Catholic Social Teaching

This article presents the relevance of the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition in addressing today’s ethical challenges. This study completes our previous historical analysis on the Franciscan contribution to the process of rationalization that, according to Max Weber, is the key to Modernity. In the last decades, the Franciscan approach has acquired a renewed relevance, as the post-conciliar ecclesiastical Magisterium has clearly recognized, because it fits well with the type of horizontal, intuitive and interactive communication that predominates in our digital culture. In the last part, the study focuses on some of the Franciscan values that are especially relevant today.
Key words: Franciscanism, Magisterium, ecology, evangelization, individualization

Sumario: En este artículo se analiza la relevancia de la perspectiva franciscana al abordar los actuales desafíos éticos y sociales. Se desarrolla así ulteriormente el análisis histórico que hemos realizado sobre la contribución franciscana al proceso de racionalización en ámbitos como la economía, epistemología, política, etnografía, etc. El carisma franciscano sigue teniendo hoy una sorprendente actualidad, tal como reconoce el Magisterio eclesiástico post-conciliar, pues encaja bien con el tipo de comunicación horizontal, intuitiva e interactiva que predomina en la era digital. En la última parte, se presentan algunos valores franciscanos que hoy resultan especialmente significativos.
Palabras clave: Franciscanismo, Magisterio, ecología, evangelización, individualización



Index
1. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, A UNIVERSAL MODEL OF REFERENCE
1.1. Some testimonies about Francis’ importance today
1.2. An inspiration for the ecological movement

2. THE ECCLESIASTICAL MAGISTERIUM AND FRANCISCANISM
2.1. Paul VI: Duns Scotus as a model of dialogue
2.2. John Paul II: Dialogue in the “Spirit of Assisi”
2.3. Benedict XVI and the Franciscan intellectual tradition
2.3.1. Caritas in Veritate, a Franciscan encyclical
2.3.2. The primacy of the loving will
2.4. Pope Francis
2.4.1. A real and sincere closeness
2.4.2. Sister creatures

3. NEW CULTURAL AND COMMUNICATIVE CONTEXT
3.1. An “interactive” evangelization
3.2. Current relevance of the Franciscan way of evangelization
3.3. The Path of Beauty

4. FRANCISCAN VALUES WHICH ARE PARTICULARLY RELEVANT TODAY
4.1. Freedom and gratuitousness
4.2. Fraternity and individuality
4.2.1. Fraternity vs solidarity
4.2.2. Individuality versus individualism
4.2.3. Individuality according to Duns Scotus
CONCLUSION

The first chapter and table of contents of Just Universities can be read at the publisher's website: https://www.fordhampress.com/9780823289967/just-universities/.  Abstract:
Gerald J. Beyer’s Just Universities discusses ways that U.S. Catholic institutions of higher education have embodied or failed to embody Catholic social teaching in their campus policies and practices. Beyer argues that the corporatization of the university has infected U.S. higher education with hyper-individualistic models and practices that hinder the ability of Catholic institutions to create an environment imbued with bedrock values and principles of Catholic Social Teaching such as respect for human rights, solidarity, and justice. Beyer problematizes corporatized higher education and shows how it has adversely affected efforts at Catholic schools to promote worker justice on campus; equitable admissions; financial aid; retention policies; diversity and inclusion policies that treat people of color, women, and LGBTQ persons as full community members; just investment; and stewardship of resources and the environment.  The fir

This was a research paper for a course entitled Feminist and Multicultural Theologies. I unpack what gender complementarianism is, examine its history, and compare it to how Scripture and earlier Christian Tradition understood gender. This allows me to establish that gender complementarianism is a recent innovation in secular and Christian thinking about gender, and that it can be described as a "trajectory" from Scripture and Tradition on gender, influenced by social, ideological, and intellectual developments in secular societies. I then pursue a critique of gender complementarianism, arguing that it is an "unsatisfactory trajectory" because it has troubling implications for orthodox theology, is not borne out by empirical experience and observation, and has harmful effects on human beings and societies and on ethical development.

This article explores a wide range of issues linked to the central theme: the use of the smartphone in the period of early formation of candidates intending to join the Salesians of Don Bosco. It begins with a brief presentation of the growth of the Internet and highlights some of its social consequences. It looks back at the founder's attitude to technological change, and examines the Salesian documentation already available on social communication. A mini opinion poll among members of an international group of young religious and priests accustomed to smartphone-use helps to concretize the dilemma, while the Salesian World Coucillors of Communication and Formation are invited to share their views. The article concludes by providing some guidelines for the formation of candidates to Salesian consecrated life in a globally networked society.

This paper, given at a colloquium in Dublin on December 15th, discusses the network of principles of Catholic social teaching through a series of paired ideas, hoping to better investigate their status as normative principles.  These pairs also develop insights into the character of integral human development, a new emphasis in development work arising from the Catholic context.  The 'integral' is here discussed as holding together distinct elements of theology of development, without conflating them.  The pairings are: individual and collective priorities; love and justice; recognition and redistribution.  Critical theorists Axel Honneth and Nancy Fraser debated this last pairing in the early years of this century, and their debate highlights the integral character of interpersonal and structural concerns. Fraser's contribution recalls us to be attentive to the structural, not only the interpersonal.  Honneth's concept of recognition points us beyond this integral discussion to the very transcendental conditions of personhood and thus offers new insights into the normative move implied when theology proposes principles in the light of the nature of the human person.

Laudate Si also calls for a new way of thinking, an “ecological culture of solidarity” to resist the globalized technocratic paradigm. (par. 111) Bolivia's indigenous people are, I believe, an example of this ecological culture of solidarity, which has some interesting economic and social consequences as they adapt to the modern forces of climate change and globalized neoliberalism in their own way. The paper explains an example of a sanitation project with vermin-composting toilets being built by a women's cooperative and its compatibility with the indigenous Pachamama theology of nature.

Pourquoi l'illusion qu'on peut séparer le marxisme de l'athéisme se maintient-elle? Comme l‘a remarqué G.M.-M.Cottier O.P., c'est au moment où le mouvement marxiste donne des signes de crise qu'un nombre croissant de chrétiens semblent attirés par lui. L'effondrement du monolithisme doctrinal est sans doute à l'origine de cette idée qu'il est possible d'opérer un tri entre divers aspects du marxisme isolables les uns des autres, comme l’a essayé notamment G.A.Wetter S.J. L’auteur montre que l'athéisme est une part intégrale de la conception de Marx. C’est valable également pour sa „conception matérialiste de l’histoire“, appelée plus tard „le matérialisme historique“. De plus, comme l’ont formulé les évêques français, le problème n'est pas seulement celui qui oppose l'athéisme et la foi, c'est la divergence entre deux conceptions de la nature, de l'homme, de la société et de l'histoire".

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, most legacy airlines filed for bankruptcy protection as a way to cut costs drastically, with the exception of American Airlines. This article applies the Principle of Double-Effect to the act of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for reasons of management strategy, in particular, cost-cutting. It argues that the Principle can be a useful tool for discerning the ethicality of the action, and demonstrates the usefulness by proposing three double-effect criteria that, when fulfilled, argues for the ethical justifiability the action in question.

Clashes between Catholic canonical law and Canadian common law regarding gender and sexual minorities continue to be played out in Canadian Catholic schools. Although Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ensures equality on the basis of sexual orientation, teachers in Alberta Catholic schools are being fired for contravening Catholic doctrine about non-heterosexuality and Ontario students’ requests to establish Gay/Straight Alliances are repeatedly denied. Homophobia in the Hallways uncovers the causes and effects of the long-standing disconnect between Canadian Catholic schools and the Charter by comparing the treatment of and attitudes towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (lgbtq) teachers and students in publicly-funded Catholic school systems in the provinces of Alberta and Ontario.

Homophobia in the Hallways is structured around a series of 20 interviews with 7 current and former teachers and 13 former students in the Catholic school system who have been affected by homophobic attitudes and practices within the system. It draws upon media accounts that illustrate the Catholic schools’ homophobic environment and considers this information with reference to key Alberta and Ontario Catholic policy and curriculum documents.

The central question driving this study is: How does power operate in Canadian Catholic schools?  Is it exercised from the top down solely, or are there instances of power rising up from the bottom as well? To answer this question, the book draws upon the critical theories of Gramsci (1971), Althusser (1970/2008), Foucault (1975/1995), and Giroux (2001) in order to explain the phenomenon of religiously-inspired homophobia and transphobia in Canadian Catholic schools.

The first settlers in this part of southern Louisiana owned slaves to work their farms. As many slaves were Catholic as their owners. This article is the story of their development as Catholics over two centuries, a story told here in three stages. First, although prohibited by law, the Religious of the Sacred Heart educated their slaves for reception of Catholic sacrament, which became full education by the Sisters after the Civil War, and was climaxed by the establishment of primary and secondary education in the black parish, Christ the King. The second part of this story is concerned with the slow and hostile desegregation of the Catholic Parishes in Grand Coteau, and the ordination of two black deacons who served in the single integrated parish, renamed St. Charles Borromeo. The Jesuit fathers, who served in the former parishes (Christ the King, for black Catholics and Sacred Heart, for whites, effected integration of all Catholics in Grand Coteau. As the black parish, Christ the King, lost its schools to general integrated schooling, a new phase of Catholic involvement emerged to attend to the dire social needs of the poor in Grand Coteau, primarily black Catholics.
That historical sketch can be more fully detailed. “Grand Coteau” designates the village in St. Landry Parish which was singular for its schools: 1. The Academy of the Sacred Heart (1821-2016); 2. St. Charles College of the Jesuit Fathers (1837-1916); 3. In 1875 the RSCJ opened a school for colored children 4. In time this “free school” was transported to Grand Coteau and became the elementary school of St. Peter Claver Compound [it burned down in 1977], just as the public school (Grand Coteau Elementary School) was beginning. In 1890 the same Religious opened the parochial school for Sacred Heart Parish, renamed as St. Charles Borromeo. 5 St. Charles College closed it doors in 1919 to become the novitiate for the Southern Jesuits. 6.  In 1945 the Sisters of the holy Family opened a school for colored children in Belleview, a mission of St. Peter Claver parish in Grand Coteau; and 7. shortly after, a secondary school named “St. Peter Claver” opened in Grand Coteau for colored boys and girls in the village itself.  8. In time the parochial school,  named “St. Ignatius,” continued the existence of the “free school” of the RSCJ. 9. When both the Bellview school and St. Peter Claver school closed, the state of Louisiana built a middle school (now integrated) in the heart of Grand Coteau. 10. A social-services center was opened on the former St. Peter Claver property, named the Thensted Center, and was staffed by many RSCJ. The village has many more significant aspects, but these suffice to locate the focus of “black” “Catholics” in “Grand Coteau.”

This essue have the aim to put clear the mechanism of the pill. It has an anticonceptive effect, no dooubt, but could it have another effect. Why laboratory din´t explain all the effects of the pill. Have they fear, if yes, for what reason they silenced the abortive effect effects in many cases? We will try to put it as clear as we can.

To Avoid misunderstanding, I should note at once that my point of view is here not that of the mere logic of ideas and doctrines, but that of the concrete logic of the events of history.
From the first point of view, that of the mere logic of ideas and doctrines, it is evident that there are many possible positions other than the “pure” positions which I shall examine. One might ask theoretically and in the abstract, what value these various positions have. That is not what I plan to do. In a word, my point of view is that of the philosophy of culture, and not that of metaphysics.

In the text entitled Zur Philosophie der industriellen Unternehmung / Uwagi fi lozofi czne o przedsiębiorstwie przemysłowym („Towards the Philosophy of Industrial Enterprise”), Józef I. M. Bocheński OP (†1995) attempts at discovering the function of the entrepreneur as a factor connecting capital and labor. The Dominican philosopher fails to notice, however, that there is no artificial division of consumer goods and capital goods. Th is is determined by the calculating mind of the acting man, whose point of reference is private property. It is a necessary element of economic calculation, without which there is no economic rationality. In his analysis, Bocheński does not take into account private property, and therefore he does not distinguish between the functions of a manager and an entrepreneur. The Dominican thinker’s attempt to define philosophically an enterprise is innovative, based on anthropological principles consistent with Christian personalism, but incomplete. Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian School of Economics advocate a subjectivist theory of value that explains the essence of economic exchange based on private property. The author of this article, as a theologian, also reaches for economic personalism and John Paul II who taught that without private property man is not able to understand his dignity fully.

En este libro, Patxi Álvarez - quien estuvo a cargo del Secretariado para la Justicia Social y la Ecología (SJES) de la Curia General de la Compañía de Jesús entre los años 2011 y 2017 - nos ofrece una mirada histórica al apostolado social desarrollado por los jesuitas desde sus inicios.

In catholic social teaching the nation is recognized as a community in which its members share a cultural bond. The nature of this relationship makes the nation spiritual community. The relationship between members of nation rely on their mutual love. That bond bases mainly on the ethos which is a part of the national culture. In addition an essential element of national culture is also a history of the nation. In catholic social teaching the existence of the nation is seen as a natural phenomenon, moreover, it is necessary because the spiritual development of man is impossible beyond the nation. The importance of culture in the life of the nation is reflected in the fact that it allows the expression and strengthening of its spiritual "sovereignty". In addition, the culture allows the nation to survive despite the loss of political and economic independence. The nation as a community of people is the subject of a specific behavior and actions. The subjectivity of the nation is the basis of its rights (e.g. right to exist, to their own language and culture, to shape their lives according to their own traditions). Catholic social teaching indicates the obligation of patriotism, which is an expression of justice, because everyone owes a lot to own nation. Patriotism can be seen also as a manifestation of social charity, which relies on the common realization of shared values. Catholic social teaching rejects nationalism because it often takes the form of worship of own nation and orders contempt of other nations and cultures.

Two of the most important concepts that are related to environmental care and our present ecological situation are sustainable development and integral ecology. Pope Francis in his encyclical letter Laudato Si’ focused on these concepts and stressed the need to safeguard our environment to ensure that while we meet the needs of the present generation we also do not compromise the needs of the future generation. He proposes a development that is both sustainable and integral, a development that is authentically just and for the common good. In this paper I discuss the ideals of sustainable development and integral ecology as expounded by various scholars and from both the western and oriental perspectives and as discussed in Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’. The last section of the paper highlights the Philippine ecological situation to serve not as an ideal but a kind of mirror as to what is happening in a developing country like the Philippines which is situated in an area where different...

Every May, Creighton students travel to Peru as part of the Discovering Peru: Church, Society and Language in Context program. While in Peru, they directly engage and accompany people in the Villa El Salvador district of Lima, one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods.

During the years in which France succumbed to nazi ideology and was occupied by German forces, Henri de Lubac, a French cardinal and one of the great contemporary thinkers the Catholic Church can boast of, played a decisive role in the French resistance to anti-Semitism. Active as a priest, de Lubac collaborated in the composition of ''official'' proclamations such as the famous 1941 ''Chaine Declaration" and also arranged conferences, wrote books, and participated in various resistance activities. One of de Lubac’s most intimate friends, Yves de Montcheuil α student companion among others, was shot to death in July 1944 by the Gestapo. De Lubac made clear his commitment to oppose what he termed Europe's "collective apostasy" under Nazism in α confidential letter to his religious superiors in April 1941. The commitment is amply demonstrated in a 260-page book of de Lubac's memoirs published in France, entitled Résistance Chrétienne et l'Antisémitisme: Souvenirs 1940-1944.

There has been much public comment on the recent Encyclical Letter of Pope Francis.  Not least this has come from climate change commentators, communicators and policy advocates welcoming the Pope’s engagement with the issue.  In this short commentary I want to question whether this Papal intervention is really about climate change, or even about the environment more broadly.  Rather, he offers a profound analysis of humanity’s earthly predicament.

In His goodness and wisdom, God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the purpose of His will: that man may come to share in the divine nature (cf. DV 2). In the Old Testament, a central theme of this revelation is God’s desire for shalom. The covenant established between God and Israel highlights the desire of God to work with man to work for shalom, even despite the cycles of order and disorder that take place. The expectation for shalom culminates in the anticipation of “The Day of the Lord,” which the prophets speak of as a Day of Judgment and Salvation.

The following article is the first English translation of an article written by Bishop Proano of Ecuador on the Role of Christianity in the Process of Development.  It was published in El Salvador in 1975.  I publish it here as a resource for anyone who wishes to use it.

Este ensayo estudia la emergencia de la conciencia ecológica contemporánea a la luz de los descubrimientos científicos y del debate generado en las cumbres internacionales sobre desarrollo sostenible. Sobre este trasfondo histórico, se analiza la reflexión ética y teológica que las diversas problemáticas medioambientales generan en el pensamiento social católico, desde la promulgación de la encíclica Rerum novarum (1891) hasta la reciente encíclica de Francisco, Laudato si’ (2015).
Es un estudio relevante para toda aquella persona interesada en la historia de la Doctrina Social de la Iglesia, así como en el potencial de las tradiciones religiosas para dar respuesta al urgente reto de la sostenibilidad.

A look at post-humanism from the lens of the Catholic social ethical tradition, noting basic principles, framing concepts, and the opportunities and liabilities that lie ahead.

In _Posthumanism: The Future of Homo Sapiens​_, eds. Michael Bess and Diana Walsh Pasulka, 201-211. Part of the Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2018.

Jeremy Corbyn in the summer of 2015 declared that he wanted to create a “new politics” and offer authentic change to the British Labour Party post the New Labour era under Blair and Brown. In this paper I assess the political philosophy of Jeremy Corbyn against that of the anti-New Labour Blue Labour movement, which proclaims itself to be Labour’s “radical tradition”. Blue Labour like the Red Tory tradition of Philip Blond is rooted in the anti-modernist Radical Orthodoxy movement that rejects the rationalisation and disenchantment of the world and its offshoots, particularly the political philosophy of liberalism (in both its economic and social dimensions). Although there is a definite sympathy with the anti-capitalism of Corbyn with regards to the economy, there is concern that his statism is ultimately liberal. Blue Labour argues that the alleviation of society’s ills would be best served through the adoption and application of Catholic Social Thought (CST), which rejects the liberal atomistic conception of human beings abstracted from their broader communities. To change to a more “relational” conception of humanity, as Blue Labour’s advocates argue, would have the potential to create far more positive radical change for our social and economic relationships than merely depending on state intervention as the left has historically done in the pursuit of equality.