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This year marks the 115th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s great encyclical, Rerum Novarum, which marked the beginning of the formalized presentation of the Church’s social doctrine.
In its time, Rerum Novarum was greeted by Catholics around the world as a sort of Magna Carta for the rights of the working man, since it strongly defended the rights to organize trade unions and receive a just wage, and called for the reform of woman and child labor laws.
In his encyclical, Pope Leo also defended the right of citizens to organize associations to provide for their own economic and social betterment. But he warned against organizations that were “under the control of secret leaders” whose principles are “not in harmony” with either Christianity or the welfare of states.
He concluded his call for social justice in the political economy with an appeal to Christian charity, which he described as the “queen of the virtues” and “in epitome the law of the Gospel.” Coming nearly a decade after the founding of the Knights of Columbus in 1882, the encyclical in many ways validated the vision of our founder, Father Michael J. McGivney.
On the 100th anniversary of Rerum Novarum in 1991, Pope John Paul II promulgated one of his great encyclicals on social justice, Centesimus Annus. He did so in order to show “the permanent value” of the social doctrine of the Church and to encourage “a great movement for the defense of the human person and the safeguarding of human dignity.”
In his encyclical, John Paul reminded us that the family founded on marriage is “first and fundamental” to the ordering of a just and humane society.
“It is necessary,” he wrote, “to go back to seeing the family as the sanctuary of life. The family is indeed sacred: it is the place in which life – the gift of God – can be properly welcomed and protected against the many attacks to which it is exposed, and can develop in accordance with what constitutes authentic human growth. In the face of the so-called culture of death, the family is the heart of the culture of life.”
This month we have joined with the bishops of the United States and millions of other Catholics and persons of good will in “a great movement in defense of the human person and human dignity” through our support of the Marriage Protection Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The amendment would ensure that the legal definition of marriage “shall consist only of the union of a man and woman.” Our efforts parallel our continuing work in Canada to oppose the attempt to permanently redefine marriage to include couples of the same gender.
The recently published Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church reminds us that “charity is the greatest social commandment.”
Some may argue that charity requires the legal accommodation of a variety of lifestyles.
But what is being suggested is not new, as is shown by the writings of Plato and the lifestyle of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Instead, what is being suggested is fundamentally contrary to the 2,000-year family tradition and teaching of the Church.
Today, we look back on those in the 19th century who so strongly opposed the Church’s directives for action in such matters as the just wage, child labor and the right to trade unions as not only misguided, but as hurtful to millions.
Can we really doubt how history will regard those whose efforts undermine the sanctity and stability of God’s great gift of the family based upon marriage?
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