most notably in the areas of Poverty, Racism and Integrity of Creation. There would be everything to gain from close co-operation. The European Ecumenical Assemblies of Basel (1989) Gratz (1997) and Sibiu (2007) have shown just how effective that co-operation could be. Gaps: Wide-ranging though it is, CST will always need to develop and apply its methodology to new social contexts. The most obvious gap is on the role of women: this was the focus of a US Bishops Pastoral circulated in draft but withdrawn under pressure from the Vatican. They also produced The Challenge of Peace (1983),Economic Justice for All (1986), Renewing the Earth (1991). These were all circulated first in draft as consultative documents.
Key Documents
With the exception of a Council Pastoral Constitution and a Synod statement, the following are all papal texts, but there are also documents from regional conferences of bishops, like those of CELAM (Latin America) or FABC(Asia) particularly that of Medellin (1968) and Puebla (1979) which applied CST to their own context and reflected on such ideas as conscientisation, basic communities and option for the poor. Many of these themes have been picked up by the wider Church. There have also been contributions from the Pontifical Council for Justice & Peace: on Debt (1986), Homelessness (1987), Racism (1988), Refugees (1992) and Land Reform (1997).
1987 Sollicitudo Rei Socialis - The Social Concern of the Church John Paul II
Social Concern Updates Populorum Progressio with analysis of global development: North/South divide blamed on confrontation between capitalism and Marxism. Conversion from Structures of sin towards solidarity and option for the poor.
Evangelium Vitae(1995): brings together CST and teaching on sex & the family as Gospel of life. Novo Millennio Ineunte(2000): challenges of ecology, peace and human rights; all to work for J&P.