A Reliable Shorthand Book On Catholic Social Teaching
By Charles E. Rice
(Dr. Rice, a professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame Law School,
wrote this commentary for The Observer, the Notre Dame student newspaper.)
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It may come as a news flash, but Catholic teaching is about more than sex and
the right to life. It covers the entire range of human experience. But how much
do you, yourself, really know about Catholic social teaching? If the answer is,
Not much, dont feel so bad. You have plenty of company. [M]ore than in any
other historical period, said John Paul II, there is a breakdown in the
process of handing on moral and religious values between generations.
Over the past four decades, religion classes at Catholic schools have focused on
making collages or imparting the gospel of political correctness. The students,
when they become parents, cannot pass on to their children what they never
received. But now, help is at hand.
In his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love), Pope Benedict XVI
included a reading list which could be a remedial study assignment.
After affirming the need to build a just social order in which all receive
their share of the worlds goods and no longer have to depend on charity, Deus
Caritas Est (DCE) listed the interventions of the papal Magisterium in
response to the changing social problems resulting from industrialization and
later developments including the growth of a globalized economy.
Several great Popes have developed this teaching, starting with Leo XIIIs Rerum
Novarum in 1891. Pius XI followed with Quadragesimo Anno (1931) and John XXIII
with Mater et Magistra (Mother and Teacher) (1961). Paul VI contributed
Populorum Progressio (1967) and Octogesima Adveniens (1971), addressing
especially the social problems in Latin America. John Paul II left a trilogy of
social encyclicals, Laborem Exercens (1981) on the dignity of work, Sollicitudo
Rei Socialis (1987), and Centesimus Annus (1991) which cautioned against the
acceptance of a materialist capitalism as an alternative to the failed
prescriptions of Marxism.
At times the guidelines in these documents have met with indifference or
hostility from Catholics across the political spectrum, including National
Reviews adolescent eruption, Mater Si! Magister No!, in response to John
XXIIIs Mater et Magistra.
Most would find it a daunting task to plow through all those papal teachings. If
you want a really short, but excellent, introduction, take a look at Citizens of
the Heavenly City: A Catechism of Catholic Social Teaching (2005), by Arthur
Hippler, director of the Office of Justice and Peace of the diocese of La
Crosse, Wis. In 154 pages, including notes, Dr. Hippler covers it all in a
format suitable for individual or group study. The foreword, by Most Rev.
Raymond L. Burke, now archbishop of St. Louis, praises the book for its
attention to the totality of the Churchs social teaching, beginning with the
sourcesand then progressing to a study of the social implications of the love
of God and the love of neighbor.
Dr. Hippler covers, concisely and accurately, the what and the why of the
teachings on family, life, capital punishment, the environment, war and peace,
free speech and the common good as well as the just wage and economic justice.
The social and moral teachings of the Catholic Church provide the only coherent
response to the dominant utilitarian culture. If you want to be clear about
those teachings, Dr. Hipplers book will do it for you. Its format is
attractive. It is reliable and easy to read. (Order for $15.95 from Borromeo
Books, P.O. Box 7273, St. Paul, MN 55107.)
With Benedicts emphasis on the social teachings in DCE and elsewhere, with the
convenient Compendium, and with the appearance of accurate, reader-friendly
books like Dr. Hipplers, no one, especially at Notre Dame, has any excuse for
ignorance of the rich and comprehensive social teachings of the Church. So take
a look. You might be surprised at what you will find.
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