Social Encyclicals Research Articles

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: FR. JOHN A. RYAN AND THE MINIMUM WAGE MOVEMENT

Fr. John A. Ryan (1869–1945) was one of the early advocates of minimum wage laws in the United States. The thesis of this paper is that in three respects Fr. Ryan stood apart from other advocates of the minimum wage. First, during the period of his work, economics was developing on the basis of the positivist conception of science. Fr. Ryan’s case for the minimum wage combined economics with “non-scientific” theology and philosophy. Second, most religiously motivated American reformers were Protestants, and their advocacy was grounded in the Protestant Social Gospel movement. This was different from Fr. Ryan’s grounding in the social encyclicals of Popes Leo XIII and Pius XI, which themselves were grounded in the Catholic Church’s constant teaching that man is made in the image of God. Third, many reformers were motivated not at all by religion, but by the utilitarian calculus that had become the foundation of the social sciences. Although Fr. Ryan made utilitarian judgments in his analysis, he was not an ethical utilitarian.

Ethics and Economics: Towards a New Humanistic Synthesis for Business

The Encyclical-Letter Caritas in Veritate by Pope Benedict XVI suggests to advance towards a new conceptualization of the tenuous relationship between economics and ethics, proposing a “new humanistic synthesis.” Where social encyclicals have traditionally justified policy proposals by natural law and theological reasoning alone, Caritas in Veritate gives great relevance to economic arguments. The encyclical defines the framework for a new business ethics which appreciates allocative and distributive efficiency, and thus both markets and institutions as improving the human condition, but locates their source and reason outside the economic sphere. It places a clear accent on the ontological connectedness of the economic and ethical dimensions of human action. It is the proper ordering of means towards the end of integral human development that allows mankind to leave a vicious circle of consumerism and enter a virtuous circle that applies the creativity fostered by markets. This vision implies a new model of business management that integrates considerations of vocation, purpose, and values at a theological level.

The Metaphysics of Caritas in Veritate: Augustinian Theology and Social Thought as an Interpretive Key

An aspect particularly striking about Caritas in Veritate among social encyclicals is its emphasis from the beginning on Augustinian-based metaphysics. This paper considers Pope Benedict’s metaphysical starting point as a key contribution to social doctrine in times marked by the concrete embodiment of globalization, to which the postmodern mind has responded with increased secularism and religious indifferentism. Pope Benedict is seeking to guide globalization by man’s rediscovery of himself via a metaphysics open to faith. Such a metaphysics reveals man’s essentially relational character, intimating the unity in diversity of the Trinity, by whose power in charity lies the only lasting hope of human progress and development: not merely the peace of the earthly city but the city of God in its heavenly fulfillment. Broad as it is deep, Caritas in Veritate applies its metaphysics to social virtue in action in a variety of social concerns relevant to our contemporary world and society. In his first social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict brings the social doctrine of the Church into dialogue with our contemporary globalized and pluralistic society. Globalization, first seen on the horizon in the social teaching of Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI, is now concretely instantiated and unraveling in our world, bringing with it unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Our world is now interconnected and interdependent especially because of its networks of communication and transportation, and this has strongly impacted philosophy, politics, and culture. “Diversity” has been the mantra in America for some time, but even Europe has become a melting pot of various peoples, cultures, and religions. Predisposed by the Enlightenment, the postmodern mind tends to respond to religious pluralism with indifferentism and increased secularism. Complicating the matter, the postmodern mind looks to itself to find the principles of meaning, yet its diverse subjective principles are inadequate to provide the foundation for true unity in our globalized world. In the midst of this new act on the world stage enters Pope Benedict’s Caritas in Veritate, an encyclical noted for a philosophical and metaphysical depth unfamiliar to many of its contemporary readers. Metaphysics in the encyclical serves to ground social thought in human

Caritas in Veritate: Love Shaping the Real World Through Rational Understanding

The place of Benedict’s letter in the series of the Church’s social encyclicals has been clearly perceived: Many commentators have noticed that Benedict published his encyclical “nine months too late” to celebrate, as obviously intended, the fortieth anniversary of Populorum Progressio. That such a celebration was Benedict’s intention is demonstrated by the fact that the first and second chapters of CV discuss the central topic of Paul VI’s encyclical, globalization. Even this fairly obvious fact, however, was a bit disguised by the publication of the encyclical in the midst of the worst international financial and economic crisis in several decades. The quite understandable attention given to this important short term development distracted attention from one of Benedict’s central arguments, namely, that we should move away from focusing on the “social” dimension in nation-states of the previous encyclicals (celebrated by the enumeration of the years passed since their publication, from Quadragesimo to Centesimo anno), toward concentrating on the new reality of globalization, which is the topic of Populorum Progressio, the human reality in need of a thorough renewal by loving in the truth. The emphasis laid on Populorum (and the journalistic attention paid to administrative delays) helped to disguise, as it were, the other fact, namely, that Benedict spends no time celebrating the numerous encyclicals of his predecessor, whose close cooperator he had been at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. But, as could be expected from Benedict, the very careful pope, while he praises Paul VI and the

Work, Labor, and Social Justice

While the specific focus of these remarks is on matters of a practical and highly timely nature – a critique of policies of government related to the current economic crisis – the recent social encyclicals express ideas that bear on the same issue, and where that the encyclicals provide important insight into these matters. Two encyclicals in particular – Laborem Exercens (“The Fruits of Labor”) and Caritas in Veritate (“Truly Caring”) – are must reading on this and on many other topics as well.

Work, Labor, and Social Justice

While the specific focus of these remarks is on matters of a practical and highly timely nature – a critique of policies of government related to the current economic crisis – the recent social encyclicals express ideas that bear on the same issue, and where that the encyclicals provide important insight into these matters. Two encyclicals in particular – Laborem Exercens (“The Fruits of Labor”) and Caritas in Veritate (“Truly Caring”) – are must reading on this and on many other topics as well.

La política internacional norteamericana y las orientaciones al establecimiento de una autoridad política internacional según “Caritas in Veritate”

September 01, 2010, Barack Obama officially announced the end of the combat mission in Iraq. American soldiers returned home after seven years in Iraqi territory. It described this fact as a “historic moment”. But the words of the spokesman of U.S. State Department, P. J. Crowley “This is not the end of the U.S. mission in the country “ giving rise to the analysis. This we do in this article. In turn, the announcement of former U.S. President G. Bush to establish “new world order” leads us to consider whether it is in line with the will of Pope Benedict XVI when he proposes the establishment of an “international political authority” in the latest social encyclical, Caritas in veritate.

Ethics and Economics: Towards a New Humanistic Synthesis for Business

The Encyclical-Letter Caritas in Veritate by Pope Benedict XVI suggests to advance towards a new conceptualization of the tenuous relationship between economics and ethics, proposing a “new humanistic synthesis”. Where social encyclicals have traditionally justified policy proposals by natural law and theological reasoning, Caritas in Veritate gives great relevance to economic arguments. The encyclical defines the framework for a new business ethics which appreciates allocative and distributive efficiency, and thus both markets and institutions as improving the human condition, but locates their source and reason outside the economic sphere. It places a clear accent on the ontological connectedness of the economic and ethical dimensions of human action. It is the proper ordering of means towards the end of integral human development that allows mankind to leave a vicious circle of consumerism and enter a virtuous circle that applies the creativity fostered by markets. This vision implies a new model of business management that integrates considerations of vocation, purpose, and values at a theological level.

Capabilities and the Common Good

The author explores some of the connections that can be made between the concept of the common good and the capabilities approach to development. Although widely used in the social teaching of the Church, the definition of the common good found in the social encyclicals is often vague and requires further explanation. In drawing from the work of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum the author seeks to show how the idea of capabilities can assist our understanding of the common good. In addition, it is suggested that the language of capabilities and the common good could contribute significantly to current public debate. Both concepts place an emphasis on integral human development which provides a starting point for a more holistic social discourse.

Caritas in Veritate as a Social Encyclical: A Modest Challenge to Economic, Social, and Political Institutions

While many elements of Benedict XVI's Caritas in veritate subscribe to the logic of earlier social encyclicals, the absence of a connection drawn between the social realities, the economic structures, and ideology sets this encyclical apart. Like its predecessors, however, it is marked with the seal of intransigence. In the face of modern culture (judged negatively by Benedict), the challenge is to restore Christian values to people's consciences. By framing the problem as he does, Benedict turns the Church's focus away from the interplay of structural forces and gives primacy, as never before, to individual responsibility.

Charity, Truth and Corporate Governance

Charity and truth seem very foreign to corporate governance. Yet, both are absolutely necessary to answer fundamental questions – even those that arise in corporate law. Corporate law scholars long have debated whether managers, in making decisions for a corporation, should employ a shareholder wealth maximization norm or a norm that emphasizes social responsibility. That debate continues. Its resolution rests in discovery of the truth about corporate governance. About a decade or so ago, scholars began using the lens of Catholic Social Thought to search for this truth. Since then, two differing schools of thought have emerged. One emphasizes the fundamental importance of human freedom in Catholic Social Thought; the other emphasizes Catholic Social Thought’s long-standing adherence to communitarian principles. In June 2009, Pope Benedict XVI issued Caritas in Veritate, a social encyclical that clearly articulates what Catholic Social Thought requires of corporate governance. This Article considers what Caritas in Veritate offers the debate about the appropriate norm for corporate governance. It begins with a description of the fundamental principles of Catholic Social Thought and a discussion of how modern popes before Pope Benedict XVI have explained those principles in addressing matters important to corporate governance. It then discusses the focus of Caritas in Veritate and its explanation of principles of Catholic Social Thought relevant to corporate governance. The Article then examines how scholars applied Catholic Social Thought to the corporate governance debate before Caritas in Veritate was issued and how Caritas in Veritate informs the debate. Finally, this Article concludes that Caritas in Veritate offers important lessons to those on both sides of the corporate governance debate by stressing that shareholder wealth maximization must be tempered by charity and that corporate social responsibility must be grounded in truth.

Grace Reloaded: Caritas in Veritate's Theological Anthropology

More detailed than preceding social encyclicals, Pope Benedict XVI's Caritas in veritate appears to supply a theological foundation for the Catholic Church's social doctrine. The article argues that the theological anthropology contained in the encyclical (which leads to a notable revaluation of the role of grace) complements Joseph Ratzinger's life-long reflections on the relationship between faith and reason, and provides a key to understanding choices the pope makes in his effort to offer a reliable Catholic orientation in a rapidly changing world.

Vincent McNabb, Agrarian Utopia and The Theology of Work: An exploration of the theology of the Catholic Land Association in relation to the social encyclicals Rerum Novarum and Laborem Exercens)

AbstractThe essay examines the Catholic Church's theology of work, as revealed specifically by two influential encyclicals on human work, Rerum Novarum (1891) and Laborem Exercens (1981). Both documents attracted approval for their espousal of the dignity of the worker, and Laborem Exercens in particular is said to have expounded the establishment of a dynamic new form of economic personalism in which John Paul II attempts to analyse the moral ramifications of economic activity in light of a theological vision of the human person. For all their good intentions of rationalising human materiality, both encyclicals served primarily to redress the imbalances of the employer/employee relationship, rather than to fundamentally question the philosophical and biblical anthropology of the increasingly dysfunctional nature of human work.The Catholic Land Movement (1929 – 1939), an English agrarian community initiative that embraced the principles of Rerum Novarum, attempted in to create an entirely new theology of human work, around the principles of Distributism, Dominicanism and the arts-and-crafts movement. The ideological progress of the land colonies, and their increasing antipathy to industrialism, led them to challenge fundamentally the presumption of the need for mass employment - a position that significantly undermined the primacy of Rerum Novarum, and consequently compromised hierarchy support for their initiative, leading to the organisation's rapid decline. Despite its failure, the Catholic Land Movement nonetheless gave voice to the theologically significant possibility that the message of Genesis might not be that Man is destined for a lifetime's arduous toil.

Sistema económico, modelos de empresa y cultura empresarial

En el mes de julio de 2009 se publicó la primera encíclica social del Papa Benedicto XVI: Caritas in Veritate. Con este motivo, el habitual texto editorial de la Revista Fomento Social ha sido sustituido en este número por un grupo de reflexiones de carácter interdisciplinar realizadas por algunos de los miembros de su consejo de redacción. Así, éstos han abordado los temas en los que habitualmente trabajan, pero “reinterpretándolos” a la luz de la lectura del texto papal. Enumeramos a continuación estas aportaciones individuales, cuyos títulos resumen claramente la temática a la que se refieren: “Primera encíclica social de Benedicto XVI: claves de comprensión” (Ildefonso Camacho Laraña); “Sistema económico, modelos de empresa y cultura empresarial” (Juan Ignacio Font Galán); “Una concepción <más humana> y <omnicomprensiva> de las relaciones económicas: la <democracia económica>” (Julio Jiménez Escobar y Alfonso Carlos Morales Gutiérrez); “Empresa y sociedad: el enfoque de la responsabilidad social de la empresa” (Rafael Araque Padilla); “Las finanzas y la crisis económica financiera” (Mª del Carmen López Martín y Adolfo Rodero Franganillo); “Ecología y problemas medioambientales. Orientaciones para la praxis desde otro marco cultural” (Juan Antonio Senent de Frutos); “Desarrollo y cooperación” (José Juan Romero Rodríguez) y “Fraternidad, camino para la familia humana” (José Mª Margenat Peralta).

Desarrollo y cooperación

En el mes de julio de 2009 se publicó la primera encíclica social del Papa Benedicto XVI: Caritas in Veritate. Con este motivo, el habitual texto editorial de la Revista Fomento Social ha sido sustituido en este número por un grupo de reflexiones de carácter interdisciplinar realizadas por algunos de los miembros de su consejo de redacción. Así, éstos han abordado los temas en los que habitualmente trabajan, pero “reinterpretándolos” a la luz de la lectura del texto papal. Enumeramos a continuación estas aportaciones individuales, cuyos títulos resumen claramente la temática a la que se refieren: “Primera encíclica social de Benedicto XVI: claves de comprensión” (Ildefonso Camacho Laraña); “Sistema económico, modelos de empresa y cultura empresarial” (Juan Ignacio Font Galán); “Una concepción <más humana> y <omnicomprensiva> de las relaciones económicas: la <democracia económica>” (Julio Jiménez Escobar y Alfonso Carlos Morales Gutiérrez); “Empresa y sociedad: el enfoque de la responsabilidad social de la empresa” (Rafael Araque Padilla); “Las finanzas y la crisis económica financiera” (Mª del Carmen López Martín y Adolfo Rodero Franganillo); “Ecología y problemas medioambientales. Orientaciones para la praxis desde otro marco cultural” (Juan Antonio Senent de Frutos); “Desarrollo y cooperación” (José Juan Romero Rodríguez) y “Fraternidad, camino para la familia humana” (José Mª Margenat Peralta).

La fraternidad, camino para la familia humana

En el mes de julio de 2009 se publicó la primera encíclica social del Papa Benedicto XVI: Caritas in Veritate. Con este motivo, el habitual texto editorial de la Revista Fomento Social ha sido sustituido en este número por un grupo de reflexiones de carácter interdisciplinar realizadas por algunos de los miembros de su consejo de redacción. Así, éstos han abordado los temas en los que habitualmente trabajan, pero “reinterpretándolos” a la luz de la lectura del texto papal. Enumeramos a continuación estas aportaciones individuales, cuyos títulos resumen claramente la temática a la que se refieren: “Primera encíclica social de Benedicto XVI: claves de comprensión” (Ildefonso Camacho Laraña); “Sistema económico, modelos de empresa y cultura empresarial” (Juan Ignacio Font Galán); “Una concepción <más humana> y <omnicomprensiva> de las relaciones económicas: la <democracia económica>” (Julio Jiménez Escobar y Alfonso Carlos Morales Gutiérrez); “Empresa y sociedad: el enfoque de la responsabilidad social de la empresa” (Rafael Araque Padilla); “Las finanzas y la crisis económica financiera” (Mª del Carmen López Martín y Adolfo Rodero Franganillo); “Ecología y problemas medioambientales. Orientaciones para la praxis desde otro marco cultural” (Juan Antonio Senent de Frutos); “Desarrollo y cooperación” (José Juan Romero Rodríguez) y “Fraternidad, camino para la familia humana” (José Mª Margenat Peralta).

Empresa y sociedad:

En el mes de julio de 2009 se publicó la primera encíclica social del Papa Benedicto XVI: Caritas in Veritate. Con este motivo, el habitual texto editorial de la Revista Fomento Social ha sido sustituido en este número por un grupo de reflexiones de carácter interdisciplinar realizadas por algunos de los miembros de su consejo de redacción. Así, éstos han abordado los temas en los que habitualmente trabajan, pero “reinterpretándolos” a la luz de la lectura del texto papal. Enumeramos a continuación estas aportaciones individuales, cuyos títulos resumen claramente la temática a la que se refieren: “Primera encíclica social de Benedicto XVI: claves de comprensión” (Ildefonso Camacho Laraña); “Sistema económico, modelos de empresa y cultura empresarial” (Juan Ignacio Font Galán); “Una concepción <más humana> y <omnicomprensiva> de las relaciones económicas: la <democracia económica>” (Julio Jiménez Escobar y Alfonso Carlos Morales Gutiérrez); “Empresa y sociedad: el enfoque de la responsabilidad social de la empresa” (Rafael Araque Padilla); “Las finanzas y la crisis económica financiera” (Mª del Carmen López Martín y Adolfo Rodero Franganillo); “Ecología y problemas medioambientales. Orientaciones para la praxis desde otro marco cultural” (Juan Antonio Senent de Frutos); “Desarrollo y cooperación” (José Juan Romero Rodríguez) y “Fraternidad, camino para la familia humana” (José Mª Margenat Peralta).

Manual Labor in the Life and Thought of St. Basil the Great

Manual Labor in the Life and Thought of St. Basil the Great Andrew Dinan (bio) In keeping with the initiative of the Second Vatican Council, the late Pope John Paul II often looked back to the patristic period in order to develop and to articulate the teachings of the magisterium. The new catechism, for example, is replete with citations from the Fathers, as are several of the late pontiff’s encyclicals and other communications.1 Yet his social encyclicals—Laborem exercens (1981), Sollicitudo rei socialis (1987), Centesimus annus (1991)—contain few patristic references.2 In these works, in addition to frequent citations of Gaudium et spes and Scripture, John Paul consistently draws from, commemorates, and develops the teachings of the social encyclicals of his predecessors, notably Rerum novarum (1891), Quadragesimo anno (1931), Mater et magistra (1961), Pacem in terris (1963), and Populorum progressio (1967). But the relative infrequency of patristic citations in the social encyclicals—whether those of John Paul or indeed those of his predecessors—should not lead one to conclude that such teaching is a recent phenomenon.3 Rather, as John Paul acknowledges in Laborem exercens, there is a long-standing tradition of vibrant social thought within the Church, one that stretches well beyond St. Thomas Aquinas—who is cited in all but [End Page 133] one of the encyclicals just mentioned—to the very first centuries of Christianity, a time of extraordinary theological fecundity when Christians distinguished themselves by fervent charity and the development of a robust approach to social issues.4 This article explores one aspect of this social teaching: the role of manual labor in the life and thought of St. Basil the Great (329–79), the bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, a staunch defender of Nicene orthodoxy, and a central figure in the development of monasticism.5 Far from being an insignificant issue, work lies “at the very centre of the ‘social question’” according to John Paul, and while labor certainly implies much more than working with one’s hands, manual labor might justifiably be considered the primary form of work, and it has special significance in the growth of Christianity.6 Furthermore, during the pontificate of a pope whose name evokes the famous imperative ora et labora, it is especially appropriate to take up this subject. If Pope Benedict XVI’s choice of a name reflects, at least in part, a desire to look to the approach of Benedictine monasticism in early sixth-century southern Italy as an inspiration for missionary activity and for the preservation and revitalization of Western culture, it is worthwhile pondering anew the role of manual labor in human life and society. I have chosen to focus on Basil for several reasons. It is significant that he is one of the few patristic authors mentioned in the social encyclicals of John Paul.7 This is not surprising, for Basil’s writings reveal how deeply he had reflected on social questions in general and in particular on the role of labor within the life of committed Christians. His counsels to ascetic communities, which influenced St. Benedict, comprise one of the most extended early discussions of the role of manual labor in Christian life, and they contain fundamental principles that are relevant to recent papal teaching.8 Moreover, Basil’s counsels regarding labor have proved useful not only to scholars who have sought to highlight the ways in which Christianity led to a revision of Greco-Roman social and ethical norms,9 but also to those who have probed the extent to which the economic [End Page 134] organization of early medieval monasteries was the impetus for the complex economies and technological innovations that marked the early modern period.10 But easily overlooked is the pivotal role of manual labor in Basil’s own conversion. In fact, if we are to believe the account of his brother Gregory, such labor was of fundamental importance for the life of asceticism adopted by Basil and several other members of his family. I suggest that Basil’s later teachings on labor should not be seen as the distant, patronizing approbation of an intellectual. The consistency between Basil’s personal life and his public proclamation...

The Fragile Relevance of Laborem Exercens

Times change. We all know this, of course, but a trip home to visit family that I made just as I began work on this paper reminded me of that little truth in a pointed and poignant way. Housebound on a rainy, late-summer afternoon, I ran across a stack of magazines from the early 1980s. Thumbing my way through them, glancing at the images and stories that depicted the once very familiar world in which I spent my student days and early adulthood—and the world in which John Paul II released his first social encyclical, Laborem Exercens—an odd sense of disorientation crept over me. Naturally, the hair styles and clothing appeared dated (which is a nice way of saying outlandish), stories about the cultural scene recalled now long(and well-) forgotten pop-celebrities, while photographs of the then exotic personal computer depicted clunky objects that today look as dated as a Dodge Dart. Somehow, everything had come to look a bit strange. Were things then really so different? Have times changed so much?

Amor a la verdad y justicia global: Comentario a la encíclica Caritas in Veritate.

The Pope Benedict XVI, in his fifth year of pontificate, in the saint Peter festivity has introduced us the third encyclical of his pontifcate and the first social doctrine: Caritas in Veritate. “Love in the truth, as the main propeller force for the real integral development and a supported progress before the new challenges of the globalization. There are several themes that are explained in this social encyclical, they are like a mental map of the theological and moral anthropology. The purpose of this article is to appoint and comment some points of the Papal letter about: The charity and the truth. The integral development, the supported progress and the new challenges of the globalization since the perspective of the moral theology.