The
Social Doctrine of the Church, since the issuance of Rerum Novarum in 1891, had
a share of scorn and contempt, of applause and recognition. It had faced a lot
of challenges from within and without of the Church. Time and again, it managed
to survive and find new forms of application in relation to the developments in
the society. Today, it faces a new system, a new world order. At the advent of
technological advance on communications, it is again challenged to muddle
through change.
At
the turn of the 21st century, the world is transformed into a full
blown global village. What was formerly separated by territorial and
natural boundaries, is now connected by electrical technology. What Marshall
McLuhan coined in his books The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man
(1962), is now a reality: a world where communication and the flow of
information know no boundaries, where a collective unconscious exists.
In
the context of this global village and the collective unconscious, the Social
Doctrine of the Church is set today, challenged to exist anew in a new and more
relevant form. These teachings of the Church that have existence for over a
century are now being tried by the phenomenon of globalization, in terms of
their role to play and relevance to attain.
This
article aims to present the role of the Catholic Social Doctrine in the
globalized world. It will briefly discuss the phenomenon of globalization and
relate it with the said Doctrine. In the end, it will attempt to present the
future of the Church social teaching.
The
Role of Catholic Social Doctrine in the Globalized World Today
John
Allen in his article entitled ‘Ten mega-trends shaping the Catholic Church,’
named globalization as one among the ten mega-trends that the church have to
face today. It is so-called mega-trend because of the great influence it give
to the church, a deep impulse shaping Catholic thought and life at the
universal level, a sort of "tectonic plate" whose shifts lie beneath
the fault lines and upheavals of the present. The phenomenon of
globalization, in a macro-scale, is the integration of global economy, and
finance and culture. This is made possible through the development in the
international relationship and understanding among nations. In a micro-scale,
globalization can be described as the inflow of information and knowledge from
one end of the globe to another; so much so that the world becomes a village, a
global village. This can be attributed to the advance of communication
technology such as the World Wide Web, social communication, and technological
communication devices. Today, in the globalized world, there is a torrent of
information accessible through the technology available to many. These
information come from various sources, can be traced from different traditions
and cultures. These can be further described as voices coming from different
sources. All these economic-cultural integration among nations, and the torrent
information and voices are laid before the globalized man.
In
the midst of these million voices placed before the globalized man, the
Catholic Social Doctrine stands as one among the many voices in a global
village that tackles the social issues of the globalized man. It offers not
only an alternative voice, but an essential, for an authentic existence of the
globalized man. The Catholic Social Doctrine puts forward answers to the
questions and problems posited by the globalized world, answers with the
transcendent and yet imminent dimension. It offers ideo-realistic answers to
concrete situations where the globalized man finds himself; idealistic in
aspiration and yet realistic in the means to achieve such.
The
phenomenon of globalization ushers in seemingly boundless economic progress.
Through economic integration of nations, opportunities for growth and progress
in livelihood flourishes. However, this development towards affluence and
comfort is available only to few nations, most are the so-called developed
nations. This progress is attained and enjoyed with a great disregard to the
suffering of the other nations, especially the so-called developing countries.
Despite the promising potentiality of a global village, the globalized man is
yet to actualize such for all. Globalization became advantageous only for few
but not to all.
The
Catholic Social Doctrine as a ideo-realistic voice, transcendent and yet
imminent, offers a response in the face of injustices due to globalization. It
neither condemn globalization per se nor call for its cessation. In its wisdom,
this ideo-realistic voice calls for globalization of solidarity. Through the
father of Catholic Social Teaching, John Paul II, it calls for the solidarity
in humanity to be placed in a global scale, in the same way that economic
progress is placed on the pedestal. For solidarity to become global, one
must effectively take into account all peoples of all regions of the world. This voice of the Church
does not call for an opposition against a social reality. It rather encourages
the use of it in a Catholic and Christian way. To globalize solidarity also
calls for working in close and constant relation with international
organizations, which guarantee law and legality, to balance in a new way
relations between rich and poor countries, so that aid relations in just one
direction will cease, which too often contribute to the increase of the
imbalance through a mechanism of permanent debt. It is a movement not away
from the world but rather to be in the world where the problem is, to find the
rightful solution in the same context. And yet, the action aims to end not in
this world but to the Kingdom of the Father. Globalization of solidarity is
above all a response to the pressing appeals of the Gospel of Christ. For us
Christians, and for all men and women, this demands a true spiritual path, the
conversion of minds and of persons.
The
Catholic Social Doctrine of Church is a voice in the global village. It one
among the many voices that the globalized man hear every day. However, this
voice differs from the rest in its ends and means. It does not aim simply to
inform man but to transform him. It does not employ anything that is foreign in
man, but that which is closest to him; the imminent reality to lead him to the
transcendental, to the Kingdom of Father.
The
Future of the Catholic Social Doctrine
We
continue to live in a world full of flagrant inequalities, and despite the production
and the wealth, the latter is increasingly concentrated in fewer hands. Actually, a world is being created where the
greediness of a few is leaving the majority on the margin of history.
The
Catholic Social Doctrine of the Church today faces a great crisis; crisis of
authenticity; a crisis of relevance. How can the voice of an institution that
have existed for two millennia be relevant to the Post-Modern world? Why would
the globalized man listen to the voice of an institution often describe as
medieval if not ancient in world view? How
would the Church be effective in her preaching of justice, equality, human
dignity, solidarity, etc. when in her own backyard these very issues tribe?
Indeed, there exist a crisis in the Church Social Doctrine. But crisis can
opportunity too!
Now,
more than ever, is the opportune time for the Church to be more just as she
preaches justice, to be more poor as she invites her faithful to be poor, to be
more respectful as she teaches equality in dignity, to be more loving as she
condemns hatred and evil. Now is the time for the Church to be more really the
Church of Christ; Church that is more selfless, Church that does not simply
speaks of love but indeed loves much. In the midst of crisis, the Church can size
this as an opportunity to be more true to her name, to be more true to the Word
she received and preach about. The crisis that the Social Doctrine of the
Church faces today can be an opportunity for her to be more authentic to the
command of Christ of love. Should the Church fails to address this crisis of
authenticity and relevance, the Church will cease to be the Church founded by
Christ.
This
crisis can be successfully addressed by the Church only with the help of the
Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. The Church should remain faithful and open to the
workings ad promptings of the Holy Spirit. It is neither the human mind nor the
human hands that kept this Church for two millennia. It is the Holy Spirit, who
guided her throughout her existence. It is the Holy Spirit who sustained her.
And the Church can not continue to exist in this Post-Modern world without the
Holy Spirit, without being opened to the Paraclete. By providing a space for
the Holy Spirit, indeed, the Church can and will continue to be true to her
foundation and relevant to this ever changing world.
Conclusion
The
Church’s Social doctrine faces a crisis of authenticity and relevance in today’s
Globalized and Post-Modern world. However, this crisis can be an opportunity
for the Church to reflect upon herself; her voice that cries in the urban
jungles, in the cyber space, through the modern media, in midst of economic and
social injustices. Her ideo-realistic voice can be of great tool for her to
utter the Word she received, and use the resources entrusted to her
stewardship. In all these, She should not forget that it is the Holy Spirit
that brought her this far, and it is the same Spirit that will bring her to the
completion of her vocation, in the end of time, in God’s time.
