THEOLOGY 3:

CHRISTIAN VISION OF THE CHURCH IN SOCIETY:

Modern Social Teachings of the Church (RN-LS)
In what way can we see the Church fulfilling her mission as a herald?
How did the Social Teachings of the Church develop?
What is a Herald?
 Herald
heralded; heralding; heralds
transitive verb
1
: to give notice of : ANNOUNCE
a gong used to herald the new year
2
a: to greet especially with enthusiasm : HAILdoctors
are heralding a new drug
b: PUBLICIZEa highly heralded event
3
: to signal the approach of : FORESHADOWThe
technology heralded a new age of space exploration.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/herald
a Herald 1

an officer with the status of ambassador acting as

official messenger between leaders especially in
war
: an official crier or messenger
Mercury was the gods' herald.
: one that precedes or foreshadows
e.g.heralds of a coming storm
b: one that conveys news or
proclaims : ANNOUNCER
it was the lark, the herald of the morn—William
Shakespeare
c: one who actively promotes or
advocates : EXPONENT

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/herald
What needs heralding?
one that precedes or

Foreshadows
WINTER IS COMING
Can you tell me examples of
This Photo by
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Author is
licensed under
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things that need updating?

 This Photo by Unknown
Author is licensed under
CC BY-NC

But why update?

Heraclitus
T

Are there dangers in updating?

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 Modern- latin- Modernus-
“Just now”

This Photo by
Post Modern Thought
- High degree of relativism

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

European Journal of Science and Theology · February 2013
 Let us analyze and
integrate our faith
• In this post-modern world that exposes us to
various information, how do we search for the
truth? This Photo by Unknown
Author is licensed

• How do these information affect our way of

under CC BY-NC

thinking and doing especially in matters that affect

the society?
• How does the Church enlighten us to the truth in
order to respond to the challenges of our time?
SOCIAL JUSTICE This is the exercise of God-given
individual rights taken in relation to the
common welfare.

The Church defines certain principles of

what we term “social justice”, that is
applying the Law of God to conditions
of present day economic and social life
in order to carry out its primary
objective of sanctifying and saving
men,
Social Role of the Church based on
Social Encyclicals

The Church’s social teaching is a rich

treasure of wisdom about building a
just society and living lives of
holiness amidst the challenges of
modern society. Modern Catholic
social teaching has been articulated
through a tradition of papal,
conciliar, and episcopal
documents.
 What is an Encyclical?
Comes from the Latin
encyclicus (from the Greek ἐν
κύκλῳ en kykloi) meaning
general or encircling.
A papal encyclical is a letter, usually treating
some aspect of Catholic doctrine sent by the
Pope addressed either to the Catholic bishops
of a particular area or to the bishops of the
world. The form of the address can vary widely,
and often designates a wider audience
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What advocacy have your actions or words heralded?
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• for a broader audience
• May talk of some dangers that are not strictly
related to Catholics but is related to the whole
human family
–E.g. Laudato Si
Social Role of the Church based on Social Encyclicals

The Church has to speak out on

matters that affect religion and
morality as they affect moral
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
issues and social issues.
The church through
the use of the Gospel The church can
principles can help educate people to
reconcile and unify act justly.
social classes.
Social Role of the Church based on Social Encyclicals

Individual Christian must advance The Church commits

civil institutions, human dignity
and foster a unity between
peoples since the church and
humanity experience the same
earthly situation (faith doing
justice).
herself to the
humanization of life,
world justice, and
preferential option
for the poor and
against social apathy.
Catholic Social Encyclicals It gives us principles for
reflection

It provides criteria for

judgment

It gives guidelines for

action
Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, 1891
(Of New Things)

Context:

• Industrial Revolution leads to exploiting

workers.

Message:

• First comprehensive document of social

justice.
• Defends workers’ rights based on natural law.
• Rights include work, private property, just
wage, workers’ associations.
 Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, 1891
(Of New Things)

Other themes:

• Property Issues and the

Inequalities among People
• The encyclical then has
The Compendium describes Rerum
vocally criticized the
Novarum as the encyclical which unequal distribution of
“examines the condition of salaried wealth, and the huge gap
workers, which was particularly between the rich and the
distressing for industrial laborers who
languished in inhumane misery. poor.
Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, 1891
(Of New Things)

Other Themes:

• Wage and Protection of Workers

• Rerum Novarum argues that the divide between
people may be addressed if we move towards
the improvement of the workplace.
• Wages are regulated by free consent…To avoid
injustice, the government must intervene,
seeing to it that workers receive what is due to
them. (cf. RN, 43,45)
• The principal duty of employers is to give
everyone what is just. (RN, 20)
 Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, 1891
(Of New Things)

Other themes:

• Solidarity and the workers’ unions

• RN supports the workingmen’s unions as
legitimately supported by the notion of
natural rights, and it criticizes the state’s
tendency to suppress these unions.
• Workers’ unions are mechanisms not for
its own sake but to ensure that the
conditions are set so as to allow workers
to maximally perform and use their full
potentials
Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno, 1931
(The Fortieth Year)

Context:

• Fortieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum; Great Depression

underway; dictatorships growing in Europe.

Message:

• States need to reform greedy capitalist systems to which they

have become slaves.
• Communism dangerous because condones violence and
abolishes private property.
• Labor and capital need each other.
• Workers need just wage to acquire private property.
• International economic cooperation urged.
• Principle of “subsidiarity” introduced.
 Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno, 1931
(The Fortieth Year)

THEMES:

• On Economic Dictators
• Economic dictators refer to
monopolies and powerful states,
like the U.S., which dictated the
global economy.
• QA argues that he presence of
economic dictators that make the
capitalist system hypocritical.
Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno, 1931
(The Fortieth Year)

THEMES:

• On Totalitarian Governments
• By totalitarian governments
we mean those
governments whose
common life is decided only
by the government with
very minimal participation
from the people.
 Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno, 1931
(The Fortieth Year)

The Principle of Subsidiarity

• Just as it is gravely wrong to take from

individuals what they can accomplish by their
own initiative and industry and give it to the
community, so also it is an injustice and at the
same time a grave evil and disturbance of right
order to assign to a greater and higher
association what lesser and subordinate
organizations can do. For every social activity
ought of its very nature to furnish help to the
members of the body social, and never destroy
and absorb them. (QA, § 79)
John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, 1961
(Mother and Teacher)
Context:
• Entitled as Christianity and Social Progress, the
encyclical Mater et Magistra was published by John XXIII
on May 15, 1961.
• Science and technology advance in developed nations,
while millions live in poverty in Third World.
• Growing animosity between the East and West blocs
dubbed as the Cold War of powerful States that
adopted the competing ideologies of socialism and
capitalism.
• Rivalry Between US and USSR
• Armed Race
• Space Race
• Military Technology (Internet)
John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, 1961
(Mother and Teacher)

Message:

• Disparity between rich and poor nations

must be addressed.
• Arms race contributes to poverty.
• Economic imbalances cause threat to peace.
• Rich nations must help poor ones while
respecting culture.
• Nations are interdependent and need to
cooperate.
• Catholics should know social teaching and be
active.
 John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, 1961
(Mother and Teacher)

THEMES:

• A focus on the Agricultural Sector

• MM calls for a balanced attention between industrial
progress and the development of the agricultural
sector. (emphasizes as well on common good,
cooperation among nations, population increase,
economic development)
• The Principle of Socialization
• The principle is discussed within the context increasing
intervention of the State to propel the social conditions
of the least among us vis-à-vis the danger of
threatening individual freedom amidst the increased
intervention of the State (cf. MM, §59-67).
John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, 1961
(Mother and Teacher)

Themes:

• The Principle of Socialization

• MM believes that every person deserves to get
the basic needs regardless of his/her social
condition, and so the community must feel
responsible in making sure that everyone is
properly aided in the pursuit of their basic
needs. Hence, socialization is to be done where
institutions have to be established in order to
ensure that there are agencies that would look
into the distribution of basic services to all
citizens.
 John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, 1961
(Mother and Teacher)

Themes:

• Family Farms and Cooperatives

• Mater et Magistra is its attention to the
contribution of cooperatives and the kind of
contribution that they can possibly give both for
the empowerment of the workers and in
enhancing balance within the economy towards
the common good (cf. MM §§85-90).
• Support of the State, for the well-being and
sustenance of cooperatives is particularly needed
for the growth of the agricultural sector,
specifically the family farms. (cf. MM §146)
John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, 1961
(Mother and Teacher)

Themes:

• Responsibility of Wealthy Nations

• The encyclical, as early as the 1960s, have
already insisted on the interdependence
among nations (MM, §40).
• “[T]he solidarity which binds all men together
as members of a common
• Family makes it impossible for wealthy nations
to look with indifference upon the hunger,
misery and poverty of other nations whose
citizens are unable to enjoy even elementary
human rights”(MM, §157).
John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, 1963
(Peace on Earth)

Context:

• Two years after Mater et Magistra, John

XXIII published another encyclical
entitled Pacem in Terris on April 11,
1963. The encyclical was published at the
height of the Cold War. The Berlin Wall
was erected on March of 1962 and the
Cuban Missile crisis of October 1962
almost brought the United States of
America and Russia to another major
war.
John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, 1963
(Peace on Earth)

Message:

• Peace ensured through social rights and

responsibilities-- between people; between
citizens and public authorities; between
states; among nations.
• World needs to recognize rights of women.
• Arms race goes against justice, reason and
human dignity.
• United Nations needs to be strengthened
 John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, 1963
(Peace on Earth)

THEMES:

• Pacem in Terris has primarily contended

that talks about ‘peace’ should be
anchored on our understanding of moral
order.
• A. Order between individuals (PT,
§§8ff)
• B. Order between individuals and
government authorities (PT, §§46ff);
• C. Order between States (PT, §§80ff).
John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, 1963
(Peace on Earth)

Themes:
• Rights Talk in the Catholic Social Tradition
• Significantly, PT also provides the Catholic
position on human rights. Following its support
to the aims of the United Nations, it also viewed
of Human Rights as an advance in our
contemporary social situation (PT, §143). It
however reminds its readers that an emphasis
on rights without attention to duties will be
insufficient and ineffective (PT, §§ 44 & 144).
 John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, 1963
(Peace on Earth)

Themes:

• Disarmament and Mutual Trust

• Reading PT should bring our
attention to its call for
disarmament. The encyclical
argues that the arms race that
was happening in the world of the
late 50s until the 60s is contrary
to the call for social order (PT,
§112).
Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, 1967
(On the Development of Peoples)

Context:

• On March 26, 1967, Pope Paul VI

published the encyclical Populorum
Progressio. The encyclical is known
for its emphasis on the talk about
development, and it is even referred
to by some circles as the ‘Catholic
social teaching’s magna carta on
development.’
 Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, 1967
(On the Development of Peoples)

THEMES:

• Attention to Poor Nations

• One important call from the encyclical is the
attention it gives to the plight of poor nations and it
questions the rapid progress among rich nations and
the slow development among their poorer
counterparts (PP, §8)
• Call for Authentic and Integral Human Development
• PP reminds us that authentic development could
never be solely measured by economic and material
progress (PP, §14). PP calls for an evaluation of the
values that we hold dear.
Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, 1967
(On the Development of Peoples)

Call for Global Solidarity

• PP calls for a common development

among mankind and reminds
wealthier nations of their threefold
responsibility for
• 1) mutual solidarity,
• 2) social justice, and
• 3) universal charity (PP, §44).
 Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, 1967
(On the Development of Peoples)

THEMES:

• Development, the New Name for Peace

• PP reminds the global community that
for us to journey towards a lasting
peace, we need to realize that equal
opportunity toward development
must become a possibility for all
nations (cf. PP, §§ 76-77).
John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 1981
(On Human Work)

Context:

• Great numbers of people are unemployed,

migrant workers exploited. Both capitalist
and communist systems exploiting the
worker.
• John Paul II’s third encyclical, but the first of
his several encyclicals, was published on
September 14, 1981. The encyclical offers
the “most comprehensive treatment of
human work in the corpus of Catholic social
teaching.”
 John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 1981
(On Human Work)

Message:

• Work is part of man’s vocation and dignity,

participation in God’s creative work. Has
spiritual dimension.
• Decent wages, rights and benefits of worker
must be assured.
• Work must serve the family, with special
consideration for working mothers.
• Steps must be taken to assure that disabled
can participate in dignity of work.
John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 1981
(On Human Work)

THEMES:

• Objective and Subjective Components of

Work
• Subjective dimension refers to the aspect
of work that allows the human person to
realize himself/herself.
• Objective component of work refers to the
kind of work that the human person does
which is measured by its monetary
returns.
 John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 1981
(On Human Work)

THEMES:

• A Warning against Economism

• LE reminds us to be careful with
the ‘error of economism’ (LE, §13),
that is, of equating the dignity and
value of our work with the
financial incentives that it gives in
return.
John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 1981
(On Human Work)

THEMES:

• The Role of Indirect Employers

• It specifically calls our attention to the reality
of ‘indirect employers,’ which includes “both
persons and instructions of various kinds,
and also collective labour contracts and the
principles of contracts and the principles of
conduct which are laid down by these
persons and institutions and which the whole
socioeconomic system or are its result (§17).
 John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 1981
(On Human Work)

THEMES:

• Family Wage as Just Wage

• Just wage is family wage. LE
categorically defines just remuneration
“for the work of an adult who is
responsible for a family” to be
sufficient “for establishing and properly
maintaining a family and for providing
security for its future” (LE, §19).
 John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 1981
(On Human Work)

THEMES:

• Support for Workers’ Unions

• Unions must resist the temptation
to become partisans in the political
arena, and they must be careful
not to allow themselves to be used
and manipulated for the political
ends of others.
 John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 1981
(On Human Work)

THEMES:

• Spirituality of Work
• LE’s profound contribution is to make its
readers realize that the work that we do
is not only our means for ‘self-
realization’ but is even our way of
participating in the Paschal mystery of
Christ. (Workers participation to Christ’s
suffering, death on the cross and
resurrection.)
John Paul II, Solicitudo Rei Socialis, 1987
(On Social Concern)

Context:

• World economy in flux – debt, unemployment

and recession hitting both rich and poor
nations.
• The explicit claim of JPII in writing the
Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (On Social Concern) on
December 30, 1987 is to commemorate Paul
VI’s Populorum Progressio and to affirm the
continuing relevance of the social doctrine of
the Church (SRS, §3).
 John Paul II, Solicitudo Rei Socialis, 1987
(On Social Concern)

Message:

• Critiques economic gap between

northern and southern hemispheres and
global debt. Should be one united world.
• East-West tensions and competition
block world cooperation and solidarity.
• Critiques consumerism and waste, as
well as international trade practices that
hurt developing nations.
John Paul II, Solicitudo Rei Socialis, 1987
(On Social Concern)

THEMES:

• Superdevelopment and Underdevelopment

• JPII recalls here the immorality of the
extreme gap between peoples.
• Reiteration of the Option for the Poor
• While we own things privately, that
ownership is not only meant to further our
well-being as a human individual, but also to
empower us so we become available to serve
others.
 John Paul II, Solicitudo Rei Socialis, 1987
(On Social Concern)

THEMES:

• On Terrorism and Demographic Problem

• SRS noted the emergence of terrorism, used
by some groups as a means to create a better
society. The encyclical unequivocally
condemned the act as ‘unjustifiable’ (SRS,
§24).
• SRS speaks of the increasing tendency even
among States to readily equate demographic
growth with underdevelopment.
John Paul II, Solicitudo Rei Socialis, 1987
(On Social Concern)

THEMES:

• Structures of Sin that Impedes the Realization of the

Common Good
• SRS also points out that there are certain political,
economic and social arrangements that impedes the
solidarity of people, and instead promotes division which
runs contrary to the development of peoples. When
sinful and corrupt practices have become embedded in
the way we conduct our activities in the community, they
provide the impression that there is an obstacle that is
difficult to overcome (SRS, §36), and this instead invite
others to condone rather than fight corruption.
 John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 1991
(The Hundredth Year)

Context:

• 100th anniversary of Rerum Novarum. Collapse of communism in

Eastern Europe.
• Showing his appreciation and support for the continuing growth of
the Catholic social teaching, John Paul II celebrated the centenary of
Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum by publishing the Centesimus Annus on
May 1, 1991.

Message:

• Critiques fundamental error of communism – atheistic view of

humanity.
• Gives qualified support to free market as most efficient system for
utilizing resources and responding to needs. Free market also
recognizes freedom of human person.
• Warns against consumerism, as well as making capitalist system an
all-encompassing ideology.
John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 1991
(The Hundredth Year)

THEMES:

• The New Things of Today

• The opposition between socialism and
liberal capitalism that was at the height
during the time of Leo XIII is no longer as
strong in 1991 especially because the
USSR has already weakened (and will in
fact be later disbanded by the end of
that year) and the Berlin Wall has
actually already fallen in 1989.
 John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 1991
(The Hundredth Year)

THEMES:

• Subsidiarity and Solidarity

• CA also insists that an economic program will
hardly be just if it does not pave the way for
solidarity and solidarity. The ultimate aim of an
economic system is to ensure the well-being of
human individuals. Unless an authentic
measure of social inclusion is realized, the
economic system will remain to be ineffective
and immoral.
Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 2009
(Charity in Truth)

Context:

• Worldwide economic crisis centered on

weakness in financial institutions and the
collapse of the housing market.
• Benedict XVI’s first social encyclical is supposed
to be published in 2007 as a commemoration of
Paul VI’s Populorum Progressio. But due to the
prevailing circumstances of that year,
particularly the economic recession that affected
most of economies in the world, the publication
was delayed and was moved to June 29, 2009.
 Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 2009
(Charity in Truth)

Message:

• True human development requires

charity lived out in truth, including
respect for the common good, religious
freedom, and the sanctity of human life.
Only an economy of communion, a
business ethic centered in persons and
not in profit, will be a sufficient
response to the present economic and
financial crisis.
Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 2009
(Charity in Truth)

THEMES:

• The Phenomenon of
Globalization
• CV points out that globalization
brings with it both the
advantages disadvantages and
corresponding challenges.
 Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 2009
(Charity in Truth)

THEMES:

• Promoting the Logic of Gift and the Principle of

Gratuitousness
• Only when we learn to realize that everything
that we have is a gift will we be willing to take
good care of them, and be willing to give
them back in return as a gift. Such a culture of
caring and giving, together with the culture of
receiving, becomes important aspects if we
would want to build a culture of communion
in our globalized and consumerist world.
 Francis I, Laudato Si, 2014
(“Mi Signore”,Praise be to you, my Lord)

A Warning Against our Neglect of our

Environment.

• LS is the second encyclical of Pope Francis. LS is

primarily intended to denounce the harms that
contemporary society does to the environment. LS
argues that humanity’s propensity for short term, but
easy, gains become the reason for the neglect and
abuses that it does to the environment.
• LS warns us about the danger of our attitude towards
the environment. We are reminded that we are
caretakers of this world, and our abuse to the
environment is ultimately our neglect of humanity and
of ourselves.
 Herald Yarn?
What advocacy have your actions or words
heralded?
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