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PPforWedTh_Mar25ff_CSTandCommonGood-CatholicStuff.pptxCATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING
Catechism.
Hart, John. What are they saying about Environmental Theology
Vogt, Christopher. “Catholic Social Teaching and Creation,” Green Discipleship: Catholic Theological Ethics and the Environment ed by Tobias Winright (Winona, MN: Anselm Academic, 2011) Noted as V
SOURCES
A. Catholic social teaching: introduction
Modern CST began in 1891, with Pope Leo XIII.
A. INTRO_CST
Pope Leo XIII
Wikipedia
Source: book on Pope Leo XIII
By Karl Benzinger
Pope Leo XIII wrote something called Rerum Novarum, because he was worried about
“the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working class” (V, 221)
A. INTRO_CST
He thought it was important to set forth the “relative rights and the mutual duties of the rich and poor” (V, 221)
Since Pope Leo XIII was the Pope, he was obviously (along with the bishops) part of the magisterium, or “official teaching body” of the Church.
This means that his words have “some authoritative claim” on you, if you are Roman Catholic. (V, 223)
A. INTRO_CST
However since the 1950’s and the pontificate of Pope John XXIII,
Catholic social teaching has also been addressed to “all people of good will.” (v, 223)
B. The Common Good
One part of CST (Catholic Social Teaching)
Catholic social teaching’s definition of the common good has developed over the last several decades.
It originally stemmed from an understanding of the human good, taken from the Greek polis.
In ancient Greece, according to Aristotle, the “good of each individual was inseparably linked to the quality of the common good of the society in which they lived” (V, 224)
Since Catholics took their understanding of the common good from the Greek tradition, the Catholic Catechism also states that ‘the good of each individual is necessarily related to the common good” (1905).
And the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes states that the common good means: “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and easily.” (Hart, 21-2).
For example: how good would your life be if:
You had no way to get a good education
You couldn’t go to a hospital when you were sick
You couldn’t see art, or read literature, or listen to music
The economy was so bad that you couldn’t get any job at all (V, 225)
Both the ancient Greeks and the Catholic Church are saying something about who human beings are.
They both say that we “are social creatures who can develop to [our]…full potential and achieve a deeply satisfying, good life only when…[we]…participate actively in the life of a good society” (V, 225)
In a word, “The common good concerns the life of all,” (GS26.1; 1906 Catechism; Hart, 22).
Therefore it is “the responsibility of everyone in a community to build up the common good” (V, 225)
Pope John XXIII said that thinking of the common good of a nation was not enough; some goods cannot be achieved by the actions of one nation alone.
Instead we have to think of the GLOBAL common good (V, 226)
The US Bishops agreed:
“Some of the gravest environmental problems” (for example)… “are clearly global. In this shrinking world, everyone is affected and everyone is responsible” (V, 226)
The same is true for non-environmental issues such as immigration, or population growth, or the stock market/global economies.
You should do things in a way which “will benefit the greatest number.” (#2405)
This is true on the international, national AND individual level.
The stuff in your house…the stuff which you worked for, paid for, and moved into your house for you and your family?
You should enjoy that stuff “with moderation, reserving the better part for guests, for the sick and the poor.” (#2405)
So if the government were to say that it is “best for the common good of society” if your house was leveled so that a freeway or hospital could be built instead…
…the Church would agree (as long as it really WAS best for the common good).
“Political authority has the right and duty to regulate the legitimate exercise of the right to ownership for the sake of the common good.” (#637)
