Rerum Novarum

The Condition of Labor

1891
Pope Leo XIII
1
Industrial Revolution
• Pope Leo examined the
situation of the poor workers
in industrialized countries
 Role of the Church

• speak on the matter

affecting faith and morality
• reconcile and unite classes
• educate people to act justly
Application – Contemporary
• Role of the Church - to speak on
matters affecting faith and
morality
– Uphold the rights of the workers
– Labor Center of the Archdiocese of
Manila
 Quadragesimo Anno
The Reconstruction of
the Social Order
Pope Pius XI
May 15,1931
2
Context
• Great Depression – 1929
• Pope Pious XI wrote this in
a time when a major
depression was shaking the
economic and social
foundations of the society
Application
• Principle subsidiarity
•Social reconstruction
needs a return to
Christian spirit and
Gospel principles
•Pondo ng Pinoy
 MATER ET MAGISTRA

Christianity and Social

Progress
By Pope John XXIII
1961
3
 Trivia:

• Stresses the popular

Catholic Social Action
motto "see, judge, act"
as a model of effective
lay involvement.
Context
• Severe imbalances between
depressed agricultural
sector and industry
TEACHINGS

1. Church calls for services for rural

areas and orderly economic
development
2. Rural workers are the principal
agents for their improvement
3. Citizens of less developed areas
are chiefly responsible for their
development
3. Needs to establish effective
program of emergency
assistance
4. Industrial countries should
respect the culture of developing
countries and help without
intention to dominate
5. Role of the Catholic Social
Teaching today
Application
 Citizens of less developed areas
are chiefly responsible for their
development -IPs
 Industrial countries should respect
the culture of developing countries
and help without intention to
dominate
-Foreign aid and GMOs
g
 PACEM IN TERRIS

1963
Peace on Earth
By Pope John XXIII
4
 Trivia: Pacem En Terris

This encyclical was

addressed not only to
Catholics but all people of
goodwill.
IN Pacem, John xxIII contended that peace
could be attained only if the order
designed by God is observed
 Teachings –Pacem En Terris

1. True peace is possible only

when relationships are:
-founded on Truth
-according to Justice
- vivified and integrated by
Charity
-practiced in Freedom
 Teachings –Pacem En Terris
2. Every human being is a person
with intelligence and freedom who
has –universal, inviolable and
inalienable rights and obligation
3. Promotion of the common good
is the concern of civil authority
 Teachings –Pacem En Terris
4. Relations between states must
be based on:
-truth – eliminate racism
- Justice – improve situation of ethnic
minorities
- Solidarity –no to arms race
- Liberty – wealthy nations need to respect moral
values in giving aid without seeking to dominate
 Peace on Earth

5. Individual states cannot seek

their own interest and develop
in isolation given modern
conditions of interdependence
Application
1.Indigenous Peoples (IPs)
Relations between states must be
based on:
-truth – eliminate racism
- Justice – improve situation of ethnic
minorities
- Solidarity –no to arms race
- Liberty – wealthy nations need to respect moral
values in giving aid without seeking to dominate
 Application
• Human Rights
• Individual states cannot seek their
own interest and develop in
isolation given modern conditions
of interdependence
• -Land Grabbing of 1st World
Countries
 PASTORAL CONSTITUTION
OF THE CHURCH IN THE
MODERN WORLD

Gaudium Et Spes
1965
By the Bishops of the World

5
Application
The Church’s task is
-to scrutinize the signs of the
times and interpret them in the
Light of the Gospel

Ex. CBCP - Pastoral Letter

PPCRV
 POPULORUM PROGRESSIO

1967
By Pope Paul VI
DEVELOPMENT OF PEOPLE
6
 Populorum Progressio

• Trivia: Coined the

phrase, "development
is a new word for
peace."
 Populorum Progressio
• Christian Vision of
Development
–Total Integral Development
–Full Human Development

• Development cannot be limited

to economic growth but looks
to total human potential
 TEACHINGS – Populorum
Progressio

1.People have a right and

duty to develop
themselves
– As beings with a spiritual dimension, people should
orient themselves to God, a transcendent humanism
– A new humanism which embraces higher values of
love, friendship, prayer and contemplation
 TEACHINGS – Populorum
Progressio
2. Complete humanism and service to
humanity are the aims of the
development
– The church, in its fidelity to preserving
human dignity and the common good of
all, has a role in the process of
development
– Development the new name for peace –
economic justice as the basis for peace
 TEACHINGS – Populorum
Progressio
3. Task of development is urgent but
caution against use of violence
• The expansion of close interdependence
of all human persons and nations
demands common responsibility for the
development of all peoples.
• The rich nations are called to help the
poor nations
 Application
the task for development is
urgent but caution against the
use of violence.
Patenting Life - patenting life violates
religious, moral and cultural values;
access to all life forms must remain
non-exclusive -IPs -Pocahontas
 OCTAGESIMA ADVENIENS

1971
A Call to Action
By Pope Paul VI
7
 Historical Background -OA
At the time of publication of this letter,
• 3rd world countries were questioning
the whole socio economic system of
capitalism as typified by the
International Monetary Fund, the World
Bank’s lending practices,
• “URBANIZATION” that gave birth to
what Paul VI called the “NEW POOR”
and to the pitiful condition of the women
and youth.
 New Poor

Created by urbanization

• Handicapped
• Elderly
• Marginalized
Application
• each local church has the responsibility to
discern and act
• protect the environment
• preferential option for the poor

– BEC
– Parish Council
– Parish Organizations
 JUSTICE IN THE WORLD

1971
By the Synod of Bishops

8
Historical Background- JUSTICE IN
THE WORLD
• This is written by a
gathering of bishops from
around the world, many
from poor undeveloped
countries
Focus - JUSTICE IN THE WORLD

• Justice is the
practical expression
of Christian Love
Teachings – Justice in the World
1. Actions on behalf of justice and
social transformation are
essential elements in the
preaching of the Good News
Teachings – Justice in the World

2.Love begins with justice but

justice reaches fullness in
Love
Teachings – Justice in the World
3. The Gospel gives the
Church the right to proclaim
justice on all levels;
denounce instances of
injustices

Justice for the liberation of all humanity

Teachings – Justice in the World
4. Role of hierarchal Church is not
to offer concrete solutions to
specific problems but promote
human dignity and rights
through:
- witness of the church
- education to justice
- lifestyle of simplicity
 Application

•Caritas Manila
•SEFI
• Caritas 1
Faith Response - Application

SEFI
Make Poverty History
Caritas 2

GK
Human rights
Prayer for Generosity
 EVANGELII NUNTIANDI

1975
Evangelization Today
By Pope Paul VI

9
• to make the 20th century
Church better fitting for
proclaiming the Gospel.
 EVANGELII NUNTIANDI
• This apostolic exhortation on
evangelization in the modern
world was Paul VI’s
confirmation of the Synod of
Bishops document Justice in
the World.
 EVANGELII NUNTIANDI

Objective:
• to make the 20th century
Church better fitted for
proclaiming the Gospel
JVP
 Historical Background -Evangeli
Nuntiandi

•Growth of
Secularism
Teachings - Evangeli Nuntiandi
1. Evangelization is a religious as well
as a temporal task which explicitly
proclaim Jesus
2. Primary message of evangelization:
– the salvation Jesus proclaim is a
liberation from all forms of oppression
especially from the evil one and the joy
of knowing God and being known by
Him
Teachings - Evangeli Nuntiandi
3. Evangelization has a personal and
social dimension:
– Involving human rights, peace and justice
– To bring the good news “into all strata of
humanity” transforming it from within and
making it new
 Application
– To bring the good news “into all strata of
humanity” transforming it from within and
making it new

• Radio Veritas
 LABOREM EXERCENS

1981
On Human Work
By Pope John Paul II

10
In Laborem Exercens PJP II
focused on one topic,
human work.
 1981 –Laborem Exercens
• Recent changes in the realm of work
(#1):
– automation;
– increase in price of energy and raw
materials;
– environmental awareness and respect;
– people claiming right to participate.
 Teachings –Laborem Exercens
1. Human beings are the proper
subject of work
2. Labor and Capital
3. Right to Private property
4. Right to migration
5. Right to form unions
6. Spirituality of work
 Application
• Labor Code
• Labor Center
 SOLLICITUDO REI SOCIALIS

1988
Social Concerns
By Pope John Paul II

11
SOLLICITUDO REI SOCIALIS
• 20th anniversary of Populorum
Progressio
• It emphasizes the moral/ethical
dimension of development
• It refers to the obstacles hindering
development as the “structures of sin”
and calls for conversion toward
solidarity and the option for the poor.
 Teachings –SRS
1. True development calls for recognition of
spiritual, transcendent nature of human
beings
2. The need for conversion
3. Affirmation of social doctrine of the
Church:

a. love preference for the poor

b. solidarity
c. reforms of international economic
systems;
3. Affirmation of social doctrine
of the Church:
d. spirit initiative on the part of the developing
nations
International organizations need reform,
without being manipulated by political
rivalries
e. the needs for collaboration
• Developing countries must take up
their own responsibilities (#44).
 Application
CBCP
respect for cosmos
-Natural resources are limited and
cannot be used with
absolute dominion
- Pollution of the environment
threatens the health of all
 Centesimus Annus

1991
One Hundred Years
By Pope John Paul II
12
 Historical Background
• Centesimus Annus was promulgated
in May 1991, after the collapse of
socialism in most of Eastern Europe
the conclusion of the Persian Gulf
War, but before the collapse of the
Communist Party in the Soviet Union
 Teachings -CA
1. Economic: not capitalism or socialist
system but a society of free work
enterprise and participation
• where the market is appropriately
controlled by the forces of society and
the state so as to guarantee that the
basic needs of whole society are
satisfied
 Teachings -CA
2. Political: an authentic democracy
which is ruled by Law based on the
correct concept of the human person;
• provides citizens with structures of
participation
• shared responsibility through
education in true ideals and the
subjectivity of society;
• recognizes fundamental rights
 Teachings -CA
3. Culture:
• where Man remains above all being who- seeks
the Truth
• strives to live the truth
• deepens his/her understanding of it through
dialogue between the old and the young
• the person exercises intelligence, creativity, &
knowledge of the world of people;
• displays capacity for self-control
• personal sacrifice and readiness to promote the
common good
 Application
• CBCP
• Pastoral Letter
• Missionaries
 The labor situation in our
country is in crisis. The
workers are pushed to the
limits and the dignity of
human labor undervalued
and violated. There is a need
to recover the value that is
Labor Issues
 Labor Issues
• Unjust wages
• Poor working
conditions
• Harassment and
intimidation
• Union busting
• Untimely closure
•
Basic Rights of A Worker
(NLRC)
Minimum Wage vs. Daily Cost of Living
& Daily Poverty Threshold
family living Minimum Minimum
2008 wage Wage under Wage
Wage Order
2007
NCR 917 362.00 382
Areas 560 325.00 345
Outside
NCR

Sources of Basic Data: NSO,DOLE,IBON Foundation

 For Reflection…
As a Graduating Student,
how are you affected by
this reality? What is your
personal attitude towards
workers and laborers?
 Why work necessary?
• Helps in our survival and pursuit of
fulfillment and happiness
• Helps us attain our dreams and
ambitions
• Dignifies our life and family
• The worker labors to promote fullness of
life
• Name all the activities you have
done since breakfast this
morning
• Name as many as you can who
made all your activities possible
• Now ask yourself, were you able
to show respect or express
appreciation to anyone of them?