Social Justice in the Context of the Church_s Mission

8/13/2019 Social Justice in the Context of the Church_s Mission

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SOCIAL JUSTICE

As taughtand

promoted inthe Old

Testament

As part of Jesus

ministry to the

poor, outcast,weak,

oppressed

As continued bythe early

Christiancommunity, the

CHURCH

We are part of theChurch.

We are called to work

for social justice.


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SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE CONTEXT

OF THE CHURCHS MISSION

1.THE EARLY CHURCH

2.THE MEDIEVAL ERA

3.CAPITALIST ERA

4.THE FIRST SOCIAL

ENCYCLICAL


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JESUS CHRIST WAS POOR Born in a manger and died an outcasts death

He loved the poor and fought for the rights of thepoor

He attacked the powerful people of his time

Criticized them

lovers of money Lk 16:14

Devour the houses of widows

Called them thieves Mk 11:17; chief priestsmade the Temple a market where theysucked the peoples money

Why thieves?

For his work for the poor, he was persecutedand ultimately killed


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1. EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

Like Jesus, the early church was poor.

Majority of the members belonged to the

poorer class, some were slaves

It was a persecuted church; many were

martyred.

Christians had to meet secretly for

meetings and worship

The blood of the martyrs is the seed of

Christianity.


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Medium aevum-- Medieval or The

Middle Ages

The period from 5001500 A.D. in Europeis known as the Middle Ages or Medieval

period.

2. Medieval era


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2. Medieval era

313 ADEmperor Constantine granted

religious freedom to the Christiansthrough the Edict of Milan

Turned the Church from a poor

persecuted church to one that waswealthy and powerful

Constantine made Christianity as theofficial religion of the Roman empire

The state or the empire gave the churchwealth and power; huge lands andproperties were given to the Pope


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Social Structure of Feudalism

1. Explain the mutualobligations of

the feudal system.

Land-lord (noble) owns a Manor(huge

estate of land).

He gives a grant of land(fief) to

someone who promises in exchangeto

provide military protection to the lord and

his family, work the lords lands, and serve

in other ways.

A person who receives land from a lord

is avassal.

2. Why did thefeudal system

create complicated

alliances?

The same noble might be a vassal

himself to several different lords.


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Social Structure of Feudalism

3. Describe feudal social classes.

Those who fought : nobles, knights, and

kings

Those who prayed : the Churchs Clergy

(priests, bishops, monks)Those who worked : Peasants (serfs)

Social class was usually inherited.


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The Middle Ages are aptly sometime called The

Age of Faith.

While Feudalism and the Manor system

created divisions among Medieval people

Shared beliefs and the teachings of the Churchwas a stable force,

establishing unity among Europeans.

Whoever you were, whatever your lot in life,

everyone could still follow the same path to

Salvation (everlasting life in Heaven).

PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.


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3. CAPITALIST ERA

o Brought down the king and feudal lordsthrough war

o Capitalism vs. church (possessed

political power)o Capitalists wanted to conquer State power,

so the Church had to be conquered toobecause they possessed political power

o Monasteries were closed, church propertieswere confiscated, priests were killed


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3. CAPITALIST ERA

o Capitalism reconciled with the churcho Through concordats or treaties

o Church regained wealth even more wealth

than it owned during medieval times

o Sin of omissionchurch stood at theside of the capitalists

o Church focused its apostolate on thingsof eternity;o sin of omissionworking for justice

o Taking care of the masses


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INDUSTRIALIZATION the process of change from an agrarian,

handicraft economy to one dominated byindustry and machine manufacture. Thisprocess began in England in the 18thcentury and from there spread to other

parts of the world.

More machines = less jobs =unemployment = a new social

problem Conflict between capital and labor


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L XIII itt d th Ch h t th f


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o Leo XIII committed the Church to the cause ofthe poor

o From non-commitment to the side

of justiceo Justice became part of the Churchsevangelization

o Who is Leo XIII?

(March 2, 1810July 20, 1903),

was the 257th Pope of the Roman

Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903,

Reigning until the age of 93, he was the oldest pope,and had the third longest pontificate

Leo XIII brought normalcy back to the Church after

the tumultuous years of Pius IX.


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He tried to reconcile the Church with the

working class, particularly by dealing with the

social changes that were sweeping Europe.The new economic order had resulted in the

growth of an impoverished working class,

with increasing anti-clerical and socialistsympathies. Leo helped reverse this trend.

He wrote the first social encyclical.

RERUM NOVARUM


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RERUM NOVARUM (POPE LEO XIII, 1891) Res novae (new things)

Beginning of a new path

Brought about by the IndustrialRevolution in the 19thcentury

The social problemlabor

The church felt the need to become

involved and intervene Thus, the first SOCIAL

ENCYCLICAL. What is an

encyclical?


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MAGISTERIUM teachingauthority of the Church

-through the Pope and bishops

- grounded on the Word of God

PASTORALLETTERS

written by the

bishopsaddressed to

the local church

ENCYCLICALS

Papal letters

Written by thePope addressed to

the universalChurch


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WHAT ARE CHURCH SOCIALTEACHINGS?

CHURCH SOCIAL DOCTRINES

CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHINGS

CST the Churchs body of teachings onsocial, economic, political and culturalmatters

social doctrine

goes back to Pope Pius XI

-Church teachings in the area of social

matters


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CHURCH CHALLENGES INDIVIDUALHUMAN BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL SYSTEMSAND STRUCTURES THAT RUN IN CONFLICT

WITH THE GOSPELS VISION OF THEHUMAN PERSON AND SOCIETY


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CONTENT OF CSTs:

1. Principles for reflection

2. Criteria for evaluating systems

3. Guidelines for fostering activepursuit of the common good

TWO CHARACTERISTICS OF CSTs:

1. PERMANENTBased on the Gospel

Values are timeless

2. CHANGING Context ofpeople changes


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Documents

Social Justice in the Context of the Church_s Mission