Posted on 07/07/2015 4:37:31 PM PDT by NYer
If I have to read one more email explaining that modern popes have failed the Church by preaching socialism instead of the Gospel, I will not be held responsible for my reply. This complaint surfaces from time to time in orthodox Catholic circles for the simple reason that most politically conservative Catholics are orthodox. Such persons sometimes react as if political and economic conservatism is a Divine standard for judging Catholicism. But the reality is just the opposite.
One also tires of the protestations of the ignorant. The word “socialism” has a clear and specific meaning. It refers to a system in which all things are held in common. In practice, this always means that the State owns all the means of production and private property is denied. The supposed goal is to cause all human rivalries and differences (and classes) to disappear, after which the State will wither away, and the result will be an earthly utopia. In the socialist mind, religion only impedes this progress.
The Church has condemned socialism because at its root it denies the very nature of the human person, for whom private ownership and economic activity are an expression of the personality, an incentive in pursuing the proper ends of human life, and a means of participating in God’s work of creation. Every pope from Pius IX through Benedict XVI has repeated this condemnation. Pius XI put it very succinctly in 1931, when he wrote in Quadragesimo anno that socialism
is based nevertheless on a theory of human society peculiar to itself and irreconcilable with true Christianity. Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist. [#20]
But to advocate certain political restrictions on otherwise privately held property and businesses is not socialism. No society has ever existed which has not had some such restrictions. These policies and laws (a) are to be aimed at the common good; (b) must be determined within moral limits by prudence; (c) can vary legitimately with time, place and culture; and (d) in their specifics are always debatable.
So no pope has ever even come remotely close to advocating socialism.
The Myth of Private Morality
Unfortunately, some Catholics denounce any interest in Catholic social teaching as betraying a mindset of socialism. They argue that the Church must concern herself not with the common good but with private morality. Let her teach the truths of the Faith and the requirements of the commandments as they affect our personal decisions about right and wrong. Let her “get back” to preaching the Gospel.
Now everybody knows that some of this arises in reaction to philosophical and social liberalism. The “liberal” mind tends to see everything in terms of social adjustments, with little regard for what we might call “personal morality”. The liberal mind is therefore preoccupied with politics. It has a penchant for using the power of the State to ensure salutary social conditions, as if these are in the power of the State to bestow, and do not depend greatly on the habits of personal virtue which are necessary for a healthy culture. In short, any committed Catholic or sincere conservative has, over the past fifty years, grown tired of this constant emphasis on worldly “conditions” coupled with a near total refusal to examine the question of personal sin.
For the liberal, it is almost as if society can be properly orchestrated, personal growth in virtue will require no particular attention. Unfortunately, this same blindness can affect the “conservative” from the opposite direction—as if what is social will automatically sort itself out properly if we will only be privately virtuous. Thus liberals will often speak as if only the Church’s social teaching matters, and conservatives as if the Church’s social teaching is both unnecessary and a distraction from the true requirements of a moral life.
The Social Dimension of Life
To the contrary, each person is at once a single being in relationship with God, a member of a family, and a member of the larger society or social order. Just as human life is incomplete without a well-ordered relationship with God, and just as it is impoverished in the absence of a well-ordered familial life, so too is it incomplete or impoverished without the exchange of gifts and opportunities characterized by participation in a well-ordered society.
It is, in fact, the contention of Christianity—the contention of the Gospel—that God Himself has serious and binding principles to impart regarding the regulation of our relationships with Himself, our families, and society at large. Attention to God, to the bonds of family relationships, and to the common good are all required of the Christian, and each region of interactivity is governed by its own set of interlocking moral principles. Just as it is ultimately impossible to play a truly positive role in society while ignoring the moral demands of personal integrity, it is also impossible to effectively concentrate on so-called “personal morality” without reference to the common good.
But if the Church does not formally address all three areas—personal, familial and social—it becomes very easy for persons (depending on their “world view”) and for whole societies (depending on their cultural “blinders”) to accept as normal and even good many common patterns and arrangements in life which, examined carefully in the light of Christ, would reveal themselves to be selfish, one-sided, debilitating to many, and even grossly unfair. It is the task of the Church’s social teaching to awaken us to the social deformities we tend to take for granted. The Church accomplishes this by reflecting on social moral principles such as the universal destination of goods, solidarity, subsidiarity and the demands of the common good.
Cloudy or clear?
Whatever might be said for particular bishops, priests, deacons, religious, catechists and regular folks like the rest of us over the past couple of generations, if you scan the topics of the encyclicals and apostolic exhortations of the popes over this same period, I do not believe you will find an exclusive or excessive emphasis. Instead, we find again and again this tripartite spiritual and moral conception of an authentically Catholic life, interwoven from level to level—and always rooted in the Word of God. The Church teaches from what we might call the incarnational perspective.
Thus we have multiple teaching documents from every pope who has been in office for more than a very few years. These touch on theological and philosophical issues relating to God, man and society; questions of intensely personal morality, including sexual morality; family obligations, problems and solutions; and, yes, significant social problems and the need to remedy them according to the applicable moral principles. However else we may fault the popes, it is hard to fault them for a failure to elucidate the implications of the Gospel both broadly and deeply throughout the last century and more.
While there is always room for debate over particular policy suggestions proposed in the Church’s social teaching, it is just as disappointing to hear Catholics passing judgment on papal teaching based on their own “conservative” prejudices (which we at CatholicCulture.org hear too often) as it is to hear Catholics passing judgment on papal teaching based on their own “liberal” prejudices (which our audience is less likely to share). Such reflexively prejudicial judgments indicate a person who is far less Catholic than he or she thinks—someone who sees the Faith through a particular ideological or cultural lens which distorts the view.
Obviously I am not speaking here of rose-colored glasses. But neither am I referring to the inevitable difficulties, in this life, of seeing “through a glass darkly” (1 Cor 13:12). I am talking about our own serious responsibility to constantly grow in self-knowledge, to become more aware each day of the limitations of our own recognition patterns. We do this precisely by subjecting them again and again to prayer and reflection based on the teaching Church. This is called polishing the glass. Without it, we will not see anything at all.
Catholic Caucus, ping!
I never trust anyone who defers to an unnamed, undefined, unlimited "common good." And I don't trust this guy who just did it.
The author ought to get his definitions straight before referring to others as "ignorant".
Full Definition of SOCIALISM
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socialism
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Pope Francis Calls For 'Legitimate Redistribution' of Wealth to End 'Economy of Exclusion'
You are indeed simple if you don’t understand that having the State take people’s property from them to give to someone the State likes better is what is called charity today. Your soul will be fine as long as you demand the State use bigger and better instruments of force to take more and more property from others.
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7).
This implies voluntary giving, not money extracted by taxation or taken by force by the State at whim.
Unless you are to smile and enjoy it when the State performs theft. (Get with the Program).
More good is done by real charity that is voluntary and local. “Charity” via expropriation by the State only serves to break people and force one to be dependent on the State.
If you believe a caucus thread is mislabeled, please use the private message button to contact me with your concerns.
Good stuff. True Catholic social and moral philosophy (much like the teachings of Jesus from which they spring) are often difficult to accept in the harsh glow of our own biases. They are also highly complex and don’t take easily to sound bites and dumbing down, a reality which is taking a really long time for Papa Francis (whom I admire in a lot of ways) to realize.
"44And all they that believed, were together, and had all things common. 45Their possessions and goods they sold, and divided them to all, according as every one had need. 46And continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they took their meat with gladness and simplicity of heart; 47Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord increased daily together such as should be saved."
There is a tremendous difference between a community of people who share what they have for the love of God and their neighbor, and an atheistic society where people dress alike, are told where to live and where to work, and who are forced to work, eat, sleep and breathe for the state.
Acts 6:
"1AND in those days, the number of the disciples increasing, there arose a murmuring of the Greeks against the Hebrews, for that their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. 2Then the twelve calling together the multitude of the disciples, said: It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. 3Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. 5And the saying was liked by all the multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch. 6These they set before the apostles; and they praying, imposed hands upon them."
Widows and orphans were not neglected. Men and women were chosen and blessed to care for them, and preach the Word to them. Socialism, Communism, Nazism, Marxism, whatever, as it is of the same demonic ilk, would find the helpless as inconvenient, disposable, undesirable- and would forbid the mention of God.
Stewardship is the sharing of our time, talent and treasure. The wealthy of our society too often forget that these are a gift from God. The government should not force it, but a good Christian heart will have compassion; acknowledge their own need to love God and neighbor, and thus choose to help those in need.
Those may be someone you know, who through no fault of their own, is unable to find gainful employment due to injury, lack of available work, or discrimination. Could a true Christan enjoy a hundred dollar a plate dinner while a friend or relative is the patron of a food pantry? Good fortune is a gift from God, as is poverty, for the latter turns the soul to Him, recognizing its true dependence on Him. It is the love of God that should inspire one to share the good fortune they were blessed with. The atheistic social systems mentioned above are without compassion; are loyal only to the government, with which the person's sense of entitlement is shared.
Once again, look in your own back yard. People you know may be suffering from poverty without your knowing it. Not tax deductible; not something one gets their name in the paper for, or a plaque presented to them. What they will receive is the gratitude of the other party; the knowledge that they've helped someone; perhaps a lifelong friendship, and the blessing of Almighty God Who sees all things great and small.
THIS sums it up:
“I am talking about our own serious responsibility to constantly grow in self-knowledge, to become more aware each day of the limitations of our own recognition patterns. We do this precisely by subjecting them again and again to prayer and reflection based on the teaching Church. This is called polishing the glass. Without it, we will not see anything at all.”
We grow and progress in our intimate relationship with the Lord and HE removes the splinters and darkness from our minds and hearts. The more we are united with HIM, the more we will be united with one another.
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