Human Labor:

The Beginning of Catholic Social Teaching

-- for St. Vincent's Parish Bulletin by: Dennis Wells

During the month of May, following the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, we printed a series of bulletin inserts on Catholic Social Teaching. Beginning with Rerum Novarum in 1891, the roots of Catholic Social Teaching had their germination in the labor struggles of the Post-Industrial world. Technology brought an end to the last remnants of the feudal system and there were two major responses to this: Capitalism & Socialism. In both instances, human dignity suffered severe compromises. As many grassroots efforts converged, Pope Leo XIII issued his landmark document (largely condemning Socialism as the worse of these two new evils) and launched what has become a rich tradition of social teachings.

One of the problems with this tradition, however, is that there is no LIST. You know, like the "10 Commandments", the "7 Gifts of the Spirit", the "7 Deadly Sins", etc. This is because these "teachings" (not "doctrines") deal with humans, not with dogmas, and with the complex ways we interrelate. Thus, in the absence of a handy tool, these teachings have not made it into the consciousness of most Catholics.

We have launched a series of articles that will explore the basics of Catholic Social Teaching.
Different sources divide these teachings into either 10 principles, or 7, or even more ambitious yet, boiling it all down to 3 over-arching principles. For the ease of access, we will look at the 7 areas that the U.S. Bishops have highlighted:
1)Human life & dignity,
2)Call to family, community/ participation,
3)Rights/Responsibilities,
4)Preferential Option for the poor/vulnerable,
5)Dignity of human labor,
6)Solidarity,
7)Stewardship of Creation.

The U.S. Bishops have also offered us a methodology for digesting these concepts:

ART – Act, Reflect, Transform.
This is essentially what is referred to as "apostolic reflection" -- and is the fundamental methodology of the often maligned: Liberation Theology:

- We live our own everyday human lives (our Actions),
- We Reflect on our living (by seeking wisdom -- from Scripture and Tradition --and sharing that within our faith-community), and
- We choose to act to Transform our world; this newly established world environment demands new Actions on our part.
Thus, the transforming Act calls for new Reflection and new Transformation and thus a continuous cycle is set in motion.

Here at St. Vincent's, because of the leadership of the Vincentian priests who have been our shepherds, we have the "action" part down to an art form. In recent years, we have devoted time and energy to reflecting on our ministry. The past two decades have certainly transformed the lives of many in our parish and in our neighborhood.

We now find ourselves in a position to tap the wisdom of our Church (both the wisdom within "official" documents and the wisdom within the hearts of the Faithful) to confront injustice – in our society, in our Church, and in our homes – engaging in an ongoing pattern of ART – Acting, Reflecting, and Transforming our world.

It is in this way that we are, in the words of Archbishop Oscar Romero, “Prophets of a Future not our own.” ____________________________________________________________________________________

Index, Catholic Social Teaching: Overview; 1)Human life & dignity, 2)Call to family, community/ participation, 3)Rights/Responsibilities, 4)Option for the poor/vulnerable, 5)Dignity of human labor, 6)Solidarity, 7)Stewardship of Creation; Summary: Catholic Social Teaching

Look here for more links on Catholic Social Teaching

Parish Mission Statement

We, the people of St. Vincent's Parish in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri, are committed to following Christ, evangelizer of the poor. We do this through:
- Worship and continued spiritual formation for both laity and clergy
- Serving the poor and oppressed
- Preaching the Gospel by word and action in an ecumenical spirit