When speaking about Catholic social teachings, we must first talk about the dignity of the human person. The Catholic Church has a primary role in educating and securing that each human person has their human dignity safeguarded, protected, and respected. In Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII addresses the issues that have arisen with the Industrial Revolution. Starting in 1760’s Great Britain, a series of innovations in the use of steel and iron, new energy sources such as coal and fossil fuels, new technology, and better modes of transportation and distribution set off this revolution. However, these innovations did not only bring about good, they brought major issues also. These issues mainly included working and living conditions of the working
This right and our ability to reason distinguish us from the animal. It is because this ability to reason, that we have the ability to plant for the future, thus transforming the earth and making it fruitful. He explains this in section six by saying, “man can possess not only the fruits of the earth but also the earth itself; for of the products of the earth he can make provision for the future” (RN, no. 6). This future goes beyond the man, himself. The man, being a social being, has the obligation of providing also for his children, the future of his own personality. Leo XIII explains this as being “a most sacred law of nature” (RN, no. 10). However, he goes on the express how the State and socialism interfere in this “sacred law of nature” in sections eleven and twelve (RN, no. 10). The socialists “act against natural justice, and threaten the very existence of family life” by restricting the role of the parents and bringing in the new role of the State (RN, no. 11). In an attempt to use Thomas Aquinas as a common relatable source in his writing to the bishops, which is seen as a strength, Leo XIII misinterprets Aquinas’ teachings about natural law. Aquinas teaches natural law with a primary precept of doing good and avoiding evil while applying it to the use of goods and the necessities of the human being. However, Leo
The great truth is that “God has not created us for the perishable and transitory things of the earth, but for the things heavenly and everlasting” (RN, no.18). Therefore, the possession of money and material goods humans desire are of no use in heaven. The only significance it could hold is the use of such items on earth. For example, a rich man who does not share in his wealth with the poor will see no gain in heaven. However, a rich man who shares his wealth with the poor and helps the Church to support his brother will receive a warm welcome into heaven. This brings Pope Leo XIII to quote Thomas Aquinas again about the use of money to help explain that the rich should “give with ease”, this leading to Christian Charity (RN, no.19). The Church does not ask for the sharing of everything in one’s possession to be shared with the poor. However, Leo XII explains that what is left over, after the necessities are supplied, are to be shared. This explanation is very beneficial for the parishioners of the Church, for it allows the wealthy not to feel obligated to share all of their wealthy. The Church only asks for the “leftover” of their wealth. After talking about the purpose of wealth in the society, it's only appropriate to talk about the Church’s
Elected in 1958 as a ‘caretaker Pope’, Pope John XXIII implemented the greatest reforms in the Church’s history. His involvement within the Church had played a significant contribution to the reforming of social, political and liturgical Christian traditions. During the early twentieth century, the Catholic Church still held the century old conservative beliefs and traditions as they continued to separate the Church from the secular world, therefore, disadvantaging the Church to a world that was modernising. In addition to this, the Church restricted modernist thoughts due to the belief that new theologies would threaten the power and authority of the Church, but ...
"…admitting what is called philanthropy, when adopted as a profession, to be often useful by its energetic impulse to society at large, it is perilous to the individual whose ruling passion, in one exclusive channel, it thus becomes. It ruins, or is fearfully apt to ruin, the heart, the rich juices of which God never meant should be pressed violently out and distilled into alcoholic liquor by an unnatural process, but should render life sweet, bland, and gently beneficent, and insensibly influence over other hearts and other lives to the same blessed end." (348)
Written in 1889, Gospel of Wealth, is an article by Andrew Carnegie which discusses the responsibility of philanthropy by those with surplus wealth. Carnegie strongly disapproves of the phenomenon where wealth is bequeathed. Rather, he argues that the best way in distributing excess money is for public benefits. Carnegie is opposed to any display of extravagance, squandering, or greed because these create wealth inequality. Although Carnegie believes that wealth inequality is inevitable, he thinks that if the wealthy spend their surplus money cautiously, then society would be genuinely enhanced. Three modes of disposing excess wealth arise; families leaving their money to their descendants, spending on public projects, or simply administering during the lives of the wealthy themselves.
“Every natural process is a version of a moral sentence. The moral law lies at the centre of nature and radiates to the
The ideas of the gospel of wealth are a scary concept today. If you look at it with a revisionist viewpoint the idea that rich are rich because God said so leaves us open for so much discrimination. The thoughts of this time were not able to see this, and the business owners wanted to keep the power in their hands.
Roles of the Catholic Church in Western civilization has been scrambled with the times past and development of Western society. Regardless of the fact that the West is no longer entirely Catholic, the Catholic tradition is still strong in Western countries. The church has been a very important foundation of public facilities like schooling, Western art, culture and philosophy; and influential player in religion. In many ways it has wanted to have an impact on Western approaches to pros and cons in numerous areas. It has over many periods of time, spread the teachings of Jesus within the Western World and remains a foundation of continuousness connecting recent Western culture to old Western culture.-
The stronger will do anything in their power to make a profit, leaving the weak with nothing. Kuyper says, “…the more powerful exploited the weaker by means of a weapon against which there was no defense” (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 26). Additionally, he states that “…the idolization of money killed the nobility in the human heart” (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 31). Kuyper talks about how Jesus felt bad for the rich and sided with the poor (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 32). Matthew 6:19-21 says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Earthly materials mean nothing because the real treasure awaits in
A penny saved may be a penny earned, just as a penny spent may begin to better the world. Andrew Carnegie, a man known for his wealth, certainly knew the value of a dollar. His successful business ventures in the railroad industry, steel business, and in communications earned him his multimillion-dollar fortune. Much the opposite of greedy, Carnegie made sure he had what he needed to live a comfortable life, and put what remained of his fortune toward assistance for the general public and the betterment of their communities. He stressed the idea that generosity is superior to arrogance. Carnegie believes that for the wealthy to be generous to their community, rather than live an ostentatious lifestyle proves that they are truly rich in wealth and in heart. He also emphasized that money is most powerful in the hands of the earner, and not anyone else. In his retirement, Carnegie not only spent a great deal of time enriching his life by giving back; but also often wrote about business, money, and his stance on the importance of world peace. His essay “Wealth” presents what he believes are three common ways in which the wealthy typically distribute their money throughout their life and after death. Throughout his essay “Wealth”, Andrew Carnegie appeals to logos as he defines “rich” as having a great deal of wealth not only in materialistic terms, but also in leading an active philanthropic lifestyle. He solidifies this definition in his appeals to ethos and pathos with an emphasis on the rewards of philanthropy to the mind and body.
The contemporary Church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch-supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the Church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the Church's silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are.”
In this essay I will identify the issues which brought about this papal encyclical in 1891, specifically the social conditions of people, resulting from industrialisation and the church’s Christological role in declaring human dignity in terms of God’s plan for mankind. I will set out the historical position in Britain in this late Victorian era within the context of European radical political upheaval, as part of the need for reform and a response from the Church. These issues will be compared with the encyclical one hundred years later, to analyse the development of policy in1891 and 1991 in terms of the church’s teaching, within the context of the wider social and political movements of the late twentieth century. I will determine that whilst John Paul II used the centenary in 1991 to publish Centesimus Annus and see it as a ‘re-wording’ of the original, it ultimately failed to take forward the radical change envisaged in Rerum Novarum, with limited exceptions.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the first Beatitude. It tells us that we should accept people for who they are and not the material things they have. You should not treat a person who lives in a nice house and drives a nice car any different then someone who lives in a less desirable house and drives an old car. You should treat everyone how you would like to be treated. Just because someone can not afford some of the things as you might be able to does not mean that they are a bad person. We should accept everyone into our community.
Looking into Finnas’s idea that maybe it is possible that through family and friends one can satisfy all basic desires and goods, but the question still arises of how do humans know how to attain these desires or basic human principles? A baby cries when it is hungry or tired, without being told that it needs to eat or sleep. This example shows that there are innate truths or knowledge that are given to humans the day they are born. Even though Finnas does disagree with Aquinas’s arguments, there is no substantial evidence to prove that humans do not have innate knowledge just through being a human being. This point lines up with what Aquinas calls Natural Law, as previously mentioned. From Natural Law, human made laws are created for the good
Christianity and Wealth 'Jesus said to the rich young man, "Go, sell all that you have and
Modern Catholic social teachings trace its beginnings to the writings of Pope Leo XIII. His insight on Christian philosophy, politics and the social order and applies to teachings in current injustices in the economic order. Leo XIII’s teachings were also critical participation in the developments of modern social and economic life. He rooted his social ethics in the supreme value of the human person and added that all political and social structures need to respect and respond to this primary and moral claim of human dignity. While the Church and the political community are autonomous and independent of each other in their own fields, the Church is “at once the sign and the safeguard of the transcendental dimension of the human person”.
of right and wrong buried within him. This sense guides people, culture, and even whole countries to act in certain ways. Thomas Aquinas called this innate sense the natural law. The natural law is established by God in order to make men more virtuous. When examined closely it is found that the natural law contains the precept of all law and, is at odds with certain laws that exist today, specifically abortion.