As I write this, we have the first solid indications of a conclusion to an election year that has been ... interesting.
One of the especially interesting features to me was how many times during the final weeks of the campaign President-elect Biden used the phrase "Catholic social teaching." That's not to say that his party's platform truly reflects those social teachings in any kind of consistent way (neither did the other party's), but at least it gives us something substantial to refer to.
Talk of "Catholic social teaching" can make some Catholics nervous, especially when it seems like it the term is being used to cover over, rather than to address, key matters. However, social teachings have been a pivotal part of the faith since the early Church (read the Church Fathers!). It is nothing other than a spelling out of the Gospel implications for a particular culture. Naturally, that will vary across centuries as well as continents, though some of the warnings of saintly pastors like St John Damascene are still (uncomfortably!) fitting.
In the last 130 or so years papal teachings since Leo XIII's
On the Condition of the Working Classes (
Rerum novarum: "
New issues") have tried to apply the Gospel to, well, "new issues" in social life, so that "the split between Gospel and culture" that Pope St. Paul VI lamented in 1975 would not harden into an absolute chasm in society. It became a custom for Popes to issue updated documents on significant anniversaries of
Rerum novarum: Pius XI's
Quadragesimo Anno (
Forty Years);
Mater et Magistra (Christianity and Social Progress) by St John XXIII;
Octogesima Adveniens (On the coming Eightieth anniversary) by St Paul VI;
Laborem Exercens (On Human Work) and
Centesimus Annus (The Centenary) by St John Paul II.
In each of those anniversary documents, and in other major social documents (like Paul VI's
Populorum Progressio; John Paul II's
Evangelium Vitae, or Pope Francis'
Laudato Si' ) and
Fratelli Tutti, the application of the Gospel had to be applied not only to changed social, political, and even scientific conditions, but also to changes in intellectual frameworks: to the mindset with which people of different cultures approached matters such as knowledge, truth, human rights, the definition and limits of progress, etc.
One of the most important documents you can study in terms of Catholic social teaching is the book-length
Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Sometimes called the "Social Catechism," this really is a companion volume to the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, but focused on issues of Catholic social teaching. (Order a physical copy of the book with this affiliate link:
https://amzn.to/38nP8Hc.)
Since our President-elect professes himself indebted to Catholic social teaching, this might be a good time for all of us to pursue a personal program of study from the very best of sources: the one issued from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace under the authority of Pope St John Paul II in 2004.
Professor Diana Duesterhoeft of St Mary's University (San Antonio) prepared a handy web page of references on Catholic Social Teaching: https://lib.stmarytx.edu/c.php?g=288002&p=1920734
Nov 9: I had forgotten to list the most recent of Church social documents: Pope Francis' Fratelli Tutti, so I inserted that in the list above. Today is one of your last chances to order the paperback version of the document with the pre-order discount; God willing, they should be shipping out later this week.
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