Catholicism, globalization, interdependence

[TEPO]

I have recently received full initiation into the Catholic Church through the sacrament of Confirmation and have been advised that I now as a Confirmed Catholic must adhere to the “Catholic Social Teaching” of the Church.

I am asking you my fellow Catholics to please help me in my confusion… Please visit the following website on Catholic social teaching and take notice the “Role of Government” . Now tell me in your opinion how global interdependence should be viewed in relation to government…
osjspm.org/
osjspm.org/majordoc_mater_et_magistra_official_text.aspx

The Community of Nations and International Organizations

1. Close ties of dependence between individuals and peoples are on the increase world-wide nowadays; consequently, to facilitate effective and successful work for the universal common good the community of nations needs to establish an order suited to its present responsibilities, especially its obligations towards the many areas of the world where intolerable want still prevails. To reach this goal, organizations of the international community, for their part, should set about providing for people’s various needs both in the areas of social life covering food, hygiene, education and employment and, in certain particular situations here and there, seeing to the welfare of developing countries, to alleviate the miseries of refugees dispersed throughout the world, and to assist migrants and their families.
   Existing international and regional organizations certainly deserve well of the human race. They represent the first attempts to lay the foundations on an international level for a community of all of humanity to try to solve the very serious problems of our times, and specifically to encourage progress everywhere and to prevent all wars. The church is glad to view the spirit of true community existing in all spheres between Christians and non-Christians as it seeks to intensify its untiring efforts to alleviate human misery.

In Conclusion, must we all adhere to the Catholic Social Teaching, and does this mean we should support breaking down class barriers and work on uniting all of mankind into one body through a global economy? I thought earth was the testing ground and that Heaven is where we unite? Please help.

 

[TEPO]

Someone please help me understand… “Christians and non-Christians” alike must work in community for peace? I thought (being raised catholic and going to Catholic school all my life) that we were the salt and that only God can bring peace. So we should be evangelizing like the muslims are. Catholocism is almost completely lost in the U.K. according to some blogs I’ve seen.
If the U.N. is the new world force, will they lead properly without the divine direction of God and the Catholic Church? Or is that why Catholics are encouraged to partake in globalization? And if so, why arent we talking about it? If thats the case, lets start evangelizing the world… Speak up!

 

[TEPO]

Or perhaps it is rather that the Bishops simply think we should become a slight bit more liberal here in the States. If that is the case then we should increase all govornment assistance. Is that what some people think? We should be giving more. but how much should we give? Until it hurts? And would forcing people to give be a genuine gift of charity. How can God judge this way?

 

[TEPO]

These are the main “Social Justice” issues that Catholics should place as priority in America… And possibly global? They are in order from most important to least…

1. Budget state and federal
2. Global Warming
3. Health Care
4. Housing and Homelessness
5. Immigration
6. Welfare

Why?
How come?
Who is supposed to worry about this? Me?

These are the issues that determine a just society? :crying:

 

[TEPO]

The global warming issue is still incomplete. It is still uncertain as to whether it is manmade or natural. Furthermore there is admittedly still no complete Catholic social doctrine on ecological ethics. Yet we must accept the AGW theory… Why?

What is the plan… Is it secret? Lets work together… But first we have to know our goal… I thought we were one body… Lets be honest with each other…

 

[Harri_Laaksonen]

It may seem a bit daunting for a new Catholic, but I am myself. Read Charitas in Veritate The Pope addresses many of these questions and tries to set the Catholic agenda in economic and social matters for the present and the immediate future.

 

[TEPO]

It may seem a bit daunting for a new Catholic, but I am myself. Read Charitas in Veritate The Pope addresses many of these questions and tries to set the Catholic agenda in economic and social matters for the present and the immediate future.

O.K. so far I read the introduction… And I’ll comment on it first here.

-What I got out of it is that in order for Charity to develop in the world (a world that is tending to go global naturally) truth must be the mission of all people because we all have “Love and truth” given to them by God… All people.

here are some quotes -

—“Only in charity, illumined by the light of reason and faith, is it possible to pursue development goals that possess a more humane and humanizing value. The sharing of goods and resources, from which authentic development proceeds, is not guaranteed by merely technical progress and relationships of utility, but by the potential of love that overcomes evil with good (cf. Rom 12:21), opening up the path towards reciprocity of consciences and liberties.”

—"The Church does not have technical solutions to offer[10] and does not claim “to interfere in any way in the politics of States.”

—“She does, however, have a mission of truth to accomplish, in every time and circumstance, for a society that is attuned to man, to his dignity, to his vocation.”

—“Without truth, it is easy to fall into an empiricist and sceptical view of life, incapable of rising to the level of praxis because of a lack of interest in grasping the values — sometimes even the meanings — with which to judge and direct it.”

**The last quote really did it for me. I dont understand the bishops motives on many issues. I feel confused. I dont see the whole truth… And have a sceptical feeling in the very core of my bones. I require more truth.

Is it that the Bishops believe that giving free healthcare to the middle class will prove to be charity that is capable of producing and cultivating more “humane and humanizing values” on Americans. Will this then spill over into the society as a whole. Is this why I should support healthcare reform?**

 

[Harri_Laaksonen]

OK, I’ll admit I didn’t read your original posts in detail. You did say you were concerned about Catholic Social Teaching and what it was based on. I did not catch that you had a specific question about health care.

I think it is only fair that I explain my perspective on that particular issue. I grew up in the U.S. After getting a good education, a Master’s in geology, I spent a significant length of time unemployed and then underemployed working for just above minimum wage. I had to work at least a 60 hour week to get enough to afford Blue Cross, as well as the other costs of living. It made me think long and hard about health insurance, and I was only about 30 at the time.

This issue, among others , led me to move to Canada. I lived there for 20 years when “business” and personal considerations led me to move to my native Finland. I have lived over half of my life under public health care and along with the government of Finland, among others, consider health care a basic human right to be protected in the constitution.

I have only been a Catholic officially for about 6 months after being a closet Catholic for about 25 years. Catholic social teaching has proved to be a strong motivator for my conversion.

That said, to support life in its entirety, means keeping people healthy and unafraid of financial consequences of living. People that can’t afford insurance, or are denied coverage, will not get treated in time, get sicker, require more costly treatment, or rather die than become a financial drain on their family.

 

[TEPO]

You did say you were concerned about Catholic Social Teaching and what it was based on.

Thanks for the follow up. My OP is very broad I’ll admit. Quite possibly too broad. But what I’m getting at is in a time of globalization, is Catholic Social Teaching actually preparing us for the new global economy?

The Bishops mention that “international and regional organizations” represent the “first attempts to lay the foundations on an international level for a community of all of humanity to try to solve the very serious problems of our times.”
The Bishops call for: “seeing to the welfare of developing countries”, and “encourage progress everywhere”, as well as a call to “prevent all wars”…

If this is what’s to come - to establish an order among the community of nations - then lets just get it out in the open… Lets understand the inevidable, because the vaitcan and the Bishops seem to understand it… From what I hear coming from CST (Catholic Social Teaching) is that we must implement similar laws of the other western nations. For the sake of “Love and Truth”.

So who will be given the opportunity to oversee this “established order”? Is it the U.N? They already invented the IPCC who runs all the tests on global warming. The Vatican offers its support to all nations who present information to the U.N… So I think the U.N. is the new age established order… Or am I looking too far into things?

So in a nutshell, healthcare, global warming, housing, immigration, and welfare (the issues mentioned in CST) are all the issues that are left that are in conflict with the other Western nations. Once we change (fix) these, we’ll all be virtually the same… Wont we? I mean except for currency and language of course.

If God calls me to support this I will. I just want to know the truth - because this is what I see.

 

[whatevergirl]

*Hi Tepo

I read your note to me earlier, and I will be back later to read through this, and post more…

For starters, I don’t believe we are called as Christians to a global economy. I know that in the Bible, earning a living and creating one’s own opportunities were not known as "capitalism,’’ but God tells us that people who don’t work, don’t eat. Now, what does that mean? Of course, we are to help all who are unable to help themselves. UNABLE TO. Doesn’t mean those who are able bodied should sit back and enjoy a ride on someone else’s back…that is actually not helping a brother or sister in Christ. Enabling sloth is not loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. That said, our government should not control our ability to create our own lives, our own streams of income (provided they are legal lol) and so on. But, as Christians, we are to help those who are not able to help themselves…first and foremost we must as Catholics,** stand up for the unborn, and the elderly who are being killed and marginalized in our society***. Before we can look at how we can make life better here on earth, we must first and foremost not ignore the call to being prolife, as if we kill off our babies as a society, nothing else matters. No other "humanitarian’’ efforts matter if we don’t take care of ‘the least of these.’

That’s where I’ll start right now…I’m not sure if that helps.

Oh and welcome to the faith! :bounce: I’m so excited that you have joined the Catholic Church! A word of caution to you…the Catholic faith as you probably have come to realize is chock full of mystery, beauty. and doctrine. Take each day as it comes, the faith is meant to be lived out, not overanalyzed…I know, I do this too! But, take social teachings of the Church. Don’t worry about getting everything right…God is here to guide us each day, and through our Blessed Church, we have all we need to grow in holiness. In everything we do…we need to ask ourselves, am I growing in holiness? Am I moving closer to Jesus, or away from Him, if I do this or that? You can’t go wrong if you boil everything down to that very common denominator.

 

[whatevergirl]

*If we could look back at a typical day for Jesus…He always seemed concerned with those who were disabled, blind, marginalized, isolated…He was always concerned with healing someone. He ate with sinners, He wasn’t swayed by popular opinion (that of the Pharisees) He was revolutionary in His thinking, and I think if we are to be honest, we need to become revolutionaries to a degree, ourselves, to best follow the faith. To best live the faith. Jesus also gave a stern warning about amassing wealth…that it will be hard for the rich to find heaven and so forth. The reason isn’t that Jesus doesn’t want us to be successful, but so much of the time (look at our own society), people with much wealth, become greedy. Never satiated. Never filled up. So…while we are to seek to prosper, and be good providers for our families…we are not to become greedy.

If we stripped greed out of our healthcare "‘system,’’ everyone would have ample healthcare, at reasonable prices…and those who could not pay for it, would have it. ’I really don’t think healthcare providers, hospitals, and so forth were meant to get rich off of people’s illnesses. The healers of our society are quite rich. Is that wrong? It’s not wrong to get paid a wage that coincides with the amount of studying and training you went through, so docs should get paid well. But, some are millionaries off of their patients health problems. Lawyers the same thing…medicine companies same thing…insurance, same thing. Strip out the greed, everyone could have good healthcare. Everyone. *

 

[Kasey1]

Thanks for the follow up. My OP is very broad I’ll admit. Quite possibly too broad. But what I’m getting at is in a time of globalization, is Catholic Social Teaching actually preparing us for the new global economy?

The Bishops mention that “international and regional organizations” represent the “first attempts to lay the foundations on an international level for a community of all of humanity to try to solve the very serious problems of our times.”
The Bishops call for: “seeing to the welfare of developing countries”, and “encourage progress everywhere”, as well as a call to “prevent all wars”…

If this is what’s to come - to establish an order among the community of nations - then lets just get it out in the open… Lets understand the inevidable, because the vaitcan and the Bishops seem to understand it… From what I hear coming from CST (Catholic Social Teaching) is that we must implement similar laws of the other western nations. For the sake of “Love and Truth”.

So who will be given the opportunity to oversee this “established order”? Is it the U.N? They already invented the IPCC who runs all the tests on global warming. The Vatican offers its support to all nations who present information to the U.N… So I think the U.N. is the new age established order… Or am I looking too far into things?

So in a nutshell, healthcare, global warming, housing, immigration, and welfare (the issues mentioned in CST) are all the issues that are left that are in conflict with the other Western nations. Once we change (fix) these, we’ll all be virtually the same… Wont we? I mean except for currency and language of course.

If God calls me to support this I will. I just want to know the truth - because this is what I see.

If God calls me to support this I will. I just want to know the truth - because this is what I see.

thanks for sharing.it is great and so useful for me

http://www.photosnag.com/img/4673/n09x0302vnsn/clear.gif

 

[buffalo]

Remember the Catholic teaching of subsidiarity.

 

[Eucharisted]

The Church’s teaching on globalization: vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html#Globalization: opportunities and risks

 

[Harri_Laaksonen]

Thanks for the perspective of “Whatevergirl”. It is a well thought out and truly spiritual response.

I think that C in V does go a long way in addressing globalization. The interesting point is that the Pope does not come down on the side of supporting free globalization, nor declaring it evil. He looks at the fact that capital is now global and chasing profits while people need to live in a local / regional economy.

National, state, regional and even local governments have regulations that control exploitation in many parts of the world. The problem is that capital is not restricted to those areas. The question of global “government” is an issue only because of the internationalization of capitalism, organized crime and other functions that do not respect local social norms.

Let’s face it, greed drives the system as we know it. Probably the only solution is to have global religious awakening. The multi-national corporations have grown so large that it is almost impossible to avoid their tentacles, at least in “developed” societies. It is difficult to use direct action like a boycott to get the head office to pay attention. It has too many brands under its control for a group of semi-organized consumers to dent more than a couple of revenue sources.

God bless and may the Holy Spirit lead our hearts and thoughts.

 

[whatevergirl]

Thanks for the perspective of “Whatevergirl”. It is a well thought out and truly spiritual response.

I think that C in V does go a long way in addressing globalization. The interesting point is that the Pope does not come down on the side of supporting free globalization, nor declaring it evil. He looks at the fact that capital is now global and chasing profits while people need to live in a local / regional economy.

National, state, regional and even local governments have regulations that control exploitation in many parts of the world. The problem is that capital is not restricted to those areas. The question of global “government” is an issue only because of the internationalization of capitalism, organized crime and other functions that do not respect local social norms.

Let’s face it, greed drives the system as we know it. Probably the only solution is to have global religious awakening. The multi-national corporations have grown so large that it is almost impossible to avoid their tentacles, at least in “developed” societies. It is difficult to use direct action like a boycott to get the head office to pay attention. It has too many brands under its control for a group of semi-organized consumers to dent more than a couple of revenue sources.

God bless and may the Holy Spirit lead our hearts and thoughts.

Thank you, Harri…yes, wouldn’t it be awesome if everyone allowed the Holy Spirit to guide them?