Friday, February 11, 2005
Papal Wisdom: Pius XI on the Reconstruction of the Social Order
Quadragesimo Anno
As I originally stated in my commentary on Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum, there are few encyclicals which had more of a monumental impact on not only the Church, but the world. Indeed, it's impact has been so profound 3 popes have issued encyclicals celebrating it's anniversary. Today we shall begin looking at the first of these important works in Quadragesimo Anno, Pius XI's words on the 40th anniversary of Rerum novarum, which while 100 years old, is still just as relevant today.
We students of history at times have problems with placing events in their proper context. We look back and we see these events, but we underestimate their importance. Pius XI reminds people, and indeed introduces to people the situation surrounding the release of Rerum Novarum. The Church before him was a Church consisently working on settling out internal issues. Proudly known as the "garrison church." For indeed they had to, given the realities of the day, and that for the overwhelming part of such, the world was either Catholic or favorable to Catholicism and the Gospel.
Then came the void and indeed the anarchy we know as the French Revolution. The social order that had existed in many places for so long was no more. Without something concrete to really put in it's place, anarchy quickly ensued, and people were frantically looking for solutions to these problems. Many false ideas slowly began to creep in. While Popes such as Bl. Pius IX did encounter some of these liberal philsophies, he was mainly combatting the damage they were doing within the Church, rather than society in general.
Leo XIII's arrival to the Chair of Peter signaled a different note. He launched the drive to truly make the Church the "salt of the earth." It seemed for every single social question that was in society, he had an answer, using the precepts of the Fathers, of Thomas Aquinas, and the Councils, and the circumstances of the day to provide answers to society. So soon after Christendom had faded these principles were forgotten. Leo XIII was determined to implant these principles in the mind of the faithful. Yet on the issue of socialism, and more importantly the questions behind it in regards to capital and labor, Leo XIII had yet to seriously touch, and the world desparately needed answers.
For during this time, the balance between those who ran things, and those who worked for those people had shifted far too much in one direction. While liberals of today like to make the myth of "the rich keep getting richer while the poor get poorer" todays situation is lightyears ahead of the time of Leo XIII. While to some these businessmen were captains of industry, to many others they were robber barons. This situation needed a resolution.
There were those in the labor union movement who rather than providing a balance, one could say they were seeking revenge in punishing those who were wealthy. To these hearts the evil that is socialism was ideal for them. For to them, it was not a misuse of private property that was causing these problems, but the very notion of private property itself. This idea was so tempting, it even added to it's ranks many who professed to be Catholics and other Christians. No doubt sincere in their views, they could not see the forrest for the trees, and failed to realize these ideas were opening pandoras box, and toying with the very mechanisms God had placed in nature. Other Christians worldwide, while sympathizing with these problems, rather than taking such drastic measures on either side, looked to the source that they have so often looked towards in that time, Leo XIII.
Leo XIII recognized the problems presented by the questions of socialism and industry, and therefore immediately set to work on studying the issue. Listening and studying both sides carefully, Leo decided it was time to speak, recognizing that in these circumstances, a failure to speak could have grave consequences on all society.
It was for these reasons Leo XIII adressed not only the church when considering these questions, but indeed all of mankind. You didn't need to be Cathoilc to understand and cherish these principles was his reasoning. For he was going to argue from reason and nature itself. While without a doubt a staunch believer in the Catholic social order, he called to those who had never experienced such, and demonstrated to them their reason alone causes them to understand these things. This was indeed an act almost unheard of in his day, and one can see the office of the Papacy even forever changed by this event, as the Papacy was now a very important voice in the concerns of society, to even Non-Catholics. Coming from a union family, I myself know this, as a very liberal father worked for a union that to this day praises the work of Rerum novarum in improving the conditions of the workers worldwide.
This was the scene set for Rerum Novarum, and indeed, there may not be a more celebrated or controversial moment in the recent history of the Church than this encyclical. Calling for it's bold new path in defending the rights of both the worker and the owner alike, Catholics saught ways to implement his views. Leo XIII catapulted the Church into a showdown with socialism, a doctrine which according to Pius XI leads to a solution far worse than the evil it wiilled to correct. The clash between the two would last an entire century, and in many cases is still being battled.
Despite these benefits, the work was still feared by many on all sides of the issue. People viewed Leo XIII an idealist, believing that the "signs of the times" made it impossible to achieve such a solution that he laid out. Others viewed it a very radical departure from the established norms. Indeed it was, but this was not a bad thing. For as the enemy was rapidly evolving in it's evil, so to did the Church develop it's new solutions to new threats that required a forward thinking ability. This thinking was so forward, one could say Catholics have still failed to grasp the depth of Leo XIII's work, hence why 3 encyclicals have been written about it.
We see that from this work Pius XI intends several things. He wants to remind people, and instruct a new generation. Remind them of the struggle and the triumph related to this encyclical. Instruct a new generation in it's truths, and take it a step further, in using it's principles to respond to the evils of the society Pius XI lived in. Over the next few weeks, we shall explore all those facets.
Quadragesimo Anno
As I originally stated in my commentary on Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum, there are few encyclicals which had more of a monumental impact on not only the Church, but the world. Indeed, it's impact has been so profound 3 popes have issued encyclicals celebrating it's anniversary. Today we shall begin looking at the first of these important works in Quadragesimo Anno, Pius XI's words on the 40th anniversary of Rerum novarum, which while 100 years old, is still just as relevant today.
Other Encyclicals of Our Predecessor had in a way prepared the path for that outstanding document and proof of pastoral care: namely, those on the family and the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony as the source of human society, on the origin of civil authority and its proper relations with the Church, on the chief duties of Christian citizens, against the tenets of Socialism against false teachings on human liberty, and others of the same nature fully expressing the mind of Leo Xlll. Yet the Encyclical, On the Condition of Workers, compared with the rest had this special distinction that at a time when it was most opportune and actually necessary to do so, it laid down for all mankind the surest rules to solve aright that difficult problem of human relations called "the social question."
We students of history at times have problems with placing events in their proper context. We look back and we see these events, but we underestimate their importance. Pius XI reminds people, and indeed introduces to people the situation surrounding the release of Rerum Novarum. The Church before him was a Church consisently working on settling out internal issues. Proudly known as the "garrison church." For indeed they had to, given the realities of the day, and that for the overwhelming part of such, the world was either Catholic or favorable to Catholicism and the Gospel.
Then came the void and indeed the anarchy we know as the French Revolution. The social order that had existed in many places for so long was no more. Without something concrete to really put in it's place, anarchy quickly ensued, and people were frantically looking for solutions to these problems. Many false ideas slowly began to creep in. While Popes such as Bl. Pius IX did encounter some of these liberal philsophies, he was mainly combatting the damage they were doing within the Church, rather than society in general.
Leo XIII's arrival to the Chair of Peter signaled a different note. He launched the drive to truly make the Church the "salt of the earth." It seemed for every single social question that was in society, he had an answer, using the precepts of the Fathers, of Thomas Aquinas, and the Councils, and the circumstances of the day to provide answers to society. So soon after Christendom had faded these principles were forgotten. Leo XIII was determined to implant these principles in the mind of the faithful. Yet on the issue of socialism, and more importantly the questions behind it in regards to capital and labor, Leo XIII had yet to seriously touch, and the world desparately needed answers.
For during this time, the balance between those who ran things, and those who worked for those people had shifted far too much in one direction. While liberals of today like to make the myth of "the rich keep getting richer while the poor get poorer" todays situation is lightyears ahead of the time of Leo XIII. While to some these businessmen were captains of industry, to many others they were robber barons. This situation needed a resolution.
There were those in the labor union movement who rather than providing a balance, one could say they were seeking revenge in punishing those who were wealthy. To these hearts the evil that is socialism was ideal for them. For to them, it was not a misuse of private property that was causing these problems, but the very notion of private property itself. This idea was so tempting, it even added to it's ranks many who professed to be Catholics and other Christians. No doubt sincere in their views, they could not see the forrest for the trees, and failed to realize these ideas were opening pandoras box, and toying with the very mechanisms God had placed in nature. Other Christians worldwide, while sympathizing with these problems, rather than taking such drastic measures on either side, looked to the source that they have so often looked towards in that time, Leo XIII.
Leo XIII recognized the problems presented by the questions of socialism and industry, and therefore immediately set to work on studying the issue. Listening and studying both sides carefully, Leo decided it was time to speak, recognizing that in these circumstances, a failure to speak could have grave consequences on all society.
It was for these reasons Leo XIII adressed not only the church when considering these questions, but indeed all of mankind. You didn't need to be Cathoilc to understand and cherish these principles was his reasoning. For he was going to argue from reason and nature itself. While without a doubt a staunch believer in the Catholic social order, he called to those who had never experienced such, and demonstrated to them their reason alone causes them to understand these things. This was indeed an act almost unheard of in his day, and one can see the office of the Papacy even forever changed by this event, as the Papacy was now a very important voice in the concerns of society, to even Non-Catholics. Coming from a union family, I myself know this, as a very liberal father worked for a union that to this day praises the work of Rerum novarum in improving the conditions of the workers worldwide.
This was the scene set for Rerum Novarum, and indeed, there may not be a more celebrated or controversial moment in the recent history of the Church than this encyclical. Calling for it's bold new path in defending the rights of both the worker and the owner alike, Catholics saught ways to implement his views. Leo XIII catapulted the Church into a showdown with socialism, a doctrine which according to Pius XI leads to a solution far worse than the evil it wiilled to correct. The clash between the two would last an entire century, and in many cases is still being battled.
Despite these benefits, the work was still feared by many on all sides of the issue. People viewed Leo XIII an idealist, believing that the "signs of the times" made it impossible to achieve such a solution that he laid out. Others viewed it a very radical departure from the established norms. Indeed it was, but this was not a bad thing. For as the enemy was rapidly evolving in it's evil, so to did the Church develop it's new solutions to new threats that required a forward thinking ability. This thinking was so forward, one could say Catholics have still failed to grasp the depth of Leo XIII's work, hence why 3 encyclicals have been written about it.
Venerable Brethren and Beloved Children, as all everywhere and especially Catholic workers who are pouring from all sides into this Holy City, are celebrating with such enthusiasm the solemn commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of the Encyclical On the Condition of Workers, We deem it fitting on this occasion to recall the great benefits this Encyclical has brought to the Catholic Church and to all human society; to defend the illustrious Master's doctrine on the social and economic question against certain doubts and to develop it more fully as to some points; and lastly, summoning to court the contemporary economic regime and passing judgment on Socialism, to lay bare the root of the existing social confusion and at the same time point the only way to sound restoration: namely, the Christian reform of morals. All these matters which we undertake to treat will fall under three main headings, and this entire Encyclical will be devoted to their development.
We see that from this work Pius XI intends several things. He wants to remind people, and instruct a new generation. Remind them of the struggle and the triumph related to this encyclical. Instruct a new generation in it's truths, and take it a step further, in using it's principles to respond to the evils of the society Pius XI lived in. Over the next few weeks, we shall explore all those facets.
New Topic.
I've been asked to cover Quadragesimo Anno by Pius XI in place of my current study on Christian education. I have decided to so, because a proper understanding of the social order and the role of the State in such flows to a proper understanding of the Christian way of education.
I've been asked to cover Quadragesimo Anno by Pius XI in place of my current study on Christian education. I have decided to so, because a proper understanding of the social order and the role of the State in such flows to a proper understanding of the Christian way of education.
