1. introduction to catholic social teaching
Anna Floerke Scheid, Ph.D.
Duquesne University
Part 3
Unit 8
Click here for instructions.

2. Instructions
Navigation through the course will occur by clicking on the following action buttons located in the lower right corner of each screen:
The HOME button will be placed in the center of each slide and will bring you to the Table of Contents for further navigation.
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3. Instructions
This course is meant to be self-paced, though there will be opportunities to interact with your local and global JPIC groups.
Course content and activities should be completed in the order that they are presented to maximize student success.
The Table of Contents will be your starting point for each Unit

4. Activity Icons
Each type of course activity has a unique icon located in the upper right corner of the screen.
In this course you will:
Online journal
Local discussion
Read online
Create doc
Reflect
Global discussion
Watch video
Quiz/test

5. Unit 8: The Dignity of the human person

6. Unit 8 Table of Contents
This unit is divided into several components. Start with About this Unit OR click on the link below to navigate to the component where you left off. Revisit as needed.
Instructions
About This Unit
Aims of the Unit
What You Will Learn
8.1 Reading: Massaro, “Peace and Disarmament”
8.2 Reading: Gaudium et Spes
8.3 Reading: Instrumentum Laboris: The Church in Africa in Service to Reconciliation, Justice, and Peace
8.4 Notes and Critical Concepts
8.5 Reflection and Discussion
Unit Summary

7. What is this unit about?
Peace and related themes of disarmament and social justice are major themes in Catholic social thought. Peace is presented in CST as a gift of God to be embraced. Economic and other social injustices are presented as obstacles to peace which Christians have a duty to work to overcome.

8. Aims of the Unit
By the time you are finished with this unit, you should:
Have a good grasp of the CST on peace, in particular its relationship to justice
Be able to identify social injustices that are obstacles to peace
Begin to identify your own positions on how conflict might best be resolved
Be able to envision solutions for removing obstacles to peace in your own local contexts and around the world

9. What You Will Learn
The criteria that constitute the Just War Theory (JWT), which are meant to help restrain impulses toward warfare
CST’s take on the relationship between peace and economic injustices from multiple sources, including Gaudium et Spes and the Instrumentum Laboris from the 2nd African Synod
How CST envisions Christian responsibility vis-à-vis peacemaking

10. 8.1 reading: Thomas Massaro

11. Reading
Click here to complete the reading. Read Thomas Massaro, “Peace and Disarmament” in Living Justice: Catholic Social Teaching in Action, (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2008):

12. 8.2 reading: Gaudium et spes

13. Reading
Click here to complete the reading. Read Gaudium et Spes, paragraphs

14. 8.3 reading: instrumentum laboris: the church in Africa in service to reconciliation, justice, and peace

15. Reading
Click here to complete the reading. Read Instrumentum Laboris: The Church in Africa in Service to Reconciliation, Justice, and Peace, paragraphs

16. 8.4 Notes and Critical Concepts

17. Peace and Disarmament
Just War Theory (JWT) and pacifism are two options for thinking about war and violence. Be aware that there is also a third theory, Just Peacemaking Theory, that is also a good way of thinking about how to avoid or stave off forces of violence and warfare.
CST teaches that JWT begins with a presumption against the use of force – that is, we have a duty to do our best to avoid using violent coercion, even if we think that it is warranted or justified.
The JWT, therefore, places limits or restraints on the use of force. It should not be used to drum up support for war or to cheer on warfare.

18. Peace and Disarmament
The eight JWT criteria that are meant to help restrain our impulses toward and within warfare are:
Legitimate authority: only a competent and official political authority whose duty is to care for the common good can declare war. It is not the purview of private citizens or militia groups.
Just cause: there must be a grave and imminent threat to peace and order.
Right intention: the motivation for warfare must be to re-establish peace and order.
Last resort: all diplomatic and peaceful avenues of conflict resolution must have been exhausted. Threat must be imminent.

19. Peace and Disarmament
5. Macro-proportionality: the good to be attained by the war must be greater than the evil that will ensue during the war. 6. Reasonable hope of success (sometimes called probability of success): wars that are futile should not be fought. 7. Micro-proportionality: the particular means (weapons, strategies, and tactics) used in warfare must not be disproportionate to the good they will achieve. (I.e., the good to be achieved via a particular tactic must outweigh the harm done by that tactic.) 8. Non-combatant immunity: care should be taken to avoid civilian casualties and damage to purely civilian infrastructure. Civilians may never be directly or intentionally targeted in warfare.

20. Peace and Disarmament
Today, some argue that no war will ever be just because modern weapons are so destructive that we can never fulfill criteria like non-combatant immunity or micro-proportionality. People who hold this view have sometimes been called “just war pacifists.”
Pacifism, which in its most robust form views all warfare as always morally wrong, is also viewed as a legitimate moral option from the perspective of CST. However, the way pacifism is conceptualized is underdeveloped in CST.

21. Gaudium et Spes: with parallels in Instrumentum Laboris
Gaudium et Spes maintains that “Peace is not merely the absence of war” but is instead also “an enterprise of justice” (78).
It also maintains that soldiers must follow universal natural law principles and affirms that soldiers must have the freedom to follow their own consciences, even against direct orders from their superiors.

22. Gaudium et Spes: with parallels in Instrumentum Laboris
Gaudium et Spes calls for the establishment of an international authority with care for the common good and a responsibility to avoid war and secure peace.
The document views all war as a matter of great regret (82).
It ties the pursuit of weapons to poverty; raises the question of whether money should be spent on increased militarization rather than the social welfare of the most vulnerable citizens; and provides insight that war and violence thrive on economic inequalities. Again, it provides an invitation to look at roots of conflicts and why people do violence to each other.

23. Gaudium et Spes: with parallels in Instrumentum Laboris
Useful norms for peacemaking with regard to the economic order include:
Developing nations should seek the flourishing of citizens through their own resources as much as possible.
Advanced nations should empower developing nations and not institute economic practices or policies that hinder their ability to be self-reliant.

24. Gaudium et Spes: with parallels in Instrumentum Laboris
The international community should coordinate economic growth so that resources are shared justly and effectively and always according to the principle of subsidiarity.
In situations where economic reform is needed, we should beware of technical solutions that improve material well-being but hamper spiritual well-being.

25. Gaudium et Spes: with parallels in Instrumentum Laboris
Similar concerns are developed and addressed in the document from the African synod: conflict is traced to root causes in colonialism, economic injustices, and other socio-cultural problems (64-66).
Christians have a particular duty to the poor. It is unacceptable that nations with a majority of Christian citizens often have an abundance of goods not shared with the poor. This equals a “scandal of humanity” (88).
Likewise, the synod document speaks of the responsibility of the Church to cultivate peace through practices of forgiveness, reconciliation, and justice.

26. 8.5 reflection and Discussion

27. Journal
In your course journal, reflect on the following two questions. Post all or a portion of your responses to the discussion board. Respond to others’ reflections.
1) In thinking about the relationship between peace and economic justice posed by CST, what obstacles to peace exist in your own local context? How might those obstacles be overcome?

28. Journal
2) Where might you position yourself on a spectrum of just war and pacifism positions? Do you lean more toward the notion that the use of coercive force is always wrong or more toward the position that the use of coercive force is sometimes justified in the face of grave or serious wrongs? Explain your thoughts.

29. Unit Summary
Unit 8 introduced you to the CST theme of peace. You explored the relationship between peace and economic justice and considered approaches to conflict such as the Just War Theory and pacifism. You learned how to identify obstacles to peace and had the opportunity to consider how these obstacles might be overcome.

30. You have completed Unit 8
Please return to the Table of Contents using the HOME button to review any material or EXIT to the course menu.