Leon McKenzie, Designs for Progress, Boston: St. Paul’s Press, 1967, Pp. 130. Paper, $ 10
One of the greatest questions of our time concerns the relevancy of religion and religious teachings in every day living. There are those who believe that religion has lost its relevancy and is hopelessly bound up in the needs of past ages, and in a rigid legalism of a mere superficial structure. Society today has focused its attention on social crisis especially the crisis of racism and devastating poverty. Many question the relevancy of the Church to today’s problems, to world poverty, to nationalism, to world community and to economic philosophies. Father McKenzie demonstrates that the Church and its religious teaching are most relevant to today’s needs. He has long been a champion of the social doctrines of papal encyclicals, and of the necessity to make them an essential part of social studies and religious education. The documents of Vatican II, especially the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, have proven that his efforts have been correct. No one can deny that the social doctrines as explained herein are relevant to any topic of modern day discussion. Designs for Progress: Introduction to Catholic Social Doctrine is written in a manner easily understood by the reader or the student. It is a valuable aid for teachers of history, sociology and religion, and also to every thinking Christian.
This book’s Imprimatur is Richard Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston and Nihil Obstat by Rev. Mathew Stapleton, Diocesan Censor. Rev. Charls W. Regan, Superintendent of Schools of Diocese of Wichita has written a beautiful introduction to this book. Every Chapter in this book is followed by Projects based on articles and editorials available outside of this book, and discussion questions based the contents of the chapter. This 130 page book is supported with further reading and discussion materials at the end. One of the beautiful presentation with paper back and printing with large sized letters.
We will just summarize each section in the book under each chapter title.
The Church and Society
God’s spokesmen, Prophets, in the Old Testament times were concerned about the realities of the concrete order and the social situations in which men found themselves. When Christ established His Church He also established men who would speak for him to the society. Rerum Novarum and Mater et Magistra stressed that it was the “responsibility of the apostolic office” to speak about social matters. It all indicates that since Christ was concerned about the earthly needs of men as well as their needs pertaining to eternal salvation, it is the duty of the church to follow Our Lord’s example.
The Church and Capitalism
First part of this section deals with economics, since capitalism is a system of economics. The Church states that capitalism is a permissible economic system if it is regulated by law. The profit motive is not wrong as long as it is not the sole motive of human actions. Free enterprise is to be encouraged if this is also a responsible free enterprise. Man has a natural right to own property and to invest capital, but his right is always relative to the general welfare of the society. It is not an absolute right.
The Church and Communism
Marxist socialism, where Marx had no room for God in his plans, has been repeatedly rejected by the Holy Fathers for various reasons. Pope Leo saw in true socialism an attempt ‘subvert all revelation, and overthrow the supernatural order’. Pope Pius XI rejected Marxism in his famous encyclical Divini Redemptoris. In it he says “Communism strips man of his liberty, which is the principle of his life as a rational being, robs the human person of all his dignity and removes all the moral restraints that check the eruptions of blind impulse.
The Church and Human Rights
The Church recognizes the splendor of the individual person, it recognizes and teaches that man possess an invaluable dignity. The Church also teaches that man has inherited a fallen human nature, in which every man is born into a situation of alienation from God. But this fallen human nature doesn’t lessen man’s dignity. Man’s dignity as a child of God remains because of man’s destiny. To deny any man his rights, whether in word or in deed or by sins of omission, is to deny human dignity and the God who granted this dignity and these rights to man.
The Church and World Poverty
When we help and assist the poor of the world we are helping and assisting Christ himself. The poor are in reality our benefactors. They make it possible for us to concretize and to actualize our love for Christ. The poor assist us by furnishing us with the opportunity of proving to ourselves and to the world that our love of God is something more than empty words. Our response to world poverty is a response to God. It is in measuring our response to the least of Christ’s brethren that we are able to measure the meaning of our love for God.
The Church and the United Nations
First of all, we must not think that the Church has defined dogmatically what our attitude toward the U.N. must be. Pope John explicitly praised a bureau of the UN in Mater et Magistra. Later he commended the UN even more strongly in the encyclical Pacem in Terris. Certainly there are objections and reservations to the Declaration on Human Rights and even to the Charter of the U.N. God is not even mentioned in either of these documents. Pope John took a positive stance in regard to the UN and not a negative one. He chose to light a candle instead of cursing the darkness; to praise men for sincere efforts while instructing them that they must do more if they wish to accomplish the goal of peace among men. The Preamble of the UN Charter is given as an appendix to this chapter.
The Church and the World
The Church is keenly interested in the temporal needs of men and in the future of the city of man. The pastoral constitution on the Church in the Modern World explicitly and publicly witnesses the Church’s desire to promote the success of the earthly endeavors of the human community. The Son of God came into the world to transform the world. Although Christ, in His glorified body, now reigns with the Father in heaven, He is present in the world in His Mystical Body. As Christians we are the extension and prolongation of Christ in human history. His work is our work.
The Church and Progress
In the last century there were many men who were convinced that science alone would provide a heaven-on-earth for men. Church is not opposed to technological improvements and scientific advances. We affirm that these developments are necessary for progress while at the same time we affirm the necessity of Christian love and the moral order. Our motto must be: “Progress, yes, but authentic progress. Human progress, Progress energized by the Holy Spirit of Christ”.
The Church and Peace
“Men of every age have most eagerly desired peace on earth, but peace can be established and strengthened only if the order set down by God is conscientiously observed.” Says Pope John XXIII in his encyclical Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth). Peace means an ordered society, a community of nations, not a collectivity of nations. If we wish to achieve a true and lasting peace, we must be ready to take to take the calculated risk of trusting our fellow men. And they who share with us the face of our planet, but who disagree with us in other matters, must be ready to take the calculated risk of trusting us.
The Development of Peoples
The development of peoples has the Church’s close attention, particularly the development of those peoples who are striving to escape from hunger, misery, endemic diseases and ignorance; of those who are looking for a wider share in the benefits of civilization and a more active improvement of their human qualities.
Conclusion
The Church’s social doctrine is an integral part of the Christian conception of life; it is founded upon revelation and the natural law. Its contents are to be found mainly in the teachings of the popes and in other documents of the Church Magisterium. Among these, the pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes of Vatican II merits special mention. Since it applies Christian truth and morality to various historical situations in the secular world, the social doctrine commands the assent of the faithful as much as any other pronouncements of the Magisterium.
Still, in order to interpret and apply that doctrine correctly, it is necessary to know the actual historical situation which a given document is evaluating. Its conclusions cannot be applied indiscriminately to different historical situations. Similar situations and facts warrant corresponding evaluations; somewhat different situations require appropriate modifications, even if they are described in the same terms.
The Church's social doctrine ought to be known and taught by all the faithful, who must also strive to address social problems in conformity with it. This doctrine should be part of the education of young people, who must also form themselves in accord with its principles. Since the Magisterium's teaching does not exhaust all possible moral questions which could arise in a civil society rightly oriented to Christian principles, the faithful need not wait to act until the Magisterium provides them with a specific moral solution, So long as there is no official teaching on a particular matter, it belongs to the well-formed consciences of the faithful to determine what is and what is not in accord with Christian morality (GS 43). Therefore, the faithful have an obligation to study and become duly formed according to each one's ability and social position.
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