From the bulletin of November 29, 2020
Last week, in our walkthrough of his document Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII finished explaining why the denial of private property would not help society to flourish more and then set out to provide his own solution. Of course, this is a letter written by the pope to the whole world, which means it can’t get into specifics and particular situations, but it can give us the main idea and principles we need to apply in our own situation. It may not surprise you to know that Leo says “no practical solution of this question will be found apart from the intervention of religion and of the Church.” Remember that the “question” is the rights and dignity of workers.
This brings us to a key principle in the Church’s social teaching – that society cannot function well without God. Since we are made in God’s image and meant to go to God in the end, any society which pretends that God doesn’t exist is going to get human beings wrong. This is not a demand to put the Church in charge of the government, but a reminder that government is not the only part of society and that it does not have every answer. Having laid that out, the pope goes on to explain that the Church helps workers and society by teaching the Truth about humanity, by providing organizations to help those in need, and by advocating for just laws.
So, Pope Leo then starts to teach about the human condition. He first points out that it is impossible for society to be perfectly equal in every way. This is because people have different capacities and abilities. Human beings have equal dignity, but that doesn’t mean they are the same or always end up with the same level of success. Trying to force a perfect equality is therefore a wasted effort to do what is not natural and not possible. Likewise, because of Original Sin, it is impossible to get rid of all suffering, hardship, and poverty in this life. If a society or government acts like that is possible, they will only end up doing greater evils. This prophetic warning was written in 1891. Sadly, for the next 100 years, ideas like communism and Nazism – which both tried to create the perfect society – ended up killing 100s of millions of people because they ignored this truth and tried to do the impossible.
Another important truth pointed out by the pope is that different “classes” of society should not see each other as enemies. Marxism looks at history as a struggle between the wealthy who own everything and the poor who provide the labor. This is both too simple and false. It assumes that there has to be hostility between owners and workers, between employers and employees. While conflicts often do emerge, it is also possible – and meant to be – that there is cooperation and mutual benefit. Different parts of society work together for the good of the whole and of each person in society. This principle is called the Common Good and will be developed more in later teachings. It does not mean you can sacrifice an individual’s rights for some greater good because it is meant to include the individuals benefit in it. When it comes to settling conflicts between “classes” of society, the Church is meant to be an intermediary that reminds each of their rights and duties and the proper understanding of justice. We’ll continue this journey next week by looking at these duties as they apply to different parts of society and the economy.
– In Christ,
Fr. Albert