Authentic Catholic Social Teachings

Authentic Catholic Social Teachings
In pursuit of the truth - cinops be gone - Friday, Oct. 19, 2012

Preface: I took notes and asked questions at the First Friday Friar monthly meeting at the Phoenix Club in Orange County, California, Friday, Sept. 7th, 2012. The speaker was Hugh Barbour. He is the Prior of St. Michael’s Abbey of the Norbertine Fathers in Trabuco Canyon, Orange County, California. Their founder, the late Abbot Ladislas Parker, was a founding member of the First Friday Friars. May I share with you some irregular notes.

“We are in a sad shape as a nation. The CINOP (Catholic-in-name-only politician) does not know the basics of Catholic teachings. With our Catechism, examination of conscience, prudence & basic principles are easy to interpret the Church’s social teaching.”

“Think of the new evangelization of the world. In Europe, we are on the outside. Catholic social teaching is a body of doctrine at the end of the 19th century. We have the rights of workers to organize and to look up to their rights. 1891 Rerum Novarum and in 1931 there was a special 40th Anniversary; and in 1991 the 100th Anniversary of Rerun Novarum with Pope John Paul II.”

“Acceptance of market capitalism - awareness of high finance and government power. There are three terms to take home with you.”

Subsidiarity: “Do it on a lower level. It is better done there. It is close to families, justice and morality. It is a basic principle. Human activity to be as close as possible to those who do the work. We have fifty sovereign states in the U.S.A.”

Solidarity: “There is a natural and moral necessity to get together based on common things. Learn to work for the common good. Have a part in the community. Common Catholic Faith: The question of political extremes: National Catholic Reporter: Christians being persecuted.”

The Principle of Gratuity: “Un-moneydness: Gospel of Charity: The support and defense of things that don’t have and economic values. Your family: No one left with debt: Economic power and the state: Economic life multilayered: The economy of gratuity: Free operation of the market. Free Enterprise: When you make money only to make money: Banks to start a business: THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL ONE IS SUBSIDIARY:”

“THE CRUX: OUR U.S. CONSTITUTION IS CLOSELY IN LINE WITH CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING”

George H. Kubeck, FROM “THE HUMAN LIFE REVIEW” SUMMER, 2012 p. 23 and 20

“One of them, with the clumsy name of “subsidiary,” was first developed by Pope Leo XIII in the 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, later encouraged by Pope Pius XI in 1931, and more recently by the bishops themselves. It holds that if a government activity can be done as well at the local level as by a central authority, the local level should be its preferred locus. Moreover, since humans, being social and political animals, don’t always need to be guided by government, the ordering of human relations should be done wherever possible through voluntary associations…

“The Leviathan State: Since the beginning of the last recession (Dec. 2007), during which the private sector shed more than 7.5 million jobs, the total federal government workforce (excluding census and postal workers) has grown by 11.7%, adding 230,000 jobs, including 4,182 additional Revenue Service employees… In 1960, there were roughly 57,000 employees working in federal regulatory agencies; today there are 290,000.