Notes on chapter 2 in Compendium. (#60 – 104)
60. Simple declaration of “solidarity” with all people: the Church stands with everyone everywhere. “Solidarity”: to hear the Church in our time, you need the word, and the idea.
61. We treasure individuals, of course, but we need to look at relationships also.
62. The Church claims to have insights into a vast array of complex relationships – that is, into “society.”
63. The Gospel is a message of freedom and redemption in human history, in human society. The Church intends to evangelize a society, speaking about peace, justice, truth, freedom, love.
64. “Social doctrine” is not a distraction from the Gospel; it is rigorously faithful to the Gospel. Some people insist that the Gospel is about supernatural life only; the Church rejects this silly limitation. Jesus came among us, on earth, with dirty feet.
65. Jesus lives among us even when we are faced with new stuff, like “interdependence and globalization.” Jesus is smart enough to figure out these five-syllable realities, and the Church is not struck dumb by them either.
66. If you think that evangelization is about life in heaven and not on earth, who needs your help in the modern world, where people actually live? But evangelization is not just a letter from the sky; it is about love, active now, here. The Church promotes human growth, advancement, development – here and now, not just in the sky post-demise.
67. Again firmly: the social doctrine of the Church is central in evangelization, not a cool optional decoration on the fringe.
68. The Church does not have and does not claim expertise about everything. We do understand Jesus, Son of God, made man.
69. The Church is not trying to usurp power – but at the same time there is nothing on earth that is foreign to the Church’s mission. We have a right and a duty to shape this social doctrine.
70. The Church has the right and duty to reach about faith and morals. The Gospel we proclaim touches the whole of life, should transform the whole of life.
71. Individuals struggle with sin; societies struggle with injustice. Same thing, two sides of one coin. The Church responds to both, offering pertinent moral principles.
The “nature” of this social doctrine (in other words: “Social doctrine? Whazzat?”)
72. None of the Church’s teaching about social justice is new, but it was not organized coherently until recently (“recently” = starting in 1891). The clearest assertion that the Church intends to talk about social issues was from Pope Saint John Paul II, in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, which is Latin for “we care about this ‘social’ stuff.” Social life, social sin, social evils like Socialism, social goods like social justice, social structures …
73. The Church will not be shoved to the sidelines, limited to holy-holy dogmas of faith. We will speak – and teach with authority – about moral questions including justice. This teaching is about motivations (foundational level) and social norms (directive level) and forming conscience (deliberative level).
74. The social doctrine is built squarely on Scripture and Tradition, like all our other teaching throughout 2,000 years of history. It involves constant interaction between faith and reason.
75. We’re aiming for “integral” truth, truth about man as a whole, not about a spirit in heaven and a body in the rough and tumble of real life on earth. Jesus offers us rational knowledge enlightened by faith. We explain truths that are accessible to all, that can be understood and shared by all.
76. The Church’s social doctrine is in friendly dialogue with other branches of knowledge – in fact, with all branches of knowledge. Dialogue. Friendly. All.
77. The social doctrine is theology, not philosophy. (JCOK as of 3/4/2025: I have no idea what that means.) But we draw on philosophy for clarity about “concepts such as the person, society, freedom, conscience, ethics, law, justice, the common good, solidarity, subsidiarity, the State.”
78. The Church’s social doctrine is based on our understanding of man in a complex network of relationships, and this understanding draws extensively from human sciences and social sciences.
79. This paragraph matters a great deal. It’s the claim of authority for the Compendium. It’s meaningless for non-Catholics; it’s immensely significant for Catholics. It says that the social doctrine is not the work of some group of theologians in an office somewhere in Rome; it’s the work of the Church. “The Church’s social doctrine … is the thought of the Church, insofar as it is the work of the Magisterium, which teaches with the authority that Christ conferred on the Apostles and their successors: the Pope and the bishops in communion with him.” (113)
This claim is bolstered and clarified by note 113, which refers to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), paragraph 2034. Here’s CCC 2034 in full: “The Roman Pontiff and the bishops are ‘authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach the faith to the people entrusted to them, the faith to be believed and put into practice.’(76) The ordinary and universal Magisterium of the Pope and the bishops in communion with him teach the faithful the truth to believe, the charity to practice, the beatitude to hope for.”
Note 76 in the CCC refers in turn to Lumen Gentium 25. LG is a “dogmatic constitution” from Vatican II. A “dogmatic constitution” from an ecumenical council is the highest authority recognized by the Catholic Church, outside Scripture. Excerpt from LG 25: “Bishops, teaching in communion with the Roman Pontiff, are to be respected by all as witnesses to divine and Catholic truth. In matters of faith and morals, the bishops speak in the name of Christ and the faithful are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a religious assent. This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will. His mind and will in the matter may be known either from the character of the documents, from his frequent repetition of the same doctrine, or from his manner of speaking.”
80. The social doctrine includes ideas passed back and forth between the Pope and bishops. It has authority, and there’s an obligation to adhere to it. But different pieces have different weight, and you have to look at context.
81. The social doctrine not only proclaims a view of man but also denounces injustice and violence. We have a duty to denounce. Much social teaching is determined by important social questions, to which social justice is the proper answer.
82. The social doctrine is religious and moral, which is familiar church stuff, but it aims for some non-churchy stuff including humanism, liberation, and development – all of which need some definition. Our goals include shaping society in history with an eye on heaven.
83. The social doctrine is for all of us, not just the clergy. In fact, it implies “responsibilities regarding the building, organization and functioning of society, that is to say, political, economic and administrative obligations — obligations of a secular nature — which belong to the lay faithful, not to priests or religious.”
84. The social doctrine is first for members of the Church, but it is also relevant to all people of goodwill. (See respectful dialogue above.)
85. The teaching balances continuity and renewal. There’s an ongoing dialogue between the past and the present. Jesus Christ is the same now and forever, but we need to adapt to changes in history.
86. The social doctrine is a “work site” where perennial truths interact with new circumstances. The Church is Mother and Teacher and ikon of the Good Shepherd, finding man where he is, and proclaiming a message of liberation, reconciliation, justice, and peace.
The Church’s social doctrine in our time: historical notes
87. The term “social doctrine” goes back to Pope Pius XI, in Quadragesimo Anno in 1931, writing on the 40th anniversary of Rerum Novarum (1891). This was in no way a new concern, but it was a new path. It was a new development in an ancient tradition, grounded in Scripture, apostolic teaching, the Fathers, and the Doctors of the Church.
88. The Industrial Revolution and the social changes it caused were the trigger for the beginning and development of the social doctrine.
89. The first great social question, labor, led to the first social encyclical, Rerum Novarum. It inspired Christian activity in the social sphere and became the point of reference for this activity.
90. The first great social question that the Church addressed was labor. In Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII rejected socialism as a response to labor troubles, then laid out “the Catholic doctrine on work, the right to property, the principle of collaboration instead of class struggle as the fundamental means for social change, the rights of the weak, the dignity of the poor and the obligations of the rich, the perfecting of justice through charity, on the right to form professional associations.”
This document is key. It’s important regarding labor, of course; but also it provided a pattern for developing doctrine. On the 100th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Pope Saint John Paul II explained the “original nucleus of principles presented in Rerum Novarum. With this courageous and farsighted text, Pope Leo XIII “gave the Church ‘citizenship status’ as it were, amid the changing realities of public life”(147) and made an “incisive statement”(148) which became “a permanent element of the Church’s social teaching.”(149) He affirmed that serious social problems “could be solved only by cooperation between all forces”(150) and added that, “in regard to the Church, her cooperation will never be found lacking.”(151) Notes 147 to 150 are all references to Centesimus Annus, paragraphs 5, 56, 56, and 60.
91. In 1931, Pope Pius XI responded to the Depression and the new totalitarian regimes in Europe, writing Quadragesimo Anno. He wrote about solidarity and cooperation, and enunciated the principle of subsidiarity. He rejected “liberalism, understood as unlimited competition between economic forces.”
92. Pope Pius XI was an amazing and inspiring person. In 1931, he denounced Fascism in Italy in his Italian encyclical Non Abbiamo Bisogno. In 1937, He denounced Nazism in his German encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge. In 1938, he declared, “Spiritually we are all Semites.” In 1937, he denounced Communism in his encyclical Divini Redemptoris.
93. Pope Pius XII led the Church during World War II. He did not use encyclicals; he taught with radio addresses. He stressed the importance of the relationship between morality and the law.
94. Pope John XXIII urged us to heed the “signs of the times.” Three developments in his time shaped his thought: recovery from World War II, the gradual breakup of colonialism, and a tentative thaw in the Cold War. He insisted that the social question was becoming universal, involving all countries. His encyclical Mater et Magistra (1961) expresses a new determination to build an authentic global community.
95. John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris (1963) was the first encyclical addressed to “all men of good will.” He urged the public authority of the world community to “tackle and solve problems of an economic, social, political or cultural character which are posed by the universal common good.” The public authority of the world??
96. Pope John XXIII summoned the Second Vatican Council, which transformed the Church in many ways, including turning our face outward to the world. The Vatican document Gaudium et Spes (Latin for “joy and hope,” but the English name for this pastoral constitution is The Church in the Modern World) enunciated the social doctrine and committed the Church to it with clarity and strength. “Gaudium et Spes presents in a systematic manner the themes of culture, of economic and social life, of marriage and the family, of the political community, of peace and the community of peoples, in the light of a Christian anthropological outlook and of the Church’s mission.”
97. The Council asserted the immense importance of religious freedom, in Dignitatis Humanae (1966). Religious freedom is based on the “dignity of the person” and must be defended as a civil right that belongs to individuals and also to communities.
98. In his encyclical Populorum Progressio (1967), Pope Paul VI declared that “development is the new name for peace.” This word, development, doesn’t thrive in English. Latin: progressio. It refers to the growth and development of an individual in all human ways, and it also refers to the healthy growth and development of nations and societies. His teaching was and is deeply disturbing to many conservative people, since he talks about world peace and a new “humanism.”
99. Paul VI established a Pontifical Commission, “Justice and Peace.” Their role is “to stimulate the Catholic community to promote progress in needy regions and international social justice.” They produced the Compendium.
100. The “new things” of our age that require new thought include problems like urbanization, sexism, unemployment, migration, population growth, the environment.
101. Work is not just about money. It has dignity, because workers have dignity. It’s where most people figure out their natural and supernatural vocation.
102. “Development” (Pope Paul VI’s word for peace) has failed in the Third World and become deformed in wealthy nations. Moral growth matters more than material wealth.
103. The doctrine is about love, under different names – friendship, “social charity,” and now “solidarity” aiming for a new “civilization of love.”
104. The social doctrine is pastoral, not theoretical. That is, it’s about concrete problems in our lives today. So as history unfolds, the Church’s teaching grows.
