Catholics are looking for
guidance and a larger voice from the Vatican on ethical principles for
the world of finance and the environment, said some participants
attending a Vatican meeting on social justice in a globalized world.
Some 200 people involved in social justice issues for the church
gathered May 16-18 for an international conference sponsored by the
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The meeting celebrated the
50th anniversary of Blessed Pope John XXIII's social encyclical, "Mater
et Magistra."
The gathering also was designed to find ways that the church's social
teaching, including Pope Benedict XVI's 2009 social encyclical "Caritas
in Veritate," could be applied to bring greater justice to a globalized
world.
"The biggest weakness is that many Catholics are not even aware of the
church's social teaching," said Margaret Garding, a member of the
church's justice and peace commission in Sweden.
There is also a large gap between what the church teaches and the implementation of those teachings, she told Catholic News Service May 17.
"There are plenty of beautiful policies and decisions, but how do we do
it?" How do regular Catholics integrate their faith's values and
principles into their daily lives? she asked.
Garding, an organizational psychologist, laughed saying that the church
needs an organizational psychologist to help Catholic social teaching be
a bigger part of Catholic life and culture.
To bring Catholic social teaching more fully into people's lives it has
to be a mandatory part of the Catholic school curriculum and of the
training for priests and nuns, she said.
Oblate Father Seamus Finn, Washington-based director of social justice
for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and a leader within the
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, said, "Individual
Catholics are looking for guidance" in how to connect their concern for
corporate responsibility and the environment to their faith and
Christian spirituality.
Christians cannot be motivated solely by utilitarian arguments that
natural resources should be protected so that they will not run out or
poison future generations, he said.
Environmental and corporate ethics should be based on the Christian
sense of stewardship, of care, respect and appreciation for God's gifts,
he said.
In his speech to congress participants May 16, Pope Benedict criticized
current financial practices that "frenetically" issue "credit contracts
that often allow for unlimited speculation."
He deplored market
speculation on food and produce that throw the vulnerable into even
deeper poverty and insecurity.
The pope also lamented the emphasis on short-term interests when it
comes to energy needs, which then causes "negative consequences on the
environment and humankind."
Father Finn said that while current social teaching has made inroads in
outlining the social responsibilities of corporations and governments,
the church has "only scratched the surface" in addressing care for
creation.
"We need a stronger theology and vision that can be a source of inspiration for those principles," he told CNS.
The Vatican can play a stronger, more vocal role in establishing "a set
of core principles" so that when church leaders engage in talks with oil
companies, investment firms or global development banks, church leaders
worldwide will have a common set of values coming from a highly
authoritative source, he said.
Local bishops often write pastoral letters on safeguarding the environment, "but mining companies don't listen," he said.
If there were Catholic ethical principles and insights specific to
natural resource use and the extraction of oil, gas and minerals as well
as the social responsibilities of corporate stake holders, companies
and governments would more likely acknowledge and respect what the
church has to say about putting people and the common good first, he
said.
"It would also be a good compass for us activists" who work on the
ground trying to put Catholic social teaching into practice, he added.
Father Finn said the head of the Vatican's justice and peace council,
Cardinal Peter Turkson, was very interested in working with him in
devising some kind of common guidelines based on the recommendations of
bishops and lay experts.
In his speech to participants, Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez
Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa said church social doctrine "does not come
completely formulated by the Holy See: it is a process in which the
entire church community participates according to the diversity of its
tasks, charisms and ministries."
Despite such a diversity of sources, the final principles, however, are
the same ones all Catholics all over the world must apply to their lives
and culture, he said. "A different social doctrine of the church for
different parts of the world does not exist," he said.
Unfortunately there are extremely polarized opinions about what church
teaching on just economic policies, said Daniel K. Finn, professor of
economics and theology at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn.
There are voices on the conservative right and the liberal left which
pick and choose principles out of the whole of Catholic social teaching
and ignore those values that don't mesh with their particular economic
vision, he said.
The both extremes "don't understand economics and don't understand Jesus," he said.
There is a middle ground -- a sort of "moral ecology of markets" -- in
which free markets and the pursuit of self-interest are not necessarily
destructive but can play a positive role, he said.
"The morality of self-interest depends not on the intention, but depends
on the structure of the economy" and whether it unfairly exploits
workers and communities, he said.
Finn said that in "Caritas in Veritate," Pope Benedict praised so-called
"hybrid firms" which seek profit and success in a free-market economy,
but use that profit to help others and treat their workers with respect.