Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church: Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace Published by Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), Ottawa, 2005, ISBN: 0-88997-509-4, Softcover, pp. 446, $29.95 CAN

This concise, yet complete, overview should inspire and guide Catholic faithful and others of good will in dealing with issues of social justice. Deeply researched and thoroughly indexed, the Compendium fills a gaping need, as ignorance of the Church's social teaching is legendary. We owe a debt of gratitude to Pope John Paul II for its publication. It is part of this great Pope's rich legacy.

The Church's social doctrine, the Pontifical Council points out, contains principles for reflection, criteria for judgment, and directives for action. These are "the starting point for the promotion of an integral and solidary humanism." Consequently, making the doctrine known constitutes "a genuine pastoral priority." This doctrine, in fact, is an integral part of the Church's evangelizing ministry. Through it, "the Church seeks to proclaim the Gospel and make it present in the complex network of social relations," penetrating and enriching society with the Gospel.

Authentic Magisterium 

Although many Catholics may not realize this, the Church's social doctrine is "authentic Magisterium, which obligates the faithful to adhere to it." Indeed, it has the same dignity and authority as the Church's moral teaching, insofar as social doctrine is part of this moral instruction. The Pontifical Council states that "The doctrinal weight ... and the assent required are determined by the nature of the particular teachings, by their level of independence from contingent and variable elements, and by the frequency with which they are invoked."

The Compendium contains the fundamental elements. This leaves to Episcopal Conferences "the task of making the appropriate applications as required by the different local situations."

Catholic social teaching is developed through faith (inspired by Biblical revelation and Church tradition) and reason, as it contemplates natural law, the body of principles that arise from our unchanging human nature. The teaching is characterized by both continuity and renewal. Continuity, because revelation and human nature entail universal values that transcend different cultures and ideologies. Renewal, because, open to history, the teaching engages events as they unfold. In other words, "it moves through history without being conditioned by history." It is "capable of opening itself to new things, without havings its nature changed by them."

Principles

The basic principle of Catholic social teaching is the [tex dignity of the human person, "the only creature willed by God for itself." The other permanent principles are subsidiarity, solidarity, and the common good.

Subsidiarity recognizes the autonomy of persons and the value of private initiative, individually and collectively. Solidarity recognizes the interdependence of individuals and peoples. Both a social principle and a moral virtue, solidarity "is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the ... good of all and to each individual, because we are all really responsible for all." The common good is "the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily." It "can be understood as the social and community dimension of the moral good."

Other notable principles include the universal destination of goods, which requires that all mankind share fairly in God's creation, and the preferential option for the poor, which focuses particular concern on all whose living conditions interfere with their proper growth.

When properly applied, these principles bring a penetrating wisdom to the solution of contemporary problems. Consider property rights, for example. The right to private property, though protected by the principle of subsidiarity, is not an absolute. Rather, it is subordinated to the right to common use. It is a means, not an end in itself. Communal property is recognized as a fundamental element in the survival and well-being of indigenous peoples. However, its "defence and appreciation... must not exclude ... an awareness ... that this type of property ... is destined to evolve."

Free Market

The Church recognizes the free market as "an irreplaceable instrument for regulating the inner workings of the economic system." However, markets must be "firmly rooted in ethical objectives." Individual profit, for example, must never become the sole objective. Equally important, though of a higher order, is social usefulness. The Pontifical Council rejects the idea that "the market alone can be entrusted with the task of supplying every category of goods." Such thinking "is based on a reductionist vision of the person and society."

Rather than being passive agents, consumers are responsible for the choices they make in purchasing and investing. The Pontifical Council frowns on consumerism, which "maintains a persistent orientation to 'having' rather than 'being'. This confuses the 'criteria for correctly distinguishing new and higher forms of satistying human needs from artificial new needs which hinder the formation of a mature personality.'" We must create lifestyles "in which the quest for truth, beauty, goodness, and communion with others for the sake of common growth ... determines consumer choices, savings, and investments."

Inspired by the principle of subsidiarity, the state must create "situations favourable to the free exercise of economic activity." Inspired by the principle of solidarity, it must "establish limits for the autonomy of the parties in order to defend those who are weaker."

Without solidarity, subsidiarity "runs the risk of encouraging forms of self-centred localism." To respect both principles, state intervention in the economy "must be neither invasive nor absent, but commensurate with society's real needs."

Relativism

Catholic social teaching considers ethical relativism to be one of the greatest threats to democracies. Ethical relativists maintain that " there are no objective or universal criteria [on which to found] a correct hierarchy of values." But "if there is no ultimate truth to guide and direct political action, then ideas and convictions can easily be manipulated for reasons of power." History demonstrates that, without values, democracy "easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism.

Family is basic unit of Society

Globalization entails both opportunities and risks. The challenge, the Compendium says, is to ensure a globalization in solidarity, without marginalization. If properly oriented, international trade "promotes development." Consequently, the Church's social doctrine encourages "fair access to international markets" to help developing nations overcome poverty. A global society must not entail "a new version of colonialism."

Catholic social teaching regards the family as the basic cell of society. It is "the first natural society, with underived rights that are proper to it." Consequently, its priority "over [the larger] society and over the state must be affirmed." Further, "The family ... does not exist for society or the state, but society and the state exist for the family." In virtue of the principle of subsidiarity, "public authorities may not take away from the family tasks which it can accomplish well by itself or in free association with other families; on the other hand, these same authorities have the duty to sustain the family...."

Marriage, the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, is the foundation of the family. By their nature, all other forms of cohabitation "deserve neither the name nor the status of family." The family is discredited, and the common good impaired, when "de facto" unions are made legally equivalent to it. Although we must respect the human dignity of homosexual persons, this does not justify or legitimize "behaviour that is not consistent with moral law" or" the recognition of a right to marriage between persons of the same sex."

It is at the level of the family that Catholic social and sexual teaching can be clearly seen as mutually supportive. If the family falters, as it does when sexual mores are violated, so does the larger society.

Poverty

Catholic social teaching reflects Christian realism. The Church does not seek a paradise on earth. While, for example, recognizing praiseworthy efforts to defeat poverty, it considers with caution "ideological positions and Messianistic beliefs that sustain the illusion that it is possible to eliminate the problem of poverty completely from this world." This will happen only when Christ returns. Until then, "the poor remain entrusted to us" and if we fail to meet their serious needs, "Christ warns us that we will be separated from him." Even if there will never be an earthly paradise, Christian hope generates confidence that we can build a better world.

In view of current events, mention should be made of the duty of lay Catholics to be morally coherent, since conscience is "one and indivisible." "A well-formed Christian conscience," the Compendium notes, "does not permit one to vote for a political programme or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals." We must consider Christian witness "a fundamental obligation that can even lead ... to martyrdom in the name of love and human dignity."

Although not easy reading, the Compendium is worth the effort, as it contains a wealth of wisdom.

Editor: Support booksellers who advertise in our pages.

Mr. Joe Campbell is Catholic Insight's expert on social justice issues. He lives in Saskatoon, SK. See also the book note on his latest book on page 15.