Does Catholic Social Teaching Really Matter?
In an earlier editorial, "A Missed Opportunity," I noted that the recent Couchiching Conference began with a negative bias in its title: "God's back -- with a Vengeance." Although the assumption of a correlation between terrorism and religion was sharply challenged by a few speakers, the subsequent discussion was limited almost exclusively to the Canadian Charter of Rights and the political rights of believers. I do not wish to diminish the importance of that discussion, but the broader question was not pursued: i.e., how religion relates to today's global challenges of massive poverty, disease, violence and ecological destruction -- issues central to this website.
It would be easy from my personal experience to give witness to hundreds of initiatives presently undertaken by faith-based organizations round the world -- especially by Catholic organizations; but I prefer to list three authoritative independent non-faith sources which unexpectedly echo the same message.
Surprisingly, Samuel Huntington, author of the controversial The Clash of Civilizations, claims that the Catholic Church was the most effective defender of human rights round the world during the second half of the 20th century.
The Japanese political scientist Francis Fukuyama, in his book The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order, sees an indispensable role of religion in building or restoring enduring trust in social relationships. He sees people grudgingly returning to religion, not necessarily because they believe in revealed doctrines, but "precisely because the absence of community and the transience of social ties in the secular world make them hungry for ritual and cultural tradition. They will help the poor or their neighbours not necessarily because doctrine tells them they must but rather because they want to serve their communities and find faith-based organizations are the most effective means of doing so" (Atlantic Monthly, May 1999, p 80).
But the most compelling recent witness to this truth is found in the World Bank publication I mentioned earlier: Katherine Marshall's Mind, Heart and Soul in the Fight against Poverty. She brings together dozens of detailed case studies of how faith-based organizations in Africa, Latin America and Asia are effectively fighting poverty in its multiple forms -- increasingly in partnership with other faiths and international agencies. It is heartening to discover the major role that Sant'Egidio and the Jesuits play here, but so do many others, such as Aga Khan Foundation, etc.
I could list many concrete examples, but suffice here to quote Marshall's concluding paragraph summarizing her findings: "Every one of the world's great faith traditions contains a core moral and ethical underpinning confirming that life should be just and fair -- that every human being deserves respect and dignity. Enormous progress on these goals is possible, but we must mobilize faith-based energy and moral authority on the world stage if we hope to make them a reality" (p 276).
I would only add a caution that faith groups must never abdicate what Marshall calls their "core moral and ethical underpinning." For Catholics, this is spelled out in our social teaching. Faith groups must hold firm to their "underpinning" if they are to fulfil their indespensible prophetic role in this welcome and necessary but inevitably tension-filled dialogue and partnership with secular groups, in building up a more human global society. -- Bill Ryan sj.