REVIEWER no. 4: COMMITMENT
Poverty and Liberation Theology1. Is the meaning of LT relevant only to Latin America? – No, it is relevant to every situation of poverty
2. 3 parts of the article: 1) Theology emerges out of life experience; 2) The experience of poverty in a Salvadoran Community; 3) The content of LT 3. What is Theology? - about the meaning and content of one’s faith and belief - a Christian Philosophy of reality and life - comes after life experience. The experience of life forces us to theologize. This type of theology has 2 qualities: 1) it must consist of really reflective thinking and must ask the hard questions; 2) the answers to the questions must be related to one’s own life experience. 4. What is Theological Reflection? - involves allowing the world of one’s everyday experience and the world of religious faith to interact, to mutually influence each other. 5. What is Liberation Theology? - the understanding of the meaning of Christian faith that arises out of the experience of Christians in Latin America - body of thought, a philosophy of life, that is generated by reflection upon the concrete experience of people who share a Christian faith, but who also experience human life as characterized by desperate poverty. - A theology that integrates an understanding of the Christian message with the real-life situation of people. - Not separated from everyday life. Awakening From the Sleep of Inhumanity 1. What is being described by the author when he said awakening from a “dogmatic slumber”? - an awakening that is like the liberation of reason from subjection to authority and which, in turn, gives rise to the dogmatic proclamation that the fundamental liberation of the human being lies in the liberation of reason. 2. What is meant by “sleep of inhumanity”? - It means the sleep of egocentrism and selfishness; it means the heart of stone for the suffering of this world 3. Where and when did the awakening from the sleep of inhumanity happen to Jon Sobrino? - That realization is what I experienced upon returning to El Salvador in 1974. 4. What was the question that led to the awakening from dogmatic sleep? - The basic question came to be: are we really human and, if we are believers, is our faith human? The reply was not the anguish which follows an awakening from dogmatic sleep, but the joy which comes when we are willing not only to change the mind from enslavement to liberation, but also to change our vision in order to see what had been there, unnoticed, all along, and to change hearts of stone into hearts of flesh—in other words, to let ourselves be moved to compassion and mercy. 5. What was the first thing that Sobrino discovered in El Salvador? - The first thing we discovered in El Salvador was that this world is one gigantic cross for millions of innocent people who die at the hands of executioners. Father Ellacuria referred to them as “entire crucified peoples.” - we have rediscovered how God looks at God’s crucified creation. To recall the anthropomorphic but eloquent words of Genesis: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” To put this in even more anthropological terms, we do not know how it is possible to be a human being and not sometimes feel the shame of belonging to inhuman humanity. 6. The most important change is the very way of seeking the answer to the question of what it means to be human, coupled with the nagging suspicion that we have asked the question in a rather “dogmatic” and uncritical manner. 7. What is his critique on the Western view on human being? - the truth of the matter is that it has not humanized anyone or become more human. - Western human beings have to a great extent produced an inhuman world for those in the Third World and a dehumanizing world in the First World. - there was much inhumanity in the ideal of humanity to which I formerly adhered. Above all, I have discovered that what is truly human has been showing itself to me where I once would have least expected it—in the faces of the poor. Although the mystery of what is human goes beyond any one particular instance. I have concluded that in order to comprehend our human essence, it is necessary to do so from the point of view not of the powerful but of the poor, and on their behalf. As the gospel says, the truth of the human being manifests itself in the Beatitudes of Jesus and in the parable of the good Samaritan. 8. What did the author rediscovered from the perspective of the poor? - From the perspective of the poor, we have rediscovered the need for a new kind of civilization, a civilization of poverty or at least of austerity, rather than one of impossible abundance for all—a civilization of work and not of capital, as Father Ellacuria would say. That more humane civilization can be made concrete by considering first the community rather than the individual, by upholding transcendent values over crass pragmatism, by favoring celebration over mere diversion, and by emphasizing hope over calculated optimism and faith over positivism. 9. How does the mystery of God emerge clearly in the world of poverty (victims)? - given the fact of so many victims, Latin America is the quintessential place to question God—as Job did, and as Jesus did from the cross—especially since God is confessed as a God of life. That God should permit victims to suffer and die is an insurmountable scandal. In the midst of such a situation, a believer can only accept the fact that God on the cross is as impotent as the victims themselves, and then interpret such impotency as God’s way or being in solidarity with those victims. The cross on which God is placed is the most eloquent proclamation that God loves the victimized of this world. On that cross, God’s love is impotent yet believable. And it is from that perspective that the mystery of God must be reformulated. 10. How do we respond to the mystery of God? – by walking humbly throughout history (God’s solemn proclamation in the prophet Micah becomes very real: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”) 11. What is meant by idols in the article? – they are the absolutization of exploitive capitalism and “national security” (according to Archbishop Romero). Idols dehumanize their worshipers, but their ultimate evil lies in the fact that they demand victims in order to exist. If there is one single deep conviction I have acquired in El Salvador, it is that such idols are real. They are not the inventions of so-called primitive peoples but are indeed active in modern societies. We dare not doubt this, in view of such idols’ innumerable victims: the poor, the unemployed, the refugees, the detainees, the tortured, the disappeared, the massacred. And if idols do exist, then the issue of faith in God is very much alive. 12. What is the idea of the article on the constant exercise of mercy? - In El Salvador, we have rediscovered that the faithful response to this world of victims is the constant exercise of mercy, as in the parable of the good Samaritan, which Jesus uses to describe the true human being. The Samaritan sees someone wounded along the way, is moved to pity, and treats his wounds. The importance of mercy in the gospels can be deduced also from the fact that Jesus himself and the Father who receives the prodigal son are described as being merciful. We are speaking here not of “works of mercy” but rather of the basic structure of the response to this world’s victims. This structure consists in making someone else’s pain our very own and allowing that pain to move us to respond. We are to be moved simply by the fact that someone in need has been placed along our way. Even though Jesus presents the Samaritan as an example of one who obeys the commandment to love his neighbor, there is nothing in the parable which would lead us to conclude that the Samaritan acts in order to fulfill a commandment. He was simply moved to pity. It needs also to be emphasized that mercy is not only a fundamental attitude at the root of every human interaction but also a principle which affects subsequent interactions. 13. What are the important things they have discovered based on the principle of mercy? - in our world, there are not just wounded individuals but crucified peoples, and that we should enflesh mercy accordingly. To react with mercy, then, means to do everything we possibly can to bring them down from the cross. This means working for justice—which is the name love acquires when it comes to entire majorities of people unjustly oppressed—and employing in behalf of justice all our intellectual, religious, scientific, and technological energies; - mercy that becomes justice will automatically be persecuted by the powerful, and therefore mercy must be clung to vigorously and consistently. The Salvadoran martyrs—alternately called subversives, communists, and atheists— were consistently merciful. That is why they struggled for justice, and that is why they were assassinated; - give mercy a priority above all else. This is no easy task for any civil institution, any government, business, political movement, or army, nor for any religious or ecclesial institution. One must be willing to risk for mercy, the way Archbishop Romero did, risking not only one’s personal life but even the ecclesial institution itself. That is why he had to witness the destruction of his archdiocese’s radio and printing operations and why some of the priests around him were assassinated. All must be risked, because what is first of all is the ultimate; - the exercise of mercy is the measure of freedom—that state of being universally hailed as a human ideal in the Western world. When he healed on a Sabbath, Jesus was violating the rules and norms of his time because he was merciful, not because he was a liberal. Jesus understood freedom from the point of view of mercy, not the other way around. For him, freedom meant that nothing could stand in the way of the exercise of mercy. Summary: - To sum up, then: we have awakened from a sleep of inhumanity to a reality of humanity. We have learned to see God from the point of view of the victimized, and we have tried to see this world of the victimized from the point of view of God. We have learned to exercise mercy and find joy and a purpose for life in doing so. Remembering my dear Jesuit brother Ignacio Ellacuria, rector of Jose Simeon Canas Central American University, who was murdered with five other Jesuits and two pious women on November 16,1989, I have learned that there is nothing as vital in order to live as a human being than to exercise mercy on behalf of a crucified people, and that nothing is more humanizing than to believe in the God of Jesus. As I have seen this way of life become very real in many Salvadorans, in many other Latin Americans, and in many who sympathize with us in various places, another new thing I have learned in El Salvador is the importance of saying “Thank you.” Then life and faith still make sense. Church Social Mission and Doctrine 1. OUR CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY. “Paul VI (in his encyclical on the Development of Peoples) … “If the ROLE OF THE HIERARCHY IS TO TEACH and to interpret authentically the norms of morality to be followed in this matter, it BELONGS TO THE LAITY, without waiting passively for orders and directives, to TAKE THE INITIATIVE FREELY AND TO INFUSE A CHRISTIAN SPIRIT INTO THE MENTALITY, CUSTOMS, LAWS AND STRUCTURES OF THE COMMUNITY IN WHICH THEY LIVE.” 2. The Gospel condemns clearly those who use their position as a cover for their treatment of others. “… hypocrites! … you appear to people on the outside like good honest men but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Mt. 23: 23-24,28) 3. We can claim to be Christians only to the extent that we treat our fellow men as brothers and equals. “By this shall all men know that you are my followers; if you have loved one another.” What does love of neighbor mean for us today in the Philippines? “… Christian love of neighbor and justice cannot be separated… (Justice in the World) 4. “The basic fault in our communities' political and social life: the subordinating of the common good to private good … “(Excerpted from the CBCP Statement : "Reform Yourselves and Believe in the Gospel!" (Mark 1:15), January 27, 2008) Church’s Mission and Social Doctrine (Compendium) 1. The Church, God’s dwelling place with men and women 2. The Church, sharing in mankind’s joys and hopes, in its anxieties and sadness … 3. With her social teaching the Church seeks to proclaim the Gospel and make it present in the complex network of social relations. 4. All members of the Church, the laity included, are responsible for incorporating the Gospel values into their families, schools, work places, and into the very structures of society. .. When it comes to political involvement, PCP II proposed that Pastors have competence in the moral principles governing politics, while laity have competence in active and direct partisan politics. But, “both clergy and laity must be involved in the area of politics when moral and Gospel values are at stake.” (CFC 1162) 5. The Church’s social doctrine is an integral part of her evangelizing ministry. 6. The Church has the right to be a teacher for mankind … not only of dogmas but also of the morals whose source lies in human nature itself and in the Gospel. This right of the Church is at the same time a duty … 7. The separation of Church and State. For many it means that the Church should not make pronouncements on state decisions or political events and situations. Let us study closely the true meaning and intent of this constitutional provision. From the Constitution itself, we can gather the true meaning of this so-called separation. The pertinent provisions are the following: Art. III, sec. 5; Art. VI, sec. 5 (2); Art. VI, sec. 29 (2); Art. 9 c, sec. 2 (5); Art. VI, sec. 28 (3); Art. XIV, sec. 4 (3); Art. XV, sec. 3 (1); and Art. XIV, sec. 3 (2) In summary, one may speak of the desired relationship of Church and State in the Philippine Constitution not as a separation but as mutual autonomy and cooperation. For in fact, the State needs the Church in order to instill the necessary ethical, moral, and spiritual values, while the Church needs the State so that it may do its work in freedom and peace. The basic intent of the Constitutional provision of separation of Church and State is the mutual autonomy of both the Church and State (i.e., the Church and the State should not interfere in each other’s affairs, and should not seek to control each other, or allow themselves to be simply the instrument of each other) Nowhere in the present Philippine Constitution (1987) do we read: That the Church cannot make public pronouncements on acts of the State, and on political events and situations; That individual Church official cannot run for, or occupy public office. The Church has as much right as any cause-oriented group to express its mind regarding the way the country is being run. The Church is not prohibited by our constitution from proposing a political vision or expressly supporting certain candidates or political party. (The reserve that the Church keeps in this regard stems rather from the nature of the Church, from Canon Law, and from pastoral prudence) Hence, the separation of Church and State cannot be used as an argument against the involvement of the Catholic faithful and of the Church itself in shaping the political future of our country. Since the Gospel, which the Church proclaims, proposes a morality for all, touching all aspects of human life, the Gospel has a direct bearing on the economic, social, political, as well as religious life of the people. Hence, we should expect that the Church will speak out on behalf of the poor if their dignity and life are at stake due to injustices in the economic, social, and political structures of the society. This is intrinsic to the Christian Faith, and thus to the mission of the Catholic Church from its inception. The Nature of the Church's Social Doctrine 1. The Church’s social doctrine was not initially thought of as an organic system but was formed over the course of time, through the numerous interventions of the Magisterium on social issues. 2. The Church’s social doctrine is of a theological nature, specifically theological-moral since it is a doctrine aimed at guiding people’s behaviour. 3. The Church uses four major sources, namely: Sacred Scripture, tradition, reason, and human experience Sacred Scripture. Ten Commandments - The first three refer to the worship and praise of God, while the following seven refer to the love for one’s neighbor … From the Ten Commandments, Christians recognize that love for God is intrinsically linked with love for others. .. these two “loves” are taught and perfected by Christ.. .. St. Paul confirmed this teaching when he advised the Corinthians concerning their community life: “if one part suffers, all parts suffer with it” (1 Cor. 12:26). This spirit of solidarity sits well among us Filipinos. Our close family ties enable us to feel what the least members of the family feel. We say: “Ang sakit ng kalingkingan, damdam ng buong katawan.” But the challenge for us Filipinos, however, is to extend our sympathy for those beyond our families who are in need. Vatican II picked up what St. Paul advised by asserting that “The joys and hopes …” (GS 1) Reason. the Church has consistently used the careful rational analyses of the social sciences dealing with current social problems, but always within the distinctive moral perspective of Christian faith. Traditionally, the Catholic moral perspective is noted for its teachings on the natural law (NL). NL refers to the moral norms for human conduct drawn from our human nature. So, how has the Church benefited from its use of NL reasoning in its CST? The main advantage is this: NL reasoning relates directly to all humans, not just Christians. Therefore, the Church teaching expressed in NL reasoning is universal – addressed to all human persons. Tradition. Although there were no specific social encyclicals written before 1891, there was a tradition of reflection, discussions, and teachings about the meaning of the social order, peace, and justice that paved the way for the Church’s current social documents which began with Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum (Of New Things). The tradition … goes back to the teachings and reflections of the “Fathers of the Church,” … They strongly denounced the greedy obsession of some for accumulating wealth and properties, while insisting on the right to private ownership of property. Against this greed, the Church put much emphasis on the ideal of just distribution of goods. Human Experience. … human experience has come to be understood primarily as the process through which the Church reads and interprets “the signs of the times.” What exactly does the Church mean by “reading the signs of the times?” Basically it refers to the process or intelligible method for coming to a thorough understanding of the situation. The first step is to immerse oneself in the situation in order to have a better look at it. Next, an accurate assessment and judgment are made of what has been observed, followed by the action called for by what was perceived. This three-step process, abbreviated as See-judge-act, has been described lengthily in Mater et Magistra 236-241 of Pope John XXIII’s 1961… Two more steps have been added recently to this process, namely, celebrate and evaluate. Taken as a whole this pattern of See-Judge-Act-Celebrate-Evaluate is a faith experience. 4. Characteristics of CST: In the development of CST, we can observe two basic characteristics. CST is both permanent and developing. Permanent. Since the teachings are based on the Gospel, they are timeless in their fundamental values, and offer a permanent complex ideal to be pursued in the ever changing historical conditions and ways. These teachings never go out-of-date in their fundamentals. Such permanent teachings are exemplified in the following principles – human dignity and solidarity, social justice and Christian love, active non-violence and peace, preferential option for the poor, value of human work, universal destination of all goods of the earth, stewardship and the integrity of creation, people empowerment, and authentic and holistic (integral) human development. Developing. The fundamentals of Church social doctrine make up the steadily growing collection of Church’s social principles that must be creatively applied to, and renewed in, the ever changing concrete situations of various events, cultures, and human needs in the historical process. Overview of Church Documents - Important Messages/Themes 1. RERUM NOVARUM (The Condition of Labor) - condemns inhuman conditions of workers/ abuses of liberal capitalism; rejects communism; and articulates guiding principles, particularly rights and duties of three main actors of modern economic life (workers, employers/ property owners, state) 2. QUADRAGESIMO ANNO (The Reconstruction of the Social Order) - affirms and elaborates on teachings of Rerum Novarum (e.g. role of Church, rights of workers, social responsibility of ownership, and positive role of government in economy) 3. MATER ET MAGISTRA (Christianity and Social Progress) - proposes reconstruction of social order according to principles of Catholic social teaching and role of laity: observe, judge, act 4. PACEM IN TERRIS (Peace on Earth) - articulates Christian interpretation of human rights and proposes creation of local, national and global institutions to promote justice and peace 5. GAUDIUM ET SPES (Church in the Modern World) - articulates duty of Church as “people of God” to scrutinize the “signs of the times” in the light of Gospel 6. POPULORUM PROGRESSIO (The Development of Peoples) - addresses structural dimensions of global injustice; calls “development” the “new name for peace”; • sketches Christian vision of development (“integral human development”); criticizes narrow profit motive and unrestricted right of private property; and calls for world solidarity and equity in trade relations 7. OCTOGESIMA ADVENIENS (A Call to Action) - articulates duty of local churches to act on local situation: “be hearers and doers of the Word”; and discusses new social problems created by urbanization 8. JUSTICE IN THE WORLD - describes modern world as marked by grave problems of injustice; declares “action on behalf of justice” to be a “constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel”. Church must witness to justice through international action, education and lifestyle 9. EVANGELII NUNTIANDI (Evangelization in the Modern World) - articulates responsibility of Church to proclaim Gospel in ways people of the 20th century can understand; and calls for “integral evangelization” (evangelization that promotes justice/ liberation) 10. LABOREM EXERCENS (On Human Work) - emphasizes that human work is at the center of the social question (the key to making life more human); emphasizes the dignity of human work (priority of “subjective” vs. “objective” dimensions of work, priority of labor over capital, primacy of people over things); criticizes “materialism” and “economism” (humans reduced to mere instruments of production); rejects liberal capitalism and Marxist socialism; supports rights of workers; calls for solidarity with and among workers; and presents elements of spirituality of work 11. SOLLICITUDO REI SOCIALIS (Concern for Social Matters) - affirms teaching of Populorum; insists that authentic development must be guided by moral principles (points out that environmental problems further emphasize moral character of development); presents survey of contemporary world (millions still suffering from “intolerable burden of poverty;” widening gap between North and South, a major cause of failure being division of world into hostile blocs of East and West; but positive sign--people more aware of dignity and rights); recognizes reality of “structures of sin” emphasizing, however, latter are rooted in personal sin; and issues call for conversion on the basis of the virtue of solidarity 12. CENTESIMUS ANNUS (100 Years) - marks collapse of communism: emphasizes failure of latter due to its refusal to recognize individual dignity and rights of the human person; presents a nuanced appraisal of capitalism/ the market economy; reiterates social responsibility of private property ownership (“social mortgage” on private property); emphasizes need for structures and policies that permit wider participation in production of wealth; defines role of state in context of principles of “solidarity” and “subsidiarity;” cites congruence of democratic system with Church social teaching; and stresses need for “witness of actions, “ conversion of hearts/ values and spirituality of social justice CST-CBCP The Social Doctrine of the Church - This doctrinal corpus challenges the imbalances of society and the attitudes of individuals. It offers guidelines to persons on how to live the Gospel of Jesus. It presents “principles of reflection”, “criteria of judgment”, and “directives for actions, oriented towards moral conduct.” Integral Development - Human Dignity and Solidarity - generating jobs for the unemployed, raising the standard of living, increasing the gross national product, and providing economic sufficiency are laudable objectives only to the extent that they do not sacrifice the integrality of authentic development. - For development to be integral it must serve the total person in all dimensions including the interior, that is, the spiritual dimension and eternal salvation of the human person. - Fidelity to the interior dimension of life and its openness to its transcendent vocation from and towards God is essential for development to be integral. Such inner values as righteousness and freedom are not economically compensable. - if development causes the widening of the morally scandalous gap between the rich and poor of our society, development is simply unauthentic and misdirected. (Pope John Paul II) - A situation such as the concentration of economic wealth and political power in the hands of the few is an affront to human dignity and solidarity. It runs counter to the truth that all human beings and not just a few are “the source, the center, and the purpose of all socioeconomic life.” Human dignity and solidarity are fundamental values from which our development as a people must proceed. - Human dignity is the basis of inalienable human rights which safeguard the dignity of the human person. “Human rights may be defined as those fundamental rights of human beings which are essential to the exercise of human dignity.” (Intengan) - Solidarity is “a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good, that is to say, to the good of all and of each individual because we are all responsible for all.” (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 38) Universal Purpose of Earthly Goods and Private Property - Meaning: “God destined the earth and all it contains for all men and all peoples so that all created things would be shared fairly by all mankind under the guidance of justice tempered by charity.” - The “injustice of the poor distribution of the goods and services originally intended for all” is “one of the greatest injustices in the contemporary world”. (SRS 28) - private property has a social dimension. This social dimension is the clear implication of evangelical Christian love: “If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.” (1 Jn 3:17-18.) - the right to private property is subordinated to the right to common use, to the fact that goods are meant for everyone.” (St. Ambrose) - Private property is thus subordinated to the universal destination of goods. As an element of its social dimension, it prompted Pope John Paul II to refer to private property as under a “social mortgage.” Social Justice and Love - Development cannot be achieved unless it is thoroughly imbued with justice and love. (EN 35) - for our interpersonal relationships and social structures to be put in order, justice is not sufficient.” (JW34) Love is necessary. - While the demand of justice is implied by love, still justice “attains its inner fullness only in love.” (JW 34) For in justice, the other person can remain “another”, an alien. In love, the other is a friend, even a brother or sister (MT 23:8) in Christ. Love is fraternity. Love is at the heart of solidarity. (SRS 40) Peace and Active Non-Violence - The Kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus is not a Kingdom to be imposed by the force of arms.( Cf. Jn 18:36; Mt 26:52). It is a Kingdom to be built by love, (1 Cor 13:11-13) the love of the suffering servant.66 Love bears peace by way of peace. - It is a harmony in the human heart and in the social order brought about by justice, (Cf. Is 32:17; “Justice will bring about peace.”) requiring respect for human dignity and human rights, the promotion of the common good by one and all, and the constant practice of solidarity. - Non-violence is a quality of the love of Jesus Christ.72 So radically new was his love that he obliged his followers: “Love your enemies.” (Lk 6:27; Mt 5:44.) - Peaceful but persuasive rallies, assemblies, marches, demonstrations, strikes and acts of “passive resistance” to unjust laws can be very effective even if non-violent. A strategy of non-violence requires solidarity of spirit as well as of action. - “The road to total liberation is not the way of violence, class struggle or hate; it is the way of love, brotherhood and peaceful solidarity.” (John Paul II, To the People of Tondo, Feb. 18, 1981, no. 7; cf. also his speech To the People of the Sugar Plantations, Bacolod City, Feb. 20, 1981.) To remove social ills, active non-violence is our moral countersign to the ideologies of today that espouse armed violence to change the status quo. It is likewise our moral countersign to the ideologies that institutionalize violence in order to preserve the status quo. We consider the peaceful alternative as a mandate of evangelical discipleship. Love of Preference for the Poor - This is an essential option of Christian faith, an obligatory choice. (The Church will not hesitate to take up the cause of the poor and to become the voice of those who are not listened to when they speak up; not to demand charity but to ask for justice. Yes, the preference for the poor is the Christian preference!” John Paul II, To the People of the Sugar Plantations, Bacolod City, Feb. 21. 1981).Eternal salvation depends on the living out of a love of preference for the poor because the poor and needy bear the privileged presence of Christ. (Mt 25:31-34; cf. GS 27; JW 31; EN 12; LE 8.) The Value of Human Work - the one who works is the human person. (LE 6; for this discussion see also LC 81-88.)This subjective dimension of work has to be “the primary basis of the value of work,” and not what work objectively produces. The human person is the subject of work and must not be treated as an instrument of production. The person has primacy over things.( LE 12.) - Work, in fact, should enable the person to “subdue the earth,” “to have dominion over the visible world,” “to transform the earth, and to achieve fulfillment as a human being.” (LE 9.) This is the productive dimension of stewardship: that as stewards of the earth and its goods, we labor in order not only to make the earth productive but, with the Holy Spirit also to “renew the face of the earth.” - The subjective dimension of human work connotes as a necessary corollary that labor has priority over capital,” (LE 12.) for labor is the primary efficient cause of production while capital is a “mere instrument.” - twin principles: dignity of human work and the priority of labor over capital - The principles mandate, among other things, the following: suitable employment for all, just remuneration for work that is sufficient to establish or properly maintain a family and to provide security for the future, various social benefits that would ensure the life and health of workers and their families, the right to rest and the right to a decent work environment, the right of association, the right to participate in the fruits of work and in management (e.g. profit sharing, sharing in the ownership of the enterprise or of the means of production, participatory decision making), and the right to strike under certain conditions. (LE 20.) Integrity of Creation - A true and just development must fundamentally be concerned with a passionate care of our earth and our environment. (OA 21; SRS 26,34; CBCP, What is Happening to Our Beautiful Land? Jan. 29,1988.) - The sovereignty granted to us by the Creator is not a license to misuse God’s creation. (SRS 34) We are but stewards of creation, not its absolute master. And stewards are accountable to the Creator and giver of all good things. People Empowerment - No social transformation is genuine, and lasting where people themselves do not actively participate in the process. - Today we understand “people power” to subsume basic ideas that go beyond the mere gathering of people in support of a cause. We understand “people power” to include greater involvement in decision-making, greater equality in both political and economic matters, more democracy, more participation. People’s participation is a recognition of God’s fundamental gifts of freedom and responsibility. - Empowering people is thus a prerequisite in the renewal of our country. Without it, our destiny as a people would remain in the hands of the few. Common Good - The common good is “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.” (Gaudium et Spes, 26) - “The common good consists of three essential elements: First, the common good presupposes respect for the person as such. In the name of the common good, public authorities are bound to respect the fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person. Society should permit each of its members to fulfill his vocation. . . . Second, the common good requires the social well-being and development of the group itself. Development is the epitome of all social duties . . . Finally, the common good requires peace, that is, the stability and security of a just order. It presupposes that authority should ensure by morally acceptable means the security of society and its members. It is the basis of the right to legitimate personal and collective defense.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1906–1909) Subsidiarity -The principle of subsidiarity places responsibility as close as possible to the grassroots. The people/groups most directly affected by a decision or policy should have a key decision-making role. They should only be interfered with in order to support them in cases of need, and to help coordinate their activities with the activities of the rest of society with a view to the common good. 100 Years of Church Social Teaching, New Problems, New Answers 1. Centesimus Annus – Written by Pope John Paul II to commemorate the centenary of Pope Leo XIII’s famous social encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891. 2. Rerum Novarum - - no mention is made of workers’ right to strike against unjust wages or conditions of work. 3. It should be noted that all recent popes have looked to Rerum Novarum as the foundation of the Church’s social teaching, and have seen themselves as further developing and updating that teaching on the basis of the principles laid down by Leo XIII. 4. The Church’s social teaching has developed not only by offering new answers to new problems, but by rethinking her older answers to achieve a deeper understanding of how to safeguard in a changing world the key human values that many of those first answers in Rerum Novarum embodied. 5. The social teaching of the Church has radically evolved over the past century in meeting the growing demands of justice: (Example) - teaching on private ownership. * Pope Leo XIII - affirm the right of private property as required by the natural law forms a major theme of his polemic against the socialists; * Forty years later, Pius XI reaffirmed private property to be a demand of any just economic system; nonetheless, he complemented this by noting that private property is not merely for the good of the individual but is a means by which the goods of the earth given by God for the whole human race may serve that social purpose. (Leo no doubt would not have denied this, but he had not made it very clear, given his preoccupation with the socialists.) * John XXIII in Mater et Magistra again affirmed private property to be part of the natural law, but clearly subordinated this right to the common good. * Pope John Paul II in Pacem in Terris made clear that private property may be said to belong to the natural law only because it is a suitable means to safeguard the dignity of the human person, not because of any alleged sacredness in private property itself. * Vatican II further developed John’s teaching by insisting that the primary normative principle regarding ownership is the universal purpose of created goods, and therefore, private property, though still of importance, is subordinate to that primary norm. Hence, if private property is being unused or misused, it may be expropriated by the state, though suitable compensation should be paid. Paul VI further reaffirmed both these principles, though he made no mention of compensation, most probably leaving it to depend on the degree to which the original owner had misused his property. 6. Pope John Paul II in Laborem Exercens, treating of agricultural property, especially in developing countries, condemned as unjust the situation in which “millions of people are forced to cultivate the land belonging to others and are exploited by the big landowners, without any hope of ever being able to gain possession of even a small piece of land of their own” (21). 7. In Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, John Paul said: “Private property, in fact, is under a ‘social mortgage’ which means that it has an intrinsically social function based upon and justified precisely by the principle of the universal destination of goods” (42). To put it in simpler terms, the Pope teaches that there is no absolute right of ownership of land whereby some can own more than they need for themselves and their family while others have none of their own to work on. 8. The core of Catholic social teaching - found in two complementary principles, both in fact part of Rerum Novarum: the inviolable dignity of each human person and the essentially social nature of humankind. These are reaffirmed repeatedly in all Church social teaching of the past hundred years. |
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