Social Justice — List of Catholic Social Encyclicals

List of Social Encyclicals

By Yvonne Bontkowski in Catholic Tea Party ·

 

Pope Leo XIII

• Rerum Novarum: On the Condition of Workers

Issued on the fifteenth of May 1891. Literally “Of New Things,” on capital and labor and the condition of the working class. This was the most significant of all the encyclicals before or since.

Rerum Novarum

 broke down the barriers that separated the church from the worker. Never before had the church spoken on social matters in such an official and comprehensive fashion**.

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum_en.html

Pope Pius XI

• Quadragesimo Anno: On the Reconstruction of the Social Order 

Issued May 15, 1931. Literally “In forty Years,” commemorating the fortieth anniversary of

Rerum Novarum

. This encyclical repeated many of the themes of

Rerum Novarum: 

the dignity of labor, the rights of workers to organize, etc.

Quadragesimo anno 

also emphasized the immorality of keeping economic control in the hands of a few. It recognized the principle of

subsidiarity

, which held that higher levels of authority should act only when lower levels cannot deal with a problem. **

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19310515_quadragesimo-anno_en.html

Pope John XXIII

•  Mater et Magistra: Mother and Teacher 

Issued May 15, 1961. Literally “Mother and Teacher,” on Christianity and Social progress. This encyclical gave an updated interpretation of the classic theme of private property and introduced the notion of private initiative as an extension of private property. While Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno left responsibility for social justice with the individual, Mater et Magistra placed some in the hands of the state. (this encyclical needs to be read in conjunction with Pacem in Terris, literally “Peace on Earth,” Pope John XXIII’s other great encyclical.) **

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_xxiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_15051961_mater_en.html

Pope Paul VI

• Populorum Progressio: On the Development of People

Issued March 26, 1967. Literally “On the Progress of Peoples.” A vigorous endorsement of Mater et Magistra, Populorum Progressio presented Catholicism as no longer tied to a social system based on natural law, but rather as a proponent of a pluralistic, decentralized approach to economic problems. **http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum_en.html

Pope John Paul II  Laborem Exercens: On Human Work

Issued on September 14, 1981. Literally “On Human Work.” Laborem Exercens focused on the themes that work is central to the social question and that work has potential not only to dehumanize but also to be the means whereby the human person cooperates in God’s ongoing creation.**http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091981_laborem-exercens_en.html

•  Sollicitudo Rei Socialis: On the Twentieth Anniversary of Populorum Progressio

Issued on December 30, 1987. Literally “On Social Concerns,” commemorating the twentieth anniversary of Populorum Progressio. Solicitudo Rei Socialis presented an overview of modern social problems with some guidelines for action. It dealt with authentic human development and adopted a critical attitude toward both capitalism and communism. Sollicitudo Rei Socialis warned that economic development alone may not set people free but only enslave them more. **

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_30121987_sollicitudo-rei-socialis_en.html

•  Centesimus Annus: The Hundredth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum

Issued on May 1, 1991. Literally, “The Hundredth Year,” commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of Rerum Novarum. Centesimus Annus brought Rerum Novarum up to date and tied it to “the preferential option for the poor.” done in the context of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, Centesimus Annus still criticized both capitalism and communism. **http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_01051991_centesimus-annus_en.html   

 Pope Benedict XVI

• Caritas in Veritatae: Charity in Truth

• Pope Benedict’s third encyclical, is a call to see the relationship between human and environmental ecologies and to link charity and truth in the pursuit of justice, the common good, and authentic human development. In doing so, the pope points out the responsibilities and limitations of government and the private market, challenges traditional ideologies of right and left, and calls all men and women to think and act anew. 

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html

END OF POST/ MUCH THANKS TO Y.B.

The ‘Fat Cats Lose, Babies Win!’ Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

"...we’ll dump the fat cats for you, if you give us back our babies."

After reading here, that Portland Mayor Sam Adams has issued a proposed resolution of the Portland City Council supporting an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that makes clear that corporations are not people and money is not speech, I had an idea.

In fact, I believe it to be a brilliant idea whose time has come, if I do say so myself. (And no doubt, probably will…)

Yet, here it is:

We Pro-Life nuts scattered about the country promise to support non-personhood status for all corporations, if you Occupod nut-job types promise as well to support personhood status to all unborn children.

In a nutshell, (so to speak), “we’ll dump the fat cats for you, if you give us back our babies.”

MIC CHECK!

I  propose here…

with you…,

to occupy together…

a common ground moment…

most American’s say they’ve long-yearned for…

by a shared initiative dubbed… 

‘The ‘Fat Cats Lose, Babies Win!’

Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The only requirement of both sides is to work together equally hard in passing one amendment with language that will satisfy each of our goals, these two premises:

–corporations are not people and money is not speech.

and,

–define personhood as beginning at conception and that the purpose is to protect all life, regardless of age, health, function, physical or mental dependency, or method of reproduction.

That’s it. Whose with it, or why not?

Signed,

Me, the Cynical,

Me, the People,

Me, the Serious,

We, the 99%?

His-2-Reap — Controversy in Middle Ages over ‘real presence’

CREDIT: REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

Just discovered for the first time over on Alive! the origins of the word ‘transubstantiation’.

Controversy in Middle Ages over ‘real presence’

By Bro. Stephen Brackett

During the Middle Ages a major controversy about the Blessed Eucharist was stirred up by a French priest called Berengarius. Eventually it led to a big development in Eucharistic devotion, including adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Born at Tours in 999, Berengarius studied theology in Chartres and in 1029 took charge of the theology school in his home city of Tours.

Soon his reputation for learning was spreading throughout France and attracting some of the best minds of the time to his school. But already his views were causing concern.

In a much earlier controversy, in the 830s, the monk Radbert Paschasius had maintained that at the consecration of the Mass the bread is converted into the real body of Christ and the wine into the real blood of Christ.

Another monk in the same abbey, Ratramnus, denied this, saying that Christ was present in a spiritual way in the Eucharist, but there was no conversion of the bread and wine.

Berengarius sided with Ratramnus,but his views were condemned as false and heretical at a council being held in Rome in 1050.

The condemnation was repeated at several local councils, such as Paris and Tours, in the coming years. In 1059 Berengarius retracted his views at a council in Rome and signed a profession of faith.

On his return home, however, he attacked the formula he had signed. At this point his supporters began to desert him.

It was in this controversy that the word ‘transubstantiation’ was first used to stress the true and full presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

It was a bid to make sure that the meaning of the Lord’s words when he said, “This is my body, this is my blood,” would not be watered down in any way.

Coined by the theologian Hildebert of Lavardin in 1079, transubstantiation meant that the whole substance of the bread and of the wine were changed into the body and blood of Christ.

The important theologians at the time were united in opposing the views of Berengarius, but the controversy continued for decades. Finally, in 1080, he was reconciled with the Church.

Pope Gregory VII gave instructions that no penalty should be imposed on him nor that he should be called a heretic.

The turmoil and confusion he had caused, however, continued for many years to come and were recalled at the time of the Protestant reformation.

On the other hand, the dispute led to a more explicit presentation of Catholic teaching on the Eucharist and to new devotion.

In time, to protect Catholic faith in the Eucharist, the Church instituted the feast of Corpus Christi.

The custom of raising the host and the chalice after the consecration of the Mass was also introduced, allowing the faithful to profess their faith in the real presence of Christ.

END OF POST

Poll: On ‘The Beatbox Nativity’

Not sure that The Beatbox Nativity doesn’t act to minimize the profundity of the season, Catholicism, or for that matter the cause of Christ in the world. What say you?

Why are these Christian schoolchildren learning to pray like Muslims in this mosque in France?

FRENCH TRANSLATION: Awakening to religions, but also immerse themselves in the places of worship. From St. Peter's College in Essarts, students in fifth, curious and open, laid their eyes on the mosque. A rich exchange followed with Ali Bensaada, chaplain to the jails. Through this visit, the college will have a picture of where Islam is lived. A good way to understand the most of their curriculum, interested in early Islam.

…Because false ecumenism is a cancer on the Body of Christ, the Church, that’s why…

Saint Peregrine (Pellegrino) Laziosi (Latiosi) (1260 – 1 May 1345) is the patron saint for those suffering from cancer. After viewing the following pics, perhaps it’s time for a novena on behalf of the Church in France afflicted so terribly with spiritual cancer, whose adults (in great numbers) no longer attend mass, but apparently find no problem with introducing young baptized hearts into the spiritual phenomenon of Islam.

Fifth grade students from Saint-Pierre Dessessart visit mosque in La Roche

I make this defender of the faith statement my own concerning refuting perverted Catholicism, as it is in this case: “The One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is and must remain the center of all Truth on earth, until He comes again. To that end, we will continue to attack falsehood wherever we see it… Seek the Truth; find the Way; live the Life. Please God, and live forever.” 

EDITOR NOTE: This story first appeared in October within the online mag Ouest France; was reported on by Rorate Caeli, as well as other sources I can’t recommend here, as they themselves are not in full communion with the Catholic Church.

END OF POST 

Seizing the executioner’s sword — Gov. Kitzhaber does the right thing, death penalty unnecessary

Moratorium is right

Gov. John Kitzhaber has done the right thing in following his conscience. Haunted by acquiescence in two executions during the 1990s, the governor would not sign off on another and has called instead for a moratorium on the death penalty and statewide discussion on the practice.

That means convicted murder Gary Haugen will not receive a lethal injection as planned on Dec. 6. Haugen wants to die and he bears great guilt as opposed to the thousands of innocent unborn babies killed each year in our state; we want no part of either kind of death.

The Catholic Church taught that capital punishment was allowable as a last resort to protect society. But in Evangelium Vitae in 1995, Pope John Paul wrote that modern methods of incarceration have made the death penalty unnecessary in almost all cases.
Had we killed Haugen, we would have borne guilt of our own.

The United States, in allowing executions, is in dubious company. No other developed nation allows capital punishment, but those that do include Afghanistan, China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Somalia and Zimbabwe.

Haugen was slated to die on Dec. 6, the feast of St. Nicholas. That would have been a poignant date, since it was St. Nicholas who in the 4th century saved three prisoners who were about to be beheaded by the ruler of Myra in Asia Minor. Nicholas, bishop of the region, waded through a crowd of watchers, seized the executioner’s sword and threw it to the ground.

We are glad to be part of a church still keeping an eye out for justice and we thank Gov. Kitzhaber for his action. We can only hope that he will remember this experience of exercising conscience when time comes for him to consider conscience rights for health workers who choose not to be associated with abortion and contraception.

Catholic teaching on the death penalty…

Catechism of the Catholic Church – 2267

Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor. If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person. Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm – without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself – the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity “are very rare, if not practically non-existent.”  Catechism of the Catholic Church – 2267

SOURCE:  CATHOLIC SENTINEL

END OF POST