The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (1992) Reading 1.8; `Shared Leadership’

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good This chapter outlines the social teaching of the Church. It begins with a brief history of the development of this teaching since Pope Leo XIII ( ). All quotes, unless otherwise stipulated, are taken from Common Wealth for the Common Good, as reprinted for Reading 1.8.

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good “Continuity and constant renewal are characteristic features of the history of Catholic social teaching [CST]. It remains constant in its source of inspiration, the Gospel, and it is continually developing in response to the events changing the context of people’s lives.” (p.13) CST takes “the Gospel message of faith, hope, love, justice and mercy” and applies it to “ever- changing circumstances” (p.13).

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good The following documents are listed as of particular relevance to Common Wealth for Common Good: – Rerum Novarum (1891) – Lumen Gentium (1964) – Gaudium et Spes (1965) – Redemptor Hominis (1979) – Laborem Exercens (1981) – Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987) – Centesimus Annus (1991)

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good Brief summaries of the key points of each document are provided before their emphases (as relevant to Common Wealth for Common Good) are summarised as thus: “human dignity, freedom, the universal destination of created goods, work, solidarity, the principle of subsidiarity, the preferential option for the poor, conservation, the failure of centrally planned economies and the dangers of consumerism” (p.16).

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good This reading then summarises the “Relevant Principles and Themes in the Church’s Social Teaching” (p.17). These are: 1) The Dignity of the Human Person 2) Freedom 3) The Common Good 4) Private Property and God’s Gift of the Earth to All Humanity 5) Labour and Capital 6) Solidarity 7) The Preferential Option for the Poor 8) Stewardship and Sustainability 9) The Environment and Economics 10) The `Signs of the Times’ and the Principle of Subsidiarity

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good 1)The Dignity of the Human Person The first and final paragraphs of this section highlight its key points: “The essential dignity of all human beings comes from the fact that, as the Book of Genesis says, they have been created in God’s image and likeness and are destined for immortality. Granted that … it follows that society’s structures, institutions, laws and customs exist for persons and for their full, authentic development, not vice versa.” (p.17) “A just society is one in which nobody’s rights are ignored, denied or sacrificed to another’s advantage.” (p.17)

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good 2) Freedom “If you believe that human beings reflect God’s image and that Jesus the Saviour embarked on a liberating mission, it follows that you accept freedom as one of the basic human rights.” (pp.17-18) “To be true to its own teachings, the Church must defend freedom when it is attacked or undermined by autocratic and tyrannical regimes.” (p.18)

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good 3) The Common Good “The freedom of one person is necessarily limited by the rights of others.” (p.18) “The human person achieves his or her potential as a member of society, where the needs and rights of others have to be respected.” (p.18) “Individuals and groups within a society have an obligation to pursue not only their own interests but the good of all. The governing and administrative bodies of a society are obliged to safeguard and promote the common good, as well as the good of society’s component parts.” (p.19)

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good 4) Private Property and God’s Gift of the Earth to All Humanity “The Church has always supported the right to private property... But that right to property has limits.” (p.19) As written in Gaudium et Spes and quoted in Common Wealth for Common Good “Whatever the forms of ownership may be … attention must always be paid to the universal purpose for which created goods are meant. … [People] should accrue to the benefit of not only themselves but of others.” (p.20)

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good 5) Labour and Capital This principle argues against seeing the capital as more important than the labour. It warns that this may happen when we ignore the “primacy of persons over things” (Laborem Exercens, 13, as quoted on p.22). “In itself work … should be seen as ennobling and as contributing to the fulfillment and self-realisation of the worker, whose right to share in the fruits of that work must be recognised.” (p.21) CST “has consistently opposed the concentration of ownership and control of the means of production in the hands of those who invest money, while those who invest skill and labour are excluded.” (p.22) “[I]t is evident that social justice and the common good still demand a more equitable sharing of ownership and control of economic enterprises and of the profits they produce.” (p.22)

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good 6) Solidarity Pope John XXIII introduced this concept in Mater et Magistra (1961). It has come to “summarise a whole program of social justice.” (p.22) It is “the logical application of the second great commandment: `You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Mark 12:31).” (p.22) Solidarity calls us to see `the other’ “not just as some kind of instrument … but as our neighbour, a helper, to be made a sharer, on a par with ourselves, in the banquet of life to which all are equally invited by God.” (p.23) “In practice in society this means that `those who are more influential … should feel responsible for the weaker and be ready to share all they possess. Those who are weaker, for their part, in the same spirit of solidarity … should do what they can for the good of all.’” (p.23)

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good 7) The Preferential Option for the Poor “A preferential option for the poor means attempting to understand the perspective from which the poor see the world and their own situation. It also means a willingness to take action to remove the injustices which deprive them of their rights and offend their God-given dignity.” (pp.24-25)

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good 8) Stewardship and Sustainability “[T]he Earth is God’s creation … Human beings have been entrusted with its stewardship.” (p.25) Sustainability “means that the Earth’s resources are to be used with future needs always in mind.” (p.26)

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good 9) The Environment and Economics “It is good business sense and well as good stewardship to use resources efficiently” (p.27). The economy must serve the people. Pope John Paul II is quoted in Centesimus Annus as saying the economy is “only one aspect and one dimension of the whole of human activity.” (p.27) Again, from Centesimus Annus, we are told “When people are seen more as producers and consumers of goods than as subjects who produce and consume in order to live, then economic freedom loses its necessary relationship to the human person and ends up alienating and oppressing that person.” (p.28)

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good 10) The `Signs of the Times’ and the Principle of Subsidiarity When reading the `signs of the times’, Popes “identify some of the obstacles to social justice and the common good.” (p.28) The principle of subsidiarity pertains to the structures of societies, how these (when dominated by self-interest) can aggravate injustice, and the need to “replace them with more authentic forms of living in community” (p.29).

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good The reading concludes by highlighting the need to examine structures in Australian society that create and foster injustice, and to find ways that these structures can be overcome (p.29).

The Social Teaching of the Church in Common Wealth for Common Good Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. (1992). The Social Teaching of the Church, in Common Wealth for Common Good (pp ). North Blackburn, Victoria, Australia: Collins Dove.