Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching

Although a Protestant, I have developed a strong appreciation for Catholic Social Teaching. Unfortunately there are multiple schools of thought regarding what Catholic Social Teaching actually teaches; as with the Bible itself, people take certain aspects and emphasize them to the neglect of others. So a good Bible student will ask the question, “What does the Bible actually say, and what did the biblical writers mean when they said it?”Anthony Esolen takes a similar approach with Catholic Social Teaching. He goes back to Leo XIII’s encyclical, “Rerum Novarun,” considered to be the foundational document of Catholic Social Teaching, and by considering it in the light of a number of Leo’s other writings from during his papacy, asks the question in so many words, “What did Leo XIII actually say, and what did he mean when he said it?”It’s difficult to summarize his book-length answer to that question in a few sentences, but in essence what he finds is, we can’t separate Leo’s teaching on justice and workers’ rights from his teaching on marriage and family, and we can’t try to apply the former in isolation from the latter. Without strong marriages and families, quests to alleviate things like poverty, income inequality, and other injustices will be futile. Much of the injustice and inequity in society can be traced to breakdown of the family, rampant divorce and broken homes, absentee fathers, neglect of children in favor of pursuit of career, and a corresponding breakdown of strong coherent communities.The conclusion, or at least the conclusion that reading the book leads me to, is that if we want a truly just and equitable society, the starting point must be to strengthen marriages and families. The takeaways for me include, among other things, policies that incentivize two-parent homes instead of penalizing single mothers who choose to get married, support for mothers who choose to stay home with their children instead of only subsidizing childcare outside the home, and for the government to support rather than take an adversarial posture toward parents wanting to be the decision-makers in their children’s upbringing.If my summary here is less than convincing, it’s because Esolen makes the case much better than I can, and develops his argument at length in a way that I can’t in a short review. So I would encourage anyone with a heart to better the condition of the needy and right the wrongs in society to read the book.

Let me first start by saying the content and message of the book, as a whole, is extremely important. IT is a great decent primer for those with a simple desire to learn about Catholic social teaching. It would have been five stars if it flowed better. Unfortunately, when one writes a book that tries to discuss morality (right conduct in society), ecclesiology (life within the Church), and public policy in under 200 pages, there are going to be problems, even if one tries to neck it down by looking through the lens on only one person (Pope Leo XIII). As the author alludes to several times, Leo XIII only captured what had been taught in the 19 centuries previously, so it makes sense that he was the focal point. What was missing was its tie into what the Church has said since.The last 20 pages were more engaging and readable that the first 160. I believe this was because based on the title, I thought this would be more of a commentary using the numerous encyclicals to support a position rather than a literature review of over 30 select encyclicals from Pope Leo XIII which were loosely arranged to meet some pre-arranged chapter headings (which were not entirely cogent in and of themselves). (It felt as if I was reading an academic paper meant for other academics to faun over.) It was in the last pages that the author writes clearly and from the heart rather than an academician. Having said this however, unless someone has a strong understanding of Catholic social teaching, even in its most general form, it would have been difficult to fully appreciate the build-up to the Esolen’s recommendation and commentary. I just wish it was presented in a different manner.Without giving too much away, with all the time spent on Catholic social teaching preparing for the final argument, a section devoted to the guild system would have helped solidify Esolen's final thrust. And while this would really pull away from the scope of the book as written, and, "Yes, all things are possible with prayer," but having opened the door to a radical departure from current American society, it would have been nice to hear about successes, whether in the U.S. or other places in the world, in which Catholics are living in the image of God, for God. If this is not possible, describe the last vestiges of such a society that we can relate to or work toward. As I said probably a bridge too far, especially given the book is a "defense of the Church's true teachings," but as I said, the 20 page commentary is what was most compelling.

good

Este livro é muito bom. Faz uma releitura da Doutrina Social da Igreja a partir da visão de Leão XIII, tido como seu fundador na era moderna, e mostra como os desvios marxistas e esquerdizantes que afastaram tantos bons católicos deste importante ramo da doutrina cristã não pertencem de modo algum ao verdadeiro patrimônio da Igreja. Recomendo.

good read