This presentation in which i delivered at Santa Marcela, Apayao to the Local Government staffs and workers headed by Hon. Mayor Rolly U. Guiang (my relative) for good governance for the welfare of the people in reflection to their vision-mission.

1. Politics and the Church Social Teaching Fra. Leonard Guiang, OSM

2. Purpose of this talk: To make us aware what the word politics means. To make us aware about our Catholic Social teachings that can help in building a better town or nation. It is a way of ‘re-evangelization’.

3. outline What is politics and its contain? What is Catholic Social Teaching? Principles of Catholic Social Teaching Human dignity Complementarianism Solidarity Charity Subsidiarity Distributism

4. Key Themes of the Catholic Social Teaching Sanctity of human life and dignity of the person Call to family, community, and participation Rights and responsibilities Preferential Option for the poor and defenseless Dignity of work Solidarity Care for God's creation Conclusion Questions and clarifications or sharing

5. What is Politics?

6. Politics comes from the Greek word Πολιτικά It was modeled on Aristotle's “Affairs of the City", the name of his book on governing and governments

7. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs; and also refers to behavior within civil governments. However, politics have been observed in other group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions.

8. Politics consists of: social relations involving authority or power the regulation of public affairs within a political unit, the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy.

9. What is the Catholic Social Teaching?

10. The Catholic Social Teaching is a body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty and wealth, economics, social organization and the role of the state. Its foundations are widely considered to have been laid by Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical letter RerumNovarum, which advocated economic Distributism and condemned Socialism.

11. According to Pope Benedict XVI, its purpose "is simply to help purify reason and to contribute, here and now, to the acknowledgment and attainment of what is just…. [The Church] has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice…cannot prevail and prosper“. (Deus Caritas Est, 28)

12. According to Blessed Pope John Paul II, its foundation "rests on the threefold cornerstones of human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity". (1999 Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in America, 55)

13. These concerns echo elements of Jewish law and the prophetic books of the Old Testament, and recall the teachings of Jesus Christ recorded in the New Testament, such as his declaration that "whatever you have done for one of these least brothers of Mine, you have done for Me.” [Matthew 25:40]

14. Catholic social teaching is distinctive in its consistent critiques of modern social and political ideologies both of the left and of the right: liberalism, communism, socialism, libertarianism, capitalism, fascism, and Nazism have all been condemned, at least in their pure forms, by several popes since the late nineteenth century.

15. Principles of Catholic Social Teaching

16. Human dignity The first principle of Catholic social teaching is the correct view of the human person. "Being in the image of God, the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and lovethat no other creature can give."

17. Complementarianism The Catholic Church advocates complementarianism asserting that: "God gives man and woman an equal personal dignity“ but also that the harmony of society "depends in part on the way in which the complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out.“ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2333-2335.)

18. Solidarity Solidarity is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good, not merely vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of others. Solidarity, which flows from faith, is fundamental to the Christian view of social and political organization. Each person is connected to and dependent on all humanity, collectively and individually.

19. Charity In Caritas in Veritate, the Catholic Church declared that: "Charity is at the heart of the Church". Every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law (Matthew 22:36-40).

20. It gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbor; it is the principle not only of micro-relationships but with friends, family members or within small groups. [Caritas in Veritate § 2.]

21. The Church has chosen the concept of "charity in truth" to avoid a degeneration into sentimentality in which love becomes empty. In a culture without truth, there is a fatal risk of losing love. It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word “love” is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite.

22. Truth frees charity from the controls of an emotionalism that deprives it of relational and social content, and of a fideism that deprives it of human and universal breathing-space. In the truth, charity reflects the personal yet public dimension of faith in God and the Bible. [Caritas in Veritate § 3.]

23. Subsidiarity Pope Pius XI said, "It is a fundamental principle of social philosophy, fixed and unchangeable, that one should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what they can accomplish by their own enterprise and/or industry."

24. Distributism Distributism holds that social and economic structures should promote wide ownership of corporations and is the basis for anti-trust laws and economic cooperatives. RerumNovarum, Quadragesimo Anno and CentesimusAnnus are Catholic Social Teaching documents which advocate economic distributism.

25. Key Themes of Catholic Social Teaching

26. 1. Sanctity of human life and dignity of the person The foundational principle of all Catholic social teachings is the sanctity of human life. Catholics believe in an inherent dignity of the human person starting from conception through to natural death. They believe that human life must be valued infinitely above material possessions. Bl. Pope John Paul II wrote and spoke extensively on the topic of the inviolability of human life and dignity in his watershed encyclical, Evangelium Vitae.

27. Catholics oppose acts considered attacks and affronts to human life, including 1. contraception, 2. abortion,[ EV § 62.] 3. euthanasia,[EV § 65;CCC 2277.] 4. capital punishment, 5. genocide,

28. 6. torture, 7. the direct and intentional targeting of noncombatants in war, 8. and every deliberate taking of innocent human life.

29. Believing humans are made in the image and likeness of God,[Gen.1:26] Catholic doctrine teaches to respect all humans based on an inherent dignity. According to John Paul II, every human person "is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God."[EV2] Catholics oppose racism and other forms of discrimination.

30. In 2007, the USCCB wrote: “Catholic teaching about the dignity of life calls us... to prevent genocide and attacks against noncombatants; to oppose racism; and to overcome poverty and suffering. Nations are called to protect the right to life by seeking effective ways to combat evil and terror

31. without resorting to armed conflicts except as a last resort, always seeking first to resolve disputes by peaceful means. We revere the lives of children in the womb, the lives of persons dying in war and from starvation, and indeed the lives of all human beings as children of God. [Pastoral Letter US Bishops]

32. 2. Call to family, community, and participation The Lord God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone".[Gen. 2:18] The Catholic Church teaches that man is now not only a sacred but also a social person and that families are the first and most basic units of a society. It advocates a complementarian view of marriage, and family life, religious leadership. Full human development takes place in relationship with others.

33. The family—based on marriage (between a man and a woman)-is the first and fundamental unit of society and is a sanctuary for the creation and nurturing of children. Together families form communities, communities a state and together all across the world each human is part of the human family.

34. How these communities organize themselves politically, economically and socially is thus of the highest importance. Each institution must be judged by how much it enhances, or is a detriment to, the life and dignity of human persons.

35. 3. Rights and Responsibilities Every person has a fundamental right to life and to the necessities of life. In addition, every human has the right to what is required to live a full and decent life, things such as employment, health care, and education.

36. The right to exercise religious freedom publicly and privately by individuals and institutions along with freedom of conscience need to be constantly defended. In a fundamental way, the right to free expression of religious beliefs protects all other rights.

37. The Church supports private property and teaches that “every man has by nature the right to possess property as his own."[RN#6] The right to private property is not absolute, however, and is limited by the concept of the social mortgage.[SRS#42]

38. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities—to one another, to our families, and to the larger society. Rights should be understood and exercised in a moral framework rooted in the dignity of the human person

39. With human relationships we have responsibilities towards each other. This is the basis of human rights. The Roman Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, in their document "The Common Good" (1996) stated that, "The study of the evolution of human rights shows that they all flow from the one fundamental right: the right to life.

40. From this derives the right to a society which makes life more truly human: religious liberty, decent work, housing, health care, freedom of speech, education, and the right to raise and provide for a family"(section 37).

41. The Ten Commandments reflect the basic structure of the Natural Law insofar as it applies to humanity. The first three are the foundation for everything that follows: The Love of God, the Worship of God, the sanctity of God and the building of people around God.

42. The other seven Commandments are to do with the love of humanity and describe the different ways in which we must serve the common good : Honor your father and mother, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, you shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. (Exodus 20:3-17).

43. Our Lord Jesus Christ Summarized the Commandments with the New Commandment: "Love one another, as I have loved you" (John 13:34, 15:9-17). The mystery of Jesus is a mystery of love. Our relationship with God is not one of fear, of slavery or oppression; it is a relationship of serene trust born of a free choice motivated by love.

44. Pope John Paul II stated that love is the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. By his law God does not intend to coerce our will, but to set it free from everything that could compromise it’s authentic dignity and it’s full realization. (Pope to government leaders, 5 November 2000.)

45. 4. Preferential Option for the poor and defenseless Jesus taught that on the Day of Judgment, God will ask what each of us did to help the poor and needy: "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.“ Matthew 25:40

46. Church's Canon Law, which states, "The Christian faithful are also obliged to promote social justice and, mindful of the precept of the Lord, to assist the poor from their own resources.” Canon 222 §2

47. The moral test of any society is "how it treats its most weak members. The poor have the most urgent moral claim on the conscience of the nation. We are called to look at public policy decisions in terms of how they affect the poor."

48. Pope Benedict XVI has taught that “love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of every kind, is as essential as the ministry of the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel”. Deus Caritas Est §22.

49. 5. Dignity of work Society must pursue economic justice and the economy must serve people, not the other way around. Employers must not "look upon their work people as their bondsmen, but ... respect in every man his dignity as a person ennobled by Christian character.“ [RN #20]

50. Employers contribute to the common good through the services or products they provide and by creating jobs that uphold the dignity and rights of workers. Workers have a right to work, to earn a living wage, and to form trade unions[RN#49] to protect their interests.

51. All workers have a right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, and to safe working conditions. They also have responsibilities—to provide a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay, to treat employers and co-workers with respect, and to carry out their work in ways that contribute to the common good. Workers must "fully and faithfully" perform the work they have agreed to do

52. 6. Solidarity "Solidarity is undoubtedly a Christian virtue. It seeks to go beyond itself to total gratuity, forgiveness, and reconciliation. It leads to a new vision of the unity of humankind, a reflection of God's triune intimate life....“[SRS#40] It is a unity that binds members of a group together.

53. All the peoples of the world belong to one human family. We must be our brother's keeper,[Genesis 4:9] though we may be separated by distance, language or culture. Jesus teaches that we must each love our neighbors as ourselves and in the parable of the Good Samaritan we see that our compassion should extend to all people.[Luke 10:25-37]

54. 7. Care for God's creation A Biblical vision of justice is much more comprehensive than civil equity; it encompasses right relationships between all members of God’s creation. Stewardship of creation: The world's goods are available for humanity to use only under a "social mortgage" which carries with it the responsibility to protect the environment.

55. The "goods of the earth" are gifts from God, and they are intended by God for the benefit of everyone. Man was given dominion over all creation as sustainer rather than as exploiter,[Genesis 1:26-30] and is commanded to be a good steward of the gifts God has given him.[Matthew 25:14-30]

56. We cannot use and abuse the natural resources God has given us with a destructive consumer mentality. Catholic Social Teaching recognizes that the poor are the most defenseless to environmental impact and endure disproportional hardship when natural areas are exploited or damaged.

57. Conclusion The Church and the government must go together for the true service to the people. The government has the responsibility for using her resources and power for the protection of human person in every circumstances of life. The Church by God’s command and authority has the responsibility for proclaiming the gospel and be the conscience of the society for better life.

58. QuestionsorClarifications

59. Thank youfor listening. God bless you all.