The document discusses the social teaching of the Catholic Church. It covers several key topics: [1] Jesus calls for renewal of society and establishment of God's kingdom on Earth; [2] The Church has issued social documents throughout history to address important issues based on principles like human dignity; [3] A just society respects human dignity and rights, and ensures basic needs are met for all people according to Catholic social thought.
The document discusses the social teaching of the Catholic Church. It covers several key topics: [1] Jesus calls for renewal of society and establishment of God's kingdom on Earth; [2] The Church has issued social documents throughout history to address important issues based on principles like human dignity; [3] A just society respects human dignity and rights, and ensures basic needs are met for all people according to Catholic social thought.
The document discusses the social teaching of the Catholic Church. It covers several key topics: [1] Jesus calls for renewal of society and establishment of God's kingdom on Earth; [2] The Church has issued social documents throughout history to address important issues based on principles like human dignity; [3] A just society respects human dignity and rights, and ensures basic needs are met for all people according to Catholic social thought.
The document discusses the social teaching of the Catholic Church. It covers several key topics: [1] Jesus calls for renewal of society and establishment of God's kingdom on Earth; [2] The Church has issued social documents throughout history to address important issues based on principles like human dignity; [3] A just society respects human dignity and rights, and ensures basic needs are met for all people according to Catholic social thought.
Activity: Problems of our Society •Guide Questions: •What are the problems of the nation/world today (minimum of five)? •What are the solutions do you propose? Nature of the Social Teaching of the Church The Social Teaching of the Church is at the core of Christianity. It needs to be pointed out that Jesus is an active agent in the renewal of the Society. His proclamation of the Kingdom of God means that certain practices in the community would even have to be renewed in order to show to the people that indeed God’s reign is at hand, even if at the same time, it cannot be fully fulfilled in the present. A. The Truth of Faith • The First Christians were true followers of Christ in the sense that they have endeavored to persevere in the ministry that Christ has started. This is especially shown in their commitment to equality, respect and love for each other. • Moreover, decisions in their communities are done “in remembrance” of the memory of Christ. A. The Truth of Faith • The Middle Ages Church, despite the infamous abuses of some members of the hierarchy and the clergy, remains faithful to Christ’s call to bring about the reign of love in our communities. • Important thinkers in the Middle Ages especially Thomas Aquinas continues to talk about justice and charity for the poor. A. The Truth of Faith • The challenge to aid the needy in the community has become more pressing with the emergence of modern ideologies that were brought about mainly by the Industrial Revolution. • Capitalism and Socialism were two ideologies that were both supposedly aimed at improving the conditions of every person’s life. However, because of their neglect to talk about God in their endeavours, they have instead also contributed to the increasing problems of poverty and injustice in the community. • Hence, the modern social encyclicals were Catholic contributions to the talk about human flourishing pointing out especially the important points from these two ideologies. A. The Truth of Faith • The Catholic Church has issued important documents in order to officially announce its stand on pertinent social issues that confront our communities at particular moments in history. • These are Catholic contributions to the talk about human flourishing based on important principles such as the dignity of the human person, subsidiarity, solidarity and the preferential option for the poor. • Moreover, each of these documents, while sensitive to the historical conditions of particular times, are grounded in the Tradition of the Church that finds its beginning in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ. a. The Human Person as the Image of God • Church’s understanding of human dignity - is the conviction that the human person occupies a central role in the creation of God, and that the human person is the only creature that is created in the image and likeness of God, and is the only creature that has the capacity for God. • Human dignity is a core-concept in the social teaching of the Church. The Church believes that the human dignity is a concept that is both inviolable and inalienable, that is, it can never be compromised regardless of the circumstances and consequences of the action. a. The Human Person as the Image of God • The apex of the affirmation of human dignity is the coming of Christ. Christ embraces humanity through the mystery of Incarnation, which affirms that humanity is central to God’s plan. • The centrality of the dignity of the human person is even highlighted more with the Paschal Mystery of Christ. He showed us that the cross is not a meaningless symbol, but is rather a testimony of God’s love. b. Celebrating our Shared Humanity, Our Human Interconnectedness • Yahweh’s covenant with Abraham and the people of Israel is Yahweh’s own initiative and gift which is even beyond what humanity deserves. • The covenant is an expression of Yahweh’s willingness to reach out to His people. In fact, by the covenant, Yahweh makes himself bound to fulfil his promises to His people. • In turn, the covenant becomes the people’s assurance that Yahweh will never abandon them. b. Celebrating our Shared Humanity, Our Human Interconnectedness • Moreover, “there comes from the Decalogue a commitment that concerns not only fidelity to the one true God, but also the social relations among the people of the Covenant… The gift of freedom and the Promised Land, and the gift of Covenant on Sinai and the Ten Commandments are therefore intimately linked to the practices which must regulate, in justice and solidarity, the development of Israelite society. b. Celebrating our Shared Humanity, Our Human Interconnectedness • A society that wishes and intends to remain at the service of the human being at every level is a society that has the common good – the good of all the people and of the whole society – as its primary goal. • In the diversity of cultures, the natural law unites peoples, enjoining common principles. Since something of the glory of God shines on the face of every person, the dignity of every person before God is the basis of the dignity of man before other men. c. Toward a Just and Humane Society according to God’s Plan • God destined the earth and all it contains for all men and peoples so that all created things would be shared fairly by all mankind under the guidance of justice (CSDC, 165). • The principle of the Universal Destination of Goods is an invitation to develop an economic vision inspired by moral values that permit people not to lose sight of the origin or purpose of these goods, so as to bring about fairness and solidarity. • Everyone has the right to enjoy the conditions of social life that are brought about by the quest for the conditions of social life that are brought about by the quest for the common good. c. Toward a Just and Humane Society according to God’s Plan • Pope Pius XI: ‘the distribution of created goods, which, as every discerning person knows, is labouring today under the gravest evils due to the huge disparity between the few exceedingly rich and the unnumbered property less, must be effectively called back to and brought into conformity with the norms of the common good, that is, social justice. This then prompts the Church to call for a more just distribution of the world’s wealth (CSDC 171). • Man, then, must never forget that his capacity to transform and in a certain sense create the world through his own work… is always based on God’s prior and original gift of the things that are. B. The Paradigm of Love and Justice versus the Way of Violence
Love is the most identifying value
of the Church's social teaching. It is what makes us uniquely Christians. It is, in fact, unachievable without grace, but the grace is freely supplied to the willing, which is grace itself. a. The Way of Love and Justice • In the Church’s perspective, love as a value is “the highest and universal criterion of the whole of social ethics.” (CSDC, 171) • This is not love as the Church understands it, love as caritas (the Latin word for it) or agape (the Greek word for it). Love as caritas or agape is the font of the other values of social justice in their fullness. a. The Way of Love and Justice
• “From the inner wellspring of love the
values of truth, freedom, and justice are born and grow. Love is what makes us able to see the other as a friend, as another self, so that the needs and requirements of others seem as one's own.” (CSDC, 205) a. The Way of Love and Justice • Love presupposes and transcends justice. This means that love builds upon justice just like grace builds upon nature. • For what happens when love meets justice, look at the cross of Christ, the cross of Christ which is our law. Without justice, there is no love. Without justice, love does not survive. Justice is the prerequisite of love. Justice is fulfilled by love. • Kant insisted that, in justice, the law of punishment was a categorical imperative which admitted no exception. For if justice goes, there is no longer any value in human beings living on the earth. Kant is entirely correct. A world without justice is, to be sure, too horrible to behold. a. The Way of Love and Justice • However, a world with justice but without love is equally as bad or worse. Human relationships cannot be governed solely by the measure of justice. The prophet Malachi tells us that God requires more than doing justice. He requires us to love mercy and to walk humbly with Him (Malachi 3:3). • Summum ius, summa iniuria was a Roman maxim mentioned by Cicero. It is a brilliant, ambiguous saying which can be translated, “extreme justice is the greatest injustice,” or an "extreme justice is an extreme wrong. a. The Way of Love and Justice • Here is a truly radical challenge: to take love, which, as St. Thomas mentions in his Summa Theologiae, is the form of the virtues, and to socialize it or institutionalize it into social and political charity. This task is the modern challenge of our time. • Social charity makes us love the common good. It makes us effectively see the good of all people, considered not only as individuals or private persons but also in the social dimension that unites them. (CSDC, 207) a. The Way of Love and Justice • We need a new world order that is grounded not only on secular values but on Christian love, on social and political charity, which is identical with solidarity, i.e., a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood. • Social and political charity is not exhausted in relationships between individuals, but extends to the network formed by communal relationships, which is precisely the social and political community; it intervenes in this context seeking the greatest good for the community in its entirety. (CSDC, 208) b. Versus the Way of Violence • The Church does not approve the use of violence and the use of arms because it is aware that violence only leads to more violence, which often results only in new forms of oppression. • Violence is never a proper response. The Church proclaims that violence is evil, that violence is unacceptable as a solution to problems, that violence is unworthy of man. • Violence is a lie, for it goes against the truth, the truth of our humanity. Violence destroys what it claims to defend: the dignity, the life, the freedom of human beings. C. Understanding ‘critical collaboration’ with the State The Church recognizes its autonomy from the State. However, many understand this to mean that the Church should not be involved in political issues, or with politicians and public policies. This is not the meaning of the separation of Church and State. a. From Separation • What really is the meaning of this separation? There are three main ideas: 1. the state has no official religion, 2. the state should not discriminate any religion; and 3. the Church should not control or dominate any religious group, the police or armed unit of the State. • The principle of the separation of Church and State is a reaction to some medieval arrangement of church-sponsored religions or a State persecution of some undesirable religions. a. From Separation • In order to respect the autonomy of the Church, the State shall not establish one religion as the religion of the State. • It shall not favor one religion over the other. • It shall foster the freedom of all religious beliefs and should not interfere with their practices unless these actions become detrimental to public order. a. From Separation • In order to respect the autonomy of the State, the Church prohibits its ministers and priests to run for public office or, if they do, they should resign from their ministry as priests. • This is also done in order to guard the Church’s role as agent of unity as exemplified in a community of different political persuasions. a. From Separation • Separation of Church and State does not mean, however, that the Church and its ministers cannot take a stand on social, economic and political issues affecting the welfare of the people. • And, if taking sides on these issues necessitates choosing one candidate over another, the Church can encourage its members to pursue their own options to address the situation according to its moral values. • In the end, it is the individual Christian who decides based on his or her own conscience, not its leaders or ministers. b. To Cooperation Using a bicycle, one can surely reach his or her destination if the two wheels are consistent in moving to the same direction. The same is true with the relationship between the Church and State, i.e., both have the same goal of reaching the common good and realizing the Kingdom of God. b. To Cooperation • The distinction between the Church and the State does not imply a complete separation, nor does it mean that the Church should restrict her activity to the private and spiritual sphere. • Certainly the Church “cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice.” (Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas est) • The Church has the right and the duty “to teach her social doctrine, to exercise her role freely among men, and also to pass moral judgment in those matters which regard public order when the fundamental rights of the human person or the salvation of souls require it.” (Gaudium et Spes, 76) b. To Cooperation Both the Church and those who govern society are seeking to serve mankind (although under different titles), and they “will carry out this service with greater efficacy, for the good of all, the healthier and better is the cooperation between them.” (CSDC, 425)