The Church’s Social Doctrine- Work: Part II
Hopefully everyone enjoyed the first part of the blog series. Now that we’ve all had some time to digest and ponder it, it is time for the second piece!
There are two terms that need defining before you read this part:
Solidarity- “not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of others. It is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good” (JPII, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 38). Solidarity, which flows from faith, is fundamental to the Christian view of social and political organization. Each person is connected to and dependent on all humanity, collectively and individually. It is the complement of subsidiarity.
Subsidiarity- “a fundamental principle of social philosophy, fixed and unchangeable, that one should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what they can accomplish by their own enterprise and industry” (Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno, 79). It is the complement of solidarity.
Now, with that background, enjoy Part II!
Responsibilities and Rights of Business Owners and Workers (cont.)
Another duty of employers, which encompasses several workers’ rights, is the duty “to structure work in such a way so as to promote the family, especially mothers.”[15] The rights to “rest”, a safe work environment, “pension” and health insurance, and “social security connected with maternity”[16] all fall under this duty. Without any of these, the worker would be much harder-pressed to fulfill the obligations necessary in family life. A person needs rest to effectively work and interact with one’s family, a safe work environment to safeguard one’s physical and mental integrity, and health insurance in case of an accident or old age. A person also needs a pension for when old age sets in and more rest is necessary, and a mother must have the assurance of her employer and the State that she will be taken care of when she carries new life. These are all fundamental rights, and an employer is required by solemn duty to provide for these things under Catholic social teaching.
Another duty of employers… is the duty ‘to structure work in such a way so as to promote the family, especially mothers.’
The interactions of the employers and employees should be carried out with the goal of mutual cooperation and betterment, and “first place among these institutions… must be assigned to associations that embrace either workers alone or workers and employers together.”[17] As the Church has said,
“Through this orderly participation joined to progressive economic and social formation, all will grow day by day in the awareness of their own function and responsibility, and thus they will be brought to feel that they are comrades in the whole task of economic development and the attainment of the universal common good according to their capacities and aptitudes.”[18]
In striving for charity, the actions of both parties should easily be able to fulfill the demands of justice and exceed them, all for the greater glory of God. As the Popes have alluded to and explicitly stated, by respecting the rights of the other and fulfilling one’s own duties, all people involved can grow into more intelligent, dignified, and respectable individuals. Truly, everything that the Church teaches, if observed faithfully, will lead to the same result. In God’s merciful love, he left us the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church to guide us into all truth.
Right relations between employers and employees, between those who govern and citizens, presuppose a natural good will in keeping with the dignity of human persons concerned for justice and fraternity.
A final, beautiful summary of the ideal relation between employers and employees and an excellent segue into the next section of our discussions is provided by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and reads “Right relations between employers and employees, between those who govern and citizens, presuppose a natural good will in keeping with the dignity of human persons concerned for justice and fraternity” (CCC 2213).
The Role of the State
The State is laden with a heavy burden, especially in these times, because “the social question has acquired a worldwide dimension.”[19] Now, whatever steps a State takes on any issue must be measured against its responsibility to the world. Pope Benedict XVI warns that “The risk for our time is that the de facto interdependence of people and nations is not matched by ethical interaction of consciences and minds that would give rise to truly human development.”[20] This is clearly true when one turns to economic life, most notably since Fall of the year 2008. “The damaging effects on the real economy of badly managed and largely speculative financial dealing… [and] the unregulated exploitation of the earth’s resources”[21] are two areas of particular concern for the State. It may not be immediately clear to all why the State is held so gravely accountable, but the Church has made clear the reasons for her teachings.
At the heart of the economic life of a country is the need for balanced, equitable dealings between workers and employers. John Paul II made this clear when he stated,
“The State… has the task of determining the juridical framework within which economic affairs are to be conducted, and thus of safeguarding the prerequisites of a free economy, which presumes a certain equality between the parties, such that one party would not be so powerful as practically to reduce the other to subservience.”[22]
In doing so, the State must observe the principle of solidarity without abandoning the principle of subsidiarity. After all, there is a natural need for certain members of society to become leaders who will work to “preserve [society’s] institutions and do all that is necessary to sponsor actively the interests of all its members.”[23] In doing so, solidarity is upheld and the common good is sought. On the other hand, the input of individuals and private entities is necessary in concert with that of the State. Great care must be taken to “avoid total collectivization and the dangers of a planned economy which might threaten human liberty and obstruct the exercise of man’s basic human rights,”[24] thereby violating the principle of subsidiarity. The old adage “virtue is in the balance” applies even in the interactions between individuals, private entities, and the State.
…human work is a key, probably the essential key, to the whole social question.
Inextricably linked to the balance discussed above is what Catholic social teaching calls the common good, which was mentioned above. The State’s “whole raison d’être is the realization of the common good in the temporal order… It has also the duty to protect the rights of all its people, and particularly of its weaker members, the workers, women and children.”[25] These people oftentimes do not have the ability to protect themselves, so a just society is necessary for the maintenance of the common good. Part of the responsibility of the State is the care and stewardship of the environment, which must happen in order to perpetuate the health and well-being of a nation’s population. “As one called to till and look after the garden of the world (cf. Gen 2:15), man has a specific responsibility towards the environment in which he lives, towards the creation which God has put at the service of his personal dignity, of his life, not only for the present but also for future generations.”[26] Without this, neither the people of our own time nor the future generations will be able to sustain themselves because they will not have the health or the resources to carry out their work and, as the Church has said, “human work is a key, probably the essential key, to the whole social question.”[27] In this way, even the responsible stewardship of the environment is a necessary area for the State to monitor and regulate if necessary, because it impacts the economic life of a nation’s people.
[15] Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (Washington, DC: USCCB Publishing, 2005), 345.
[16] Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (Washington, DC: USCCB Publishing, 2005), 301.
[17] Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno, 29.
[18] Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et Spes, 68.
[19] John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 9.
[20] Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 9.
[21] Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 21.
[22] John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 15.
[23] John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, 46.
[24] Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, 33.
[25] John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, 20.
[26] John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 42.
[27] John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 3.
