Telling an audience of Catholic
social ministry workers Feb. 13 that they are "still contributing to
writing the book on Catholic social doctrine," the president of the
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace offered historical context and
encouragement for their efforts.
"We are the heirs and inheritors of 'Rerum Novarum,'" the 1891
encyclical by Pope Leo XIII considered the starting point of modern
social teaching, said Cardinal Peter Turkson, the council's president,
speaking to the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering.
The conference is co-sponsored by a dozen Catholic organizations,
including various departments of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, Catholic Charities USA, JustFaith, the Society of St. Vincent
de Paul, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, the Roundtable
Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors, the Catholic Daughters
of the Americas and Catholic Relief Services, among others.
Cardinal Turkson explained that his role at the Vatican is to apply
"Rerum Novarum" and the related social teaching documents of the past
120 years to the current challenges of church organizations that seek to
address the world's social needs.
Sometimes that means reminding organizations of the differences between
political involvement and the church's social justice obligations, he
said.
Church and state are distinct from one another, each serving its own
sphere, he said. But the church must also "scrutinize the signs of the
times" to ensure that its efforts and resources are meeting people's
needs, he continued.
The former archbishop of Cape Coast, Ghana, and the first cardinal from
his country, Cardinal Turkson was warmly greeted for his speech by an
audience that included dozens of Ghanaians, many wearing colorful
traditional woven fabrics and elaborate head scarves of their native
country. His talk was the opening plenary session of the four-day annual
gathering of more than 300 social ministry workers from around the
country.
He traced the history of major social teaching documents since "Rerum
Novarum," noting that each arrived at a time of societal struggles in a
changing world.
For example, Pope Leo's encyclical came as the Industrial Revolution
reshaped a previously agrarian society. In 1931, Pope Pius XI's
"Quadragesimo Anno," marking the a 40th anniversary of "Rerum Novarum,"
came amid the Great Depression, a worldwide economic crisis.
Subsequent social encyclicals -- Pope John XXIII's "Mater et Magistra"
(1961), Pope Paul VI's "Populorum Progresso" (1967), Pope John Paul II's
"Sollicitudo Rei Socialis" (1987) and "Centisimus Annus" (1991) and
Pope Benedict XVI's "Caritas in Veritate" (2009) -- have aimed to
address the emergence of Marxism, the fall of the Berlin Wall and
Eastern Europe's political upheaval, and the contemporary struggles with
globalization, underdevelopment and other "financial, economic, moral
and anthropological crises."
In these documents, Cardinal Turkson said, "the insights of theology,
philosophy, economics, ecology and politics have been harnessed
coherently to formulate a social teaching that places the human person
(his total and integral development) at the center of all world systems
of thought and activity."
"The social encyclicals of the popes have fulfilled the need to
actualize the same principles of the church's application of Christian
faith and the charity of Christ to the various contexts of human life,"
he said.
Quoting from "Gaudium et Spes," the Second Vatican Council document on
the church and society, Cardinal Turkson reminded the audience that "the
church, which has long experience in human affairs and has no desire to
be involved in the political activities of any nation, seeks but one
goal: to carry forward the work of Christ under the lead of the
befriending Spirit. Christ entered this world to give witness to the
truth; to save, not to judge; to serve, not to be served"
Church and state are distinct from one another, but since the church
"does dwell among men, she has the duty 'of scrutinizing the signs of
the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel,'" he
said, quoting the Vatican II document again.
In "Caritas in Veritate," Pope Benedict suggested ways "for building up
the city of man with qualities closer to the city of God," the cardinal
said.
Cardinal Turkson elaborated on those approaches, saying, for example,
that "to confront the problems of our world we must first study them, we
must learn to see them clearly and recognize what constitutes injustice
at every level."
That demands using scientific tools to analyze social conditions, their causes, connections and effects, Cardinal Turkson said.
Dealing with new responsibilities toward the world requires a sense of
mission and clarity about the human calling, he continued.
"How do we understand the place of human beings in the world?" he asked.
"What kind of world do we want to live in, and to leave for future
generations? Do we see ourselves as autonomous and self-sufficient, or
do we accept that we are creatures, dependent and interconnected?"
He said the industrial and scientific revolutions "irreversibly changed
Western humanity's picture of the world and man's place in it. The earth
is reduced to a collection of material objects, structured like a
machine, and treated as such, rather than recognizing the intrinsic
worth of every creature."
The cardinal called those who work in Catholic social ministries -- "the
promoters of reconciliation, justice and peace in the name of the
church," the heirs, the inheritors, the "sons and daughters -- probably
the great grandchildren -- of 'Rerum Novarum.'"
He encouraged the audience to persevere.
"Some say there is nothing new, it is always the same old injustice, the
same old suffering, the same old sin and the same old organizational
problems," he continued. "Others say that one change after another
coming at such high speed, it is impossible to do good social ministry
so why even bother trying.
"Maybe after considering the broad sweep of the encyclical and the light
it sheds on our different situations in the United States and the
Catholic Church here," he said, "we would conclude that 'the new things'
are neither all good or all bad in themselves but very much depends on
how we use new means, how we respond to ... Jesus Christ, our one Lord
and Savior."