1. J. Verstraeten K.U.Leuven
The Social Teaching of the Church in the Context of the Catholic University
J. Verstraeten K.U.Leuven

2. Catholic social thought and teaching
Catholic social thought is more than a papal doctrine. It is a complex tradition of practice and thought, a continuing learning process at the point of intersection of gospel with life.
Catholic social teaching/doctrine is the official expression of it and contributes to the development of the broader tradition

3. Two observations (Laudato si)
“Many members of the academia... operate at great distance from the real people... The lack of physical contact and encounter leads to a fragmentation of conscience....”
“The subdivision of knowledge risks to become irrelevant...when it disregards the wider horizon” (LS 110). Disconnection of CST from other disciplines makes it self- referential and without impact.
Resistance against and liberation from the technocratic paradigm (LS 111, 112)

4. Some characteristics of CST
CST is transformative: “an authentic faith... Always implies a deep desire to change the world” (EN 183)
CST is not merely a matter of doctrinal abstract principles which ‘remain mere generalities that challenge nobody’ (EG 182)
It is a ‘framework of discernment’ in view of action
Method of see, judge, act

5. Discernment and analysis
Octogesima adveniens 4: “it is up to the Christian communities to analyse with objectivity the situation which is proper to their own country”
Global discernment is “not an exclusive task of the pope, nor of an elite speaking for the people” but the task of the entire people of God, including the Catholic universities
The Church is not a neutral observer, but inserted in and part of the history of the humanization of the world

6. Moral reasoning: the human person as fundamemtal norm
Human dignity
The human person as social being
Future generations and the principle of precaution
Questions about the role of the university: developing human competences, respect for employees and particularly taking care of the dignity of cleaning personal.

7. The common good
“The common good plays a central and unity shaping role in the social ethics” (LS, 156)
It’s meaning is radicalized by two other principles: the universal destination of the goods and the preferential option for the poor

8. The universal destination of the goods
“Every person must have accesss to the level of well-being necessary for his/her development”
Ownership of shares of stocks: only justified when it leads to the creation of useful work and “human growth for all” (Centesimus annus, 43)
Investment policy of universities?
Implications for law and business schools

9. The preferential option for the poor
The poor are not passive objects for the more powerful donor’s greater spiritual good
They are subjects of their destiny: “you are sowers of change” (Pope Francis in Bolivia)
“Only on the basis of a a real and sincere closeness we can properly accompany the poor on their path of liberation” (EG, 1990)
Action responding to poverty is not essentially about stuff; it is about how I relate in daily life to everything and everyone who is ‘other’ (Susan Holman)
Where are the poor in textbooks on business? Concrete projects?

10. Other principles
Justice: against inequality as “the root of social ills” (EG)
Solidarity: virtue of citizenship
Subsidiarity: guarantee for participation

11. Imagination
Paul VI: we need a “forward looking imagination” enabling us “to perceive in the present the disregarded possibility hidden within it” + breaking down mental walls
Lederach; “to imagine responses and initiatives that, while rooted in the challenges of the real world are by their nature capable of rising above destructive patterns and giving birth to that what does not yet exist”
New social imaginaries and root-metaphors

12. Conclusion
“Educated attention to real needs of people and to a disciplined sensibility to human suffering” (Michael Buckley)
Tagore: “where the mind is without fear... Where knowledge is authentically free... Where the mind is led forward by God into ever widening thought...”