Pre-final Catholic Social Teaching (CST)

SESSION 1: Philippine Political System

1. What is politics?

a. Politics in the widest sense is the dynamic organization of society for the common good. As such it calls for the responsible
active participation of all citizens (cf. Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes, Religious Life and Human
Promotion, 1980, no. 12).

b. Politics may be described as the art of government and public service. Vatican II describes politics as a "difficult and noble
art" (GS, 75). Its aim is to realize the purpose of the State.

c. Politics is also used for partisan politics, the competition to win or retain positions of governmental power. In this last
sense clerics and religious are forbidden by church law to be involved in (partisan) politics.

2. What is the political community?

The political community consists of persons, social groups and organizations, their institutions and structures that are necessary
for directing or ordering society towards the common good. The common good is the full justification, meaning, and source of the
political community's specific and basic right to exist (GS, 74). Within the political community is public or political authority which
"must be exercised within the limits of the moral order and directed toward the common good."

3. What are some of the negative features our political culture?

Negatively, Philippine politics is often described as basically "patronage politics”, “a politics of personalities" and a "politics of pay-
off." PCP-II summarily described our politics in the following way: "Power and control are also elitist, unequally concentrated on
established families that tend to perpetuate themselves in political dynasties" (PCP-II, 24).

4. What is meant by "patronage politics"?

Deriving from the feudal system of master and servant, the politics of patronage considers the relationship between public official
and ordinary citizen as that of patron (master) and client (servant). Rewards or benefits are distributed according to the loyalty of
clients to their patrons. Clients or voters depend on their patrons or public officials for every development project or assistance,
and solutions to community problems. Rewards or development projects are distributed, then, on the basis not of justice due to
people but on the basis of the government official's "kindness" and the loyalty of the people to the public official. Thus, political
leaders and followers who show support are rewarded with projects, money or jobs. Dependence and subservience, passivity and
inaction on the part of citizens is characteristic of such a system. This accounts for the lack of viable political organizations among
the poor on the one hand and the concentration of power in the hands of the few on the other. In addition, because political
positions are treated like feudal properties, public funds are used by some officials as their own, for personal or family interests. In
fact, a political office is often treated as some sort of a feudal title to be passed on from one generation to another. This is at the
basis of so called "family dynasties."

5. What is meant by the "politics of personalities"

This is a system where the popularity of political candidates rather than issues counts more than knowledge and competence. The
popularity of personalities and the "connection" of personalities to the powers that be are more often than not the main criteria
for judging who should be elected. Thus, candidates for political office who are popular in movies, sports, or are connected to
powerful political families have a significant head start in elections. Coupled with Filipino values of family-centeredness, family
connections have resulted in family political dynasties. Moreover, the politics of personalities has made it possible for frequent
changes in political party affiliation or political "turn-coatism". Parties do not have political ideologies that present voters with clear
cut alternatives on key social issues such as environmental protection, globalization, trade liberalization, etc. PCP-II observed that
people themselves "seem to care more for the projects and gifts and less for the substantive issues on which their elected political
representatives should take a stand" (PCP-II, pp. 279-80).

6. What is meant by a "politics of pay-off"?

It is a system of politics where political advantage is the reason that a politician takes one position over another with regard to
issues. The political debate depends on answers to such questions as "What will you do for me if I support you on this issue"? Pay-
off can be in terms of financial "commissions", political appointments, or of better political leverage. This is sadly the belief of what
goes on in the halls of Congress. It is not rare that decisions are based not on principles but on "horse trading", vested interests and
on so called "party loyalty." Many people, therefore, believe that decisions on the government yearly budget depend very much on
questions of the "pork barrel" fund. The more generous the "pork barrel" the easier other items of the budget are
approved. "Politics of pay-off" also includes vote-buying.

7. What moral and religious principles guide politics?

The Bishops of the Philippines enumerated the following truths to guide politics (see PEPP, pp. 34-38): (a) human dignity and
solidarity as the first principle of politics; (b) the common good as the goal of political activity; (c) authority and power as a divine
trust for service; (d) autonomy and mutual collaboration between the Church and the political community.

8. What is the basis for the Church's mission in politics?

The main reasons why the Church has a mission in politics are the following:
First, because politics has a moral dimension. Politics is a human activity. It may hurt or benefit people. It can lead to grace or to
sin.
Second, because the Gospel and the Kingdom of God call the Church to political involvement. To proclaim the gospel to all creation
necessarily includes evangelizing the political world. Moreover, at the center of Jesus' mission is the proclaiming of the Kingdom of
God. But the Kingdom of God calls us to repentance and renewal (Mk. 1:15). This call to renewal is addressed likewise to the political
field.
Pre-final Catholic Social Teaching (CST)
Third, because the mission of the Church of integral salvation involves the political sphere. Integral salvation is the salvation of the
total person, soul and body, spiritual and temporal. This is why Jesus not only forgave sins but also healed people from sickness.
The Church must likewise bring the healing grace of salvation to the temporal, including political, sphere.

9. Why has the Church been so actively involved in politics in the Philippines?
The main reason, the Bishops themselves said, is the following fact: "Philippine politics – the way it is practiced – has been the most
hurtful of us as a people. It is possibly the biggest bane in our life as a nation and the most pernicious obstacle to our achieving full
development" (PEPP, 7). PCP-II summed up our kind of politics in this way: "Perhaps an even more fundamental aspect of our
kahirapan is that poverty and inequality joined to the absence of reliable social services seem to be part of a self-perpetuating social
system and political culture" (PCP-II Appendix 1, pp. 278-79)

References: Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, CBCP Catechism on the Church and the Politics,
http://www.cbcponline.net/documents/1990s/1998-church_politics.html

SESSION 2: SOCIAL STRUCTURES

Definition of Social Structure
There is no agreed definition of social structure. Any particular definition of social structure is a particular sociologist’s
way of looking at the society. However, there are some common definitions of Social structure. It refers to the way the units
of a group or society relate to one another. Its units are groups, institutions, associations, and organizations. In plain terms,
the meaning of social structure can be easily understood if we take an example of the organic structure of the body. Body
is the arrangement of different parts like hands, legs, mouth, etc. the body works through these inter-dependent and inter-
related parts. Social structure also consists of many parts like families, schools, hospitals, offices, police, factory, markets,
etc. These social structures vary according to the groups, however, in this class we will classify social structures into two
kinds.

Classifications of Social Structure

Two kinds of social structure
1. Sinful social structure
a. are those which dehumanize individuals and groups, devalue human life, break up families, alienate races,
escalate violence, and spread poverty. These systems and
institutions socialize us, promoting and reinforcing values and behaviors that we
would call “sinful.”
Ex. Child prostitution, criminal syndicates, slavery, illegal drug trade, corruption, etc.
2. Graced social structure
a. are those which promote life, enhance human dignity, encourage the development of community, and
reinforce caring behaviors.
b. well-intentioned institutions can become sinful when they produce unintended ill effects or slowly become
destructive of human values or human life. Consider these examples: we have schools that do not teach; prisons
that do not rehabilitate; governments that are unresponsive to people’s real need; an immigration system that
brutalizes people and tears up families; and an economic system that is making some people very, very rich and
billions of other people poorer.

Human Responsibility
In his 1987 encyclical, Pope John Paul at first accepts the analysis of sinful social structures. His term is the “structures
of sin”; but his analysis ties these structures much more tightly to individuals “who introduce these structures, consolidate
them and make them difficult to remove.” The pope lays out four ways individuals remain responsible, or are contributory
to the sinful structures, as:

 Creators, supporters, or exploiters;

- are those persons who are responsible and beneficiaries of corruption in the society. example: a politician who
have ghost projects.

 Accessories (a person contributing to a crime) through complicity or indifference;

- is a person who knows that there is corruption, but he/she does not participate materially. He or she does not
show concern about the situation.

 Accessories through fatalistic avoidance; and

- Fatalistic means a belief that something cannot be changed. In a way fatalistic avoidance means you know that
there is an existing sinful structure, but you don’t do something about it because you think that sinful structure
or corruption is the way it is. It cannot be changed. It will always be like that.

 Accessories through acceptance of the status quo.

- it means accepting the existing evil/sinful social structure.
Pre-final Catholic Social Teaching (CST)
Responses
If the systems are not working, then our faith response has to be structural as well as personal. We must do justice as
well as charity. Specific action directed toward the injustice of institutions includes reforming existing institutions,
strengthening graced institutions, and developing new institutions and structures. Pope John Paul underscores the urgency
of connecting action for justice to faith in a term clearly reflecting his Polish background, the duty of solidarity. Solidarity is
his term for the structural response demanded by Gospel love and involving fundamental economic and social changes. In
a blunt assertion, he says, “Solidarity is undoubtedly a Christian virtue.” He explains: This then is not a feeling of vague
compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and
persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good, that is to say, to the good of all and of each individual
because we are all really responsible for all. This solidarity takes concrete form, the pontiff says, in personal decisions,
decisions of government, economic decisions, public demonstrations by the poor, sacrifice of all forms of imperialism, and
in a variety of other concrete actions, both personal and structural.

SESSION 3: THE CHURCH AND THE POOR

Is it a sin to be wealthy?

There are two types of poverty: economic and spiritual.

While the first type of poverty is experienced externally, the second type of poverty is internal. Conversely, while economic wealth
represents the economy of the kingdom on earth, spiritual wealth represents the economy of the kingdom of Heaven. Interestingly, the
economic poor are often spiritually rich.

For many poor people, their faith may be their greatest, and sometimes, only asset. Conversely, the economically wealthier have
to deal with unique spiritual challenges such as materialism, consumerism, greed, and even the exploitation of the poor. Of course, they
both need Christ, we all do!

The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered
away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many sorrows.”1

Notice, it does not say that money in and of itself is evil. We must be careful not to judge a person who has obtained financial
blessings through hard work or through a rightful inheritance. Being wealthy is not sinful. In fact, many churches and Christian
organizations often rely on the generosity of wealthier members or foundations for financial support.

Nevertheless, we must be honest. There are many unique ethical and spiritual challenges for those who are wealthier. Wealthy
Christians have an obligation and responsibility to assist the poor.

Overwhelmingly, it is the rich who oppress the poor. It is the wealthy corporations, economic systems, socio-political structures
and other sinful social structures that often perpetuate the cycle of poverty. It is the wealthy who are at the center of power, the poor
on the fringes. In this world it is the rich who are powerful.

This is why we need to pray for our wealthy Christian brothers and sisters. Wealthier Christians need to develop strong support
systems, accountability relationships, and spiritual disciplines, in order to deal with the temptations, passions, ethical dilemmas, and
greed which frequently exist in the world of wealth

Scripture and Poverty

Consideration of poverty in Catholic social teaching begins with the foundation that each person is both sacred and social, created
in God’s image, and destined to share in the goods of the earth as part of a community of justice and mercy.

From the time of the Deuteronomic laws, the covenant, and the prophets, there was special mention of the poor and their privileged
place in the community. The Hebrew word for the poor is the anawim, the little ones, originally those “overwhelmed by want. “In the
Old Testament, this group was primarily widows, orphans, and strangers (refugees, migrants, immigrants). They are poor and powerless.
Their poverty was often the result of unjust oppression. As such, they comprised “Yahweh’s poor.”

The Lord frequently warned the Israelites about their duty to the poor: You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once
aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan (Exodus 22:20-22). Their special status reflected a
combination of powerlessness, poverty, and systemic exclusion from the community.

Care for the anawim became the test of Israel’s faithfulness. The word used to reflect the community’s duty to the poor is “justice.”
Instead of being recipients of optional charity or pious generosity, the poor became the measure of Israel’s fidelity to the Lord. Their
right treatment lay at the heart of biblical justice and righteousness. Not caring for the poor was infidelity to God, because people who
forgot the poor no longer really believed in Yahweh revealed as God of the people, the community, dwelling among them and
passionately concerned for their welfare, especially for the poor.

Jesus fulfills this tradition in his teaching and actions. His three “great parables”—according to Pope Benedict— are about justice
and the poor: the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16, and the dramatic judgment scene in Matthew 25.2
In this judgment drama, Jesus emphatically identifies himself with the poor and measures individuals and nations by our deeds of justice
and mercy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HY8HvxiaI0
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Preferential Love for Poor and Oppressed

Today, church commentators use anawim in a developed sense that explicitly includes four groups: widows, orphans, strangers,
and the poor. All four suffer the interconnection of poverty, powerlessness, and exclusion and are alike in the oppression they often
suffer.

Believers are charged to see to it that the anawim are not without the means to meet their basic needs, nor are they to be excluded
from the community or its decision-making by their lack of means. If the poor around us now are uncared for, we too cannot know the
one who says, “I will be your God, and you will be my people.”

This God-of-the-community gave creation to us as goodness to be shared as stewards—not owners. If we forget the poor, we have
forgotten God and our own radical interconnectedness: to God as life-giver and to one another as sisters and brothers, the two great
commandments of Jesus. Thus, the Catechism now proclaims “a preferential love on the part of the Church” for those oppressed by
poverty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjdrutvEX7U

The Church of the Poor

Introduction:

In the Philippines today, God calls us most urgently to serve the poor and the needy. The poverty of at least half of the population
is a clear sign that sin has penetrated our social structures. Poverty in the sense of destitution is not God’s will for anyone. Vatican II
teaches that every man has the right to possess sufficient amount of the earth’s good for himself and his family.

Pope John Paul II asserted: Do not say that it is God’s will that you remain in a condition of poverty, disease, unhealthy housing that
is contrary in many ways to your dignity as human persons. Do not say, ‘It is God who wills it.’

“Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is near.”

What is the meaning of this beatitude?

It is not their poverty that is blessed, nor are they blessed because they are necessarily Christians than their prosperous brothers
and sisters. But they are blessed because their poverty has been historically the privileged place of the gracious intervention of God’s
saving grace. Just as the sin of Adam occasioned God to decide that his Son become savior, so the poverty of people brought in God’s
intervention.

In light of this, in order credibly to witness to the love of God in Jesus Christ, we need to become the “Church of the Poor.” This
expression, used by Pope John Paul II, does not mean that the Church should include only the materially poor and that there is no place
in the Church for those who are not. For the Church must, like her Savior, embrace everyone of every economic class.

What then is the “Church of the Poor?”

 It means a Church that embraces and practices the evangelical spirit of poverty, which combines detachment from possessions
with a profound trust in the Lord as sole source of salvation.
 The “Church of the Poor” is one whose members and leaders have a special love for the poor.
o The 2nd Vatican Council tells bishops of their obligation to form the faithful “in a love of the whole Mystical Body
of Christ and, in a special, of the poor, the suffering, and those who are undergoing persecution for the sake of
justice.”
o This special love is a love of preference for the poor. It is not in exclusive or excluding love in such a way that there
is no room in a Christian’s heart for those who are not poor.
 The “Church of the Poor” is one where, at the very least the poor are not discriminated against because of their poverty, and
they will not be deprived of their “right to receive in abundance the help of the spiritual goods of the Church, especially that
the word God and the sacraments from the pastors.”
 The “Church of the Poor” is one that will be in solidarity with the poor.
o It will collaborate with the poor themselves and with others to lift up the poor from their poverty.
 The “Church of the Poor” means, in the words of Pope John Paul II, that “Before today’s forms of exploitation of the poor, the
Church cannot remain silent. She also reminds the rich of their precise duties. Strong with the Word of God, she condemns the
many injustices which unfortunately, even today are committed to the detriment of the poor.”
 The “Church of the Poor” will also mean that the Church will not only evangelize the poor, but that the poor in the Church will
themselves become evangelizers.
 The “Church of the Poor” is one that is willing to follow Jesus Christ through poverty and oppression in order to carry out the
work of salvation.
o Although she needs human resources to carry out her mission, the Church should be aware that she is not set up
to seek earthly glory, but to proclaim, and this by her own work, example, humility and self-denial.

When the Church in the Philippines becomes truly this Church of the poor, the poor will feel at home in her, and will participate
actively, as equal to other, in her life and mission. The Church will then become truly a communion, a sign and instrument for the unity
of the whole Filipino nation.