I believe in Catholic Social Teaching, and am certainly poor myself, however this concept is so abused, by poorly formed Catholics and also non-Catholics working for Catholic agencies. I was told this very day by a Catholic Charities staff member that, although my pastor has tasked me with coordinating my parish's volunteers for a particular Catholic Charities program serving the poor for several years, I am henceforth banned from volunteering due to my having objected to a (woman) staff member stating her (female) gender pronouns on her nametag, at which time I advocated that Catholic Charities shouldn't be promoting gender ideology. Among the stated reasons why this makes me an unfit volunteer: "Catholic Social Teaching"! A fine cudgel to beat Catholics with! Yet in so doing the concept itself is abused. It stands in need of genuinely Catholic explication so thank you for this article that does so.
What a wonderful read. Perspectives on CST like this from people with an important sphere of influence with the young generation fill me with what I can only describe as the joy of hope. I tend to agree even just observing the young adults and their friendship groups, that unpeel all the superficialities that go with that age, that they do have a sense that being more fully human comes from social awareness and the need for equality and fairness and the common good. There is much to be hopeful about.
Many thanks for this interesting interview, and for highlighting CST, a really wonderful aspect of Church teaching that is so often overlooked (or, as Elizabeth is saying below, abused). I had no clue the Focolare even had something like the EOC, I will be sure to look into it more!
Can't get enough on CST. Even though its emphasis in the Church is fairly new, Catholic teaching on this subject is better developed than any other Western sociological body of thought. I think this is because the Church comes closest to a correct understanding of human anthropology, in great part because of Aquinas's work. If the understanding of the human animal is flawed, any social theory based on that flawed understanding will fail. Collectivist social theories show this pretty spectacularly (which hasn't stopped a recent resurgence in the US), and various flavors of liberalist social theories (Humean/Lockean/Rousseauean/etc) have either flamed out, or are now showing major weakness (including the US).
Not sure why CST is thought of as a "middle way", as posed in the article - this is just wrong-headed. CST, because it is based on a totally different (Christ-based) understanding of the human, is an entirely different approach to organizing societies for the common good (ultimately, for the summum bonum: our relationship to God). That makes it orthogonal any secular-based social theory (ok, it borrows from Platonism, but by reframing it in Christology, transforms it into something radically different).
Anyway, I would like to see the US bishops make CST a cornerstone of their Catholic outreach to secular America. Most of us are weary of the political sniping/gridlock/elitism/hypocrisy/(insert-any-four-letter-words-that-make-you-feel-better-here) that has become our Enlightenment heritage. CST offers a (the only?) way out. Plus, evangelizing CST would help unite the bishops (which we also apparently need).
BTW, there exists plenty of USCCB source material for CST, so they have a good foundation for this outreach:
I believe in Catholic Social Teaching, and am certainly poor myself, however this concept is so abused, by poorly formed Catholics and also non-Catholics working for Catholic agencies. I was told this very day by a Catholic Charities staff member that, although my pastor has tasked me with coordinating my parish's volunteers for a particular Catholic Charities program serving the poor for several years, I am henceforth banned from volunteering due to my having objected to a (woman) staff member stating her (female) gender pronouns on her nametag, at which time I advocated that Catholic Charities shouldn't be promoting gender ideology. Among the stated reasons why this makes me an unfit volunteer: "Catholic Social Teaching"! A fine cudgel to beat Catholics with! Yet in so doing the concept itself is abused. It stands in need of genuinely Catholic explication so thank you for this article that does so.
What a wonderful read. Perspectives on CST like this from people with an important sphere of influence with the young generation fill me with what I can only describe as the joy of hope. I tend to agree even just observing the young adults and their friendship groups, that unpeel all the superficialities that go with that age, that they do have a sense that being more fully human comes from social awareness and the need for equality and fairness and the common good. There is much to be hopeful about.
Many thanks for this interesting interview, and for highlighting CST, a really wonderful aspect of Church teaching that is so often overlooked (or, as Elizabeth is saying below, abused). I had no clue the Focolare even had something like the EOC, I will be sure to look into it more!
Excellent article- lots to think about and be hopeful about!
Can't get enough on CST. Even though its emphasis in the Church is fairly new, Catholic teaching on this subject is better developed than any other Western sociological body of thought. I think this is because the Church comes closest to a correct understanding of human anthropology, in great part because of Aquinas's work. If the understanding of the human animal is flawed, any social theory based on that flawed understanding will fail. Collectivist social theories show this pretty spectacularly (which hasn't stopped a recent resurgence in the US), and various flavors of liberalist social theories (Humean/Lockean/Rousseauean/etc) have either flamed out, or are now showing major weakness (including the US).
Not sure why CST is thought of as a "middle way", as posed in the article - this is just wrong-headed. CST, because it is based on a totally different (Christ-based) understanding of the human, is an entirely different approach to organizing societies for the common good (ultimately, for the summum bonum: our relationship to God). That makes it orthogonal any secular-based social theory (ok, it borrows from Platonism, but by reframing it in Christology, transforms it into something radically different).
Anyway, I would like to see the US bishops make CST a cornerstone of their Catholic outreach to secular America. Most of us are weary of the political sniping/gridlock/elitism/hypocrisy/(insert-any-four-letter-words-that-make-you-feel-better-here) that has become our Enlightenment heritage. CST offers a (the only?) way out. Plus, evangelizing CST would help unite the bishops (which we also apparently need).
BTW, there exists plenty of USCCB source material for CST, so they have a good foundation for this outreach:
https://www.usccb.org/resources/foundational-documents-catholic-social-teaching
A generation raised amid major economic turmoil needs more reassurance that an open economy won’t leave people and communities behind.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/mba-students-against-capitalism/621117