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The Busy Christian's Guide to Catholic Social Teaching Sponsored by |
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1958: U.S. launches Vanguard and Explorer satellites. 1959: Fidel Castro's guerrillas take Havana; Castro becomes prime minister. 1960: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) instituted. 1961-73: U.S. involvement in Vietnam War. 1961: Berlin Wall erected to separate East and West Berlin. The first human to travel in space around Earth. Mater et Magistra 1962: Second Vatican Council, attended by over 2,000. Cuban Missile Crisis. Algeria gains independence from France, Uganda independence from Britain. 1963: Nuclear Test Ban Treaty by U.S., U.S.S.R., and Britain. John F. Kennedy assassinated. Pacem in terris 1964: Nelson Mandela and seven other black leaders sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa. 1965: Worldwide demonstrations against Vietnam War; civil-rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama; Ku Klux Klan shootings in Selma. Ian Smith unilaterally declares Rhodesia independent. Gaudium et spes 1966: Race riots in Chicago, Cleveland, and Brooklyn. 1967-68: China and France join U.S., U.S.S.R., and Britain as thermonuclear powers. 1967: Six-day War between Israel and neighboring Arab states. 1968: Warsaw Pact troops occupy Czechoslovakia and halt "Prague Spring." Student protest movements in France, U.S., Germany, Japan. Riots in Londonderry by civil-rights demonstrators. "Flower power" in San Francisco. Populorum progressio 1969: Martial law proclaimed in Spain following riots. Neil Armstrong first person to walk on Moon. Woodstock music festival. 1971: Octogesima adveniens "Justice in the World" 1973-74: Arab oil embargo. 1974: India sixth nuclear power. World economic recession. 1975: Vietnam War ends with South falling to communists. Evangelii nuntiandi 1978: World's first "test-tube baby" born in England. 1979: Salt II Treaty signed by Carter and Brezhnev. Shah of Iran goes into exile. Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran from exile in Paris. Egypt and Israel sign peace treaty ending state of war existing since 1948. U.S. withdraws its support of Nicaragua's President Somoza; Somoza goes into exile; Sandinista government sworn in. Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Mother Teresa awarded Nobel Peace Prize. 1980: Solidarity union founded in Poland under Lech Walesa after two months of strikes. World Health Organization announces elimination of smallpox. 1981: Iran releases U.S. Embassy hostages after 444 days. Laborem exercens 1982: Solidarity outlawed by Polish government. 1984: AIDS virus discovered. 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev becomes general secretary of Communist Party of the Soviet Union. 1986: Haitians overthrow President "Baby Doc" Duvalier. "People Power" revolution in Philippines; Corazon Aquino becomes president. U.S. planes bomb five sites in Libya in retaliation for Berlin disco bombing. Gorbachev initiates policies of glasnost and perestroika. Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, released from exile. "Economic Justice For All" 1987: "Black Monday" on London Stock Market: worst day for shares this century. Iran-Contra hearings. U.S and U.S.S.R. sign historic Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty to reduce nuclear arsenals. Sollicitudo rei socialis 1988: Soviets begin withdrawal from Afghanistan. 1989: Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing, China following demonstrations for democracy. First noncommunist prime minister of Poland since World War II. Opening of Hungarian border brings mass exodus of East Germans into West Germany. Vietnamese troops complete withdrawal from Cambodia after 10 years of occupation. East German Communist Party leader forced to resign. Berlin Wall comes down after 28 years. Czechoslovakia's Communist Party leaders resign. Romania's Communist dictator executed. U.S. invasion of Panama. 1990: South Africa's Nelson Mandela freed from prison after 26 years. Lithuania declares independence from U.S.S.R. Free elections in Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria. Iraq invades Kuwait; U.S. and allies send troops to Persian Gulf region. Unification of East and West Germany. 1991: Persian Gulf War; Kuwait liberated, civil war in Iraq. Centesimus annus |
Octogesima adveniens English title: Author: Pope Paul VI Date: May, 1971 Main points: Addresses urbanization and the new social problems it has created—such as a new loneliness and specific problems for youth, women, and the "new poor." ("New poor" includes the elderly, the handicapped, and the cities' marginalized—people disadvantaged because of urbanization.) Notes lingering discrimination because of race, origin, color, culture, sex, and religion. Stresses personal responsibility on the part of Christians in seeing that injustice is challenged. In combating injustice, need to focus on political action—not just economic action. Encourages individual Christians and local churches to apply gospel principles of justice to contemporary situations and take appropriate political action. Context: The world is verging on a recession, so the "new poor" are especially vulnerable. In the U.S., follows a decade of action on behalf of civil rights, led by Martin Luther King, Jr.; coincides with the women's movement of the early 1970s and continuing student protests against the Vietnam War. Innovation: The role of individual Christians in responding to injustice. Trivia: This was an open apostolic letter to Cardinal Maurice Roy, president of the Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace. Commemorates the 80th anniversary of Rerum novarum.
Evangelii nuntiandi English title: Author: Pope Paul VI Date: October 26, 1975 Main points: With a fundamental aim "to make the Church of the 20th century ever better fitted for proclaiming the Gospel to people of the 20th century," poses three "burning questions": (1) What has happened to the hidden energy of the Good News, noted for its ability to have a powerful effect on human conscience? (2) To what extent is that evangelizing force really able to transform the people of the 20th century? (3) What methods should be employed so that the power of the Gospel may realize its full effect? On evangelizers and evangelization: Jesus proclaimed a salvation that includes liberation from all oppression, and it's the role of the church to continue that proclamation; redemption includes combating injustice; evangelization should affect human judgment, values, interests, thought, and lifestyle; evangelization important in an increasingly de-Christianized world, as important to nonpracticing Christians as to non-Christians; avenues of evangelization—homilies, personal witness, mass media, etc.—explored. Context: Document itself notes cultural problems of atheistic secularism, indifference, consumerism, focus on pleasure, discrimination, and desire to dominate. Innovation: Challenging injustice and preaching liberation are essential components of evangelization. Trivia: Commemorates the tenth anniversary of the conclusion of Vatican II.
"Justice In The World" Authors: Synod of Bishops Date: November 30, 1971 Main points: Dynamics of "oppression" and "liberation" discussed, as the synod remembers that God is a "liberator of the oppressed" and recognizes that structural injustices oppress humanity. Justice is an essential ingredient to the liberation of human beings—not to mention a key expression of Christian love. Context: Echoing not only the worldly political upheavals of the late '60s and early '70s, this document is strongly influenced by the insights of church leaders from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. "Liberation" was a strong theme of the 1968 Medellin conference of Latin American bishops, e.g. Innovation: First major example of post-Vatican II episcopal collegiality. Trivia: Responsible for the oft-quoted "justice . . . is a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the gospel."
Laborem exercens English title: On Human Work Author: Pope John Paul II Date: 1981 Main points: Work is at the center of the social question—the key to making life more human and the measure of human dignity. Nature of work is: (1) to fulfill the command in Genesis to "subdue the earth" and (2) to make family life possible. Criticizes both capitalism and Marxism: denounces tendency to treat humans as mere instruments of production; against collectivism; affirms right to private property yet subordinates it to the right of common use. Also: work is a duty; employers need to provide for workers via good planning, unemployment benefits, and international collaboration righting imbalances in standards of living; resources must be used to create employment; wages must be sufficient to support a family, and working mothers should be afforded special consideration; workers deserve health care, right to leisure, pension, accident insurance, decent working environment; right to unionize strongly supported; disabled people should be given opportunities to work; people have a right to leave native countries in search of a better livelihood. Context: On the 90th anniversary of Rerum novarum, huge numbers of people are unemployed or underemployed. Migrant workers typically exploited. Innovation: Concluding remarks contain a detailed "spirituality of work." Trivia: 90 percent of its content is Rerum novarum.
"Economic Justice For All" Authors: U.S. Bishops Date: 1986 Main points: Reading the "signs of the times," many challenges to U.S. economy: central role of U.S. in a global economy; mobility of capital and technology affects jobs worldwide; depletion of natural resources; American Dream unrealized for millions because of high unemployment and harsh poverty; economic life doesn't support family life; investment of nation's resources into arms production contributes to hardship; values are a concern. A Christian vision of economic life says: inequalities of income, consumption, privilege, and power should be examined; poor should have the single most urgent claim on the conscience of the nation; the poor and excluded rate an investment of wealth, talent, and energy—should be allowed active participation in the economy. Right to employment; need to create new jobs, provide training, remove barriers to equal employment. Need to re-evaluate tax and welfare systems to provide services and human dignity. Family farms and farmworkers supported. U.S. should be fairer in trade with developing nations. Church must model good management, fair wages, and ethical investment. Context: In 1986, 33 million are poor, 20 to 30 million are needy. Unemployment reaches 8 million. Innovation: The church, as investor and employer, must practice what it preaches. Trivia: As they have done with other pastoral letters, the bishops consulted widely with business leaders, experts, officials, etc.
Sollicitudo rei socialis English title: Author: Pope John Paul II Date: December 30, 1987
Context: World economy is in flux—debt, unemployment, and recession hitting affluent and poor nations alike. Innovation: The "structures of sin" insight. Trivia: 1987 is the International Year of The Homeless in the U.S.
Centesimus annus English title: Author: Pope John Paul II Date: May 1, 1991 Main points: Marking the 100th anniversary of Catholic social teaching—thus using Leo XIII's Rerum novarum as its frame of reference—looks to the 'new things' (rerum novarum) shaping the world today. While democracy and social conflict are each discussed, the fall of "real socialism" in the Eastern Bloc nations invites a lengthy discussion of communism and capitalism. The "fundamental error of socialism" is that it's based on an atheistic view of humanity instead of a transcendent one; leads to a "social order without reference to the person's dignity and responsibility." Distinguishing, on the one hand, between "unbridled," "radical," or "primitive" capitalism and, on the other hand, a "business economy" that serves and protects the human person, "it would appear that, on the level of individual nations and international relations, the free market is the most efficient instrument for utilizing resources and effectively responding to needs" (#34). Capitalism also recognizes the freedom of the human person. Warns, however, against: (1) The consumeristic tendency of modern capitalistic societies, saying it cheapens the person, harms society, and ultimately poisons the planet. (2) Elevating capitalism, as an economic tool, to the level of an all-encompassing ideology. Innovation: While careful not to give a blanket endorsement, notes the benefits of capitalism as an economic system. Trivia: Says modern times bring a new form of ownership—"the possession of know-how, technology, and skill" (#32). Go on to Part II of the Busy Christian's Guide to Catholic Social Teaching. Return to: |
Injustices catalogued: those against migrants and refugees, also human-rights violations, torture, political prisoners, etc. Since many who suffer injustice are voiceless, the church should speak on their behalf. Church must be a witness for justice—via education, international relations, and especially the way it treats its own members (particularly women and laypeople).
Main points: While praising the optimism and innovation of Populorum progressio—the document being commemorated—notes serious backsliding on issues of development. Twenty years' worth of unfulfilled hopes include: obvious gap between northern and southern hemispheres, global debt (forcing nations to export capital), unemployment and underemployment. Should be a unity of the world—not a "First World," "Second World," "Third World," or "Fourth World." Outright underdevelopment abounds, a result of the ideological opposition existing between East-West blocs and their strong penchants to militarism ("wars by proxy"), imperialism, neo-colonialism, and exaggerated concerns for security. Their competition blocks cooperation and solidarity. Chastises the West for abandoning itself to a growing, selfish isolation. Chastises the East for ignoring its duty to alleviate human misery. In fueling the arms trade, both blocs contribute to refugee populations and increased terrorism. Emergence of "superdevelopment," an excessive availability of goods leading to consumerism and waste; existence of "structures of sin"; international trade discriminates against developing countries.
Context: The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe.